Gather Up the Crumbs and Live
- davidwperk
- Aug 1
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, August 1, 2025
Proper 12, the week of the seventh Sunday After Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s reading:
27He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 28But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ 29Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 976)
AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73
2 Samuel 5:1-12; Acts 17:1-15; Mark 7:24-37
Today we celebrate the Feast of Joseph of Arimathaea. (See below.)
David's Reflections
This story always has appealed to me. If we believe that Jesus was fully human, then his freedom and openness to outcasts, women, and nonJews we cannot take as automatic. Jesus, like any other person, would have learned traditional ways of thinking and the accompanying biases. To become the open, accepting person we experience in the stories, he would have to unlearn those ways of thinking. In this story, he at least alludes to the woman as a "dog," a racial slur Jews threw out against nonJews. Could it be that Jesus’ experience with this woman surfaced biases that he had to unlearn?
Having grown up in the old South, I inherited many biases and cultural values regarding blacks that did not square with my Christian commitment and core values. The journey to greater freedom often was painful and disillusioning; perhaps that's why I identify with Jesus in this story.
It appears that Jesus found this woman's faith remarkable; perhaps encounters like this with nonJews who were so open and full of faith was part of his own learning, part of his journey into a larger and less biased space. Would it be heretical to suggest that Jesus' remarkable freedom grew from experiences and encounters like this one?
The late Macrina Wiederkehr, a Benedictine nun, in her outstanding book on contemplative prayer, seems to take a similar view of this passage. Consider her reflective poem on this story. *
GATHER UP THE CRUMBS AND LIVE
O Most-Nourishing-One, if I asked you for bread,
would you hand m a stone?
I'd believe in the stone,
if it came from you!
Oh, God, where is the bread?
I've sat with open hands for hours.
Is my heart as open as my hands?
Or is this just an empty symbol,
devoid of meaning
devoid of reality?
Is my closed heart laughing at my open hands?
I hear the songs they sing in churches:
You satisfy the hungry with gift of finest wheat . . .
And I wonder, where is this gift of finest wheat?
Have I become the Canaanite woman to you, Lord?
Are you afraid to throw your bread to dogs,
to the unworthy
the blind
the outsiders?
Well, then, I'll put on her mind instead of
yours.
I'll wear her faith instead of your arrogance.
Even the dogs get the crumbs, Lord.
God, you cannot hide from me.
You cannot scare me with your face of
absence.
I scare myself with this hunger for your
presence.
I would break all rules to possess you.
To be nourished by you,
I would go to every table in the world.
I would leave no stone unturned to find you
lest when I turned it over
it be changed to bread.
I come looking for bread,
but if you're saving it for your children,
don't worry.
I'll gather up the crumbs if you insist.
I'll make a meal on leftovers
and rejoice that I have been so blessed.
O Most-Powerful-One
I feel so powerless
so little and so poor
so vulnerable
so terribly wide open
so seen.
It hurts to be so hungry
so dependent on your bits of grace.
Even the dogs get the crumbs, Lord
I'll gather up the crumbs
and live. +
+Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary (New York: HarperCollins, 1988), pp. 47-48.
Personal note: Macrina was a Benedictine nun at St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We had several email correspondences over the years about her writing. I was deeply saddened to learn of her death in April 2020 of brain cancer.
You can learn about her and her writing at this website. https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/explorations/teachers/view/138/macrina-wiederkehr
The Collect of the Day, Proper 12, the seventh Sunday after Pentecost
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 231)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Joseph of Arimathaea.
Collect of the Feast of Joseph of Arimathaea.
Merciful God, whose servant Joseph of Arimathaea with reverence and godly fear prepared the body of our Lord and Savior for burial, and laid it in his own tomb: Grant to us, your faithful people, grace and courage to love and serve Jesus with sincere devotion all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 97)
A Collect for Mission
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 816-817)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 7:24-37
24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 28But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ 29Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’ 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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