The God of the Dogs
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| "Jesus and the Canaanite Woman" by James Tissot |
"It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ!
Our Western society, for the most part, has a
high view of dogs. We invest a lot of emotional and financial resources in
taking care of them. For many, probably for many of you, dogs are part of the
family. A significant number of modern young couples have opted to have fur
babies rather than bringing children into the world. The average dog owner
spends about $1,200 a year for each dog. Many others splurge on spas, designer
dog collars, gourmet food, and even electronic devices that allow them to “facetime”
their dogs during the day.
But throughout most of history and all around
the world, people had a rather low opinion of dogs. We see that throughout Scripture.
In Exodus 22:31, the term “dog” refers to the dogs that roamed in packs,
scavenging for food in villages and towns. In 1 Samuel 24:15, David modestly
indicates he is not worthy of pursuit by King Saul because he is a “dead dog.”
As scavengers, dogs were despised. Nothing was more useless or unclean than a
dead dog. In Deuteronomy 23:18, the term “dog” refers to a male prostitute. In
Revelation 22:15, the “dogs,” along with “sorcerers and the sexually immoral
and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” who
will not be within the people of God.
Our text begins with Jesus going away from
Galilee and withdrawing to the district of Tyre and Sidon, two Gentile cities
north of the land of Israel on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The people who
lived there were descendants of the Canaanites whom the Israelites had failed
to exterminate when they occupied the land. Most of them were gross unbelievers
and idolaters.
But there was at least one exception.
With the word, “behold” Matthew draws attention
to the words of a Canaanite woman. Out her mouth proceed remarkable things. She
speaks like a disciple and calls Jesus “Lord.” She confesses Jesus as “Son of
David” like a believing Israelite. She cries out as a beggar, “Have mercy on me…
my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon” (Matthew 15:22). Certainly, this
man who could feed five thousand men plus women and children with five loaves
of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21) could help heal her child… if He wants.
But instead of mercy, she gets silence (Matthew
15:23).
Jesus initially refuses to speak even a word to
the woman (Matthew 15:23). It is useless to conjecture why; He simply remains
silent. His disciples, however, step forward and begin to ask Him to “send her
away” (Matthew 15:23). The disciples had said the same thing to Jesus about the
hungry crowds: “Send [them] away to go into the villages and buy food for
themselves” (Matthew 14:15). In that context, it was clear that since it was
late and there was no obvious way of finding food in such a desolate place, the
disciples were asking Jesus to send the crowd away without doing
anything for them.
In this request, however, we more probably see
the disciples’ desire for Jesus to give the woman what she is requesting so she
will shut up and leave them alone. If they had been asking Jesus merely to dismiss
her, then His reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”
(Matthew 15:24) would ring strange in the ear. On the other hand, if they are
saying to Jesus, “Get rid of this unclean Gentile woman by giving her what she
wants,” His words, which highlight the children of Israel’s unique place in
salvation history, ring true. Do the disciples think that it is the business of
Israel’s Messiah to get rid of every annoying Gentile that comes to Him for
help? Standing there, the woman cannot help but understand Jesus to be saying
rather clearly, He was not sent for people like her (Matthew 15:24). She’s a
foreigner, an outcast, not one of the lost sheep of Israel.
Her faith, however, is louder than Jesus’
silence and her courage is stronger than Jesus’ rejection. Kneeling before Him,
she persists, calling Jesus, “Lord” for the second time and continuing to cry
out, “Help me.”
Now the Messiah of Israel speaks. If His words
seemed harsh before, they are worse now. It’s not just that Jesus has been sent
only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but also that He has come to
give bread to feed the children, to feed Israel, and it is “not right, (Matthew
15:26), not in accordance with God’s plan, if this woman thinks that she should
get what belongs to them. She’s a foreigner, an outcast.
Jesus has just provided bread in the wilderness
for five thousand men, plus women and children, with twelve baskets of
fragments remaining (Matthew 14:13-21), and He will soon provide bread for four
thousand more (Matthew 15:29-38). In Jesus, Israel’s God is feeding His
ungrateful, uncomprehending people once again, as He has done during the forty
years after their exodus from Egypt. Now Jesus wants to know: Does the
Canaanite woman really know who He is, or are the things that have come
from her mouth (“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David”) just lip service?
