Hope for Someone on the Outside - through Faith

“Great is Your Faith”

(Matthew 15:21-28, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 11, 2007)

Matthew 15:21-28 ²¹ And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." ²⁴ He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." ²⁶ And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." ²⁷ She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Introduction – The Proper Place of a Dog

I read a newspaper story from the early 1900s recently, where an elderly woman with a $3,000 estate left $200 for the care of her dog. The reporter did not know the dog’s age, but he wrote that $200 deposited in an interest-bearing account should be able to take care of even a very young dog for a long time. Moving ahead 100 years, when a very wealthy woman recently died, it was revealed that her dog received a $12 million trust fund. That should take care of the little dear for the foreseeable future. As something of a recent convert to the society of dog-admirers, I must admit that I do not go as far as some animal-lovers go. I do not think that you should set a place for them at the table under normal circumstances, and no matter how large a trust fund they inherit they are really not our children.

The District of Tyre and Sidon (21)

In our passage today Jesus makes a very important point about the proper place of a dog. The situation was not funny, but tragic and moving. A Gentile woman was desperate for God’s help with her demon-oppressed daughter. Demons are fallen angelic beings that are powerful in working evil. We do not know the details – just that she was severely tormented. That would be enough to make any mother desperate.

This woman was living in the region of Tyre and Sidon, north of Galilee. This is very significant, because Jesus is clearly in Gentile territory when all of this happens. By the end of this gospel, the resurrected Lord will be sending His disciples into the entire world with the message of Christ and the Kingdom. Here, and in other places, it is clear that the earthly ministry of Jesus was for the Jews. Why then did He travel into Gentile territory at all? Perhaps Jesus is giving His disciples a glimpse of a future movement of the Kingdom message beyond their borders. He is also showing us that faith will be the way for Gentiles to be blessed, just as it is the way for Jews to be blessed.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David (22)

The woman is called a Canaanite here, and a Syro-phoenician in Mark’s gospel. She is clearly a Gentile, and yet, she calls Jesus “the Son of David.” David was a great King of the Jews. It was anticipated that a Messiah would come who would be a descendant of David and would be able to deliver His people from bondage. Think of what this Gentile woman believes. She believes that Jesus is this Messiah. She believes that the release that He can bring might extend to Gentiles. She believes that the kind of release He could give would mean the defeat of evil angels. Apparently God put it into the heart of this woman that much blessing would come from the Jewish Messiah-King, and that it was worth her desperate entreaty of Him that He might show favor even to her.

Not a word (23-24)

This is a very moving situation, but what is shocking is that Jesus, who surely has more compassion for the weak than any of us (just consider the cross if you have any doubt about that), Jesus does not answer her a word. Yet she keeps on going. She was crying out after the disciples, so much so that begged Jesus to send her away. It is sad when suffering people just seem like inconvenient and extraneous details to be sent away. But that can happen with us, and we are not entirely shocked that the disciples would have this reaction. Jesus is apparently not going to do what this woman wants. The disciples are merely asking, in light of their Master’s decision to not talk to her, that He simply be clear here and send her away. What shocks us is Jesus. He seems to be the unfeeling one.

What could be going on here? What does the Lord say? He says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Notice here that though Jesus’ words seem to exclude this one woman, they establish that He was sent to help some “lost” people. The word “lost” is a strong word in the Greek that can mean perishing, ruined, destroyed, or even hell-bound. Jesus was sent for sheep like that in Israel. He does care about those who suffer, but His care seems to exclude her, at least at present, just because she is not a Jew. Her daughter is likely in horrible danger, and needs help now. The girl cannot wait for the change from the Old Testament age to the New Testament age.

Back to the disciples’ request for a moment – They want Jesus to send her away. Did you notice that He did not even answer that request? He certainly did not send her away. This great Son of David was also the Man of Sorrows. He knew what was ahead of Him and He had to live with that every day. He had to embrace His own suffering. Even for His followers, it is often our suffering and our experience of grace through it all that opens the door to looking at people differently. We don’t send them away as quickly if we have suffered ourselves.

