“Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 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.”
We have a small dog of the Basenji breed, named Pippin. When it comes time for a meal at our house, Pippin finds a place to lay outside of the kitchen area in obedience to the ‘no dogs allowed during mealtime’ rule.
When the meal is done however, and when he sees that we’ve all gotten up from the table and begun to clear the food and dishes away, Pippin makes his appearance under and around the table performing what I call ‘Crumb Patrol’. He wants to get at any morsels that might have found their way to the floor as we ate, before we can get out the broom and deny him the treat.
Little does he realize that he is the broom, and allowing him to do crumb patrol usually saves us that small amount of work.
I almost called this sermon ‘Crumb Patrol’, but I changed the title as I thought it through and concluded that since the sermon is not about our dog the title should not center on him either.
I open this way though, because we’ll be talking about someone whose desperation brought them to a faith that believes God can and will give from His abundance, even though the crumbs from His table would suffice.
WHAT THEY WERE DOING THERE
Jesus and His disciples had gone to the far north of the Galilean region for the purpose of getting away from the multitudes. This was late in the earthly ministry of Jesus and it is logical to assume that He wanted the time to speak privately and directly to the twelve, preparing them for what was to transpire soon in Jerusalem and establish the truths in them that the Holy Spirit would later bring to the surface for their own understanding and for what they as the Apostles of Jesus would go on to teach.
Verse 21 says that Jesus withdrew with them into the district of Tyre and Sidon, and that word ‘withdrew’ is used numerous times in the Gospels in reference to His going to a quiet place to pray, or getting into a boat to leave one region for another, or to take His disciples away to a quiet place for teaching.
It is during this time that He feeds the multitudes miraculously, it is where near Caesarea Philippi He extracts from Peter the confession of belief in Him as the Christ of God, it is here that Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain and is transfigured before them as He meets with Moses and Elijah to discuss His imminent departure from Jerusalem, meaning His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.
So if you have a Bible with maps in the back you can go to whichever one shows that area to the far north and along the east bank of the Mediterranean you will see Tyre and Sidon due west of Mount Hermon, and it is probably near the border or just over the border of this region where they went, rather than all the way to the sea.
It is Gentile territory, and in fact they are now among people who are descendants of those who had warred with the Children of Israel when they first came into the land led by Joshua.
They are the Canaanites, and this was a Canaanite woman as mentioned in our text.
You may imagine what must have been going through the minds and perhaps passing around the disciples in whispers as they continued farther north and into this region in particular. They may have been getting a ‘I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore’ feeling. But imagine their disgust when this Gentile dog, - for ‘dogs’ is what the Jews called Gentiles and especially the groups around them that they despised so much, - when this ‘dog’ came out ‘shouting’, it says, and trying to get the attention of their Master.
Well I said ‘imagine their disgust’, but we don’t have to imagine very hard, do we? The text records their lack of compassion; and I should remind you here that Matthew was among them so this is not only a first-hand account, but it is a humble admission that he, along with the others, still weren’t getting it.
She has already stated her case. It says she ‘came out’, indicating that she, having heard the stories about what this man was doing in Galilee, and apparently having heard that He was now in the area, either ‘came out’ of her house or more likely ‘came out’ to where Jesus was with His disciples, and she pleads. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed”.
So they have heard what her heart’s cry is, and their immediate response is to turn to Jesus and say “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us”
Was she? I mean, I don’t want to split hairs here and maybe I am reading something into it, but according to the text of the inspired word of God, she was talking to Jesus. She called Him ‘Lord’. She called Him ‘Son of David’. We’ll talk more about these terms she used …but she wasn’t talking to the rest of them, was she?
Yet they take personal offense. “…she keeps shouting at us”. Oh, how embarrassing. How terrible that someone outside their sphere of friends and national family wants something from God. Remember, they’ve already come to the conclusion that they are following the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter hasn’t said that yet. It comes in the next chapter. But there were no ‘Who is Jesus?’ seminars to attend between now and then; so I think it’s safe to say they believed they were disciples of the long-awaited Messiah, and this was God they were keeping company with.
And even though they’ve been with Jesus for a couple of years, and even though they’ve seen Jesus treat the down and out, the despised, the dregs of society with compassion and friendship, still, they can only think of shutting this woman up and shutting her out.
How often in the history of the church have those closest to Jesus been the ones most responsible for blocking people from coming to Him?
Perhaps they took His initial silence as a sign that Jesus wished she’d just shut up also. But since they had not been addressed by anyone yet, since they were not the ones with either the petition or the power to answer it, perhaps they should have stood back and let the Master deal with it from the start.
C’mon. Don’t we – and I do include myself in this – don’t we often decide in our own minds who is worthy of Jesus and who is not?
I will confess something to you here. The morning I was working on this very sermon I heard on the news that a little eight year old girl who had been missing for several days had been found stuffed in a suitcase and discarded along a country road, and my concern for the eternal soul of whoever did that to her was far, far, far from my mind. The things I would have wanted to do to that person if I could be within arm’s reach; those are the things that were going through my mind.
