Matthew 15:21–28

²¹And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²²And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." ²³But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." ²⁴He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." ²⁶And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." ²⁷She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

A one sentence sermon! That's what we have here today. A complete sermon in just a single sentence. Now, before you get your hopes up, it is not my sermon that is just one sentence long. I'm not so skilled or so eloquent a preacher that I could preach an entire sermon in just one sentence. But the Gospel reading contains an entire sermon in just 12 words: "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." What's even more remarkable than the shortness of this sermon, is that the preacher is a woman. And if that weren't enough to confound our Missouri Synod ears, she wasn't even a member of the church. In fact, she would have been barred from entering the temple. She was not a member of the official organized religion. She had never set foot on a seminary campus. She had no degree in theology. She had never been examined by a doctrinal review committee, nor was she certified by the Board of Ministry or the district President. Yet she preached a sermon more eloquent in just one sentence than could a theologian or pastor with a doctor's degree in homiletics.

"Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." In other words, "Just give me a crumb, Lord. For a crumb of your grace is more than sufficient for all my needs. Just a crumb of your mercy is more than enough to set my daughter free from the hárassment of Satan. Just a crumb of your forgiveness is more than enough to wipe away all my most heinous sins. Just a crumb of your life giving Spirit contains more than enough life to give me life forever." Yes, you, Lord, are sufficient for all my needs.

His strength is more than enough to get you through all the trials and difficulties of life. Just a crumb of his grace is more than enough to cover all your most hideous sins. Just a drop of water when joined to his word of promise is sufficient to make you a child of God in Baptism. Just a crumb of bread, together with his word, placed on your tongue, contains enough of the bread of life to give you everlasting life. Just a single drop of wine on your lips, joined to His word, contains enough of the blood of Christ to wash away all your sins several times over.

And this very Jesus who is sufficient for all your needs is the same Jesus who fed over 5000 people with just two fish and five loaves and had more food leftover than what he started with. This Jesus is able to multiply that drop of baptismal water into a flood that drowns your old man of sin and from which a new spiritual man is born. This Jesus is able to multiply a single crumb of bread received in Holy Communion into the bread of life that will give you eternal life and that will raise your dead bodies to immortality on the last day. This Jesus is able to multiply that single drop of wine received at the altar into a river of his life giving blood poured out on the cross that washes away all your sins and stains.

Yes, Jesus is more than sufficient for all your needs. He is greater than all your suffering. He is stronger than your enemies. He is more than enough to take care of you in all your problems. His righteousness is more than enough to be credited to you so that God might declare you perfectly righteous. Just a crumb from Jesus is enough for all your needs here and in eternity.

Oh, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, why then do we worry and complain and get depressed when just a crumb from the Lord's table is more than enough to take care of us forever? Why do we feel so weak and helpless? Why are we so like the disciples and the Jews and the leaders of the official church who did not recognize Jesus?

Notice these disciples. They had just fed 5000 people with bread that had been blessed by Jesus. They had just witnessed Jesus walking on water, and they still didn't get it! They tried to make this woman go away. She was not a member of the church. She was not a part of their group. She didn't belong. She didn't fit in. She was a gentile; an outsider, a different race. They wanted to get rid of her. They weren't interested in helping her. They didn't want Jesus to save her or her daughter. They simply didn't care what happened to her... as long as she didn't bother them.

But how could anyone have such an abundance of overflowing grace from the Lord and still be so stingy with their love? How could we, having the crumbs of our Lord's mercy which overflow in abundance, be stingy with that mercy for our neighbor? How can we, for whom Christ died on a cross to take away our sins, not forgive others? How could we, who in a drop of baptismal water have received such great love that God calls us his children, not welcome his other children into our family? How can we, who have eaten the crumb of bread at the altar which is more than sufficient for our bodily and spiritual needs, not share some crumbs of compassion with the poor around us. How can we, who have a drop of Christ's blood on our lips not forgive the offense of a brother or sister?

Yes, just a single crumb of what Jesus gives us every Lord's Day is more than sufficient for us; more than enough to take care of all our needs and problems; more than enough to give us life everlasting in his kingdom; more than all we will ever need. So why grumble and worry and look sad and dejected when we already have been given more than enough of all we will ever need?

We have been given love in abundance; so that we have enough to share with others. We have been given mercy tenfold... so that we have more than enough to have mercy on our neighbor. We have been given compassion overflowing... so that it can overflow onto others. We have been given grace like a river.. that grace might flow out from us onto all people.

And by this single sentence sermon, she showed that the salvation Jesus gives is for all people. There is not one favored group, or race, or nation. But Jesus gives the bread of life to all who believe in his Name. Of all the people around that day, she was the only one who knew his name. She cried out, "have mercy on me, Lord; Son of David." She alone knew who he was. She alone knew that his grace is sufficient for her, and for all people. Was Jesus really testing her? It was not really a test of her faith, but Jesus was setting her up to preach this most eloquent sermon, by confessing her faith that Jesus' grace is for all people, even a poor, humble, despised, and hated Canaanite. She confessed her faith that Jesus not only gives us the crumbs that fall from his table, but that he feeds a banquet to all his children. An overabundance of grace and mercy and love and compassion, so that his grace will flow from our hearts onto all people, to all races, to all nations.

"The Lord has heard your cries for mercy," Ps 28:6 just as he heard the Canaanite woman. He has caused a river to flow "...whose streams make glad the city of God"..."God is in the midst of his people, they shall not be moved. God will help them when morning dawns." Ps. 46:2. "He who split rocks in the wilderness and gave drink abundantly as from the deep; he who made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers," will surely not leave you to thirst in the wilderness of life. He who fed his people the bread of angels from heaven will not leave you to hunger in the desert. "Oh, how abundant is his goodness which he has stored up for those who fear him," Psalm 31:19. "They feast on the abundance of his house and he gives them drink from the river of his delights." Psalm 36:8.

Yes, "even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."... as we eat the banquet that our Lord sets before us. "Great is the Lord and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure (Ps 147:5)"...therefore we shall "pour forth the fame of his abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of his righteousness." Ps. 145:7. So then, let us conclude this more than one sentence sermon by standing and singing the doxology

LSB 805:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen.