Matthew 15:27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Newborn babies only see the contrasts between light and dark. They catch the outline of the face against the hair. The eyes, eyebrows, lips and nostrils. And as they grow they can see further than 18 inches and begin to fill in the rest of the world.
But those early moments help begin their journey of discovery. Does the face change when I feel differently? When I am hungry, does the face come close and make me feel better?
So the contrasts between the before and after of feelings around hunger, tired, soiled and satisfied, well rested, and dry move the child to learn that outsiders can be trusted to meet my needs. They also learn that they are worthy of the care and love of others.
But contrasts abound in our world. Look at the political landscape today. CONTRAST! It is not that the media has created contrast where there is only similarity, it is that there is a genuine contrast between the two sides and the way they view the world. They have very different frames of reference.
As we read our text for today we see a contrast. We see those sitting at the table eating their food, and the dog who is fortunate to get the crumbs that fall. And so Jesus continues a conversation He has with a woman who by all Jewish standards of that day should not have been included in the blessing of the LORD.
This woman was a Canaanite, one of the original inhabitants of the Promised Land, one of the groups that was to be driven out and destroyed. Their way of viewing the world was in stark contrast to that of the LORD who rescues His people. They believed in many gods, while the Jews were supposed to believe in the only True God.
But John puts this story of the desperate woman right after the story of the entitled religious leaders. They had questioned Jesus about His disciples not washing their hands before they ate. Almost sounds like COVID-19 guidance, doesn’t it! But this had nothing to do with hygiene, and everything to do with religious symbolism.
You see, the Jews of that day had developed a system of rituals beyond what the Law had required. They created them as a hedge, a behavioral wall that kept them from disobeying the letter of the Law. Their thinking was that if they kept their traditions, they would not break the Law itself and therefore they would be righteous before the LORD by their actions.
But Jesus jumps on their self-righteous thinking by pointing out how those traditions had actually created a violation of the Law itself. The religious leaders take offense. They are caught in their self-righteous trap and Jesus has pointed it out to them.
This Canaanite woman has no pretensions of righteousness. She knows she deserves nothing. She has no standing with the LORD. She knows she is at the bottom of the religious ladder, perhaps not even on the first rung.
And yet she comes to Jesus in full awareness of her low position and asks for her daughter to be freed from a demon. She knows Jesus is able to do this. She has probably heard about His work with other demon possessed people. And she is desperate.
She comes empty of herself and leaves full of faith and hope. The religious leaders came full of themselves and left empty and offended. What a contrast!
The Arnold Journey 