Case studies – Room for one

Mathilde Di Matteo, 69, retired Latin teacher, Naples: “My mother and father were each one of eight or nine brothers and sisters. By contrast, my daughter Rosa has just one daughter. I am the principal carer for my granddaughter Flavia, 12. I pick her up from school every day and look after her until 10 p.m., when her mother, a corporate lawyer, returns from work. In the summer, I take her to the seaside for a month.“Her parents visit at weekends. It’s lovely to spend so much time together but I worry that Flavia spends too much time with adults and might benefit from having brothers and sisters. I’ve raised my own children and I thought when I retired early I would be able to have a rest. I don’t begrudge any of the time I spend with Flavia but it would be n

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User Comments (1)

Comment by: Harold

Posted: 26/08/2023 08:40:01

Could Matthew 15.24, 'I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (RV) be understood as a question to the disciples. In the previous verse the disciples had told Jesus to 'send her away'. Is Jesus continuing the question (perhaps rhetorical) he had put to them at v 16: 'Are you even yet without understanding? In other words Jesus was asking his disciples, who were irked by the importuning of the Canaanite woman, to whom was His mission ? What is their understanding.
They don't answer but the women does. Jesus' reply to her about the dogs maybe a bit of banter to shock further the sensibilities of his disciples (who may well have used this term about pagans etc).
The foreign woman tells us something about Jesus' person and mission; she assists Him in its enunciation just as the Samaritan does at John 4. vv25-30 then v 34