Mark 7:24-30
24 From that place he went off to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice.
25 Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet.
26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27 He said to her, "Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."
28 She replied and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
29 Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter."
30 When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
-----------------
This is a passage I've struggled over in the past. I can see the message of the mother's persistence in faith, but I've always had trouble with Christ's initial response to her. I understand that she's Greek and therefore Gentile, but does that mean he'd have to initially reject her request? Is this an illustration for the disciples, or a test for her, both, or something else?
When Job asked God why he had to endure his trials, God's answer was clear - it was not for Job to know God's ways. So it is with me and this subject. I can see that this is an illustration that salvation was first brought to the Jews, then opened up to the Gentiles. I don't understand why it had to be that way, but ... it isn't up to me to understand the deepest meanings of why. It's just up to me to accept God's will.
