Children's crumbs?

[cuprunsovr]

Can anyone help me to understand this passage - I don't understand why her response pleases Jesus? Thank You


25But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26Now the woman was a [d]Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28But she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." 29And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." 30And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.

 

[rlowe]

Children's crumbs

I forget the reference & the version, but I've read ...
"ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking".

I would say He was testing her faith & steadfast persistance.

 

[Snowrose]

Hi cuprunsovr,

I found this article written by Pastor David Reagan on the "Learn the Bible" site of his interpretation. It made since to me.

In this story, Jesus is showing us that His main calling during His
lifetime was to the Jewish people and not to other peoples of the world.
When He sent out the twelve disciples in Matthew 10, He told them, "Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans
enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"
(v.5-6). Even Paul testified "that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision" (Romans 15:8). When the Bible refers to the "circumcision,"
it is referring to the Jewish people.

You see, Jesus was born as the Jewish Messiah--as their promised Holy
One. He came to them to fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies
concerning Him. It was only after He was rejected by them, that the
message was offered to all people.

So, the children of Matthew 15:26 are the Jewish people. The dogs are a
picture of the Gentiles--that is, everyone who is not a Jew. Jesus came
to His own people (John 1:11). Just as it would not be right to allow our
children to go hungry while we fed our pet dogs very well, Jesus would
not spend His ministry reaching the Gentiles when He was called to go to
the Jews.

The good news is that Jesus was willing to give crumbs to the woman of
Canaan because of her faith even when His ministry was to the Jews. And
now, after the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people, "salvation is
come unto the Gentiles" (Romans 11:11). According to the apostle Paul, we
Gentiles were "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). Yet through Jesus Christ we
"who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ"
(Ephesians 2:13). We have been given the full blessings of being the
children of God. And, though Jesus will again reach out to the Jewish
people, we know that He will never turn from us because we are Gentiles.

I hope this helps - God bless,
Snowrose

 

[cuprunsovr]

thank you sisters. rlowe the words "kept asking" in verse 26 had me thinking along the lines of persistence as well. But rose your refernced explanation makes sense, especially given in teh chapter right before Jesus is ticked that traditions have blinded the elders.

Thanks again gals