Originally posted on Facebook January 31, 2021
When Dan and I married in February of 1998 we had a total of 7 children living in our home. Dinner was a happening from the get-go.
Our oldest daughter Tabi boasted of washing over 90 dishes one Sunday afternoon! Each week we would have a big, after-church Sunday dinner and yes, she actually counted the dishes one Sunday while the rest of us were napping.
Cleaning up the dishes and the kitchen were not the only chores that had to be done after each meal. There was also the war zone of veggies, bread crumbs, and the like under the dining room table. And oh my! The crumbs on that floor!
Until the day we got a dog. Poohbear entered our “Brady Bunch” home about two years into our marriage. It did not take me long to realize that we had been needing a Poohbear sweeper for a long time. At each meal Pooh sat ready and willing, keenly watching for the drop of the slightest crumb. The dining room floor never needed a broom for food clean up again.
Matthew 15:24 is the second time recorded in the book of Matthew that Jesus mentions the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Both times this statement is spoken directly to the disciples.
In the story surrounding our verse for today a Gentile lady begs for help for her daughter who is grievously vexed with a devil. Jesus does not respond to her. The disciples are bothered by her shrieking and ask Him to send her away. Jesus tells them:
“...I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24
The woman's response to Jesus’ statement:
1. She worships Him!
2. She cries out again for His help!
And yet, Jesus’ next response seems even harsher.
“It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”
The woman acknowledges the truth of her humble state as a dog at the table of the Master and then proclaims the power of the life-sustaining crumbs that fall from the Master’s table. Because of her great faith, the woman’s daughter was made whole from that very hour.
It takes faith to become lost so that one might be saved. Faith to believe the harsh reality that I am a sinner. Faith to know without Christ I am but a dog at the Master’s table. This is the kind of faith Abraham had, the kind of faith Isaac had, the kind of faith Jacob had. The kind of faith Jesus was looking for throughout all of Israel. The kind of faith that saves the lost.
Theme Verse:
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” Mark 8:35
“Lose” from the Greek word “Apollymi” means “to destroy fully.” It is translated “lost” in our verse (Matthew 15:24) for today.
“...I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24