Come As You Are

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

There is quite a commotion in a usually quiet village somewhere in the area of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus is hanging out with His disciples. There is a Siro-Phoenician woman yelling and calling out to Jesus, but He doesn't seem to pay her any mind. In fact, His disciples are bothered by her noise and ask Jesus to send her away.

Now, let's break down the story.

[A Canaanite woman came from that vicinity and cried out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly."]

The woman addresses Jesus as 'Son of David.' Now, that was a term typically used by the Jews at that time. It's like she's attempting to approach Jesus masked by a pretense that she is a Jew or to persuade Him with some Jewish flair.

But Jesus doesn't respond at all.

[Jesus replied, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."]

Jesus starts giving some clues to the woman a bit, trying to open up a way for her to reveal herself and indicating that He knows who she is.

[The woman came and knelt before Him. "Lord, help me!" she said.]

Finally, the woman surrenders and humbly pleads, "Lord, help me!"

[He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."]

Now, hold up! Jesus' response may sound rude, right? But here's the key—it's in the word 'dogs.' The term used is 'kunarion,' which means 'puppy' or little dog, often a beloved pet in the household. So, it's not meant to demean. Jesus is giving the woman a chance and a loophole to receive grace based solely on His mercy, not because of her identity or approach.

[Yes, it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."]

The woman grasps that grace is a gift, freely given, without anything we can offer or do to earn it.

[Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted."]

Jesus commends the woman's faith.

Let me give you an illustration. I grew up in Indonesia and it’s a huge country with rich diversity of tribes and languages. Let's say I'm a Chinese ethnic born in West Java where people would speak Sundanese. I just relocated to Central Java where people speak Javanese. One day I need help from my new neighbor. I have a prejudice against my neighbor that he would have a prejudice against me. I assume that my neighbor doesn't like Chinese-Sundanese people, hence I try to approach him with a "Javanese" style, in a bid to ‘soften’ his heart. I go to him, speaking in my broken Javanese dialect.

But, you know what? My neighbor is actually a very genuine and kind person, and he doesn't care about my ethnicity or my approach. He then playfully responds in high-level formal Javanese language to tease me, which I don't understand. I just end up grinning and resort to speaking in Indonesian, the language that we both can understand.

Then he smiles and helps me out. His gesture is teaching me that he knows I'm not Javanese, and if he helps, it's out of love, not because I'm pretending to be a "Javanese” or because I make an effort with the “Javanese” approach.

Imagine, had he helped me right away, when I came to him with my broken Javanese, I would say to others, “Hey, if you need help from this guy, better brush up your Javanese and he might consider your request…” And I would never ever know, that my neighbor is indeed a genuinely sincere person.

That's more or less what Jesus wanted to convey to the Canaanite woman. He wanted her to come as she was and to show her that grace opens wide doors. He wanted her to know that He is a good God and that through Christ, she also becomes a child of God.

We can always come before the throne of abundant grace without feeling the need to qualify ourselves. The more we try to make ourselves worthy, the further we get from that throne of grace. So, are we still like the Canaanite woman, trying to persuade God with something? With pretense? With something we do or offer? Or by yelling and howling?

Come to Jesus as you are, because He loves you just as you are