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Enjoy Life, Enjoy God


Dale Patterson

DOGS

May 31, 2011

Many domestic dogs in our world today have the life of Riley, privilege.  In many cultures, in Jesus' day, and even in our day, dogs are but bottom-feeders, the bottom rungs of existence.
 
"First let the children eat all they want," Jesus told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."
                                                   - Mark 7:27 TNIV
 
A woman's child suffers demon possession, and she begs Jesus to heal her daughter.  But this woman is not a Jew; she's from the other side of the tracks, the enemy camp; in most Jews' eyes she's a dog.  One of the problems we religious people have is making boundaries around what God can and must do, and what not.  Surely God is not interested in the dogs like this woman.  Space prohibits me from going into the subtleties of this story, but Jesus and the pleading woman are not trapped by boundaries.  He heals "the dog's" daughter.
  
In one sense, we're all mutts, aren't we?  We're all thieves on the cross.  Take heart, Jesus is not bound by our poor pedigrees and lack of virtue.  There's good news in that, not just for this woman pleading with Jesus, but for you and me.
 
Joyfully,
 

Dale Patterson