Does anyone have any good commentary on the passage where Jesus calls the woman a “dog”? That part has always troubled me. 

It shows up in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, but not Luke. Luke was written for a primarily Gentile community whereas Matthew and Mark were written for a mostly Jewish and mixed community respectively. My guess would be that it reflects a view that Israel is God’s chosen, and preferred, community, and that the passage is an attempt to explain why Gentiles are allowed in while still preserving the primacy of Israel.

More generally, the Gospels reflect a mixture of oral traditions, oral histories, theologies, and commentaries. They are not biographical in the modern sense. In other words, don’t assume that the story is reflective on an actual event in Jesus’ life (and likewise, don’t assume it isn’t).

In Mark, this actually makes sense. Mark has the lowest Christology of the Evangelists and appears to have believed that Jesus became the Son of God when John baptized him.

Question: if the first gospel was written by Mark in 70 A.D, then why is Matthew placed first in the New Testament?

The Gospels weren't dated and the Church Fathers mistakenly thought Matthew had been written first.

The Order of Love

The first and greatest commandment is to love God. The second is to love people. Great danger arises from confusing this order.

When we love men more than God, we lose even the true meaning of love. Its foundation is swept away. We reduce it to a mere feeling, with all the attendant malleability of emotions. In our misguided love without obedience to God and His Word, we are in truth without love.

Let’s take a look at Matthew 22:34-40/Mark 12:28-34. Jesus gives two commandments and gives them in that order, but what is he responding to?

Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, commandment, singular. But he doesn’t give just one commandment, he gives two and he says they are like each other. The first commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” but the second tells you how to do that, by loving your neighbor as yourself.

In truth, Jesus is telling us what the greatest commandment, singular, is here, because the two commandments are identical.