Symposium–He brought me out on a crumb
Socrates (470-399 B.C.) was a famous Greek philosopher from Athens, who taught Plato, and Plato taught Aristotle, and Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. Socrates used a simple but cleverly profound method of teaching by asking revelatory, psychologically probing questions. The Greeks called this form Dialectic – starting from a thesis or question, then discussing ideas and moving back and forth between points of view to determine how well ideas stand up to critical review, with the ultimate principle of the dialogue being Veritas – Truth.
Jesus and the Woman of Canaan
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. / And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
~ Matthew 15:26-27
“Somebody across from you got a whole loaf of talent, and blessings, and degrees, but all you got is a crumb, but you know how to work that little crumb you got!”
~ Bishop T.D. Jakes, 2015 Sermon: Leftover Blessings
Characters:
Socrates
Bishop T.D. Jakes
{Setting: Land of Tyre and Sidon, Galilee, circa 30 A.D.}
Socrates: We are gathered here today at my Symposium in the ancient land of Tyre and Sidon in northern coasts of Galilee with Jesus and his 12 Disciples to discuss the subject of Redemption – or the idea in theology regarding “forgiveness or absolution for past sins or errors and protection from damnation and disgrace, eternal or temporary, generally through sacrifice.”
Bishop T.D. Jakes: There is an invisible character here that is never mentioned; not expressed, only implied [in Mathew’s text]. I want to take a moment to thank God for that invisible character because as a woman of Canaan she shouldn’t have even known about Jesus, but somebody told this woman about Jesus. They took the time to tell her that there was a man in the city who was giving sight to the blind. He was healing the sick and raising the dead. And this person had to have faith because why would you tell a woman of Canaan about Jesus when Canaan was the land of Gentiles and Gentiles were excommunicated from the commonwealth of Israel? But they told her what seemed like wasted words… but they stuck.
Socrates: Indeed Bishop, now let us hear the word of the Lord as spoken by Saint Mathew 15: 22-28 –
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Bishop T.D. Jakes: {Channeling the Canaanite Woman speaking to Jesus} You gonna feed your kids; feed your kids. Let me tell you what I know about your children. Your children waste! Your little finicky, uppity, self-righteous children waste enough to heal my daughter… You waste enough glory to raise Lazarus from the dead… You waste opportunities that someone with enough hunger for God will say, “Lord, if I can just get to that church right there!” She said, “Go ahead and feed them. I’ll take the leftovers… and I’ll do more with the crumbs than they did with the whole loaf.”
Bishop T.D. Jakes: {to his congregation} I want to talk to people in this room. You don’t have a whole lot going for you. You try to make people think you do, but you don’t really have a whole lot going for you. Somebody across from you got a whole loaf of talent, and blessings, and degrees, but all you got is a crumb, but you know how to work that little crumb you got!”
Socrates: In my free time in Heaven I like to watch old, movie Classics. One movie I saw lately was the 1936 adaption of Little Lord Fauntleroy, “a drama based on the 1886 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew, Dolores Costello, and C. Aubrey Smith.” One of my favorite scenes is when the fatherless little boy first meets his wealthy but stern, and austere grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, who lived liked a king in a huge mansion with dozens of servants in the countryside of England. The Earl also had this huge Great Dane dog that sat at his side in his library and growled and barked at all who entered the master’s mansion, even growling at the servants of the Earl who lived in the master’s house.
But one fateful day, that pivotal scene in the movie when Little Lord Fauntleroy first met his imposing grandfather; the day he entered the master’s study, there was no barking, no growling from that huge dog who immediately walked over to the little boy who petted the Great Dane without the slightest fear, as the dog ushered him into the presence of the Earl, who was struck with utter amazement with how the little boy tamed the beast. But with what – swords and spears, a booming voice, an intimidating visage…? No! Little Lord Fauntleroy tamed the beast with the purity of his heart.
In the subsequent dinner scene, the Earl had his lap dog sitting attentively at his side while he ate with Little Lord Fauntleroy. The dog didn’t move until his master, the Earl of Dorincourt gave him scraps (or crumbs) from the master’s table. What’s amazing is that Great Dane dog, who stood over 6 feet tall got to such an imposing height and ferocious appearance… on crumbs that fell from the master’s table.
The same crumbs Jesus spoke about to the Woman of Canaan in Mathew 15:26-27 – But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. / And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. The same crumbs Little Lord Fauntleroy gladly ate as he ascended from the poverty of his flat in Brooklyn, New York he shared with his saintly mother, to eventually become the heir of his grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt’s vast and wealthy estate.
Bishop T.D. Jakes: Touch your neighbor and say, “He brought me out on a crumb!” Congregation answers: “He brought me out on a crumb!” {Followed by praises and shouts of thanksgiving to God}.
The Earl of Dorincourt and his lapdog with Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936 Movie)
Socrates: Admittedly, this Symposium is not for everybody. It’s for desperate people. It’s for people who have suffered loss that would have killed others or sent them to the insane asylum. Thus, in order to understand the full meaning of this dialogue you have to go through some very traumatic situations in life and come out clean on the other side. Everybody don’t make it. You can’t be cute, silly, self-righteous, or self-conscious. You have to be desperate enough to want your blessing from God that you are willing to be Radical.
Black folks born and raised in the ghettos of America, in the Projects of America’s inner cities know the great blessings that come from the power of a little crumb. For example, I’ve been told by Black folks raised in the “Old School” – that grew up hard, one step away from the streets. They told me how Grandmother, whom they called, “Big Mama” would tell them in the kitchen: “Baby, don’t throw that bread away, Big Mama can still use it.” The children would answer, “But Big Mama, this bread is old, it’s hard, its stale… see Big Mama this bread is even starting to turn green with mold. It’s no good! Big Mama would smile, shake her head and say, “Baby, all you got to do is cut the mold off and the bread can be used for something else… even the crumbs.”
We all forgot about that incident until we kids got back from Sunday School. And when we walked through the door, the whole house was filled with a delicious aroma we had never smelled before. “What you cookin’ Big Mama?” we asked. “Baby, remember that loaf of bread you wanted to throw away yesterday? Well Big Mama took that bread you wanted to throw away… and the crumbs and made ya’ll some bread pudding. Now change your church clothes and Big Mama will give you some.”
Bishop T.D. Jakes: Touch your neighbor and say, “He brought me out on a crumb!” Congregation answers: “He brought me out on a crumb!” {Followed by praises and shouts and shouts of thanksgiving to God}.
Sometimes you’ll share your faith with somebody and they seem to pay it no attention. It seems like wasted spit in the wind, but you don’t know when you sow a seed how long it will take to yield a harvest. Maybe when they told [the Woman of Canaan] there was nothing wrong in her life, and maybe she just kind of shrugged it off and said, “Hummrrff!” But then when her daughter was vexed with a devil, she said, “It’s my daughter, Jesus!”
She was a woman, and a Canaanite woman. A Canaanite woman means that she came from an idolatrous background, a woman of Canaan she was not necessarily a spiritual woman, or a holy woman and yet she had a need and knew where to take it.
What do you do when your background doesn’t line up with your faith? What do you do when I can’t look at your history and determine your destiny? What do you do when you know that you been on the wrong side of the tracks and yet you come to Jesus, expecting something from him?
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Bishop T.D. Jakes: “Somebody across from you got a whole loaf of talent, and blessings, and degrees, but all you got is a crumb, but you know how to work that little crumb you got!” … Christ Redeemed me on crumbs. He brought me out on a crumb!
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Category: Commentary
