Dog Food

Mark 7:24-30

September 10, 2006

(Matthew 15:21-28, Aug. 2002)

The scene before us in our Gospel reading today seems very wrong.  In this corner, we have Jesus, you know, the one who “loves the little children.”  On the other side, we have a “desperate housewife,” a mother who loved her daughter.  A person who has exhausted her options, and so she came to her last resort, the only person that she knew could help — Jesus Christ.

But in this case, the reactions and words of Jesus are not what we would have expected them to be. I mean, here we get a picture of Jesus who ignores someone in need; a Jesus who is indifferent, who says "get lost, you are not good enough to receive my help".

This passage is so different from the rest of the gospel. Was Jesus just having a bad day? Do we see a crack in His perfect love and compassion?

Let’s take a closer look at what happens when this woman encounters Jesus.

I. SHE CAME TO HIM IN DESPERATION

This mother was at her wits end.

I can imagine that this woman had tried everything that she knew to help her demon-possessed daughter. I can imagine she had contacted
 The rabbi
 The priest
 The Pharisees
 The Sadducees
No one had been able to help her.
So she comes at last to Jesus Christ.

I guess this is typical, isn’t it?  We generally exhaust all of our other options before we come to Jesus for help.

But the point is, we come.

But there were two major barriers that this woman had to overcome.

1. She was a woman
In this time period, women were considered no more than property.  How dare she approach a respected rabbi!
Not only was she female…

2. She was a Gentile
Salvation had not yet been offered to the Gentiles at this time.
That’s what Christ meant when he said “let the children [Jews] eat all they want.”

But even though Jesus seems to not care about this woman or her child, He cares much more than we know.

It would have been easy to quickly heal her daughter, but I see two reasons why he did not do that right away.

a. He wanted to teach the disciples—and us—something: how to care for and about others.  Remember the Great Commandment? “Love the Lord your God with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

b. He cared for her deeper needs. He was more concerned about her faith than physical healing.
You see, the beginning of faith is the acceptance of who Jesus really is.

So the woman came to Jesus in desperation.  But not only did she come to Christ in desperation

II. SHE CAME TO HIM IN ADORATION

Worship is not a complicated chore.

The woman had a faith that led her to worship God. She came and fell before Him.  She came with a sense of reverence, not as equal - but as wretched human before a great and holy God.

You don’t have to know all the catechisms and liturgies in order to worship Christ.

In the parallel version of this episode in Matthew’s gospel (Mt. 15:21 -28), her worship consisted of three simple words—“Lord, help me.”

So many today think that you have to say just the right words at just the right time in just the right place in order to be saved or for God to hear you.

This mother didn’t know all the “churchy” words and vocabulary, but she spoke from her heart.

God is not listening for you to say the right words. He is more interested in the attitude of your heart.

These three words uttered by this woman are pregnant with emotion.

1. Lord
This word is the Greek word kurios. It means “supreme in authority or controller.”
With that simple word, she acknowledges that she no longer desires to control her own life. She desires to give Jesus Christ complete control.

In our effort to follow Jesus, I’m afraid that many times, we leave out this most important element.  We want to control our lives, to be masters of our domain.
But to call Jesus “Lord” is the willingness to make Him master of our life.

2. Help
This means, literally, to aid.

She was probably like we tend to be, you know, trying to “fix” it all ourselves.  But here she was acknowledging her inability to help herself or her daughter. 

She had been to all the religious folk, and they had been powerless as well.
She needed help beyond herself and beyond what mere mortals could provide.
She needed the help that only Jesus could provide.

3. Me
At first, she had been asking help of her daughter. Now, she understands that she needs divine help herself.
She needed the touch of Jesus Christ just as much as her daughter did.

You know, for the person that doesn’t know Christ as his or her Savior, God is not listening for a flowery prayer that uses all the right punctuation and modifiers and participles and King James English.

He is looking for a heart that has come to the end of itself. And is crying to Him to save it.

Remember the words of the thief on the cross: “Lord, remember me.”

Or the Philippian Jailer: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

God is looking of that heart that is willing to turn from self, admit their need and trust in Him.

But I see one more aspect of this woman’s approach to Jesus.
- She came to Him in Desperation
- She came to Him in Adoration

III. SHE CAME TO HIM IN HUMILIATION

Jesus says something here that at first may sound shocking.

Verse 27: “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

BAG OF DOG FOOD

Our first response to this might be, “Why did he speak to her this way?” or “Why did He reject her when she was coming to Him for help?”

Well, there is something that we must remember: Jesus Christ is God. And as God, he was able to look into her heart. He knew the sin that meant the most to her. And we define sin as anything that we put ahead of God.

Remember, Jesus was more concerned with her spiritual healing than a physical healing.  He has the same concern for us as well.

To help us understand this a little better, let’s examine another example in Scripture which elicited this kind of response from Jesus.

If you have your Bibles with you, turn to Matthew 19:16-22 (The Rich Young Man).

Jesus wasn’t saying that in order to be saved, you have to sell all you have. If that was the case, why didn’t he tell anyone else this?

Jesus understood this man’s heart better than he understood it himself. He knew that this young man’s besetting sin was his money. But this young man had not come to the point that the mother in our story did. He was still clinging to his riches. He was not ready to make Jesus Christ his Lord. He was not ready to admit that he couldn’t save himself.

Jesus merely made this demand to reveal that fact.

Now, back to our desperate mother.
Perhaps Jesus was able to see the sin she was struggling with as well.
Based on Jesus’ response, we might conclude that this woman’s sin was her pride.
By the way that she approached the Jewish rabbi, I have a feeling that this woman didn’t cower easily.

This makes her response to Jesus’ statement even more interesting.  How would you have responded to being called a dog?

You know, if Jesus was talking to you or me, we might be a little offended. “Lord, I’m not less than anyone else. I have as much right to be blessed as others do.”

However, this woman does not get upset, but nor does she back down.
You see, she expects Jesus to heal daughter not because of who she is but because of who He is.  All pride was dismissed.

She replies, in essence, “True Lord, I have no claim on you. I am just a Gentile. But there must be some extra grace—some grace I don’t deserve. I’m appealing to you for that.”

And with that we see Christ’s entire demeanor change.
Verse 29: “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

For such a reply!  Oh, if we could all offer such a reply to Jesus!
She went from being a “dog” to a woman of great faith in just a matter of a few moments.

So what happened here?  What made the change in Jesus’ demeanor?
It was the way she came to Jesus.

1. She came in Desperation
   The love of a daughter drove her to the feet of Jesus.
   God can use all kinds of circumstances to bring us to Himself.
2. She came in Adoration
   No fancy prayers, but merely “Lord, Help me.”
3. She came in humiliation
   I wonder if there is someone here who perhaps in a way is in the same position that this woman was, feeling like we deserve something from God.
   

My friends, I’m sorry to say that none of us are worthy or deserving.  Scripture tells us that.

But the Good News is that salvation is for all of us, even though we are all unworthy. 

It doesn’t matter who you are, what your past was like, or where you come from.  Jesus offers salvation to you.  You only need to ask.

Many of us here in this building have been attending church for many, many years.

Yet I would say that there are many here today who have never actually asked Christ to be Lord of their lives.

Where your eternal life is at stake, would you be willing to eat a little dog food?

Don’t let pride keep you from trusting Christ.

Pray with me.