Thanks for this great article shedding some light and differrent perspectives on one of the most troubling passages of the New Testament! You have given me food for thought.

I turn to The Message to better study difficult passages, understanding that this is a paraphrase, yet Peterson worked from the original Gree and Hebrew texts. Here is a little of this text in The Message:

"He was barely inside when a woman who had a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, begging for help. The woman was Gree, Syro-Pheonician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter. He said, 'Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there's any left over, the dogs get it."

I still don't know exactly how to take the scripture, except that we are all unworthy of grace but Jesus dispenses it to everyone anyway. As Christians we believe Jesus is God, and God can seem very confusing and unfair sometime, not only in scripture but as he works in our lives. We just have to accept that we see through a glass darkly, there is much behind the scenes that we don't know, and our faith is in the person of Jesus rather than the various interpretations of Scripture.

Thanks again for posting such a great article!