Matthew15::Defecation and Dog Food

Matthew 15

          Okay, did today's reading make anyone else chuckle like it did me?  I admit that I have a sense of seventh-grade humor and any time certain words are said, I laugh a little.  Sorry to burst the bubble that I am a well-sophisticated gentleman.  I just am still getting used to the language of The Message and don't really expect to read about "defecation."

          Now, here is what bothered me this morning.  In the middle section of Chapter 15, Matthew recounts a story of a Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus begging for him to heal her daughter who is stricken by a demonic spirit.
          Jesus ignored her.

          What?  Why in the world would he do this?  I mean, I know why I would it, but why would Jesus do such a thing?  He brushes her off to his disciples.  They can't stand her and they can't handle her.  She's sandpaper to everyone.
          Then she comes back to him and he tells her that for him to help her would be like taking bread from a child's mouth and throwing it to the dogs!
          Her response to Jesus is priceless.  She agrees with him and says "but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table."  He is taken aback by her response and heals her daughter immediately.
          I am going to have to wrestle with this a little today.  I may come out with a limp at the end of this, but I don't have a good "pastor-answer" for this.  If you have one (pastor-answer that is), keep it to yourself, but if you have some honest thoughts about what Jesus might be meaning hear post away!