Read Mark 7:24-30

“Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” (Mark 7:28)

When you’re in the midst of desperation how do you approach the Lord?

There is hardly a story in the Gospels that provoke more questions about Christ’s approach than this one. The Lord’s interaction with this desperate Gentile woman, who begged Him to heal her demon possessed daughter, at first seems cold and without compassion. Jesus not only initially ignores this desperate woman (see Matthew 15:23), but He proceeds to call her a dog and in effect tells her that what He has to offer is not intended for her.

“Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”” (Mark 7:27)

We wonder: Why would Jesus speak this way?

Certainly, this is not the typical characteristic we find in the person of Christ, who previously made an open invitation to anyone who was in need.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

We have to understand that Jesus knew the heart of the situation more than anybody. He was testing her and seeking to draw out her faith and humility. If she was a prideful woman, she would have been offended at Christ and walked away angry as the Pharisees did. She would have felt deserving and entitled to Christ’s gift, even though she was probably the one responsible for her daughter’s demon possession.

But instead we find something absolutely surprising. Her faith was fervent and her humility was second to none, and we see this in her response.

“Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” (Mark 7:28)

This woman’s faith was so great that she candidly replies using the same analogy. She didn’t need a loaf from the Lord, but just one seemingly worthless crumb that falls to the ground from His table. She believed that minuscule crumb would be more than enough to heal her daughter. Do you see her fervent faith?

But it doesn’t end there. She continues in the most self-effacing way and accepts her role as an undeserving dog eating beneath the table. It’s as if she were saying, “Yes Lord, I readily admit that I am but a dog eating beneath Your table!” Do you see her humility?

It was because of her faith and humility that she becomes only one of two people in the Gospel accounts that the Lord praises for their great faith.

“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 15:28)

What more could we learn from this woman’s example than that we must also approach the Lord in the most undeserving and self-effacing way. Fervent faith is believing that the crumbs of the Lord are more than enough for our lives, and true humility is living without entitlement and presumption before the Lord.

Dear Christian, let us never presume that because we have been brought near to God that we were ever deserving of it! Though we are the Bride of Christ, we must remember that we were a bride taken out of the miry clay. Though we are a child of God, we must remember that we were a rebellious child clothed in filthy rags of unrighteousness. Though we have been named the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we must remember that we were crooked and lopsided until the Chief Cornerstone was our foundation.

If we approach our Lord Jesus in real faith and humility, we too will have the great pleasure of eating the crumbs beneath our Master’s table. Not so! But we have been invited as an honorable guest to eat from the table and break bread with Him. Oh the goodness and favor of God on our behalf. Of how much more must we walk in fervent faith and humility for all that we have been given in Him.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…” (Ephesians 2:4–5)