In this Article I consider a story from the New Testament for what it might say to international law. A woman of Syrophoenician origin, whose daughter is possessed by an evil spirit, asks Jesus for help. Jesus protests, “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” The woman replies, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Jesus is impressed by this reply and tells the woman her daughter is well. The way in which the story unfolds is crucial because Jesus’ statement is troubling—it could only have been understood as an insult. More critical interpretations say the story folds back on itself: the invitation to life and love implicit in the story undermines the denigrating statement of even the founder and by implication, but only just so, the structures, conceptual and institutional, that make such a statement possible. The Syrophoenician woman’s story implies that those orders and outcomes where some are at the table and others or not, or where some get loaves while others get crumbs, are unacceptable. It also holds out the possibility for reconciliation. I then use the story as a lens through which I examine three recent visions for international law: international law as incorporating a theory of resistance; international law as the temporary resolution of paradox; and international law in service of a comparative-capabilities approach to justice. Much in these visions resonates with the themes of the story; at the same time, each of them raises questions of identity, which in turn leads to questions of alterity, which in turn leads to issues of reconciliation which need to be addressed much more fully. Finally, I review a recent attempt by the theologian, Miroslav Volf to articulate a heuristic of making room for the other even though this means being open to changing one’s own identity. I conclude that Volf’s articulation of that heuristic does not present a final solution to the issues under discussion here, but I consider whether, as with the encounter between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, so the current “negotiation” among nations, histories and modes of thought offers the possibility for insight and for reconciliation.