Nope. You cut the passage off too soon. He did give the woman what she asked. She just got to participate in the miracle by overcoming that which she needed to overcome. Jesus knows us real good. Sometimes, we just don't want divine help bad enough to put away the bottle of bitterness we love to nurse on (discrimination) or our favorite sugar-stick we love to lick (pet doctrine) or the security blanket we love to trust in (wealth or fame).

 

Amen Kiki....

The Israel of Jesus' day is about to bring down judgment against Israel, and especially Jerusalem. This is because they are about to reject Jesus, God's Son. What's more, they do not just reject him, they scorn him, they brutalize him, and they have him put to death on a Roman cross. But it isn't Jesus alone who is rejected. Israel had gotten in the habit of ignoring, bullying, and even murdering those prophets who did not give them what they wanted. Jesus' death is just the ultimate transgression by the people in a long line of progressions where prophets were mistreated, abused, and murdered for speaking God's unadulterated truth. But surely we can do more than honor the prophets of old in our day in some arcane and outdated ritual that "frees" us from having to deal seriously with their teachings. Surely, we can seek to live by the prophets' teachings and have those values built into the fabric of God's family.

 

 27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

 28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

I wonder Brink if you had seen the correlation between the pharrees law that Jesus broke and the woman not deserving of the bread and yet her faith is what spoke to Jesus.  Here we have the Law..traditions of men vs. Faith..Gods commandment of heart.

So, then, can Christians do the same, as long as the person is helped? There are some in spiritual bondage who cannot see their bondage, so God gives other, more mature Christians in that area, insight into their lives. Can we act like Jesus and "call it like it is?"

 

Love in Christ,

Katrina

I don't know that I have any bible to support my thoughts on your question in Post 4, Katrina, but I can tell you what I think. I think the Holy Ghost does not eradicate a person's humanity. Nor does God expect us to be less than human in any circumstance. To me, the Lord seemed to place a premium on individuality. In other words, each person is their own person and their course to salvation is going to be different from everyone else's course. The entry fee is the same for everyone, sure, but after that, we each have our own things to overcome.

 

That being said, a person's individuality is not necessarily one of those things that has to be overcome. Nathaniel, for instance, was not chided one bit for his racist remarks concerning what could and could not come out of Nazareth. Instead, Jesus said in essence, "Aha! Here is a man who tells it like it is!" When Andrew told him that he thought they had found the Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel replied, "Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

 

So, to be even more specific to your question, yes, Christians are at liberty to give their first reaction to anything that is presented to them whether someone is helped or not. The part that they are not at liberty to do is to respond with guile, which bears a greater condemnation than speaking with harsh words. Guile is what adults do when they are uncomfortable with their feelings. They hide them and only allow the ones to show that are within their comfort zones. Some even go so far as to deny their feelings altogether, which creates a really big mess. So much so that Jesus had to cut right through humanity's tendency to create fogginess by saying that we had to become like little children in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Get it? Little kids have to learn guile...they normally just blurt out their honest reaction to whatever is presented.

 

Does that sound right to you?

Brink-- Yes there are people who are christians who are still in Bondage and there is nothing wrong with trying to Help them if they want to be helped.  Some do not see their own bondages and we all have blind spots...But those harsh words were spoken because Jesus new what was in their hearts...