Today I read Mark 7:24-30. It reads: "And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know [it]: but he could not be hid. For a [certain] woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast [it] unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed." Besides the heartwarming properties this passage has about having faith in the power of Christ, the phrase "the dogs" has a meaning that most people are not aware of, and one the disquiets me. The woman was a Greek. In the time of Jesus, anyone not a Jew, especially Greeks, were considered "dogs", (racially inferior) and often were the subject of ridcule and animosity. The Greeks were basically treated like the way we treat and view poor Latino immigrants and destitute blacks. The Greeks lived in a segregated part of cities, and they were considered unclean for the Jews to mingle with. The Jews were called "the children" of God. They were the chosen people, and they made sure everybody knew it. Since everyone (Jews included) were under Roman rule, often Jews treated pagans even more harshly, as though exercising the only power they had left. So why does Jesus call this woman a dog, and say that the "children" (Jews) should be healed an preached to first? Is the quick woman's wit enough to impress him and warrant her daugher's healing? Or does he use her as an example? In any case, I wonder....