Waiting for Scraps

She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” (Matthew 15:27)

I do not like the way Jesus treated the mother in this story in the Bible. She was a desperate woman for her daughter was tormented by a demon, so she approached Jesus and asked Him for pity. He ignored her at first and His disciples even encouraged Him to send her away! All because she was Canaanite and not a Jew! But eventually, they have an exchange of words which shows that all what preceded was a test of faith. Jesus came for the chosen people, true, but God’s heart is so big, even the Gentiles are included in His plan. 

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Jesus told her. But the woman persisted, saying, “Lord, help me.” Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She pleaded, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Isn’t it that sometimes we do not like God’s answers to our prayers? We even sulk or sometimes stop talking to Him because we feel He has forgotten us or is ignoring us. If this Canaanite woman stopped talking to Jesus, her daughter would not have been healed. She was humble. She persisted. She pleaded. She reasoned with Him. The stories in the Bible are not just stories for our reading pleasure. It is intentionally written for us to learn from. If we ever feel like God is ignoring us, stop! God is not an ATM machine where after pressing some buttons we get what we ask for. He sees our hearts, He knows us, and knows what we need to prod us to more faith, to a closer relationship with Him. 

Father, so many of us are continuously pleading for a stop to this pandemic. Many are in need of food, of livelihood, of healing, of peace of mind. Please help us. Give us, gracious Father, crumbs from Your Table, and we shall be saved.