She may have once been a beauty queen but I doubt she was looking her best when she came to see Jesus. Care lines may have accentuated eyes bloodshot from crying, making her face look like wrapping paper used one too many times. Her once silken hair was probably prematurely grey and natty, hardly distinguishable from the twine she used to pull her hair back. Who had time to look good when your daughter, your beloved daughter was suffering from demon possession? Still, no self-respecting woman would have blurted out what this Canaanite woman did: “I’m a dog.” Yes, that’s what she acknowledged after Jesus himself called her that.
“Whoa. Wait a minute, Pastor! Did you just say that Jesus called a woman a dog?” Yes, and you heard it for yourself when I read the Gospel lesson earlier. What did Jesus mean by those words and the way in which he treated this desperate woman? Why would a woman say of herself: “I’m a dog”? It is the startling confession of a Canaanite Christian…but there’s more. “I’m a dog,” is also a crucial confession for Canadian Christians. Let’s find out why.
Our text takes place in the region of Tyre and Sidon, an area northwest of Galilee, outside of Israel. Jesus and his disciples had gone there to get away from the murderous pressure of the Jewish religious leaders. It didn’t take long for word to spread among the non-Jewish inhabitants that the miracle worker from Israel had come. Many must have sought Jesus’ healing touch but one woman in particular caught the attention of Matthew, the author of our text. He wrote: “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to [Jesus], crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession’” (Matthew 15:22).
We don’t know much about this woman. We don’t know her age. We don’t know her name. We do know that she was a Canaanite – a descendant of the original inhabitants of the Promised Land. You may remember that the Old Testament Israelites were supposed to get rid of the Canaanites because of their putrid pagan practices. But many of them survived so that this woman could trace her ancestry back to them. She wasn’t like her ancestors, however. She didn’t worship the idol Baal and offer her children as human sacrifices as they had done. In fact she sounded more Jewish than Canaanite when she called Jesus, “Lord, Son of David.” It’s obvious from the rest of the text that she wasn’t just parroting something she had heard the disciples say. She really believed that Jesus was “Lord,” the Son of God. She honestly trusted that, as the “Son of David,” Jesus was the promised Messiah who had come to save the world from sin. How did she know this? We’re not told but it was obviously surprising to Matthew because he introduced the account of this woman with the un-translated exclamation: “Behold!”
Matthew may have been impressed with this Canaanite woman but Jesus didn’t seem to be. Not even her heart-rending plea on behalf of her demon possessed daughter elicited a response. According to Matthew, “Jesus didn’t answer a word” (Matthew 15:23a). What would you have done at this point? What have you done when Jesus has seemingly ignored your most ardent pleas for help? Give up in disgust? Conclude that Jesus must not really care? This woman didn’t quit. She continued to cry out to Jesus not ashamed to pour out her heart in front of at least twelve other men, the disciples who must have shifted uneasily on their feet confused at their master’s apparent continued callousness. Finally the disciples couldn’t take it anymore. Hadn’t Jesus recently fed over 5,000 people? Why couldn’t he do a simple miracle so that this woman would go away and leave them in peace? But Jesus solemnly informed them: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).
I guess Jesus never read the Canadian Charter of Rights. What blatant discrimination! What did he mean he had only been sent to the lost sheep of Israel? Didn’t God say otherwise in our Old Testament lesson this morning? “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him…7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer… for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:6a, 7). The Canaanite woman seemed to know Old Testament passages like this because she was not put off by Jesus’ words. In fact I wonder if she didn’t find comfort in them. If Jesus had come for the lost sheep of Israel – to those who had nonchalantly scorned the privilege of being God’s chosen people - if the Son of God was still concerned about such stubborn sinners, well, there was hope for her! Jesus was proof that God is indeed gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. No, this woman wasn’t put off by Jesus’ words, in fact they literally drew her closer to him as she threw herself at Jesus’ feet and exclaimed, “Lord, help me!” (Matthew 15:25b) Surely Jesus would now intervene. After all, hadn’t he recently saved Peter from drowning when that Christian had cried out with similar words? (Matthew 14:30)
And yet it was at this moment that Jesus called the woman a dog. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs,” panned the Savior (Matthew 15:26). What’s even more shocking was the woman’s response: “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27). There it is, the startling confession of a Canaanite Christian: “I’m a dog.” Did this woman have no pride, no self-respect? She didn’t. And that’s the point. That’s what made Jesus marvel at her faith.
This startling confession of a Canaanite Christian is a crucial confession for Canadian Christians. For as long as I hold on to my pride, as long as I think God owes me something, I will never treasure the gift of forgiveness God has given to me through Jesus. And I really am a dog in need of forgiveness! I prove it every time I snap at the invisible hand that provides my daily bread – upset that I don’t get to eat out every Friday for lunch like my co-workers do but have to “put up” with a tuna sandwich. I’m a dog when I snarl at parents God gave me to keep me from stumbling into foolish youthful indiscretions. I’m a dog when I whimper pitifully that I’m the only one who seems to care about this church – as if it’s a burden to love God’s people and reach out to the lost. What scares me most, however, is how I rarely honestly admit that I am a dog. When we take a moment to silently confess specific sins at the beginning of our service, I often start to think about the sins others have committed and wonder if they are “owning up to them.” Do you see what has happened? No longer am I standing before the Lord with head bowed humbly admitting: “I’m a dog.” Instead I’m jabbing my finger at others declaring, “There, Lord! There is a dog!” That’s not what causes Jesus to cry: “What great faith!” It makes Jesus cry that we are so blind to the danger of our own sins.
“I’m a dog.” It’s a crucial confession for without it we will never eagerly desire the great gifts God gives to sinners. Oh, those gifts don’t seem like much. Consider again the Canaanite Christian’s experience. After marveling at the woman’s faith Jesus simply said to her: “Your request is granted” (Matthew 15:28a). Jesus didn’t accompany the woman to her home and wave his hands over the demon possessed daughter. He simply gave his word that she would be healed and that was enough: her daughter became demon-free at that instant. Likewise a bite of bread and a bit of wine in Holy Communion, a middle-aged white guy of a pastor who announces that your sins are forgiven…is that enough? Yes! For with these “crumbs” God connects you to the feast of forgiveness which Jesus purchased with the blood he shed on the cross. Don’t despise Christ’s crumbs because they alone lead to the heavenly banquet where you will no longer be lying under the table like a dog only able to see God’s feet, as it were. Instead as a son, as a daughter you will be seated at the table, gazing directly into the smiling face of your heavenly Father.
And God is smiling on you even as I speak. It may not feel that way if you’re enduring some crisis like the Canaanite Christian was. Your pleas for help may seem to be going unanswered. And life may have actually gotten worse since your increased your praying and Bible reading. What’s Jesus up to at times like this? Thanks to our Gospel lesson we now know. He’s exercising our faith so that we will hunger all the more for his crumbs – crumbs that will sustain us dogs until we will one day sit at and not under God’s table. Sure, I’m a dog now and so are you. But we’re HIS dogs feasting on HIS crumbs. That is enough. Amen.
