Faith of a Dog
Matthew 15:21 – 28
How many of you have a dog? We have two. We have other pets around the house, cats, some birds, a fish and a turtle. The kids also have two dogs and two cats, and birds and…. well just say too many to try and list here. Don’t tell my wife, and certainly don’t tell the cats because they can be vindictive, but I prefer dogs, after all they are mans best friend, right? No other animal has been given that honor, that title. Man’s Best Friend.
They are loyal, they always want to be with you around you. If you leave they are lonely and sad, but when you return they come running at a million miles an hour, wagging their tale, thrilled that you have returned to them so that they can sit at your feet or beside you in your chair or in the case of Julianne, on the back of the couch, wrapped around her neck. No matter what seems to come their way, they are content, they trust that their people will provide for them and love them. Our lesson today embraces that faithfulness.
Our story today is about a woman, a woman that is given no name in either the Matthew’s or Mark’s version of the story. She lived in an area outside of Israel, the district of Tyre and Sidon of Phoencia. This woman was a Canaanite. The Canaanites were ancient enemies of the people of Israel. Neither side liked the other.
In the present however, this woman has a more immediate and all-consuming problem, daughter you see is tormented by a demon. As any mother would, she has been searching for a cure for her daughter’s condition over many years and has not found the answer anywhere.
But she has heard of a miracle worker in the land of Israel. And now she hears that this Jesus is in her area. She will go to Him and plead for His mercy and healing for her daughter.
Now initially this does not seem to be an unusual request since there have been so many that have already called out to Jesus for healing, for casting out of demons, curing the lame, the blind and the broken. Remember that this is not in the land of Israel and this is not a Jewish woman but she is desperate. So the woman goes to the house in which Jesus and the disciples are staying and she begins to plead to him. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” she says
Imagine that, a Canaanite woman addressing a Jew as Lord. By everything that she had heard this man was different. Certainly he was different than the pagan Gods of her tradition. She wanted to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and sought Him out because of that. It is faith that has brought her to Jesus and seeking His mercy.
She pleads but Jesus simply ignores her. Why would He do that. That seems cruel and uncharacteristic of Jesus, giving her the silent treatment. The disciples’ response is even worse. They become irritated by the woman’s continual shouting to Jesus to have mercy on her and her daughter. They come and say to Jesus, “Send her away.”
We can understand the disciples harshness since they considered Gentiles beneath themselves and unworthy of their consideration, but why does Jesus act this way? Jesus is looking for a reason, a lesson, a truth to be found in this situation, something more than just another healing of the thousands that He has done
He says ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’” This is response was directed to the woman but said so that the disciples would hear it.
Again, we find that it seems that Jesus is being harsh with her and we wonder why, but you see that is often the way it is with us. God’s plan was for the message of salvation to go out to the world through the nation of Israel and to that point the Gentiles have not been grafted into the vine.
“But she began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’”
This mother loves her daughter very much and this woman bows down before Jesus. She is bowing before a king, bowing before God himself. Jesus says:
It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
You see that dogs eating the crumbs from their master’s table is a metaphor for the way in which the early Gentiles heard Jesus’ message. Until the Great Commission, go into the world and make disciples of ALL people, the Gentiles were left outside of the primary teachings of Jesus. Although Jesus’ ministry was aimed at the Jews, some Gentiles did hear his messages and believed. These Gentiles were the “dogs” who ate the crumbs that fell from Jesus’ table.
In Jesus’ time, people did keep dogs as pets, but dogs were mainly scavengers who ate garbage and the carcasses of dead animals. Dogs that were pets were often fed food scraps from their owner’s table, as they sometimes do now, hence the Canaanite woman’s reference to dogs eating the crumbs from the master’s table.
The Canaanites were considered dogs in the eyes of the Jews because they were descended from Noah’s son Ham. He was the son who saw his father naked and passed out from being under the influence of alcohol. Instead of doing the respectable thing by covering Noah and keeping his mouth shut, Ham went and told people what he saw thus cursing his family from that time on.
In his book The Gospel According to Dogs Robert Short book tells us that this dog of a woman – or so the Canaanites were thought of by the Jews – especially the Canaanite women – this Canaanite dog was quite willing show humility – to become a dog – literally to get down on all fours begging.
‘Lord, help me,’ she cries. Then Jesus gives her the ultimate test. ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs,’ he tells her. ‘Yes, Lord,’ she answers, ‘yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table’. This Canaanite woman is willing to wait patiently, hopefully, for the divine crumbs that come her way rather than to have no hope at all.
In this single place in all scripture Jesus seems to change his mind, and says, ‘Woman, great is your faith. It will be done you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.
This was nothing new in the ministry of Jesus. From the very beginning he had been consistent and insistent that his message was directed to the spiritually poor: To the lowest of the low in heart, to the emotional down-and-outers, to those knocked down on all fours and willing to crawl, to be dogs, in other words.
And here she came taking Jesus at his word, groveling and grateful for any little scrap that might fall from his table. She became a dog. And this was exactly the kind of humility Jesus is looking for.”
It is her humility – her willingness to let go of every last vestige of pride she has and throw herself at the feet of the Master that leads her daughter to be healed and secures a place for herself among Jesus’ followers.
Hear the Good News my friends…….
The Canaanite woman’s great faith had nothing to do with how good she was, or how much she was devoted to God, or whether she’d done good deeds for others; it had to do with her need for a power greater than herself and her willingness to wait for whatever came her way to sustain her. To find the Faith of a Dog.
God’s original plan was to bring salvation first to the Israelites and then to the Gentiles, but he responds to all who call on him in true faith. Those who call on him in true faith have some degree of both faith and spiritual poverty. This is nothing new in Jesus’ ministry.
From its very beginning he insisted that his message was directed to the lowest of the low in heart, to the emotional down-and-outers, to those knocked down on all fours and willing to crawl. In other words, his message has been directed to “dogs”.
The Canaanite woman took this to heart, groveling and grateful for any crumb that might fall from his table. She became a dog, and this was exactly the humility Jesus was looking for. Those whom Christ wants to honor must be humbled to feel their unworthiness. He responds to all who call on him in true faith and humility.
You see just like the woman we need to have a great faith that is persistent and humble so that great things can be done in our lives through our faithfulness. Just like the woman, He challenges us to elicit a display of great faith rather than merely fulfilling a self-centered request. Are we looking for a solution to a problem or are we genuinely looking to grow in our faith by waiting on a divine response to our pleas for help?
You see that the silence, the seeming inaction from God, the seeming indifference to our pleas for relief from our problems and our pain that we get sometimes is meant to challenge our faith, to force us down on all fours like a dog, to wait patiently for crumbs to fall to the floor that will provide us with the spiritual meal that we need, that we crave.
What kind of faith do we have? The repentant, reverent, persistent, humble faith in the Lord that this Canaanite woman had is an example of the faith that receives God’s mercy. Are those the marks of our faith? It they are not, you had better spend some time this week on your knees before the Lord until they are, for this is both the faith of salvation and the faith that receives God’s blessings.
Friends, dare to have the Faith of a Dog, eager to please and willing to take your place at the Master’s feet and eat up the crumbs of grace and mercy that come your way. Amen.