Be that as it may, when the poor woman came crying to Him, He answered
her not a word. His disciples besought Him to send her away--and I am
inclined to think that they wished Him to grant her what she asked,
simply to be rid of her. "Send her away," they said, "for she crieth
after us." Our Lord, we learn from St Mark, did not wish to be known in
that place just then. The poor woman, with her crying, was drawing
attention to them, and, perhaps, gathering a crowd. Somewhat noisy and
troublesome, perhaps she was, in her motherly eagerness. But our Lord
was still seemingly stern. He would not listen, it seemed, to His
disciples any more than to the heathen woman. "I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel." So our Lord said, and (what is
worth remembering) if He said so, what He said was true. He was the King
of the people of Israel, the Royal Prince of David's line; and, as a man,
His duty was only to His own people. And this woman was a Greek, a Syro-
phenician by nation--of a mixed race of people, notoriously low and
profligate, and old enemies of the Jews.
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