Feasting on the Crumbs of Mercy Matthew 15:21-28

Grace, mercy, and peace to you...

Today we’re going to talk about feasting on God’s mercy.

Does anyone have a dog?

Does anyone sneak table scraps to your dog?

In our Gospel today, Jesus uses an analogy of feeding the dogs to test a woman’s faith, and as it turned out, she had great faith!

To put this into context, just before the events of our Gospel, Jesus was in Gennesarat, on the west side of the Lake of Galilee. And people were bringing their sick loved ones for him to heal.

His miracles were creating quite the stir, as one can imagine. So some of Jesus’ enemies, the Pharisees, came up from Jerusalem to try to discredit him before the people; but as always, it didn’t work.

Perhaps to get away for awhile and keep a lower profile, Jesus journeyed west, all the way to the Mediterranean coast, in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

It was the region of the Phoenicians or Canaanites, but a number of Jews also lived there.

The Canaanites, and later, Phoenicians, were the historic enemies of the Israelites. Centuries earlier, at the time of Elijah, they had introduced the worship of the false god, Baal, to the Israelites.

Because of their history and false beliefs, they were looked down on by many devout Jews. But Jesus saw them as he sees everyone, as people to love and save.

One brave Canaanite woman was not intimidated by the prejudice toward her and her people. She heard that Jesus was in the area, and she was desperate for his help, because a demon had possessed her daughter with severe symptoms.

Parents back then were the same as parents today: they would do almost anything to get help for their sick and dying child.

The woman knew that there was only one hope for her daughter, and that hope had come to town with his disciples. So she went to find him.

Finding him, she cried out for mercy for her daughter, but Jesus was silent; he didn’t answer her; didn’t acknowledge her; nothing.

The disciples took this as Jesus rejecting her, instead of what he was really doing, testing her. So they said, “Make her leave; she’s driving us crazy.”

Finally Jesus said something: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

But the woman wasn’t deterred. She knew Jesus could help her daughter, and she believed he would; she believed He had mercy for all, even for a Canaanite girl.

Instead of shrinking away, the Canaanite woman was emboldened. She dared to defy his disciples and approach Jesus. She kneeled down before him, and said, “Help me.” “Lord, help me.”

He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.”

Jesus was referring to the household order at the time: first the men would have food, then the women, then the children, and if anything was left over, it would go to the dogs.

“How can I take the children’s food from them and give it to the dogs?”.

In other words, “How can I take the time to heal a Canaanite girl when there are so many sick Jews for me to heal? That wouldn’t be fair.”

The woman had an amazing answer. “Yes, Lord, that’s true. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table.”

“Even the crumbs of your mercy can heal my child. Even us Canaanites need your mercy, and I know you have mercy for us all.”

Jesus was astounded. He said, “O woman, your faith is great. It will be done as you desire.”  And at that very moment, her daughter was healed.

From this we see the magnitude of God’s mercy; he has mercy for all, and he wants all to have it. He doesn’t discriminate against a single soul; Jesus died for all, and His mercy is powerful to save all.

God’s mercy is so great that even the crumbs of his mercy, so to speak, can heal every heart and every soul in this world.

And so Christ calls all to repent of their sin, denounce it; and feast on his mercy, every last drop of it.

God’s mercy is like Maxwell House coffee. Who remembers the slogan? Good to the last … drop!

God’s mercy is good to the last drop and the last crumb.

Today we’ll eat delicious pork chops, and potatoes, and food, and deserts.

Favorite  deserts…

A delicious desert... eat even the crumbs…

This is what God wants us to do with His mercy, feast on it, enjoy it, embrace it, like the Canaanite woman did.  

Even the crumbs of God’s mercy are powerful to save. Every drop of his mercy revives the soul, and heals the heart.

Even the smallest word of forgiveness from God, gives the complete forgiveness of all the sins of those who repent and believe in Christ.

So that we might have the full mercy of God in our lives, Jesus was given no mercy when he died on the cross, not from God nor from man.

And he accepted no mercy. When he was offered wine with pain killer in it, he spit it out, so that he would suffer the full punishment for our sins, and we would be completely forgiven.

All his healing miracles were motivated by His mercy, but His greatest act of mercy was to suffer the full wrath of God against sin, so that we didn’t have to.

Sin is the opposite of mercy, and sadly, we have a lot of it in our lives; sin, that is. But because of Christ, God has more mercy for your life.

God calls us to have less sin in our lives and more mercy. Repent of the sin, and feast on the mercy.

In our Epistle we’re told God wants to have mercy on all.

Our Old Testament says that His temple was to be a house of prayer for all. God’s mercy is meant for all.

We have a nice group of people here today, but imagine if we had eat all the food here today by ourselves, 1000 pork chops, tons of potatoes…, pans and pans of deserts. No way could we consume it all; better to include others.

The same with God’s mercy, there’s more than enough for everyone. And so Christ calls us and sends us, to share the good news of His mercy with all.  

And He calls us to show our personal mercy to others, to be kind and compassionate as he is; to forgive as He forgives us.

Soon, we’ll all have a feast of fine food. But that’s not the real feast God is giving us today. God is giving us a feast of mercy in the Gospel, a feast to fill our souls before we fill our stomachs.   

And because God is so rich in mercy, and so abundant in grace, He’s able to give to us the peace that passes understanding. May it guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.