Matthew 15
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
I am Jealous of your Dog.
We live in a time where pop culture has flipped the meaning of certain words in our language to mean the opposite. Even our most mature citizens must traverse the nuisances of language in order to navigate daily communications in their lives. With the advent of the internet these slang terms have moved into the global community with the speed of light.
It has always been the oppressed and marginalized people that have empowered themselves through the use or some would say miss-use of language. It is as if in the midst of great oppression the creative gifts of people come forth and flip the meaning of words as a way of expressing hidden power against the oppressing class.
A few examples of this are
The slang for Cripplin … means awesome, really good, or a walk
The Slang for Brodown night …. means a boy’s out night
The Slang for Aiight: means That’s just "all right."
The Slang for Peeps --- means it is just short for people
The Slang for Ill ---- means that it’s cool tight sweet
The slang for dawg is to mean our best friend, my brotha, my homie,
Then to say I am jealous of your dawg is to say I am jealous of your best friend or homie!
Now I must admit this message has a bit of a personal confession in it. I do admit I am somewhat jealous of my family’s dog. You see I have a degree in dogology and I have studied the different dogs that have come into our house. This little dog named Basil makes me jealous and I admit it….
1) I noticed he gets his food and water brought to him everyday at the same time! Now me, I might have to wait for mine, sometimes they feed me in the morning, sometimes its noon, some days I have to eat out at the restaurant, but Basil gets his food everyday at the same time, in the same place.
2) They bring basil his food, sometimes they bring me mine, but most of the time they call me and I have to come and get it. Some times I even have to fix it myself. I am jealous of Basil.
3) Every time they come into the house they pat basil on the head and tell him what a good boy he is, sometimes they even give him a treat just for being a dog. Nobody ever pats me on the head and tells me how good I am, and I never get treats for doing nothing.. I am jealous of this dog.
4) Every day 2-3 times a day they take basil outside for a walk. I can’t remember the last time somebody took me for a walk. They usally send me for a walk, go walk to the mail box, go walk and take the trash out… I am jealous of this dog.
5) When basil makes a mess, they run and clean up his mess and try to hide it from me. When I make a mess and leave something laying around, everybody wants to fuss at me.
This is why I am jealous of this dog.
6) when basil jumps of the couch everybody thinks it’s cute or funny, when I put my feet on the couch everybody tell me to put my feet on the floor, I am jealous of this dog!
7) when basil barks everybody wants to run see what’s wrong, what does he need, when I bark every body tells me to shut up! I am jealous of this dog!
8) They give Basil a bath, and take him out to get his hair cut, and they put little bows and ribbons on Basil and take pictures of him. I have to take my own bath, get my own hair cuts, and nobody puts ribbons on me and takes my pictures.
In this text we have this Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus against all odds. She is in a place where she is not supposed to be, looking for help for her sick daughter. The disciples do not want her there, tradition says she should not be there, and even Jesus says it is not fit for her to be there.
When your loved one is sick and in need of healing, it will cause you to go some places you feel like you do not belong. A sick loved one will cause you to do some things you would not otherwise do. You will sacrifice your pride, your traditions, your thinking, your time, your space, your place, in order to help a sick loved one. Some people will try to make you feel you are not worthy of your healing. They will try to make you feel like you deserve to be sick. They will try to make you feel like Jesus does not want you to be healed. But you have got to have great faith like this woman who just made it up in her mind, I am going to do what ever it takes to help my daughter. They might try to put me out, they might call me names, they might look down upon me, but I am going to get help for my child. It does not matter what the odds are, it does not matter what my past has been like, it does not matter what everyone around me is saying I believe if I can just get to the master I can get help!
1) She knew her daughter had a spiritual problem. She was full of the devil. She didn’t try to sugar coat it. She didn’t try to pretend she was somebody she wasn’t. She knew she needed help.
2) She knew who Jesus was… thou son of David. If you need to deal with the Devil, it’s good to know who Jesus is! It’s good to know where to find him.
3) She didn’t mind asking Jesus for help! You have not because you ask not! We lose our blessings sometimes because we fail to ask! Knock and it shall be opened unto you, ask and you shall receive!
4) If you don’t get an answer right away, do not give up! Notice the text says, Jesus did not answer her at first he was just quite. If you do not get the answer you are looking for right away, do not give up!
5) The disciples tried to discourage her and get Jesus to send her away! Don’t let the people around you who are supposed to be helping you, discourage you! Your faith has got to overcome your fear! If folk want to shut down your praise get louder with your praise!
6) She was crying and Praying and asking but nothing happened. Then she started worshipping him, and he spoke to her. It was the worship that got the break thru, without the worship she would not have been able to talk with him.
7) She was told that it was not worthy to give the meat that was meant for the children of the kingdom to the dogs.
If she had not been in worship she would have just went away mad and hurt!
If she had not been in worship she would have got hung up on his words!
If she had not been in worship she would felt un worthy of her deliverance!
If she had not been in worship she would have felt unwanted and out of place!
Worship draws you into a since of belonging
Worship makes you feel wanted and loved by God!
Worship reassures you God is for you!
Worship gives you the boldness to ask for your help!
Now look at what she said … Truth! She agreed she was not deserving!
She agreed she did not belong there!
She agreed she was an outsider!
But she said even the dogs get the crumbs from the table!
It was if she was saying I am jealous of the dogs, because they at least get the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.
Jesus said, Great is thy faith! Be it unto you, and her daughter was healed that same hour!
IT was her faith that got the attention of Jesus!
He called her faith great faith!
You can have great faith!
Why would you let the dogs of life eat from the masters table, and you go hungry?
You should be jealous enough of the dogs,
You should be jealous enough of your best friends,
To at least want the crumbs from the masters table!
Come and get your healing this is your hour!
