English (United States) 
District Apostle Kolb's introduction letter from the Summer 2020 Vision Newsletter
Dear brothers and sisters,
I would like to reflect on the story and message from our Chief Apostle on Pentecost concerning the woman and the crumbs. We can find this incident with Jesus in both Mark 7 and Matthew 15 and I encourage you to read them both and consider three thoughts – faith, humility, and nonentitlement.
In short, a Gentile woman had a daughter with an unclean spirit. She came to the Lord, asking for mercy and worshipped Him. He responded, unexpectedly, that the children (Jews) should be fed first, before the little dogs. Unoffended, she said that even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Thereafter, the Lord exclaimed, O woman, great is your faith! He told her to go her way, her daughter is healed. The Chief Apostle explained that with her response, she expressed that she would be satisfied with the crumbs. Continuing, he said that if God gives us crumbs, we will be blest with crumbs.
There are many dimensions to this event. First, the woman recognized Jesus as the Lord and worshipped Him. Even though she was not a Jew, she had faith in His power. She realized that Jesus was her only hope for help, so she fell before Him, begging for mercy. When Jesus responded to her, she did not turn away aggravated or discouraged because of His reproach, even referring to Gentiles as “little dogs.” Humbly, yet undeterred, in her last words to Jesus, she exposed that she was not entitled to anything, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She would be happy and satisfied with the crumbs, realizing that they were from the Master’s table!
In light of this, let’s consider the words of the late Chief Apostle Walter Schmidt – “All was grace, all is grace, all will remain grace.” Dear ones, we must reckon with these simple facts; we deserve nothing, we can claim nothing, we can bring nothing. One of the personal battles that we must fight every day is to humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus and fight against the zeitgeist of entitlement. This woman realized her unworthiness and accepted to be called a dog! She resigned herself to this inferior position, recognizing the crumbs from His table would be sufficient for her.
Do we have the faith and trust in the omnipotence of the Lord Jesus, that with seemingly very little (two fish and five loaves), He can do great things (feeding the 5,000)? Shall we not be satisfied, even in this time of suffering, with the “daily bread” that He provides? Imagine, “crumbs” from the living Bread of heaven! We can trust that what God provides for us is enough to sustain us.
Faith, humility, and non-entitlement. Jesus Christ is our all-sufficient Savior and Helper.
I miss our singing together. Please join with me in this refrain:
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea,
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
All sufficient grace, for even me, for even me…
(From the hymn, "Wonderful grace of JEsus")
With love,
LR Kolb