Even Dogs Eat The Crumbs

How did Jesus respond? “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. All the while it looked like Jesus was snubbing this woman - He was giving her room to be persistent - to exercise her faith! Through persistence the woman agreed with the woman’s reasoning - and felt happy to give this dog a crumb. He even went so far as to commend her faith! What was so great about her faith? She didn’t walk on water like Peter did last week! It was her humility, her persistence, her faith in the MERCY of Jesus - throughout all of the rejection - she clung to the belief that Jesus was a merciful Lord. She didn’t demand that Jesus revolve His public ministry around her - all she wanted was a crumb.

Great faith realizes that Jesus already has given us steak and potatoes - His own body and blood - and feels unworthy of such a gift! What more could we ask for? If we get nothing more - that’s fine. Yet God wants us to humbly ask for more - a crumb of peace - a crumb of health - a crumb of success. Great faith is willing to eat any crumb that God gives - realizing that a crumb from God is a million times more satisfying than a steak from Satan. God grant you the ability - through the eyes of a great faith - to be able to look at what you do have - even the smallest of things - the ability to smell - to walk - a place to hang your hat - and say, “thank you God for these things. In comparison to salvation - they are crumbs - but I am happy for these crumbs! I ask you for more!”

In the recent kids movie - Shrek 2, the story line talks about how the ugly green ogre - Shrek - and his wife go home to meet her parents. The father and mother are appalled at the sight of Shrek - and how their daughter gave up beauty to be with this creature. As the movie progressed however, it was found out that the father was actually a - frog. Here he was, looking down on Shrek his son in law, when he was at one time a frog! He was embarrassed and humbled when his origins were revealed.

God called the Gentile woman a dog - a pet dog. She was not embarrassed at this - instead - she was glad to be called a pet dog. Psalm 84:10 says, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” The neat thing about our status - is that we are no longer considered even pet dogs. In Ephesians 2, after Paul says that we were dead foreigners, he goes on to say in Ephesians 2:19, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” God changed us from dogs into citizens with God’s people - members of His household. We can eat at the master’s table - enjoying the meat and potatoes of Jesus’ labors - eternal salvation. But even if God throws us some crumbs - that’s fine with us - because we remember we weren’t even pet dogs - and we are thankful for whatever He gives us. If dogs can eat crumbs, so can we. Amen.