![]() ![]() When the disciples were worried that they had forgotten to take bread with them Jesus said, “ You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread?” (Matthew 16:8) When Peter realised he wasn’t walking on water Jesus reaching out to rescue him said, “ You of little faith, why did you doubt?” In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said “if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30) It almost seems as if this is what Jesus called his disciples “ You of little faith”. Seemingly they had such little faith in him that they thought they were all going to drown together. “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26). In the same boat, when the storm was blowing a gale, Jesus notes the “small faith” of his disciples. We perhaps have little faith in such miracles. Can we ever believe that so little can go so far? Common sense is enough to know that five loaves and two fish are never going to be enough for 5000, and seven loaves and few small fish are never going to be enough for 4000. I dare say that most of us fall into the same boat as those first disciples. They would never have believed that there would be 12 baskets left over from feeding 5000, or 7 baskets left over from feeding 4000. ![]() And before the feeding of the 4000 they want to know “where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus had to show them. They say before the feeding of the 5000: “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish”. In contrast the disciples thought that they would never have enough to feed the five thousand (as well as women and children) or the four thousand (as well as women and children). Great is her faith in any crumb that falls from the hand of Jesus. She may have only been a dog in the pecking order but she knew that she would be satisfied with the crumbs that fell from the table. “Woman, great is your faith” is what Jesus finally notices about the Canaanite woman the disciples wanted to silence, send away and have nothing to do with. Today’s gospel, showing the growing tension between Jesus and the Pharisees and the great faith of the Canaanite woman is sandwiched between the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000. On the one hand there’s the bread from the feeding of the 5000 (12 baskets worth) and on the other hand there’s the bread from the feeding of the 4000 (7 baskets worth) and between there are the crumbs that are more than enough for the Canaanite woman in this morning’s gospel. So Crumbs remains the title for this reflection/sermon. “Crumbs!” was what I said when I read the story from Matthew 15 as if for the first time. It’s the Canaanite woman who catches the eye of the church on the 11th Sunday after Trinity (A). ![]()
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