Intro. Do we have a pet? We kept them as member of our family.

In Webster dictionary, pet means favored, darling. Domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.
We do have boundaries in life. Professional boundaries, personal boundaries, marital boundaries,
But a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. The text does not focus on the crowds but on one particular woman. A woman who had a sick daughter heard the master healer was in town. The master healer was in a specific house, and so she went to find him. She heard about this Jesus and she came and knelt at his feet.

We can imagine the emotional pain of this woman whose daughter was so deeply sick. In a moment, we will discover that her daughter was demonized. We can imagine how distressed this mother was.

She prayed Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; this woman wanted the mercy of God for both herself and her daughter.
There are times when all of us beg for healing from the Lord God for our children, our spouses, our friends, and even ourselves. There are times when we all beg for healing and such was the moment for this lady.

There would be a time that you don’t have someone to lean on except J E S U S

He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Whoa! That was arrogant on Jesus’ part. I wasn’t send to you, but only to the lost sheep who were Jewish. It is as if Jesus was saying, “Buck off lady. I take care of Jews only and you aren’t one.”

But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me. This woman is persistent

He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ Jesus and the disciples resist the mother’s passionate persistence to have her daughter healed. It appears that the woman was a nuisance and the disciples wanted to get rid of her.

But he did not answer her a word

1. But he did not answer her a word
2. Send her away for she is crying after us
3. I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel
4. It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs

She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Interpret the word, “dog,” as “pet.” Some scholars suggest that the word for “dog,” seems nasty in its prejudices (e.g. “That person is a dog.”) But that same Greek word could be interpreted as “pet.” Barclay, in his commentary, suggests that “the diminutive word for dogs (kunaria) is used, and the kunaria were not the street dogs but little household pets. Pets are very different from the pariah dogs who roamed the streets.”

He is our hope for the hopeless
He is our healer when we are sick
He is our comfort when we are lonely

You are the Apple of the eye
VIP- very important person

But that’s not what happens. Here comes this woman, shouting for Jesus’ attention, the word implies a piercing shriek. With a mother’s fierce love she is willing to cross any boundary-- religion, ethnicity, even propriety—to get Jesus’ attention. Still, somehow this pagan woman has the theological sense to address Jesus in ways people hardly every do back home. She calls him “Lord,” and “son of David.” Where did she get that? In her scream for help she pits the son of David against the demons of hell. In Greek, her cry resonates as the familiar prayer of the church through the centuries.
“But he did not answer her at all.” What? Nice Jesus, polite Jesus, sensitive Jesus-- “did not answer her at all”? It’s a deafening silence. How can our merciful Lord ignore the cries of this woman in need and pain? It surprises us; it disturbs us.

I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel

Boldly, shamelessly, she knelt down in front of him (the Greek could literally be translated that she worshipped him), and said, “Lord, help me.” She threw herself in front of him. Can you ignore me? Can you pass me by? Can you walk over me?

“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” It’s blunt, it’s crude, it’s tough, but it has the quality of clarity. To call Gentiles dogs (among other even worse things) was common among Jews of Jesus’ day. What seems like a mere put-down also contains plain logic. The children come before the dogs. You don’t give their food to the dogs. Jesus is making his dilemma clear to this theologically untrained Gentile. Dogs don’t get the children’s food. Understand?

But then she puts her little spin on it, as if to say—“yes, precisely; and do you know what you just said? You call me a dog? OK, I’ll be your little dog. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”

I encourage you today. Seek God! Seek His face! Come to a place where His anointing power can flow through you. Don’t let anything get in the way of God moving in your life, and in His ministry that is operating through you