YEARNING FOR CRUMBS OF MERCY

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In Christ, Mark

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came to Him and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet He could not keep His presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

“First let the children eat all they want,” He told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Then He told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Mark 7:24-30

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I remember the day I came to receive Jesus into my life. It was an exciting but scary time for me.

On one hand, I was thrilled about the way becoming a Christian was changing me from the inside out. My outlook on life and attitudes about others changed with every word of the scriptures I read, every Christian song I listened to, and every injection of discernment and wisdom from the Holy Spirit. My heart was being molded and shaped as I was becoming the new creation Paul writes about in his letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 5:17).

On the other hand, my mind was not quite in step with my heart. I had this feeling of anxiety and uncertainty in my head, a sense that maybe I wasn’t good enough to be a part of the family of Jesus, a troubling sensation that was grounded in my past transgressions and life apart from the Savior I was now coming to.

In my mind, I was hoping and praying for crumbs of mercy from Jesus.

With that, I can totally relate to the Gentile woman who is in today’s scripture passage, a woman who is in desperate need of Jesus and the help only He could bring. Look at these words from Mark’s Gospel:

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet He could not keep His presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

“First let the children eat all they want,” He told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Then He told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.  Mark 7:24-30

As this passage opens, we find that Jesus has departed from the area around the Sea of Galilee and traveled to the northwest to the region of Tyre and Sidon. We get a sense that He was looking for a little peace and quiet as He entered a house with the hope of being unrecognized, His presence a secret.

But as we typically see with Jesus, it was nearly impossible for Him to keep a low profile anywhere, even in a Gentile territory like Tyre and Sidon. For we read where a Greek woman of Syrian Phoenician origin had heard about Jesus being there and came to Him, falling at His feet. She begged Jesus to come to her aid, explaining that her daughter was “possessed by an impure spirit”. She knew Jesus could drive the spirit from her child.

Now we have typically seen Jesus, almost immediately respond by answering the request of the person asking Him for help, especially when it’s evident that the person believes and trusts that Jesus can do what they are asking. But in this instance, Jesus says something that perhaps catches us off guard. Look at His answer to the woman’s request:

“First let the children eat all they want for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

Wow! Did you catch that? In essence, Jesus was rejecting the woman because she was counted among the Jews, those who were God’s chosen, His people, His children. Essentially, He was saying that the Jews got first dibs on the best God had to offer and it wasn’t appropriate for Him to give what God had blessed the Jews with (the bread) to the Gentiles (Jesus referred to as dogs). It wasn’t that He was trying to insult the Gentiles. It’s just that He knew the Jews were first priority. Even the Apostle Paul would write:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16

There was an obvious pecking order in play and what happened next was another amazing show of faith by the woman who was not willing to give up, so much so that she even challenged Jesus’ statement, saying:

“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

It was an incredible statement which showed the woman was willing to settle for any residual from what God could bring through His Son who she referred to as Lord.

In other words, the woman was yearning for any crumbs of mercy Jesus could spare.

The woman’s words reminded me of one of Jesus’ most famous parables, the Parable of the Lost Son. You remember the story, right?

A man had two sons and the younger asked for his share of his father’s inheritance before the father had even died. The father gave his son what he asked for and the son proceeded to go off and blow all the money through wild living. The son became so desperate that he sold himself for labor, feeding pigs in the fields. He became so hungry that he would have settled for the pea pods the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything to eat. At rock bottom, the son decided to return to his father, hoping his dad would receive him back, even if it meant working with the slaves. The son didn’t see himself worthy of his father’s forgiveness and when he met him for the first time after his escapades, he fell down at his father’s feet and confessed his sins. The son yearned for just a crumb of mercy from his dad.

Well, as we know, he got so much more than that, the father celebrating his son’s return with a grand party celebration, so happy that his boy who was once lost had returned home.

Back to our scripture passage where we find the Gentile woman also receiving more than she could have ever hoped for as Jesus rewarded her for the faith she showed and healed her daughter, driving out the demon immediately.

And as I look back on where I was 25 years ago, I’m amazed how much the Lord has blessed me, choosing to use me for His powerful purposes, purposes He could achieve without me. At one time, I yearned for crumbs of mercy and instead, Jesus blessed me with His daily bread, day after day after day, not just allowing me to survive spiritually but thrive.

Friends, maybe you are like me, the Gentile woman, or the lost son. Maybe you feel unworthy of Jesus’ grace and yearning for His crumbs of mercy.

I pray today’s message will bring you hope and encouragement. For Jesus loves when people show faith in Him and rewards that faith with His abundant blessings, blessings grounded in His abundant love.

Amen.  

In Christ,

Mark

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