Crumbs from the Master’s table (25-27)

As always, though we may not be able to figure it out, Jesus knows what He is doing, and He knows what is in the heart of this woman. He knows the cry of anguish and desperation from the broken heart. She keeps on crying out. She kneels down on the ground in His path. She calls Him “Lord,” and she simply says “Help me.”

He, again, shocks us – but you have to trust Jesus. He says, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” She needed to listen carefully to what He said. The children of the Kingdom were the Jews. Many of the Jews referred to the Gentiles as dogs, but they would have used the Greek word for stray dogs. Jesus uses the word for a household dog. She does not let this pass by. Her heart of faith is looking for the opening of divine mercy, and she finds that opening even in the response of Jesus that called her a dog.

She accepts everything that He has said. That is a good rule for you too as you look for the mercy of Jesus. He is never wrong. Accept what He says as certainly true and move from that foundation, rather than from a shaky platform of doubt. She says, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” Again the word “Lord,” which is a necessary confession for us, is spoken. It says that He is the King of the Kingdom. It promises to hear and obey His Word. Can you call Him Lord today? She accepts here that the Jews are God’s special nation at this point in time. Yet she is so confident in the grace, power, goodness, and mercy of the table of this Master, that even a crumb from that table would be enough for her daughter. She looks for the overflow from a Jewish table to bring mercy to the Gentiles. Why else was Jesus up in Tyre and Sidon anyway?

Great is your faith (28)

Look how quickly everything changes now. Jesus speaks warmly to this special gentile child of God. “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” This word “woman” is not used with any disrespect. Remember that Jesus addresses His own mother that way. Don’t miss the significance of what He is saying here. There are two places in Matthew’s gospel where faith is mentioned like this. The other one was in Matthew 8, when a Roman centurion was commended. The most remarkable words of faith in Matthew come from non-Jews.

Faith is what it is all about. Jesus gives faith, He waits for faith, He knows faith when He sees it, and over and over again in the gospel account, He responds to faith. For Jesus to say that you have great faith is the perfect thing for Him to say. It is wonderful to have many other gifts and abilities. All of these are from God too, but if you do not have faith you really need to seek the Lord for it with the same kind of earnestness and persistence that this woman seeks freedom for her daughter. If you already have faith, you have something wonderful, and you need to use it.

In any case, everything changes so quickly in this story in verse 28. It’s like the Old Testament Joseph. Once his brothers humble themselves and say what needs to be said, the man they sold into slavery who has become such a powerful man in Egypt is overcome with love for them – love that was always there, and he reveals his mercy to them. The mercy was only hidden for a time. He had to wait for the right moment. The same is true here for Jesus.

Are you waiting for a crumb from the Lord who seems to be hiding His face from you? He is not ignoring you. He probably is just waiting for the very best moment. Much of what we want most desperately in this life will come at the best moment of all time. That moment is when Jesus comes bringing the resurrection of the dead. Yet you may even know some astounding mercy much sooner than that, if it is the Lord’s will.

What should you do now as you need His help? Consider the matter. Stay very close to the one who is the answer. Don’t rail against Him. That will not help you. Remember the truth about Him all the time. Speak to Him and follow Him as your Lord. Search His Word daily and listen to Him very closely. Look for the opening of a great door of grace and let your faith in Him grow rather than diminish in bitterness. Most of all, don’t forget the love of the cross, that suffering love. There has never been a bigger love than that. What looked like eternal abandonment and hopelessness was not that at all. It was mercy overflowing. So, wait upon the Lord, and find strength around this table. Imagine that! We Gentile dogs, look where we are sitting! We have a place at the table of the Lord.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why do you think that Jesus left Israel?

2. What is your understanding of the condition faced by the daughter who was oppressed by a demon?

3. Why do you suppose that Jesus treated the mother as He did?

4. What was so good about the mother’s final response?