Should that not teach me something considering I had to then come to write this sermon? I’m not the girl’s parent, I’m not even a police officer nor do I any longer play a role in the judicial system. No, I’m a preacher of the Gospel. So what should have been my response? What should be the heart response of any born again believer in Christ?
Exactly what should have been the response of the disciples? That’s easier for us to answer, isn’t it? That was a long time ago and far away and anyway, we’re old hands at laughing at the pre-Pentecost disciples, aren’t we?
So we quickly reply. They should have had compassion for the woman and her daughter, and either silence while Jesus responded to her, or prayer that He would do what only He could do since only He had authority and power over demons.
Is that how we react to the news of the pain and cruelty and injustice of the world? Or do we wish sudden and cataclysmic judgment on the guilty and then go to church?
Christ-followers, I say this not as a cliché but literally, but for the grace of God, we would all be scheduled for eventual cataclysmic, devastating judgment and assignment to eternal Hell.
I’ve had to remind myself on more than one occasion in recent months and years that Jesus said to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors, because while we were His enemies Christ died for us (Romans 5:10), and how far from that am I, when I’m seething inside with desire for the destruction of a total stranger who has not wronged me at all; but who needs the application of God’s grace and life from the Holy Spirit?
Ok. I took just a little bit of a side trail, but it was parallel and we never lost sight of the main path, so let’s get back. We’ve witnessed the initial reaction of the disciples to this woman’s persistent pleas for help from Jesus but the rest of the exchange is all between Jesus and the woman as the disciples apparently stand back in chagrin and watch the Master work.
THE WOMAN AND HER FAITH
In her demeanor and in her speech this Gentile woman attributes several characteristics to Jesus. Let’s look at them
1. Royalty – She called Jesus ‘Son of David’. It was a Messianic title, and it referred to the prophetic expectation that the Messiah would be descended from king David and sit on his throne.
Now it is interesting that this Gentile woman would use these Jewish terms. She was appealing to Him, as it were, on Jewish ground. This may have even been the reason for His initial silence. If a Gentile knew this much about the Jews and the expectations they had of the coming of the Messiah, even to the extent of using this Messianic title, she must also know that salvation is of the Jews (as Jesus said to the woman at the well in Samaria). So His silence may have been the extending of an opportunity to plead her case. When Jesus did speak His first words were to confirm to her what she probably already knew or at least suspected.
In any case, she addressed Him according to His royal lineage, Son of David, and that alone is remarkable.
2. Divinity – She called Him ‘Lord’ twice. Now there is one word that is translated ‘Lord’ throughout the New Testament, and sometimes it means master, or generally someone in authority. But in verse 25 she bowed down before Him and said, “Lord, help me”. And what I’ll be saying in a minute about divine authority will put a cap on my argument for this usage of the term “Lord” being an acknowledgement of His Divinity.
3. Sovereignty – in her rebuttal to Jesus’ remark about not giving the children’s bread to the family pet, she said that even the dogs get to lick up the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. Now she could have said, ‘family table’ or just ‘the table’, and you may say I’m reaching back for this one, but if she’s willing to accept that giving her, a Gentile, that which was sent for the family of Israel is akin to giving the children’s bread to the dog, then I think it’s safe to say that in her choice of words she is acknowledging that He is the Master and all good things come from His hand, whether to His chosen nation or the nations of the world.
4. Divine Authority – this is the one that, as I indicated a moment ago, gives credence to my argument for her intent in the language she chooses. In just the fact that she has come out to Jesus, loudly and persistently pleading with Him concerning her daughter’s plight; and in the fact that she has not addressed any other person present but come directly to Him, she is confessing that He is the One with the spiritual authority to command spirits.
Now I am not saying by this that it was knowledge out of her own perceptive mind. She had probably heard many stories about the man in Galilee who was casting out demons and healing people. The point is, she believed the stories, if that’s the case, and she believed that He had the authority, and she believed that He could do this for her daughter, and she believed that He would do this for her daughter.
So she has attributed to Jesus in her address to Him, Divinity, royalty, sovereignty; and furthermore, she has personalized those attributes by calling Him Lord and worshiping Him. This is an expression of the same faith by which Abraham was declared justified, when he believed that God’s promises are true and that He is able to carry out what He says He will do.
We know this especially because of what Jesus now attributes to the woman. She attributed 4 things to Him; Jesus attributes one thing to her – faith.
Great faith.
“O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish”.
Now I do not mean to tell you that He attributed faith to her because of the way she addressed Him. Oh, no!
Jesus praised her faith when, by her response to His comment she indicated that whether or not she only deserved a crumb, a crumb from Him would be enough.
Remember, her poor little girl is being ‘cruelly demon possessed’. She was desperate. This was a big thing. The situation was out of control. She was helpless, and if Jesus refused, her daughter would have gone on in abject misery until she died or the demon destroyed her. So it took pretty big faith to in essence say, ‘just a crumb is all I need’.
