NAU Matthew 15:27 But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.
Observation: Who would think to call casting out a demon "crumbs from the masters table?" One with great faith! One who understands the greatness of our God! A woman who had seen in the eyes of Jesus the God of Psalm 68:
Psalm 68:4-6 4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts (KJV translates this word heavens), Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him. 5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. 6 God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
Application: What is my understanding of God? What are the crumbs and what is the full meal? Starting a worship team, leading one to Christ, seeing someone be healed of cancer, casting out demons, these are crumbs. I believe the Lord would have me to know this. In contrast, fellowshipping with Christ daily, learning to be an intercessor, and praying without ceasing, I believe these are the full meal deal.
I think of the church. Will we share the crumbs from our masters table? Crumbs for the addict, the abused, and the depressed. Do we have crumbs to spare for the gang members of our inner cities? Is our picture of God big enough to realize that healing for the people and issues that we see as momentous are really just crumbs from our masters table? Have we been pretending to feast on the bounty of our God, like children playing with plastic fruit and bread? What would happen if the we were truly feasting upon the bounty of our God and had crumbs to spare? What kind of miracles would we see? What kind of transformations would happen?
Prayer: Lord Jesus make us a crumby church. Let the bounty of Your blessings dirty the floors of our aisles, hallways, and city streets. And bring the dogs who are hungry for the bread of life. After all, we are all dogs. We have wondered the streets and alleyways of this world. We were once without a home. We were "once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now we are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; we had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now we have RECEIVED MERCY." (1 Peter 2:10)"
And Lord, I pray You would make us ministers of the mercy we have received. Allow us to join you in the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 comment:
Hi Jim,
I appreciate the point of view you are making in this post, but I have a question.
To a Jew of Jesus' day, a "dog" was someone who did not follow the commands of God (ie Gentiles). The fact that Jesus calls her a "dog" shows that at the very least he is acknowleging her lack of obedience to the commands. Yet, he actually uses the word for "puppy", not dog, so he was not saying it with the same tone that the other Jews would have.
I think that he was using this as a teaching example to his disciples to show that faith trumps obedience. But is he teaching that faith replaces obedience? If he was, then why use the canine reference at all?
Shalom,
Jeff
Post a Comment