A Present Reality

One day, while Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a woman began to cry out after him, imploring him, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed” (Matthew 15:22). This was not the first time someone had approached Jesus, begging him for mercy and asking him for healing and deliverance. However, this woman was a gentile, a Canaanite, and a woman of Syrophoenician decent. After a while, and her continued pleas for mercy, the disciples grew annoyed and asked Jesus to “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us!” (Matthew 15:23). Jesus replied only that he was “sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). However, the woman was not to be denied. She came and fell down before Jesus and pleaded, “Lord, help me!” (Matthew 15:25). Yet Jesus still refused, telling the woman, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26). Nevertheless, this woman was persistent and impertinent, which Jesus recognized as faith. She responded to Jesus, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27). Seeing her faith, Jesus turned to the woman and said, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you desire” (Matthew 15:28), and her daughter was healed from that very moment.

In this encounter with Jesus, there is an interesting phrase the woman uses in her response to Jesus. The term for “that fall” in the original Greek is a present participle, providing a verbal modifier for the noun “the crumbs.” What is interesting is that a present participle represents an ongoing action and takes its time frame from the context. It would not be a stretch to translate this phrase, “the crumbs that are falling.” For this woman, the Kingdom of God was not some abstract concept or an event still relegated to the distant future. The Kingdom of God was here and now. The kingdom had come; the children were being fed, crumbs were falling from the table, and she was pressing in to receive what the kingdom had to offer.

This reminds me of another woman who saw the Kingdom of God as a present reality: Mary, the mother of Jesus. The occasion was a wedding in Cana, and Jesus and his disciples were present. However, during the wedding, the wine ran out. Mary informs Jesus of this fact, yet he responds, “What business do you have with Me, woman? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). Nevertheless, Mary goes to the waiters and tells them, “Whatever He tells you, do it” (John 2:5). Jesus directs them to fill the stone jars with water, which had been turned int wine, and take it to the head waiter. The head waiter responds, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the guests are drunk, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10). Jesus spoke of a future day when his time would come, but Mary saw that the Kingdom of God had already come. For her, that day was today! The Kingdom of God had come, and those who had faith could access its blessings and power.

These two women and their understanding of the kingdom as a present reality help us to understand a difficult passage in the Gospels. Jesus tells his disciples, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been treated violently, and violent men take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). It is hard to understand how the one who told us to love our enemies could also instruct us to be violent and to praise the efforts of violent men and women. However, this particular Greek word for violence can also mean to force oneself into, to press in hard, and even to be impatient. The violent ones Jesus was talking about are those who recognized that the kingdom had come and who were impatient in their efforts to press into it. There were many people in the days of Jesus who were content being spectators. They loved to hear Jesus stories and to watch his miracles. However, there were others who were not content to merely watch the Kingdom; they wanted to press in and be participants in the Kingdom. For them, the Kingdom of God was real, and they would not be deterred in their effort to be part of that Kingdom.

How do you see the Kingdom of God? Is it merely an abstract concept or a kingdom that has yet to arrive? Or do you see it as a present reality, one that is here and now, one that we can enter into, one whose blessings and power are now available to all? I would love to hear your thoughts. If you want to join the conversation, you can leave a comment below. You can also sign up for email updates by using the form on my home page.

David R. Robison