Matthew 15:21-39

Passage Matthew 15:21-39

Verse: Matthew 15:25b-28

"'Lord, help me!' she said.  He replied 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.'  'Yes, Lord' she said, 'but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table'".

This passage really confused me, but thankfully Google is smart :)!

So what I missed when i first read this was that this was a canaanite woman, a foreigner.  Before these verses this woman was ignored and the disciples even asked Jesus to send her away because she was being annoying.

But even amongst this, being completely ignored and rejected. This woman persists and persists and finally grabs Jesus' attention. She pleads with a simple prayer, help me.  

Then Jesus goes into a short story that really confused me at first.  It first says, It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs" The Canaanites were the dogs and the children were the Israelites.  The children's bread, was the healing and blessings of Jesus.   So jesus is basically shutting her down again saying What right do you have to steal away the blessings that should be given to the Israelites.  Then she jumps to the challenge of Jesus' words and replies that can't she get the last crumbs that fall from the master's table.   She is persistant and even though no one else expected this foreigner to succeed,  her faith gets her to Jesus.  

Some may think this is disrespectful and even rebellious to talk back to a teacher in this way, but Jesus sees this as strong faith. 

Though Jesus may not want us to talk back to our authorities, he does want us to be persistant and have faith that no matter who we are or what is going on we can trust that Jesus will help us.  Through ridicule and more we need to keep the faith.

God,

Please give me faith like this Canaanite woman.  She was the outsider, the one people looked down upon yet you call her a woman of great faith and so much so she was put in the Bible.  Lord teach me how to do this, and constantly give up my prayers to you in full confidence you will provide answers and show me the way.