But He answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me! But He answered and said, It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs. 

Matthew 15:24-26 

Christ speaks truth. We are accustomed, for the most part, to perceive Him, and His speaking of truth in a manner we recognize as kind and benevolent-sounding, especially toward seekers. It surprises us to hear Him speak truth in what we would perceive to be a hard way. The verses before us sound hard. They are, from what we know about Christ and His mission, true words. Christ did come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He did not come to the wider world population. The disciples would be the ones to take the gospel there. To a Jew, the gentiles were considered dogs. There was a hard social division between Jews and gentiles. Although to our ear this sounds hard, any other Jew would have understood what He was saying about the dogs. The woman takes no time to debate with Him. She takes these hard truths without any quibble. Her great faith was such she would accept His utterance of hard truth and speak truth herself. There are times when we hear hard truths from Christ through the word of God. We can bristle at them or accept them and continue to look to Him.  He is kind to speak truth to us, however hard that truth may sound.

Our Kind and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice that You speak truth. 
We praise You that as we accept Your truth, 
we grow to understand You more. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me! But He answered and said, It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs. And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. 

Matthew 15:25-28 

Christ often said and did things in order to elicit a response from the people with whom He was interacting. He, knowing all things, was aware beforehand of the people, their issues, and their character. We observe Him doing this on multiple occasions. When He first encountered Nathaniel, He made a remark that, by the nature of it, convinced Nathaniel that He was the Son of God and the King of Israel. When He told the woman at the well to go and call her husband, He knew what she would respond. In the account before us, we find Christ acting in such a way as to elicit a particular response from the Canaanite woman. He says to her, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread, and throw it to the dogs.’ He was well aware of what her response would be. Her argument was full of faith in Him. He responded to her with, ‘O woman great is your faith.’ We may learn from this that often Christ sets the circumstances of life before us in such a way as to reveal to us and to others the faith He has engendered in us for Him. We come to Him knowing that regardless of the situation, He will do us good.  

Our Wise and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You know us better than we know ourselves. 
We praise You that You order and arrange the circumstances, 
to reveal the faith we have as You have given it to us. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region off Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.’ But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she cries out after us.’ But He answered and said, ‘I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Then she came and worshiped Him, saying ‘Lord, help me!’ But He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs’. And she said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour. 

Matthew 15:21-28 

Christ said and did things which are hard for us to understand. In the passage before us, He has an interchange with a Canaanite woman in which there are puzzling elements. The woman appealed to Christ on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter. She was appealing to Him loudly, and evidently making such a scene that the disciples urged Him to send her away. He responded that His mission was to the people of Israel, effectively excluding the woman on the basis of her nationality. We struggle to reconcile this with our preconceptions of Jesus. He seems to be uncharacteristically unwilling to countenance this woman and even says, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.’ To this remark she counters with, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.’ Here was a powerful argument born of great faith. The woman would not be deterred. We do not always understand why Christ meets us with responses to our requests as He does. We are, at times, puzzled and perhaps even feel rebuffed. Yet our argument is stronger than even the woman’s was. We are children of the house. We have even a greater position from which to petition Christ to act on our behalf.   

Our Glorious Living Christ, 
we rejoice that You act wisely and according to Your will. 
We praise You, that You work to teach us 
what it is to have great faith. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. So He said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 

Matthew 14:28-29 

The walk of faith takes us places we never imagined ourselves going. Peter had been a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee all his life. It is highly unlikely he had ever contemplated walking on the water. Now he found himself in the situation where he could see Jesus walking on the water. It defied everything Peter knew about water. As soon as he realized what was happening, he responded with, ‘Lord, since it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ Of the twelve, he was the only one who made such a request. The others were not lining up behind him. He did not presumptuously leap over the side unbidden, rather he appealed to Jesus to ‘command’ him to come to Him. Jesus said, ‘Come,’ Peter exercised greater faith than any of the other disciples. The walk of faith took him somewhere he would never have gone otherwise. We may find ourselves in situations where we are already exercising faith, and Christ may give us the opportunity to exercise more faith. When we do, we may not have much company. This should not discourage us. If Christ has bidden us come to Him walking on the water, He is going to lead us through some remarkable experiences.  

Our Gracious Lord and Master, 
we rejoice that You lead us in our exercise of faith. 
We praise You that You take us places 
we never would have gone 
without You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning