Jesus said to the Canaanite woman, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Rarely do we come across a statement by Jesus that appears to be both demeaning and disrespectful. It was not like Jesus to refer to a certain community of people as ‘dogs.’ It was also unlike Jesus to fail to come to the aid of someone who was desperately in need of his saving services simply because that individual did not share in his socio-political-religious views. The good news is that the encounter had a happy ending. But more than the happy ending, it became a teachable moment for those who witnessed it as well as for us who are reading about it today. Because of her resilience, something that even surprised Jesus, the Canaanite woman became a model of faith and prayer. 
If we were to find ourselves in the Canaanite woman’s shoe, most of us would have given up or become upset after Jesus’ initial response. Most of us would have even been tempted to call Jesus names for calling us ‘dogs.’ Maybe the woman was upset and hurt, but she did not let her feelings overshadow her daughter’s need for wellness. Despite Jesus’ response that might have come across as somewhat derogatory and rude, the Canaanite woman kept her cool and pressed Jesus to act on behalf of her daughter. Even after being demeaned and ‘disrespected,’ she still referred to him as ‘Lord.’ She still believed in his ability to heal her daughter. It was a show of trusting faith that had a big impression on Jesus who was then prompted to grant her request even as he exclaimed: ‘ O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done to you as you wish.’  
While the healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter was made possible because of the woman’s faith, it also pointed to the fulfillment of God’s salvific vision for all peoples. In the Second reading, Paul reminds the Romans of the importance of his special call as an apostle to the Gentiles (to which the Romans belonged). He had brought them the good news that with the coming of Jesus, they too had been included in God’s redemptive plan. Salvation by God (also known as a visitation by the Lord) was experienced in the curing and healing of those who were sick, in the feeding of the hungry, as well as in the raising of the dead. In the old dispensation, this was a privilege that was only available to the citizens of the elected nation, Israel. The Canaanite woman belonged to a people who until then had been considered ‘outsiders’ when it came to salvation. While the statement by Jesus does echo this assumption, it also points to the possibility that such ‘outsiders’ could also reap the benefits of God’s visitation. But such benefits were to come their way only after the ‘children’ had had their fill. It was an assertion that the Canaanite woman was not willing to let go unchallenged. While she did not contest the fact that the children needed to be fed first, she also believed it was possible that the scraps from the children’s table could be given to the ‘dogs’ even as the children were eating. And she was right. For such was the vision God had when God elected Israel: “… through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed…” (cf. Genesis 22:18). It is the very message that was the content of prophet Isaiah’s oracle that we hear in the First Reading. 
Speaking a message of hope to a community that had returned from the exile, the Lord, through the prophet, reminds the community of her obligation to the terms of the covenant. The remnant community had to ensure that their lives were shaped by the dictates of their call as God’s elect. To a community whose subjugation to other powers had made her less exclusive as she had been earlier on, this meant opening up her ‘reserves’ of blessing to the nations. The time had come for the community to take her place as a ‘gateway’ for the nations to come to the knowledge of the Lord God. As partner with God to the covenant, this remnant community needed to use her exilic experience to proclaim the good news that regardless of origin or social conditions, God’s salvation was now being offered to all. The only thing that one needed to do was to believe (have faith). 
The healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter was a demonstration of the woman’s faith in Jesus as the Messiah. It was also a demonstration of Jesus’ universal messiahship. In Jesus, God was reconciling the world to the Godself, and things that hitherto had been deemed impossible were taking place. Men and women of every nation on the face of the earth were staking their claim as heirs to the kingdom. This was the good news that was at the center of Jesus proclamation. And it is the good news whose recipients we have become. May we rejoice in the knowledge that we too have been found worthy to be counted as sons and daughters of God.