_CONTEMPTUOUS WORDS_
MATTHEW xv. 21-28.
I wonder if this word "dogs" was my Saviour's word, or had He picked it up
from the disciples that He might cast it away again for ever? Did He use
it that He might reveal its ugliness, and so banish it from human speech?
As Jesus and His disciples came along the road the Master walked before
them. "And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders!" And
the disciples whispered to one another, "Here comes one of the dogs!" And
the Master overheard it, and His tender spirit grieved. And there and then
He resolved to help the woman and at the same time cleanse the men.
Is there not therefore something half-ironical in our Saviour's use of the
word? When He spake of the woman as a "dog," and of the disciples as "the
children," would there not be something significant in His very looks and
tones? These cold, unfeeling men "the children," and this tender yearning
woman the "dog"!
When the Lord used the disciples' word they began to be ashamed, and in
the fire of their shame their self-conceit was consumed. He turned with
impatient longing to the woman, "O, woman, great is thy faith; be it unto
thee even as thou wilt."