Dogs and Bread

This Sunday morning we continue our series on some of the sayings or teachings of Jesus which we typically have trouble understanding or coming to grips with. In this text, Jesus has an encounter with a Canaanite woman who is asking that Jesus heal her daughter. To this request, Jesus replies that it isn't right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs. What does Jesus mean here and why would he say it? As we dig a little deeper into the story, we realize that this encounter has to do with Jesus' mission and the mission of his church. It is a mission that will confront us, as it did Jesus' first disciples, with some prejudices or conclusions about other people that we've long held.