The following sermon was delivered by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on August 16, 1981. The title is, Who Gets the Crumbs? And the scripture reference is Matthew, chapter 15, verses 21 through 28. 

We have repeatedly looked at the record, and I have made the statement many times from this pulpit that there is not one single instance in all the New Testament account where someone, anyone, came to Jesus requesting healing and got a refusal. That's interesting. Not once do you find Jesus saying no when someone comes to him in need with psychological problem, spiritual problem, physical problem, or even those oppressed, even possessed by evil spirits.

Not one instance of Jesus saying no. As a matter of fact, there are several occasions on which he doesn't wait to be asked. He takes the initiative. And so from sheer statistics alone, it seems to me that we're right to draw the conclusion that Jesus is more interested in healing than the people who need the healing are interested in having him do so.

Jesus frequently takes the initiative and doesn't even wait to be asked. When he is asked, not once does he say no. If you were to turn back several chapters in Matthew's Gospel, You'd find in the 8th chapter the account of a leper who comes to him and says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus' answer, it doesn't really come through very strong in English, but in the original it's very strong, it's virtually a shout, I will be clean.

As if to say, how could you doubt? If you will, you can make me clean. I will!

No doubt about it. Be clean. When Peter goes to summarize the career of Jesus, he's speaking in a Gentile's home, a man named Cornelius.

He says, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. He went about healing all for God was with him.

God was with him, therefore he healed. Who did he heal? All of them.

Who were they oppressed by? By the devil. It's a very clear dichotomy.

That's not to say that Jesus cannot use illness. He uses all things that come into our lives. God sometimes allows something to come into our life and he'll use it for his larger purposes.

But in that summary statement and in all of the records that we have, Jesus is set against physical illness and he heals everybody who asks him. You come to this particular episode then and there seems to be something terribly wrong. Terribly, in fact, doubly wrong.

This poor woman comes up to him, a Canaanite woman, up in the region of Tyre and Sidon. He's in Gentile territory now. and this woman comes running up to him.

She says, Lord, help me. And he ignores her. Doesn't even speak to her.

Doesn't even acknowledge the request. And obviously she persists. She's chasing after him.

Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Making a nuisance of herself.

And finally the disciples are saying, Lord, this isn't helping your ministry at all. Get rid of her. And so he addresses the subject.

He says, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He not only seems to turn a cold shoulder to this poor woman and her need, but he bases it on racism. I was sent to the Jews.

She's a Gentile. I've got nothing to do with her. It's fairly strong words.

Shall I take the bread that belongs to the children and feed you, you Canaanite dog? That's what he says. How do you reconcile that with the Savior of all the world?

The one who was sent to be a light to the Gentiles. Again, if you were to go back a few chapters, you'd find the account of a Roman centurion who comes to Jesus. Somewhat similar story.

He comes and he says, My servant is ill. Lord, will you heal him? And Jesus says, Yes, I'll come immediately.

He says, No, no, you don't have to come. He says, I'm a man under authority, and I know how authority works. When I give an order, people jump.

And I recognize you to be an authority. And if you would but speak the word, my servant would be healed. Jesus turns around and addresses the crowd.

He says, Never in all Israel have I seen such faith as this Roman exhibits. And he adds this very interesting comment. He says, I tell you, many will come from east and west and will sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness.

Make no mistake. Jesus is not of the opinion that you've got to be Jewish in order to get the blessing. He says some who are born Jewish are going to be thrown out while others who are Gentile are going to be incorporated into that great celebration from East and West.

Now what in the world do you do with this episode? Well, I'd like to remind us that the most basic principle in dealing with Scripture is that we interpret Scripture by Scripture. You don't take one phrase, one sentence, even a paragraph out of context and build a whole world view on it.

You've heard the old saw, you can prove anything by the Bible. That is absolutely true, if you take it out of context. But what we've got to do is read it in context, interpret this scripture in light of all the others.

You know, there are two places in the Bible where it says there is no God. Did you know that? Take it out of context.

In context, what it says is, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Changes it just a little bit, doesn't it? A friend of mine one time was praying for guidance.

He said, oh Lord, speak to me through the scripture. And he opened it up at random and he put his finger in and it said, and Judas went out and hanged himself. I must have made a mistake.

I'll try it one more time. Go thou and do likewise. that really happened the total witness of scripture establishes at least these two principles one Jesus came to set people at liberty who are under oppression by the evil one sickness is of the evil one God may use it for his purposes but Jesus is ultimately against it and he comes to set people free from it.

Two, he comes to bring salvation, this good news, this gospel in all of its fullness not just to Jews but to Gentiles as well. In the light of those two principles I want to suggest to you that in this episode what Jesus is really up to is something that we don't usually think of him doing. Namely, he's testing.

this woman. He knows exactly how the story is going to end. He knows what he's going to do.

He has absolutely no intention of leaving that poor girl, her daughter, demon-possessed and the mother desperate. No intention of that at all. But he's testing the woman to bring her beyond the point of looking for a solution to a problem.

