"And coming she worshipped Him saying, 'Lord, help me.' And He answered and said, 'It not good to give the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs.' And she said, "Yes, Lord, for also the dogs eat from the small crumbs that fall from the lord's table." (St. Matthew 15:21-28)
In the name of Jesus. Amen. Here is this woman coming to Him needing Him to heal her daughter who is severely demon possessed and Jesus calls her a dog? Doesn't He know the right things to say to someone? You just don't call a woman a dog!
Jesus does. He calls her a "dog" to save not just her daughter, but her too. Dr. Luther describes Jesus as a hunter, "exercising and chasing" faith to make it strong and firm. Everything that Jesus does to this woman is done to push her to a deeper understanding and confession of Him.
It's not enough for her to ask Jesus to heal her daughter. It is not enough for her to toss around the right names of Jesus, like "Lord" and "Son of David." It's not even enough for her to worship and cry out to Jesus for help. That's not faith yet.
The same goes for us. It is not even enough to talk about Jesus dying and rising. That's not yet faith. Faith receives what Jesus did for us on the Cross FOR ME. Faith is the "for me" in, "Jesus died for me."
Faith expects only good from God, expects only gifts from God, only blessings. Faith receives all things as gift from the Heavenly Father, Who did not even spare His only Son, but gave Him up for us and for our salvation.
Hunter Jesus exercises and chases our faith in the season of Lent. Lent is all about our Lord getting out of the way all the extra things of our life so that He can give us His gifts and so that we may receive them by faith.
For the Canaanite woman, He has crumbs that include salvation for her and her daughter. He had more for her than she could possibly expect!
Today, He delivers His salvation to us in the crumbs of His Body and His Blood at His Supper. He has more for us than we could possibly expect. Faith says, "More gifts, Jesus, more crumbs from the Lord's Table!"
"O God, who seest that of ourselves we have no strength, keep us both outwardly and inwardly that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen." (the Collect for Reminiscere)
Higher Things Reflections are written by Rev. George F. Borghardt III, Assistant Pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX