D. Scott Meadows

“And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” —Matthew 15.27

This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking GREAT THOUGHTS OF CHRIST. The Master had talked about the children’s bread: “Now,” argued she, “since thou art the Master of the table of grace, I know that thou art a generous housekeeper, and there is sure to be abundance of bread on thy table; there will be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse because the dogs are fed.” She thought him one who kept so good a table that all that she needed would only be a crumb in comparison; yet remember, what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her, but she had such a high esteem of Christ, that she said, “It is nothing to him, it is but a crumb for Christ to give.”

This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace. “My sins are many, but oh! it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant’s foot would crush a worm, but it is no more than a grain of dust to him, because he has already borne its curse in his own body on the tree. It will be but a small thing for him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it.” The woman opens her soul’s mouth very wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and he fills it with his love.

Dear reader, do the same. She confessed what Christ laid at her door, but she laid fast hold upon him, and drew arguments even out of his hard words; she believed great things of him, and she thus overcame him. SHE WON THE VICTORY BY BELIEVING IN HIM. Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must imitate her tactics.

—C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, 27 March PM

On Matthew 15.27

The woman of this story is called “a woman of Canaan” (v. 22), and a “Greek, a Syrophenician by nation” (Mark 7.26). Her encounter with Jesus happened in “the coasts of Tyre and Sidon” (v. 21). To say that the region and its people were not regarded well by Jews in those days is an understatement. Jesus’ use of the term “dogs” to refer to them reflects this commonplace contempt. They were not considered “God’s chosen people,” as the Jews were, but mere heathens.

In this instance, however, the pejorative only highlights the love of Jesus. Because He loved her, He intended to test and reward her faith in His goodness and grace, as the outcome shows.

Instead of being offended by such a reference to her and her people, this woman maintained her hope that the Lord Jesus Christ was most compassionate and willing to bless even a despised outsider like herself.

This story is another step in the progress of redemptive history. Whereas for centuries, it pleased God for spiritual blessings to separate the nation of Israel from its Gentile neighbors, the days were near that Christ would break down the middle wall of partition between them to make in Himself of both one new man, so making peace (Eph 2.14, 15). Jesus’ mercy toward this woman was a prelude to His calling to salvation, not only Jews but also Gentiles, in this present age. In the church, the old Jew/ Gentile distinction is spiritually meaningless.

Self-esteem as a panacea for psychological disturbance gained much popularity in our culture a few decades ago, and vestiges of it are still deeply embedded in our society. Our beloved friend Mr. Spurgeon, long before the misguided fad, presented the scriptural alternative: Christesteem. The discerning preacher commended “a high esteem of Christ” (para. 1) along with its blessed benefits of personal peace and wellbeing. In this, Spurgeon drew a good application from the gospel narrative.

The structure of this devotional message

I. A Case of Christ-esteem
II. The Comfort in Christ-esteem
III. Our Conquest by Christ-esteem

Points for further reflection

1. When we have taken to heart the very real moral guilt before God which is ours on account of being sinners and having sinned, we are vulnerable to crushing despair and even terror. God’s holiness and the judgment to come threaten all the impenitent. Some poor misguided souls, even some preachers among them, believe the remedy to this dread is to suppress or deny these spiritual truths and realities. Spurgeon points the way to real deliverance: Christ our Savior. We must be those who preach the gospel of Christ and His grace to ourselves every day. The higher we as believers think of Christ, the greater our assurance of salvation through Christ. The higher we think of Christ, the better, for His goodness is beyond our comprehension. Oh, what a Savior He is to us!

2. Our spiritual peace and comfort comes not just through thinking highly of Christ, but also by appreciating what He actually did on the cross. As Spurgeon describes this, Christ “has already borne its curse [i.e., the curse justly due to me for the actual guilt of my own sins] in his own body on the tree.” Galatians 3.10–14 and other biblical passages vindicate this understanding of the gospel. Ω