Hello again! Let’s jump into the next four verses of Romans, with a wandering into Mark as well.

Romans 1:14-17

As Paul writes:

¹⁴ I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

I’m reading this mostly in the context of a really hard question. Who is chosen? Who belongs? Why did God start out with the Jews as his chosen people and then make accepting his son as the Messiah a further (only) requirement to be members of his Kingdom, abolishing all the previous requirements to which they had become accustomed and acculturated? 

v. 16: “the Gospel… is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” So in a way the Gentile is like the woman who wants to gather the dog’s crumbs under the table. She knows she may be getting leftovers but she still wants them, needs them, believes in them. She is desperate enough for her daughter to be healed that she will do anything. And she also knows transcendent power when she is in its presence. Desperation, and being in the presence of the holy, will burn shame away. 

Her story is in Matthew 15 and also in Mark, chapter 7:

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

This is a really hard passage, and I’m not going to pretend to understand it fully. I’m also going to bracket for now the whole issue of Jesus’ harsh words to the woman, and whether or not his (God’s) mind can be changed. Many commentators suggest this is Jesus (fully God and fully human) in his “fully human” moment. But this story has always spoken to me about the power of faith, about what will be done for us and in us if we simply believe. And relatedly, how powerful, transformative, even, is just a crumb of the holy. If we just ask for a little piece of God’s grace, God’s kingdom, God’s saving power, that is enough to do miraculous things, like driving demons out of our lives. So I don’t see it is gathering up the leftovers, but rather as valuing even a crumb from God. It’s those little breadcrumbs along the trail in the wilderness that can help us find our way. In fact often that is all we have to go on. 

To my mind this links up with Paul’s project, to show God’s incarnation as unifying for Jews and Gentiles alike. For salvation we don’t need the entire meal of rules and regulations, we just need the nourishing essence of the broken body of Christ given for us. But it has to be desired, and believed to be absolutely essential, just as we know food is necessary for our bodies to live. 

The idea of crumbs brings me to this beautiful prayer. How do you feel about our God working in your life today, a God whose property is always to have mercy?

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.