Mark 7:28 — Community Reflections

MARK 7:28 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.”

Lord, she replied, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs — the woman's response is one of the most brilliant replies in the Gospels. She does not dispute the metaphor or the priority — she accepts both and finds within them the argument for her request. Even the dogs eat the crumbs — not the children's meal, just the pieces that fall. She is not asking for the children's bread; she is asking for what falls from the table in the abundance of the children's eating. The argument is humble, witty, and theologically precise.

Church Fathers on Mark 7:28

After that the Lord had finished His teaching concerning food, seeing that the Jews were incredulous, He enters into the country of the Gentiles, for the Jews being unfaithful, salvation turns itself to the Gentiles.
Theophylact · 11th century

But if He wished to do so and could not, it appears as if His will was impotent; it is not possible however that our Saviour’s will should not be fulfilled, nor can He will a thing, which He knows ought not be.
Pseudo-Augustine · 5th century · Quaest e Vet. et N. Test. 77

Having entered also into the house, He commanded His disciples not to betray who He was to anyone in this unknown region, that they, on whom He had bestowed the grace of healing, might learn by His example, as far as they could, to shrink from the glory of human praise in the shewing forth of their miracles; yet they were not to cease from the pious work of virtue, when either the faith of the good justly deserved that miracles should be done, or the unfaithfulness of the…
Bede · 8th century · in Marc., 2, 30

Read all 12 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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