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Though we are not told that there were women present at the
Last Supper, there are many instances in the gospels where Jesus
is pictured with women in connection with a meal. It is at a
woman's, Mary's, urgings at a wedding banquet that Jesus performs
his first sign: the extending of the wine. We have already
written of the "woman of the street" who washed Jesus' feet as he
sat at table in Simon the Pharisee's house. We recall, also, the
attentiveness of Mary in conversations with Jesus while Martha
prepared their evening meal at that Bethany home that became a
favorite respite place for Jesus. Mary, momentarily an object of
her sister's scorn, was commended by Jesus for "choosing the
better part." (Luke 10:42)
One woman who spoke of bread will never be forgotten: the
Gentile mother who pled with Jesus to heal her severely epileptic
daughter. We can imagine the situation. Wearied in every nerve
and fiber of her being by the constant care and oversight her
daughter needed, this mother passionately pleaded, "Have mercy on
me, O Lord, Son of David." (Matthew 15:22) She didn't grovel but
approached him with courage and faith. She heard how he had
healed the deaf, the blind, and

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those with disabling maladies of all kinds. And though she was
not a Jew, she had the bravery to believe that Jesus' compassion
stretched beyond race or class. All she could think of in that
moment was that she might not get the chance again to call upon
the healing powers of this godly man.
Jesus' immediate reaction is baffling to us. One scholar
concludes that Jesus was having problems understanding who is
welcome at God's table, and appears to believe that his primary
commission is to his own people. Professor Letty M. Russell says
that people like the Gentile mother witnessed to Jesus the need
for him to expand his ministry. His response to the woman's
pleading? "I was sent only to lost sheep of the house of Israel
... Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the
children's food and give it to the dogs." (Matthew 15:24, 26)
Nowhere else in the gospels do we find Jesus turning away from
need as he appears to be doing with this tormented mother. I
propose another explanation. Jesus was making an object lesson
for the disciples and any other intolerant Jews who might be
listening. This was not the only instance in which Jesus had to
deal with the prejudice of his people reflected in the attitude
of his disciples. A notable instance was when they reacted with
amazement when they found him at mid-day speaking with the
Samaritan woman at the well; and not only speaking with her but
accepting refreshment from her hand!
Now Jesus is confronted by ethnic prejudice again, and he
parodies their own cruel clich‚s before the pleading woman: "Are
we not sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel?" and
"It is not fitting to take the children's bread and cast it to
the dogs" -- very uncharacteristic language for Jesus but common
prejudicial language for a bigoted Jew or a proud Jewish convert
to Christianity.
Hearing their own cruel words coming from the usually
compassionate lips of Jesus should have had great impact with
those biased Jews standing around. It may seem callous for Jesus
to use such an occasion for an object lesson. But I believe it

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is a compliment to this particular woman. For Jesus seems to have
understood that she had the strength, wisdom and instincts to
comprehend that from this loving man this was not a test for her
but for the others.
She persisted, coming and kneeling before him and saying,
"Lord, help me." The very brevity of this entreaty expresses its
urgency all the more poignantly. "Lord, see my child as the puppy
that eats the crumbs from the master's table ..." Yes puppy is
the word that she uses rather than dog, reminding Jesus that it
is not for herself that she is pleading but for a child of God.
And by that she makes the point (as with Jesus, also for the
benefit of those standing by) that every child is God's child
and, when stricken like her own, deserving love, no matter what
its race or origin.
Lesson time is over, and it is God's love and mercy shining
forth from Jesus now. Jesus turns to her and says, "O woman,
great is your faith." (Matthew 15:28) In that hour the woman's
daughter became the healthy little girl that God wanted her to
be.
Jesus was never to use crude, bigoted sayings like those again
and, hopefully, neither would his disciples. Yes, God's table is
for all people.
Another nameless biblical woman who is presented to us in the
context of bread is described only as "the widow of Zarephath."
(1 Kings 17:10-17) The land in which she lived had suffered from
two years of drought, and she and her hungry son were so
desperate that she was gathering bits of straw to boil and eat
when Elijah, drawn and weak, stumbled toward her hut.
Fleeing from Jezebel, Elijah had been languishing by a brook
and eating what some ravens brought him. The brook now was dry,
and Elijah, parched with thirst, made his way to the Gentile
widow's house, as God directed him. Elijah knew that God would
somehow provide for both his needs and those of the destitute
widow and her frail son.

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The discouragement of this mother was readily apparent to
Elijah. She had managed, somehow, to preserve a handful of meal
and a little oil for the inevitable "last meal." How ironic
Elijah's request must have seemed to her, "Fetch me some water
and make some cakes for me and your son." (1 Kings 17:11) What a
test of faith for an anxious and hungry mother!
She perceived Elijah, however, to be a prophet of God. And so,
fearfully but hopefully she prepared to feed Elijah from her
depleted store. Her hope was not misplaced. She was to find that
neither the flask of oil nor the jar of meal would be exhausted
as long as the drought lasted. There was enough for a full year -
- for her son, herself and the prophet! She had "cast her bread
upon waters," and it was returning to her.
The widow of Zarephath's hope in the midst of depressing odds
was the conduit for this miracle. She had given all that she had
when God required it, and because she did not lose hope, God
provided bread.
But the drama was not over. Her son had suffered so much from
malnutrition that he stopped breathing. For a moment her hope was
stretched to its farthest limits. "I am worse off now than before
you came," she said to Elijah. "Have you come to carry out a
sentence upon me for some past sin?" (1 Kings 17:18) Then,
Elijah, who was soon to lay his gift of healing upon his
successor, Elisha, again proved God's healing intent. He said
with deed what he could never have said so effectively with
words: God comes to heal, not to punish. He called upon God to
heal the child "while stretching himself upon him." 1 Kings 17:21
says simply, "The child's breath came into him again."
The Gentile woman's hope had been a channel for God's mercy.
Then Elijah's words, "See, your son lives," revived her spirit
infinitely more than food and drink could ever have. "The word of
the Lord in your mouth is truth!" she exclaimed.
Some of us have grown up in traditions that allude to the
words of the distraught mother who encountered Jesus, in the
confession before communion, "We are not worthy to eat

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the crumbs under your table." Because of the woman's insight, the
confession indicates that no one is worthy and, therefore, all
are considered by God to be worthy to be invited to the Lord's
banquet.
These stories are but two examples of the dignity accorded to
women in the Bible, especially remarkable given the male bias of
that culture! There are, indeed, no restrictions on who can be
conduit for God's instruction to humankind. God is free to choose
anyone to be God's elected messengers to the world. We need to be
open, ready to discard cultural and gender chains to hear the
most "unlikely" speak to us for God.
And because these women are Gentile women, the lesson deepens.
We need to be ready to have the gospel interpreted to us by the
outsider, the marginal ones to whom the good news comes with
fresh meaning and implications. Not only were the disciples
challenged to change by Jesus' mirror to their bigotry, but to
find new perspectives on the breadth of God's love and the
capacity for faith and understanding from the most "unlikely"
sources!
Our calling in Christ before the foundation of the earth
(Ephesians 1:1-14) is for the purpose of letting the whole world
know about the welcomeness at God's Table. The church is not a
new Israel, a holy assembly set apart to the Lord, but the
beginning of a new humankind called to exhibit the new
belongingness offered to all.
It is with purpose that Jesus in his Parable of the Great
Banquet (Matthew 22:1-14) pictures the master sending his
servants out into the highways and hedges and inviting everyone
they could find to the wedding banquet. There is plenty of room
at God's table for all whom God loves!

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