The woman speaks and shows her faith, “Yes,
Lord, yet even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master’s table”
(Matthew 15:27). “Yes, Lord! You are absolutely right! It would be bad indeed
to try to deny or contradict God’s plan to save His ancient people Israel. You
are Israel’s Messiah, and the bread you give belongs to the children. I agree
and I believe, and I don’t want the children’s bread, because when the children
eat, the dogs also get to eat, don’t they? The bread of the Messiah is so
abundant and so overflowing that parts of it fall from the table to the floor.
The crumbs are enough for me and my daughter.”
What an unexpected disciple. She does not argue
with Jesus. She does not ask to sit at His table. She does not call herself a
child in God’s Kingdom. She makes no demands of Jesus. Instead, she receives
what He says in faith. She accepts that she is a dog in the eyes of Jesus… but
in the Kingdom of God, even dogs get the crumbs. Licking her finger, this
unexpected disciple reaches out to touch and eat an unexpected crumb. Her faith
is louder than Jesus’ silence and her courage is stronger than Jesus’ rejection.
Jesus is struck in wonder at her great faith.
Of what does her greatness of faith consist?
Two things: She knows who Jesus is: “Lord” and “Son of David.” And she knows
that Israel’s Messiah has come to give such an abundance there will be
something leftover even for her. She believes the Kingdom of God is vast and
glorious. In this Kingdom, something as miraculous as casting out a demon is
just a little crumb, a fragment of God’s gracious work. And that crumb is
enough for her. She would rather be a dog in the Kingdom of Jesus than be a
king or queen in the kingdoms of this world. And so, by Jesus’ generosity, on
account of her great faith, her daughter was healed from that very hour.
How did she know? Who had
taught this Canaanite about Israel’s Messiah? We simply do not know. We do
know, however, the ultimate answer to the question of how this woman comes to
know and believe. The Father reveals it to her. She is, like the Magi and the
centurion before her, an unlikely candidate for such faith. That, however, is
the way of God, to hide things from the wise and understanding and to reveal
them to babies (Matthew 11:25-27).
With this story, Matthew
reminds us that crumbs matter in the Kingdom of God. Matthew places this story
between the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:13-21) and the feeding of
the four thousand (Matthew 15:32-39). Have you ever noticed how in each of
these miracles the disciples respond in the same way? After thousands have been
fed, they stick around to gather up the crumbs (Mattew 14:20 and 15:37). Crumbs
matter in the Kingdom of God.
Sometimes, as Christians,
we behave like people dining at a fine restaurant. We rejoice in the main
course, the abundance of God’s mercy bestowed upon His people in Word and
Sacrament ministry. We know of Christ’s forgiveness of our sins, and we gather
to hear of His mercy and to eat and drink His body and blood. Such things
rightly fill our attention, but sometimes we do not see, much less bother
about, the crumbs.
Yet, disciples care about
crumbs.
Today, Jesus asks us to
step out of the fine restaurant and to come sit at His kitchen table. Here,
there is no fine silverware, no linen tablecloths. Instead, there is a rough,
wooden table around which are gathered even rougher people. In the kitchen of
Jesus, God gathers individuals who live on the margins. Their lives do not fit
the dress code of a five-star restaurant. Their language offends and their
behavior dismays and, deep down, like the disciples, we may just want Jesus to
send them away.
But, instead, Jesus
invites us to come and sit with them at His table. We are not the children of
Israel. We are much more like the Canaanite woman. We are the dogs. We are
Gentiles who came late to the party. But God the Father sent His Son to go to
the furthest edge of the Kingdom, to die forsaken and rejected on a cross.
Rising from the dead, Jesus, the forsaken One, invites all who are forsaken
into His Kingdom. Having once been forsaken but now having received mercy, we
know the value of a crumb.
When people are
suffering, we do not send them away, we reach out to bring them in. There is
plenty of food in our Savior’s Kingdom. When people are hurting, we take time
to listen and share a kind word. When people are lonely, we offer our presence
and prayers. Such acts of mercy are small, seemingly insignificant. They do not
save the soul, but they provide sustenance for the body and strength for the
journey.
In the kitchen of Jesus,
God invites us to break bread together and rejoice in even the smallest act of
kindness or mercy. Why? Because, in the kitchen of Jesus, all people matter
and, today, He invites us to gather all people and share the crumbs. And, in
Christ there’s always more than enough. He is the God of the lost sheep of
Israel and the God of the dogs, the foreigners and outcasts. Go in the peace of
the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy! You are forgiven for all your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture
quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001
by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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