Geoff Ashley at the Village Church blog wrote on a favourite passage of mine, Matthew 15:21-28, in which Jesus implies that a Gentile woman is a dog. I’ve written about this story in Jesus Asked, pp. 105-12, and in a recent blog below about Jesus pretending.
Ashley and I have come to similar conclusions: that Jesus isn’t insulting the woman as much as challenging her to respond well.
Ashley first pulls out the ol’ Greek word-choice argument which doesn’t do that much for me, but then he pops in an example from Shawshank Redemption which I think helps a lot in seeing the dynamics of the situation:
Andy says, “I don’t waste time on losers, Tommy,” but he does so not in order to close off the relationship, but in order to stimulate it. Good analogy.