[AI translation] Next time we gather here in the church for the Christmas holidays, and according to the old custom, we want to come to the Lord's table, much more than usual... It would be well, therefore, if we were properly prepared for it. Therefore, I would like this service to be a special communion preparation for us. In this Word that I have read, it is not about communion, but it is certainly about the table and eating - and even eating under the table. When the woman says with such great faith and fervour: 'But the dogs eat the children's crumbs under the table too' - Jesus says nothing against it. It's as if he approves, he gives the woman the truth. I feel that this 'eating under the table' has a great significance for our communion too.Let us not shy away from this idea! At first sight, it may seem unworthy of anyone who wants to see any connection or link between the dogs' eating under the table and the Lord's Supper. How do dogs get to communion? After all, it is the feast of sons, the feast of children! And the children do not eat under the table, but sit there, nice and proper, at the table. That's where they belong. That's how Jesus sat with the twelve at the table. It is understandable, then, that we should object to the idea of dogs having anything to do with the "table of the sons". Jesus himself at first rejected the idea, at least apparently, when he said to this pagan woman who asked for his help, in such harsh words, "It is not good to take the bread of the sons and give it to the dogs!" Faith is a wonderful thing, and it is true what they say: faith can never wait too long. Even for dogs, faith dares to demand, to ask, to expect something from the table of sons! That's what this pagan woman does: she asks for crumbs from the communion table for the dogs: "but the dogs eat under the table too..." If the dogs can't sit at the table like the sons, at least they can sit under the table! They can have something from that richly laid table. "Lord, I want no more than what a dog can have..." says the woman! "O woman, great is your faith, let it be to you according to your will." This is what Jesus said to her. So the dog is allowed to partake of the table - under the table! The dog gets his share too! Yes! Do we sense the encouragement in that?
When we talk about dogs in the Word, we certainly don't mean the well-coiffed, twice-washed-twice-a-week, pampered, loving house dogs that are often better off than the sons in some places. We are not talking about well cared for dogs whose owners pay a Levy, for whom a vet is called, who live in a heated room, who are taken for a walk like a small child... In the time of Jesus there were no such dogs in Israel. But not even the kind we see in village houses or on farms. In our modern parlance, this is perhaps the word that best captures the concept of the dog of that time: a stray dog! Yes, dogs back then - like wolves today - roamed wild, ownerless. The dog, as a harmful and unclean animal, was beaten to death if they could. They chased it away! With the concept of the dog came the concept of uncleanness, of unworthiness, of being masterless, of being homeless. Here, too, in the Word, the dog, the dog, symbolically denotes someone who does not belong at the table, who has no right, no part in the food of the sons. Jesus Himself, in His response to the Canaanite woman, makes a very clear distinction between sons and dogs: one has the right to bread - Jesus is referring directly to the bread of the sons - and the other does not. You cannot take the bread of the sons and throw it to the dogs.
Of course, this can be understood if we know that in Old Testament times the Gentiles were called dogs. But the "sons" were God's chosen people, seated at His table by God's incomprehensible grace. The sons were to share in the precious food and drink, the Word and blessing of the covenant with God. God has finally laid on the table of grace of His covenant the main course, the bread of heaven: His only begotten Son! That is why Jesus says: "My flesh is food, my blood is drink." I am the bread of life, the manna of heaven! The bread of sons! It is true that in the sacrifice of Jesus this heavenly banquet has gone beyond the bounds of one nation, and that table, the Lord's table, has been opened to the whole world, to which all peoples and nations are invited, because Jesus gave His body and blood for all, but it is still true that "it is not good to take the bread of the sons and give it to the dogs"! This table is a holy table, this hospitality is a holy hospitality, you can't come and partake of its blessings just any way and to just anyone! It is for the sons, not the dogs!
But don't misunderstand: the dogs here are not the Gentiles! The Word says to us who are here in the temple: are there no dogs here? Once a very deeply religious man, a psalmist, you know what he called himself? A mindless animal. Here is Psalm 73:21-22. Aren't there such people among the most devout people sometimes? Are there not such among us? Are not we ourselves sometimes such: unwise beasts before the Lord? Or are we not even ourselves? Or are there here only great, pure, kind, obedient sons and children?! Does it never happen that one of God's children - "goes astray"? Become like a dog without an owner? It happened with David. It happened to Peter! The apostle Paul once cried out, "O wretched man!" Yes, we are often such wretched people, who have gambled away our filial, our filial dignity, our rights, we have put them at risk - we could sit at the table of sons with Jesus, and yet, like a stray dog, we wander, we scratch at rubbish heaps. Remember, Jesus once spoke of a boy: he was a boy, he had a home, he had a rich father, and where did he end up? To the pig trough! And he was right when he had the sad thought, "I am not worthy to be called your son!" Have you never felt at this table that you are not worthy to be called a son, because you are not worthy to be called a child of God? And if this table is set again for sons at Christmas, what of those who themselves feel they are not worthy to be called sons? What about the stray dogs?
Now imagine a hungry dog roaming the house. It lurks for hours on the doorstep, and at a moment of inattention it sneaks into the room where the boys are sitting at the table, eating their dinner, and looks with longing, begging eyes to see if it can get anything. Something like the supplication of the Gentile woman who fell at Jesus' feet and said, "Lord, have mercy on me..." This is what Jesus rejoices in: when the prodigal son, who has gone all the way to the pig trough, longs to go home, hungers for the table at home! When a stray, hungry dog, hungry, miserable, with begging eyes, looks up at the table of the sons, to see if some crumbs will fall for him! Isn't it great when someone longs again for God's Word, for fellowship with God, for God's forgiving grace?! Isn't it great when one truly sighs from the depths of his heart, "Like a deer longing for water, my soul longs for you, O God! My soul thirsts for God, the living God!"
Perhaps there is someone here who has wandered away, far from his master, but now runs after Jesus, like this heathen woman. Perhaps she feels that she has no place at the table of the sons, that she is unworthy of him, like this woman who does not object when Jesus speaks of the dogs, leaves him to it, says: yes, I am, but still she longs for at least the crumb that comes from the table of the sons to the dogs! And she cries out, Lord, have mercy on me at least as on a dog! A crumb of your riches, of your mercy, is enough! Yes, it is great when one hungers and thirsts for Christ like this! It is not when one is well fed, rummaging in the food, picking and choosing, finicky, but when one comes hungry, longing, conscious of one's own unworthiness, but still with the hope that I may get something: how I wish I had a crumb even from that table! Yes, it's much better to hungrily reach for the crumbs of the bread of life that fall from the table than to sit at the table and pick and choose... Hungry dogs sometimes put to shame the satiated sons who can sit so indifferently at that table! And behold, the dogs get, the dogs can come, the dogs get!
The woman wants crumbs! "For the dogs eat the crumbs of the children under the table." What a great, majestic table it must be, where even the crumbs are so expensive! Would that this table were infinitely rich! For Jesus Christ Himself sits at the head of the table! The bread and drink of Life, the very Bread and drink of Himself, He serves, He offers, He feeds! He says: Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you, this is my blood, shed for you, for your complete redemption, for the complete forgiveness of your sins, for the complete renewal of your life, for your peace! This is what you will receive at this table! Take it, eat it! Drink! There is no feast so rich in the world! - This woman is right: even if there is only a crumb, it is enough! It's great! She asked only a crumb of this bounty for herself and her daughter. Not all of it, not much - she thought herself unworthy. Just a crumb! He is happy with that! For him and his sick daughter it was enough! That little bit that others might not notice: what falls off, what is swept away, then thrown away, unless - yes, unless the dogs pick it up! So modestly, so humbly does this woman ask! Just like the other woman in the Bible story: the woman with the issue of blood, who was happy to touch just the hem of Jesus' garment! That was enough for her! Such was the faith of this woman! A crumb for the dogs! - Yes, a crumb! In fact, the ones who get the most are the ones who settle for a crumb! Those who appreciate the crumbs.
Watch out for the crumbs at the next communion! Try to enjoy the crumbs too! He who does not appreciate the little is not worthy of the big! To receive a truly blessed communion is a very big thing! It is not always so. Maybe it's because we don't take the crumbs into account. Surely you understand: it is not as if we are diminishing the greatness and richness of Communion. The Lord's Supper is a great, majestic great thing! For it is about eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus with the mouth of our faith. We are united with Jesus! And that is not a crumb! It is the greatest thing God can give. And yet I say: let us take care of the crumbs. A truly broken heart, one that does not consider itself worthy to be called the Son of God, can rejoice in the crumbs. This woman asked for a crumb, but she got much, much more! And that is the great, joyful encouragement of this Word for us, that the most undeserving can come if the heart desires this hospitality!
If there is anyone here who feels like a stray dog, who deserves nothing more than to be kicked and beaten; who fears to be driven away, to him also Jesus says: Come here - do not be afraid - I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine! Have you ever seen a timid, hungry dog when someone has called him in a friendly, loving way? How happy such a miserable animal can be! And how grateful! Grateful for the crumbs too! Oh, if we could be glad for the crumbs! Perhaps a word in the liturgical formula that speaks to us, or a fragment of a prayer we say together that puts into words a thought that lies dormant in the depths of our hearts, or a psalm verse that expresses our very feelings... Or even the single touching fact that in a few days we will be able to take communion together again; that we have all received a personal invitation to Jesus' great royal visit! That there we will also have the Bread of Life! These are the crumbs that we often don't even notice, but which a truly hungry soul can be so happy about! Just a crumb is enough, but a real crumb! Like this woman who asked for a crumb and got much, much more!
So may the Lord make the next communion rich for us! So let us all come in the happy assurance that Jesus will not send him away - for the dogs will get the crumbs! So let us take it seriously:
Rejoice, my heart, Comfort, my soul,
Faith has become your jewel;
To supper, drink to Jesus,
Formal are you here.
Come, then, sinners,
Who wait for healing!
Spirit of Jesus, Holy grace,
Is poured out on you today.
(Canticle 436, verses 1 and 7)
Amen.
Date: 19 December 1965.
Lesson
Mk 7,24-30