Under the Master’s Table – Toni M. Babcock
If Jesus appears to take no interest at all in your prayers, consider the plight of one woman and the crumbs of hope she found under the Master’s table.
Jesus was in the area of Tyre and Sidon with his disciples when —“Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came, knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me!” He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.” (Matthew 15:22-28 CSB)
Note the three-fold test of faith during this extraordinary exchange. First, Jesus was silent, yet her persistence prevailed. Second, he explained he’d been sent (for the time being at least) to the house of Israel. She remains unfazed, kneeling at his feet crying “Lord, help me!” Third, he compares her people to “dogs” after which she replies “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Are we willing to take our place like her — destitute of our own goodness, relying solely on the Master’s grace, unwilling to be offended by His Word — holding fiercely to that which falls from the Master’s table?
Toni M. Babcock is the author of Reflections from the Heart. Contact
