Outline

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　Matt. 15:26-27 But He answered and said, It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs. And she said, Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

　　When the Lord Jesus referred to the Canaanite woman as a dog, she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matt. 15:27). The Canaanite woman, not offended by the Lord’s word but admitting that she was a heathen dog, considered that at that time Christ, after being rejected by the children, the Jews, became crumbs under the table as a portion to the Gentiles. The Holy Land of Israel was the table on which Christ, the heavenly bread, had come as a portion to the children of Israel. But they threw Him off the table to the ground, the Gentile land, so that He became broken crumbs as a portion to the Gentiles. What a realization this Gentile woman had at that time! No wonder the heavenly King admired her faith (v. 28). (Life-study of Matthew, p. 522)

　　According to doctrine, [the Canaanite] woman [Matt. 15:21-28] definitely needed to be washed. But why did the Lord Jesus not ask her to wash herself before eating of Him? If the Lord had done this, He would have been acting contrary to what He had said in the foregoing verses when He belittled the matter of outward washing. Here the Lord was emphasizing the matter of eating. But this does not mean that we do not need to be washed. The blood is available. We may strike the blood and eat the Lamb. But in order to not confuse matters, in this section on eating, the Lord Jesus said nothing about washing. I believe that the Lord Jesus did this purposely to show His disciples that they needed only one thing—the eating. Even if we are as dirty as pagan dogs, we still have the right and the position to eat Jesus. Oh, we need to be uninhibited eaters! Do not wait until you have washed. Come to the Lord just as you are and eat of Him. As the words of a hymn say, “Just as I am, I come.” We need to say, “Lord, I come just as I am. I don’t need to change or to be cleansed. Lord, I need You, and I come to You to eat. Even if I am a dirty dog, I come to You just as I am.” Eating is primary, and eating is everything.

　　The Canaanite woman did not come to the Lord because she was hungry; she came because her daughter was sick. But the Lord turned the situation to the matter of eating. The Lord did not say, “I came as a Physician to the children of Israel, and I cannot heal any heathen. I cannot cure dogs.” Rather, the Lord seemed to be saying, “I came as bread to the children. It is not right to throw the children’s bread to the dogs.” Although the woman’s request had nothing to do with eating, the Lord purposely related her case to the matter of eating to show us that what we need is not outward washing but eating for the inward nourishing. In his doctrinal arrangement Matthew put these matters together that we might understand that for the kingdom of the heavens we do not need outward cleansing, but what we need is for Christ to get into us. Are you sick or weak? Do you have certain problems? Do not try to deal with these things in an outward way. Instead, deal with them in an inward way by eating Jesus. In fact, you should forget about all those things. What you need is not outward washing but Christ coming into you. The Lord seemed to be saying to the Canaanite woman, “You don’t need healing. You need Me! And you do not need Me outwardly; you need Me inwardly. You need to eat Me. I came as bread for people to eat, to digest, and to assimilate. I would like to get into your being, into your system, vessels, and fibers. I would like to get into your very constituent and become you. Thus, you need to eat Me. Don’t deal with things in an outward way. Rather, deal with everything in an inward way by taking Me into you. As long as I can get into you to nourish you, every problem will be solved.” (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 523-524)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 46