Even the Dogs Eat

Even the Dogs Eat

Matthew 15:21-28 T Lent 2

INI

There’s one good trait that sinners in the church and dogs have in common: they’re beggars. And most often, they know who to come begging to. In our home, Rachel and I both let the household pets get the scraps. But most often our dogs hover around me – they know that in addition to the scraps, I’ll let them lick the plate if they beg hard enough.

The Canaanite woman demonstrates these attributes of household pets – and we’d do well to imitate her. After Jesus had gotten into a spat with the Pharisees, Jesus withdrew from the holy lands and found respite in Gentile territory. Mark’s Gospel mentions that Jesus was eating at someone’s house when the Canaanite woman came begging for Jesus to heal his daughter’s demon possession.

The region of Tyre and Sidon historically hated God and His people. The region was well known to be a place of pride, and extreme pagan idolatry. Thus, it probably shouldn’t surprise us that this woman’s daughter was demon possessed. Presumably, she’d tried to have the pagan priests and priestesses there in the region heal her daughter. But it was to no avail.

She had heard that Jesus of Nazareth was in her hometown. And we don’t know much about who this woman was or if she had heard portions of the Old Testament Scriptures, but she knew enough that the Holy Spirit had led her to have an incredible belief in the person and work of Jesus.

First, she confesses Jesus to be the Israelite Messiah. She calls Him “O Lord, Son of David.” That’s not a title that’s just thrown around. In fact, there’s only a couple of other healings where this title is boldly assigned to Jesus. It took an incredible amount of faith in what Jesus is accomplishing to call Him such a name. And as Romans 10:9 tells us, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” However, Jesus is initially silent to her requests.

Most people will take Jesus’ silence on the Canaanite woman as Him being rude. Or that Jesus is just testing her to bring out her faith to stand the test and trial so that Jesus might praise her faith. However, we shouldn’t think as if Jesus is holding a treat in his hand and moving it higher and higher to make the dog jump to its max capacity before rewarding it.

Perhaps we may perceive our trials and temptations in such a way. Maybe we interpret the seeming silence that the Lord responds to us in our prayers as some sort of trick – that the Lord wants us to jump higher before He rewards us with a treat. We may approach the Lord in prayer with similar requests as the Canaanite woman – “Lord have mercy, and take away my illness.  Have mercy and take away obstacles in my life. Have mercy and send your Holy Spirit to bring others into the household of faith.” There’s never a shortage of things we pray and ask for – even when we know that what we ask for aligns with the will of God. So, what gives?

Paul could relate. He pleaded with the Lord three times to take away the thorn in his flesh. We don’t know what his thorn was, but we know it caused a great deal of suffering for Paul. But instead of fulfilling that request, the Lord let it remain – to keep Paul humble. I’m sure it seemed like silence to Paul. But the fact of the matter is, the Lord often does His best work on us in silence. So, the Lord reminded Paul what He often reminds us – “my grace is sufficient for you.”

Why the Lord delays in answering prayer or in fulfilling His will in our lives is a mystery beyond our understanding. But the silence didn’t shoo away the Canaanite woman. And neither does my silence shoo away my dog from begging at the table.

So, the Canaanite woman pressed on – she kept begging. So much so, the disciples asked Jesus to just give her what she wanted so that she’d leave them alone. Then, Jesus responded to the disciples request first – within earshot of the Canaanite woman. He said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Jesus was right – He’s the Son of David. He’s the Davidic King and Messiah for Israel. Not for the people of Tyre and Sidon who’ve worshipped idols.

After her continued pleas for help, the Lord said to her – “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” At this point, a dog would go beg at a different table. Because it didn’t seem they were getting anywhere. Perhaps the table of the Lord wasn’t the place for her to get bread. But this woman’s faith was so great because she knew there was no other table to beg from. She knew that THIS Master gave in abundance.  She knew that she couldn’t go anywhere else to get what this Master had. Yes, Jesus came for Israel. But the blessings that come from this man’s cup runs over the brim and spills on everyone else – and she knows that’s all she needs. She’d be happy to be the dog that gets a crumb. So, she says “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”

She agreed with Jesus’ mission. He’s the Messiah for the people of Israel. The bread He brings belongs to them. But she knows that when He brings bread, there’s an overabundance! Ironically, this story is sandwiched between the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew’s Gospel. Each time Jesus multiplied bread for the crowds, there were whole baskets of bread and fish leftover – when all he started with just a few loaves and fish. With Jesus, there’s abundance and generosity. And she knew THAT about this Messiah. So, her faith confessed as its put in the front of your bulletin “Yes, Lord! You are absolutely right! It would be bad indeed to try to deny or contradict God’s plan to save His ancient people Israel. You are Israel’s Messiah, and the bread you give belongs to the children. I agree and believe, and I don’t want the children’s bread, because when the children eat, the dogs also get to eat, don’t they? The bread of the Messiah is so abundant and so overflowing that parts of it fall from the table onto the floor. Everyone should know that – I know that. The bread belongs to the children, and when the children eat, the crumbs fall on the floor and belong to the dogs. And the crumbs are enough for me and my daughter. We need nothing more than the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table.”

The Canaanite woman knew that a mere crumb from Jesus was enough to save her and her daughter. And what is it that He gives us? He doesn’t give mere crumbs. He gives us Himself as a sacrificial offering – that when we pray for God’s mercies to shower over us, God will always give us what we ask for, or something better. That according to His will, His mission, and His messianic goal, He might bring us to Himself for all eternity.

So let’s approach the Lord as dogs who know who to get the crumbs from. We come to His table not as entitled guests, but as unworthy beggars. The crumbs are enough at God’s table. Let us have the confidence in the Lord’s abundant grace and provision as He richly feeds us here today with His body and blood – that being fed and nourished at this table, these crumbs may save us.

The Canaanite woman begged for crumbs and received a feast. We too, come as beggars – yet Christ fills us with Himself. And that is more than enough.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston