Crumbs from the Table

This message was a Dramatic Monologue about a story of a gentile woman from the Bible and the way Jesus responded to her request to heal her daughter. (The message was given in costume from the period of the time of Jesus' day). The scripture story is taken from Matthew 15:21-28.  

-------------------Drama Synopsis---------------------

"Crumbs from the Table"

Matthew 15:21-28

Pastor Jerry

How often does it happen when you sit down to eat and you get interrupted? When I sit down to a meal, I want to eat in peace and quiet.  I don’t want someone knocking on my door; especially not, if it is a stranger. Do you know what I mean? Can I tell you what happened? It’s all about that woman. She didn't belong here.  I knew it and the rest of us knew it. We were just sitting down to dinner when she knocked on the door. But she didn’t wait for someone to answer the door, she just barged right in. The dogs woke up immediately and from their place under the table they began barking. One of the children started crying as the woman frantically ran around the room.  I was startled and I stood up immediately. I could feel myself beginning to get angry as I looked at this ragged and strange dirty woman who was intruding on our mealtime. James and John, who had been sitting near the door, jumped up at the same time and were already reaching out to stop the woman from coming closer to the table when she spotted JESUS sitting there. Simon Peter moved in front of her and she cried out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!  My daughter is sick.  She is suffering terribly from demon possession..." Jesus must have heard her over the noise of the dogs barking and the child crying, but he never said a word.  He didn't even look up from his plate. By this time it was not only James, John, me and Simon Peter, but the other disciples who had surrounded the woman and began to hustle her out the door. She was interrupting not only our meal, but the time that Jesus was specially setting aside for teaching us about the Kingdom he was going to establish.  We had no intention of letting her get in the way of that. The woman struggled a bit, but she didn't have a chance.  She was outnumbered. She kept on saying to us that she had to see the miracle worker, that her daughter was in terrible shape, that she needed help. She must have clutched at and grabbed on to each and every one of us disciples as she pleaded.  I tell you, she was a real pain.  But I didn’t have time for this.  I just wanted to get back inside for dinner. Simon Peter tried to reason with her. "Look", he said, "You have no right to be here.  You've got no right to bother the teacher.  Please go away." "I've got to see Jesus", she said, "I know he can help me.  He has done so much for others." "That may be", James said, "but he's not going to do anything for you. You are not only a wretched woman, you are a Canaanite,… You are not invited to the Lord’s table…  Listen!  Please! Go away!  You are not going to get help here." Don’t you understand …you are not welcome here! Do you know what she did?  That wretched woman just shook her head and said:  "I know he will help me, he's got to help me!" John butted in, "Look", he said, "Go away.   I tell you she was a crazy woman.  She didn't know her place, that's for sure. The more we said to her, the louder and more persistent she was.  She cried, she begged, she screamed.  There was no reasoning with her. After a few minutes of this I got the idea of asking Jesus to tell her to go away. As soon as I opened the door to go in the dogs began barking again.  I went over to Jesus. Our host looked a little embarrassed. He was trying to pretend that nothing was going on - but the woman was standing just outside the open door waiting for some word on what to do.  "Excuse me", I said to Jesus, "could you please tell that woman to go away.  She is really pestering us with all her crying and carrying on." Jesus looked at his host, then at me, and looking at the woman HE said -- "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."  I turned to tell this wretched woman that the master wanted her to go away. But, just as I was turning around, she ran by the disciples at the door and ran right over beside Jesus, and fell down on her knees at his feet. "Lord, help me", she cried. Jesus looked at her at his feet.  She bowed her head and looked down.  Then he looked around the room for a moment. It became very quiet. The child beside him was busy eating a piece of bread as if nothing unusual had happened. The dogs were nuzzling around under the table. Our host was staring at him, no doubt wondering what Jesus was going to do to get rid of this problem. The silence in the room became un-nerving as the master looked around. Then Jesus looked down at the woman and said to her, "It is not right to take the children's bread and to toss it to their dogs" -- A couple of the disciples smiled.  I must confess that I grinned too. It was such a well placed phrase. The kind that only Jesus seemed to be able to come up with. It made the point well. As I did so the woman looked up at Jesus and stared him in the eyes.  "Yes Lord", she said to him in this incredibly calm and clear voice, and I swear to you she had this little smile on her face, "Yes Lord", she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." I was stunned.  The woman really was too much. Anyway - do you know what Jesus did? He smiled at her…with a look of such compassion … and he said to her, "Woman, you have great faith, for your belief in what I can do, because of your faith in me, your request is granted.  Go home, you daughter is healed." I just could not understand it. I mean why in the world did Jesus do that? Why did Jesus help this kind of woman? Why did Jesus heal her daughter? She did not belong here. She was not one of us.  She was nothing but a sinner. Jesus knew it, I knew it, and the rest of us knew it. I just don't understand Jesus sometimes.  Why her? Why did Jesus love her? Why did Jesus forgive her? What kind of faith did she have? I want to understand ....  I want to believe like her about Jesus …I want to have her kind of faith…