Jesus interacts with a Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile. This is a woman of another race. At first it appears that Jesus is defending the idea that people of different races cannot interact, and that his blessings do not extend past the Jewish people. But then we see that Jesus has actually been naming the difference in order to break it down and cross over. Some say Jesus has already removed the walls that separate the races, but we still have to learn how to walk over the rubble and get into each other’s lives with understanding. Jesus knows our tendency to separate out into sameness, and again and again demonstrates the way to reach and befriend those different from us.