Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

One of the challenges in understanding this particular Gospel scene is the difficulty of rendering it into English. The Lord says, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” But the word he uses is not the normal word for “dog.” It is actually the diminutive: “little dog” or “lap dog”—precisely the kind of dog you would keep in the house.

Set that alongside what he has already said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When he makes this comment to the woman, he is not insulting her. He is actually giving her an opening to say that she can belong to the house if she will accept it. She has to recognize what she is being offered, even though he has not yet been sent out to them. And she does recognize it. She responds using the very same word. She recognizes what he is doing in that moment and embraces it in faith.

And so, he invites this Canaanite woman into the house of Israel. That is a truly transgressive thing in the moment, because the Canaanites were the mortal enemies of the Israelites—almost as bad as Egypt itself. They were the ones in the land who were constantly pulling them away to idolatry. And yet, here the Lord is pulling her in.

But notice that she has to have enough faith not to reach for perfection yet, but to accept what is being offered to her. He still calls her a dog. It is not meant as an insult, but it does distinguish her from the children—the children of Israel. The mission to the Gentiles has not yet begun. Their time is coming soon, but it has not yet arrived. The Lord invites her in, though not yet into the fullness. He still makes room for her.

If she had said, “No, I either get all of it or I get nothing,” she would have walked away with nothing, and her daughter would have remained possessed. Instead, she was willing to embrace what the Lord was willing to give her in that moment, recognizing that, in his goodness, he would surely offer more in the future.

I think that resonates in our own spiritual lives. Sometimes what the Lord offers us is not exactly what we want. But if we refuse it in that moment—if we refuse the invitation—we will ultimately miss out on the greater thing he is holding back for a later time. When he reaches out and gives us that offer, that little bit, even if it is not all that we want, we have to say yes.

We have to act in faith and accept it, knowing that in his great goodness and great love he has better things in store for us. Whatever he has inspired our hearts truly to desire, he is going to give to us. But sometimes it comes little by little. It requires those small steps of faith and the humility to accept a little bit less, knowing that he is holding back the greater.