Hanging out with Jesus XV: Bread is also for you

Hanging out with Jesus XV: Bread is also for you

But Jesus said unto her , Let the children first be filled : for it is not meet to take the children’s bread , and to cast it unto the dogs .  But she answered and saith unto him, Yes, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs (Mark 7:27, 28).

Clean hearts

Mark Chapter 7 begins with Jesus tackling a challenge from the Pharisees. This time they complained that he allowed his disciples to eat bread with unwashed hands. One must hasten to point out that the washing of hands was not in the hygienic sense but the ceremonial washing necessary for purity to approach God who is without any defilement (Isaiah 6:5).  They however held on to an Old Testament practice (Leviticus) but lost its essence. They even had added to the practice elements not in the Old Testament law but were just  tradition developed over time. Jesus agreed with the need to get clean but differed on the prescription. He seized the opportunity to redirect their focus from the cleaning of hands to that of hearts. The law was about hearts not hands.

He bluntly called them hypocrites. Acts of worship without the heart are hypocritical worship (Mark 7:6-8). Actions and words that  lack the heart are hypocritical. Sadly,  hearts far from God make his word powerless. The person of such a heart remains just with tradition making void the word of God. Religion empties God's word of its power by focusing on the external things at the expense of the inner things. It holds to a form of religion that denies the transforming power of God. It majors on  surface issues at the expense of the deeper. It makes faith irrelevant to what affects people and society. It makes people feel so holy and so busy with ministry to neglect relationships and responsibilities, so focused about church group to ignore your neighbor and even so careful about morality to forget the cross.

The heart is the fountain and laboratory of all good and bad.   The way you handle eating is governed by the condition if heart. When heart is right, hands and eating will be right.  The heart determines readiness to approach God. ‘For from within , out of the heart of men , proceed evil thoughts , adulteries , fornications , murders ,   Thefts , covetousness , wickedness , deceit , lasciviousness , an evil eye , blasphemy , pride , foolishness’ 

Who qualifies for Bread

From the subject of eating bread without washed hands  the narrative moved to the subject of who qualifies to eat the bread of the children.   A Syrophonician woman tested the beliefs. She fell  at the feet of Jesus and begged that he delivered her daughter from demonic possession. She may have been following him (Mathew 15:26) and knew him as a man who was caring as well as able to help her situation.  Jesus replied with words that would have discouraged many if not make them furious with anger. 

‘But Jesus said unto her , Let the children first be filled : for it is not meet to take the children’s bread , and to cast it unto the dogs (Mark 7:27, 28).

Miracles were children’s bread. In the context, the children were the Jews.  Paul said ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first , and also to the Greek .’   The gospel was to the Jew first. But not exclusive – it was also to the Greek. 

At Jesus’ words the woman could have felt rejected and excluded.  She could have said my daughter is also a child. She could have felt so undeserving to stand up and go away. Often we think Jesus should do for us  what we ask. For a Greek to receive help from Jesus was not a right but an act of grace. She approached Jesus unassumingly in her expectations. She was without an entitlement attitude.  She could have felt dishonored by being called a dog. A dog is a dog, whether it is a pampered household pet or a street wild.  A dog is a dog, even if called that softly and tenderly.  She could have felt provoked, insulted and offended. She could have allowed pride to rise up and retort how can this happen to me. How dare he say that.  She could have made up her mind to never ask for help again. 

However she was different. She was not offended like the people of Nazareth and the Pharisees.  Her heart was not defiled.

She answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.  

Jesus commended her response and saw it as enough reason to give her the bread of the children. By her words and attitude she turned offense to something positive. She demonstrated what power can come out of a heart that is right. What came out of her heart brought her in and earned her healing for her daughter. It accomplished what washed hands could not.  What a lesson to the Jews present who may have said big ‘amens’ to his first statement to her. A  lesson to non Jews also, while tradition could exclude even the Jews from God’s life, faith could include even the excluded non Jews.

SHE showed three marks of faith and intercession.

>>Humility

From the beginning she threw herself at his feet. She had nothing to protect if she could save her daughter.  You can also fall at his feet in prayer. Jesus can however be deliberately scandalous – throwing stumbling blocks in people’s way.  No one likes being called hypocrites, an evil generation, whitewashed tombs, or dogs.     But with humility and trust beyond the scandal is salvation. ONE must overcome the scandal to find Jesus' heart.  Sometimes the stumble is a delayed answer, not preferred answer, an answer unlike others got, insufficient detail,  something you do not immediately understand, different view, or his denials.  Faced with a stumbling block, she appealed to his character. She thought I trust your heart and whatever you say is as good as your heart. Do what you want, one thing I know you are compassionate even towards dogs because that’s your nature.

How much can pass through your relationship with Jesus before it breaks. On his side, nothing can do it (Romans 8). How about on your side, refuse to be the weak link in the chain that breaks the chain despite the rest being strong. 

>>Tough Skin

She had wisdom and a tough skin. She showed great character by not being  offended easily. A tough skin can ward off offence. It will not allow arrows of offense to stick or reach the heart. She was not an overly sensitive person. She did  not allow offence to go inside to defile the heart. She was rich in heart. Her heart was tender to allow patience, wisdom, and kindness to come out.  She knew where the solution  was – in Jesus alone. Like the disciples when everyone fled the scandal when Jesus figuratively invited them to eat is flesh and drink his blood (John 6). The disciples said where can we go to - you have the words of life.  The fool says there is help apart from God.  She was humble and wise. She did not fight Jesus but agreed with a ‘yes’ and she was not disrespectful she said Lord. She expanded on the illustration he gave about dogs and children. And reasoned with him that domesticated dogs also ate crumbs under the table. They belonged to the house also. 

>>Desperation

She was also desperate for  the sake of her daughter. She had come to the end of her wits. She had burnt bridges to any other source.  Jesus’ words sounded as cold rejections, but really they turned out to be a precious opportunity to elicit greater faith and dependence from the woman. They made her reach deep to the best quality of faith for the kind of miracle she wanted. She was childlike in her faith.  She did not despise the crumbs under the tables and resultantly was brought to eat with children what was on the table. She must have remembered that Jesus valued crumbs since he collected crumbs when he fed the 5000. She must have got the revelation that the crumbs of God are God sized and good enough.  And all this for another person. What a demonstration of the power of intercession. You can only persuade because you know the character of the person and believe there is chance to win. Her faith qualified her for a seat at the table. You do not belong under the table today you can also join the party if you learn from this woman.

Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.

Faith Ministries – Johannesburg Faith Life Center.

Ground and First Floors Sunset Bay Building,

204B Bram Fischer drive,

Randburg, Johannesburg, South Africa