Well, my dear friend, I believe you might be referring to Matthew 15:26 where we read: “But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Now, I believe that we must interpret these words according to the context of this chapter of Scripture.  I do assure you that the Lord Jesus was not meaning to injure this Gentile woman nor her daughter, but rather was wanting to draw out her excellent faith as an example to many of the Jews of that time who lacked faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

William MacDonald in his commentary on Matthew 15:26-28 says: “To further probe the reality of her faith, Jesus told her that it was not good for Him to turn aside from feeding the Jewish children in order to give bread to Gentile dogs. If this sounds harsh to us, we should remember that, like the surgeon’s scalpel, it was not intended to hurt but to heal. She was a Gentile. The Jews looked upon the Gentiles as scavenging dogs, prowling the streets for scraps of food. However, Jesus here used the word for little pet dogs. The question was, “Would she acknowledge her unworthiness to receive the least of His mercies? Her reply was magnificent. She agreed with His description completely. Taking the place of an unworthy Gentile, she cast herself on His mercy, love, and grace. She said, in effect, “You are right! I am only one of the little dogs under the table. But I notice that crumbs sometimes fall from the table to the floor. Won’t You let me have some crumbs? I am not worthy that You should heal my daughter, but I beseech You to do it for one of Your undeserving creatures.  Jesus commended her for her great faith. While the unbelieving children had no hunger for the bread, here was a self-confessed “doggie” crying out for it. Faith was rewarded; her daughter was healed instantly….”

The “unbelieving children” referred to above were the unbelieving JEWS, God’s children of the House of Israel according to the Old Covenant to whom our Lord Jesus Christ was first sent…the lost sheep of the house of Israel as we see in Matthew 15:24, “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the Jews did not receive their Messiah and instead called that He be crucified. In John 1:11 we read that: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” But now, in Matthew 15 in this exchange with a Gentile woman whom the Jews would have loathed simply because she was not a child of the house of Israel as they were, I believe that the Lord Jesus was wanting to stimulate the faith of the Jews by highlighting the excellent faith of a lowly Gentile. Romans 10 and 11 clearly give the background of the pride of Israel in their heritage and in their devotion to the law rather than to faith (see Romans 11, and particularly verses 11-12 speaking of how God’s extension of mercy to the Gentiles was intended to promote a return to faith in His people, the Jews.) Christ Jesus was born a Jew in Bethlehem, and thus He came to His own people, and it was to this people that He would first minister. But, once they rejected Him, He would turn to the Gentiles to offer grace and mercy to them, and perhaps this interchange with the Gentile woman is a picture of the new covenant in Christ Jesus, resulting in the spreading of the Gospel of salvation through faith in Christ to all mankind (See Romans 11; John 1:10-12; Matthew 28:19).

In summary my dear friend, faith is always the ground upon which both Jew and Gentile must approach God for mercy, and no one who comes to Christ in this way will ever be denied.  Psalm 51:19 tells us, “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.”  This Gentile woman, who would not be expected to approach the Lord at all, showed more faith than the many of God’s chosen people! So, I believe that Christ Jesus exposed her faith and humility by His use of the lowly term of “little dog,” then He rewarded her great faith by healing her child, proclaiming her great faith to all around.  (SF)  (703.4)