Jesus can be jarring.
In Mark 7, after a confrontation with the Pharisees about true purity, Jesus goes to a Gentile region and is met by a distraught mom. Her daughter has an unclean spirit, and she comes to Jesus for help, persistently begging him to cast out the demon. Here is Jesus’s response:
“Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” (Mk 7:27).
Yes, Jesus equates her request with starving your children to feed your pet.
Underneath the shockwaves, Jesus' parable asks an important question and the way the Gentile woman answers reveals her to be a model of faith. The question Jesus’s parable asks is this, “what right do you have to eat at my table?”
Her reply is amazing. “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mk 7:28). She understands Jesus' parable and accepts it. She doesn’t cry foul or injustice on his part, rather she answers him, using his own words, that she doesn’t claim any right, but rather she pleads for mercy. In her response, we see the necessary humility of faith.
One of Jesus’s aims in this story is to teach his disciples that his mercy is freely given. It’s no coincidence that Mark places this story right after Jesus rebukes the Pharisee's attempt to make themselves pure by human tradition. But we also see her as a contrast with the disciples. In just a couple of chapters, they will argue about who deserves the place of honour beside Jesus (9:33-34, 10:35-37). They presume a spot in the place of honour. In contrast to those who earn their spot at God’s table by their effort, this woman models the humility of faith. When others claim they deserve God’s blessing, she pleads for crumbs of mercy. This is the humility necessary for faith.
We cannot come to Jesus demanding a right to his mercy. God always acts in such a way that makes clear his mercy is never based on our merits. In Deut 7 he says:
For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
“The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deut 7:6–8).
He chose you because he loved you. He blesses you out of his goodness and grace, not because you earned a paycheck. We don’t deserve a seat at the table, much less the crumbs on the floor. But God, out of his own goodness, gives us mercy we don’t deserve.
Every good we receive from God isn’t because we earn it. Every good we receive is because he is good. Every mercy we receive is because of his free love for us, even while we are sinners. We have no right to come to God and demand bread from his table. We come to God saying, “Yes Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs.” In Christ, God doesn’t treat us like dogs licking scraps off the floor, “But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God” (John 1:12).
The woman comes to Jesus with the humility of faith and receives much more than a crumb. “Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone” (Mk 7:29–30). Only through the humility of faith are we ever ready to receive mercy and only through the humility of faith will we give thanks to God for the mercy he gives.