To bring her into a vital relationship with himself. I suspect you don't think of Jesus testing people that way but if you stop and consider the matter you see God the Father doing it all the time in the Old Testament what immediately springs to mind Abraham and God says take your son up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him now God knows what's going to happen when Abraham gets up there God has absolutely no intention that that innocent little boy will shed his blood and Abraham will be bereaved. Abraham doesn't know it.

But God knows it. God knows about the ram and the thicket. Right?

And somehow in the midst of that terrible testing, God stirs up a faith in Abraham's heart so that Abraham can go up to the top of Mount Moriah and en route, Isaac says, Father, I see the fire. I see the knife. Where's the sacrifice?

And Abraham says, God Himself will provide the sacrifice. Do you remember that Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day? Have you ever stopped to think about what that means?

Abraham rejoiced to see My day. What is My day? The day of resurrection.

God put it in the heart of Abraham that even though Isaac died, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Abraham was given faith in resurrection and so he becomes the father of the faith as he goes through that terrible test God knows what he's going to do but Abraham doesn't know it and Abraham grows in his relationship with the father in the midst of that testing you don't typically think of Jesus doing that but there are some instances for instance, you remember when he feeds the 5,000?

It says in John's account of that, that Philip comes to him and he says, Lord, send them away. It's dinner time. There's this tremendous crowd of people.

They've got to go home and get something to eat. And Jesus says, Philip, you give them something to eat. And then in John's account it adds, he said this in order to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

Jesus knew what he was going to do. He was going to rescue the day. There was going to be plenty for all.

But he said to Philip, You give them something to eat. It was a test. See how Philip handles it.

And Philip doesn't handle it too well. He says, We don't have enough money to buy food for all this crowd. D minus.

At least he didn't say, Okay, Lord, we'll go out and steal it. It wasn't a total failure. but he didn't do too well on that test.

Jesus said this to test him but he himself knew what he was going to do. You follow what I'm saying? I suggest to you that's what's going on in this instance.

Jesus knows what he's going to do for that girl and for her mother but he appears at first to give her the cold shoulder and to say you have nothing of me. And the woman comes back at him and says yes Lord I understand that But isn't it true that even dogs can eat the crumbs under their master's table? And Jesus, you can just picture him grinning from ear to ear, and he says, oh woman, great is your faith.

How is that a statement of great faith? Because she's confessing what is true of absolutely every one of us, and most people didn't recognize it at the time. She's saying, Lord, I'm not in a position to demand this.

I have no right to expect that you would meet my need. I'm not even a member of that people that God has selected down through the ages. I don't go to the right church.

I have no status with you. I cannot claim this healing. Not my right.

But your mercy, Lord. And he says, woman, great is your faith. Great is your faith.

How many people was Jesus dealing with that week who supposed they did have a right to come to God and say, it's mine by right, I claim it. That's Phariseeism. But this woman says, Lord, I'm just a dog.

I got no standing. I got no rights. But Lord, would you please be merciful?

And he says, you recognize what is true of everybody. and instantly the daughters healed. Could I put it to you this way?

Who are the dogs? Ultimately, they're those who don't recognize the value of the crumbs. Who are the children?

They're those who do. Jesus took this woman beyond the point of a specific need into a love relationship with himself based on his mercy. I remember when my father was first hospitalized and Peter Marshall was just a young minister starting out and he went to visit my dad with me in the hospital.

My dad intimidated most people, me very much indeed. And young Peter Marshall stood there by dad's hospital bed and he said, John, I think that God wants to heal you, but I am absolutely sure that it is not so that you can go back to being the same man you've always been. I blanched and start to retch at that point.

If God heals you, it's so that you can serve Him whole. And if He doesn't heal your body, He still wants you for Himself. And far more important than the question of physical healing is do you belong to Him?

And that day my father gave his life to Christ. Something like that is going on in this episode. The woman has a need.

Her daughter has a need. And they come to Jesus and ask Him to meet the need and He's interested in something much, much more than that. Yes, in His mercy, in His love, He'll heal her body.

But he wants her to come to him for himself. I think that woman moved from being a dog to being a child in that brief paragraph. It's rather a good reminder on the weekend before Karen and I take off for Africa.

For too long, Christianity has been called white man's religion. Do you know that there are more black Anglicans than white in the world today? If you're a member of the Episcopal Church, you are a member of a black church.

Did you know that? Praise God. Did you know that in the little country of Uganda, strife-torn, persecuted under Idi Amin for all those years, there are more Anglican Christians, let alone all the other kinds, more Anglicans in Uganda than Episcopalians in all the USA?

Did you know that the Diocese of West Virginia wrote to the Archbishop of Tanzania and said, would you send us a missionary? And he did. It's not white man's religion.

It's not yellow man's religion or red man's religion. It's not Jew or Gentile. It's not slave or free.

It's not male or female. It's for the children who know the value of the crown.