In C.S. Lewis’s story of Prince Caspian, near the end of the book and after a great battle, the noble talking mouse, Reepicheep, discovers that his tail has been cut off.
He only notices it as he stands before Aslan the great lion. Embarrassed at his condition he petitions Aslan to do something about it, if anything can be done.
At first Aslan has a little fun with the mouse, telling him that the new shortened tail becomes him. When Reepicheep repeats his request Aslan says, “I have sometimes wondered, friend, whether you do not think too much about your honor”.
Well, Reepicheep continues his plea by pointing out that being very small the mice must defend and guard their dignity for it is all they have in a world where everyone else is so big and likely to take advantage of them.
Then, the other mice around Reepicheep draw their swords, and when Aslan asks them why they have done so their spokesperson declares that if their commander is doomed to live life without a tail, they too would cut off their tails so that he might not be so disgraced.
Finally, Aslan says, “Ah! You have conquered me.” and he restores Reepicheep’s tail.
This account before us reminds me of that portion of Lewis’ story, and I even wonder if he wasn’t thinking of this Canaanite woman when he wrote it.
I can imagine the sparkle of humor she might have been seeing in the eye of Jesus when He tested her with this assertion that what He had was for the children of Israel.
And I can imagine the smile that may have begun to tease the corner of her mouth as she realized this was a test and He was going to do it – and she said, ‘just a crumb’.
He said that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. He was sent.
But she came out. She came out to the Son of David, who alone had authority over the spirits, and her great faith told her that all she needed was to be allowed crumb patrol. Because a crumb from the Master’s table is enough.
WHAT HE AFFIRMED TO THE DISCIPLES
I just want to talk for a minute or two about what the disciples had affirmed to them in all of this.
In so doing I have to back up to the earlier verses of chapter 15 and have you take note of the teaching of Jesus there.
He had been confronted by some Pharisees and Scribes who accused His disciples of being defiled because they neglected to perform certain hand-washing rituals before eating, and in response Jesus had pointed out their own defilement which, coming out of their hearts served to defile their religion.
Then at Peter’s request Jesus explains to the disciples themselves that it’s not what goes into the stomach that defiles, but that which comes out of the heart.
So by this trip into Gentile territory and His interaction with this most despised person, who is not only a Canaanite, but a woman, which is a double whammy in that society and in their minds, Jesus is demonstrating in action what He has taught with His words.
I wonder if later on, when Peter was praying on the rooftop of Simon and had the vision of the animals being lowered in a sheet and the voice from heaven telling him to kill and eat, if his mind went back to this lesson in the Gentile region.
You may not be aware of the incident to which I refer, so let’s read just a part of it. Turn to Acts 10 with me and let’s read verses 9-15.
“On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; 11 and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, 12 and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. 13 A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” 15 Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”
Well this happened three times and while Peter was still trying to make sense of it, the men who had been sent by Cornelius came to the door asking for him, and he went with them to the house of Cornelius the Gentile, and that whole household heard the Gospel and was saved, and Peter finally got it. Read Acts 10:34-43
“Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36 “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)— 37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. 38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40 “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
Do you think maybe Peter’s mind flashed on the Canaanite woman, there in verse 38 when he preached “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
I think it’s quite possible.
MORE THAN CRUMBS
The fact is, the truth that remains to be taught goes far beyond our text and beyond this visit of the Son of David to this Gentile region on this day in history; and it goes beyond the faith of the Canaanite woman and the grace of God extended to deliver her daughter from evil spirits.
For Jesus went from there to Jerusalem, where He suffered and died to pay the penalty for the sins of that Canaanite woman and of the person who stuffed that little girl in the suitcase, and of yours and mine, and He came forth in glorious resurrection from the grave and ascended into Heaven to take His rightful place with the Father, and He sent the Holy Spirit as promised to give life to and live in all who believe.
This is so much more than crumbs, friends.
Because God, ‘…being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Eph 2:4-7
Where once He gave bread to the hungry masses, He has given Himself, the Bread of Life so that all who believe in Him will never again hunger nor thirst.
Where once He delivered of demon possession and oppression in those who came to Him one by one, He has now, by the work of His cross, crushed the head and broken the power of the evil one himself, who now flees from those who resist him firm in the faith and submitted to God.
Where once He came to the lost sheep of Israel and where once the oracles of God were for the Jews, now salvation goes out to all who believe, and God is revealed as One who shows no partiality, but answers faith in the affirmative wherever He finds it.
Where once it was sufficient for a Gentile woman of faith to be content with the crumbs from the Master’s table, He now prepares a place for all His called ones, who eagerly await the day when He will announce that all has been made ready and call us all to the dinner table to partake of His glorious abundance for ever and ever without end (Matt 22:4, 1 Cor 5:7-8).
This is our provision in Christ, brothers and sisters, Jew and Gentile, slave and freeman. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and all who come to Him in faith will enter as children into the Kingdom and as heirs and joint-heirs with the Son, enjoy the glorious abundance of Heaven, and glorify His name forever.
