Sinners: Experience God’s Compassion in Your ShameSample

Petitioning Jesus for Your Deepest Needs

As I read this passage, I wondered about the Canaanite mom’s marriage, financial solvency, mental well-being, and childcare arrangements. Had mothering a demon-possessed child ruined her relationships? Had she spent everything she had on finding healing for her daughter? Was she depressed, lonely, exhausted? And who was watching her daughter when she petitioned Jesus? Whom could she trust with a demon-possessed child?

Jesus and I will need a conversation in glory about his use of this parable in his interaction with the Canaanite mom. And yet, its strangeness should give us a clue that something else is going on. Whenever we are confused about what Jesus is saying in the Bible, we can look to other Scriptures to find truth that will help us interpret the meaning.

You and I know for sure that Jesus is God and that God is love (1 John 4:8). Anything he did or didn’t do in his time on earth was consistent with his love, even if his actions don’t make sense to us. We can be certain, based on what the whole of Scripture tells us about the character of God and his heart for the vulnerable and downtrodden (James 1:27), thatJesus had compassion on this woman in the passage, which means he was not dismissing her the way the disciples did.

We also know that Jesus had this conversation in front of his uncompassionate disciples. Could it be that Jesus was testing the Canaanite mom’s faith and, at the same time, teaching his disciples a lesson about Gentiles? Jesus tested her faith by bringing up a parable the Jews believed about the Gentiles: that they were like dogs, unworthy of scraps from the table.

The mom’s response was daring, audacious, insubordinate, and yet wise. She knew that even dogs eat the crumbs from the table. Despite the way the people of God perceived her people, she persistently and aggressively petitioned Jesus for mercy.

This Canaanite mom may not have known anything about the Old Testament of the Bible or the faith history of the Jewish people. But if she did, she would have known . . .

• Even the “dead dogs” eat at the King’s table (2 Samuel 9:8)
• In his name, Gentiles will have hope (Isaiah 42)

If she had been following Jesus long enough to hear his Sermon on the Mount, she would have known that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be filled. She would have heard Christ’s instructions to ask for daily bread as she prayed. Her persistence would have emerged from the moment and the larger picture of what she knew about Jesus—just as ours must.

You see, when Jesus is involved, breadcrumbs are enough––enough to meet your needs and leftovers enough to meet the needs of those you serve.

Prayer: Abundant God, It’s hard to understand that breadcrumbs are enough. Help me to trust that You give me all that I need. Amen.