We, 03/04/15, "Day of Praise"
The woman came and knelt before [Jesus]. "Lord, help me!" she said.
He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. --
Matthew 15:25-28
I'm sure you've heard the one about the insomniac, agnostic, dyslexic. He stayed up all night wondering if there was a dog.
That's a joke. You're at least supposed to groan.
But make no mistake, Jesus is not joking in today's Bible verses when he replied to the Canaanite woman, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
Jesus' reply is tied to what's called the "Scandal of Particularity." In other words, Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who was sent by the Jewish God (who is the only God) to fulfill the Jewish prophecies SO THAT salvation could come to the whole world, including non-Jews, who are otherwise called Gentiles.
Salvation will come through the Jewish Messiah by way of the cross, to which Jesus will be sent by the Jewish (not Gentile) leaders. Pontius Pilate, remember, did not want to crucify Jesus. He merely caved in to the pressure from the Jewish leaders who kept stirring up the Jewish crowd. And being rejected by his own people, Jesus would then be crucified for the sin of the whole world.
I'm not patronizing when I say that I know this is all a hard concept to grasp because it seems like sweet baby Jesus is being mean to a nice old lady who just wants her sweet little daughter healed.
But Jesus is not being mean. He's being focused. On his mission. So that whether we understand all the ins and outs of it all, we can be saved through faith in him, which is exactly what the Canaanite woman shows us and Jesus affirms.
She doesn't understand all the "theological necessity". She just knows that her daughter is sick, and Jesus has the power to heal her daughter.
So she persists. Like the parable of the widow going to the judge. Or the Greek who tells Philip he wants to see Jesus.
And faith in God's goodness and power is what drives persistence. My goodness, faith in God's goodness and power is what drives contentment as the woman doesn't ask for the whole enchilada. She just asks for a crumb from the table. It's kind of like the woman who says, "If I can just touch the hem of his cloak, then my bleeding will be healed."
Friends, it's important that you pursue a deeper understanding of the faith for all sorts of valid reasons. But today's Bible verses are a call for you to simply believe in the goodness and power of God through Jesus and, therefore, a call for you to persist in coming to the Lord and saying out of deep and strong belief, "Lord, just a crumb from you today is better than anything of any size that the world has to offer."
And, as you do believe and persist, the Lord will feed and fill your soul today, as he did for an old, single woman and her daughter long ago.
And THAT, my Friends, is no joke!
Praise God!
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