Finding the Faithful

Transcript

JR 4
04/1/2022
Finding the Faithful
Matthew 15:21-28
Jessie Randolph

Great to be with you all again this evening. We’re going to be back in Matthew 15 in just a second. I’m going to start with this though, what I want to say is when we get into this, that as people that are committed to the inerrancy, infallibility and sufficiency of the word of God, we are and of course always should be committed to holding firmly to what we see printed on the pages of our bibles. Now, whether that be our NSAB 1995 translation or an ESV translation or an LSV translation. Whether those words are printed on the page in black or printed on the page in red. But it’s also true, and I would say this within reason of course, that there are times where something is being communicated in the white spaces in the pages of our bibles. There are times where there is something of importance that’s being communicated between the lines of the text of scripture that’s not being stated explicitly by God. These white spaces, these blanks you could say, represent at times, things that God intentionally did not say. Answers that God intentionally did not give. Parts of stories that God intentionally chose not to record. Or as we’re going to see tonight, transitions in narrative accounts, shifts in scenes that are not expressly detailed in writing. That’s what we have here this evening as we continue on with our study of Matthew 15.

This morning we worked through the first 20 verses of this text of Matthew 15. And there we encountered this interchange between the Lord Jesus Christ and a group of scribes and Pharisees who had come down from Jerusalem to confront Him. And you’ll recall that what we saw in this scene, was the Pharisees and scribes confronting Jesus over a seemingly small matter. The issue over whether Jesus’s disciples washed their hands before they ate. Curious as to how many of you are washing your hands before you had lunch this afternoon. Well that confrontation as we saw, then erupted into a more pronounced and heated discussion over the topic of true religion and true worship.

The Pharisees and scribes showed themselves to be so deficient in their understanding of the scriptures that they prove that they weren’t actually plants planted by the heavenly Father. Rather they demonstrated that they were tares who had been mixed in with the wheat by Satan. You’ll remember that the principles we extracted from our text this morning, after we looked at Jesus’s interactions with these scribes and with these Pharisees, is that the Lord rejects hypocritical traditionalism and the Lord requires genuine, heart-level worship.

In our text for this evening, the scene shifts. A curtain has fallen on Jesus’s interaction with the Pharisees and the scribes. And when the curtain comes up, there’s now this entirely new scene. A new context, a new location, a new dialogue as we’re going to see with a new person. And also, a new response. We’re going to see that the scene as it shifts from Jesus encountering the swollen pride of the pharisees, the scene shifts to this entirely new encounter involving the dependence and the trust and the childlike faith of a pagan woman. Now, this woman was a descendant of Israel’s ancient enemies. Now, this was a woman who through her heritage had no claim on the promises of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And as we’ll see, this was a woman who as she approached the Jewish Messiah, she did so with great faith, with great humility asking Him only for mercy.

As the curtain lifts on this new scene in Matthew 15, we’re going to see three truths come off the page of our text. The three truths are these: Christ responds to those who worship Him rightly. Christ responds to those who worship Him dependently. Christ responds to those who worship Him humbly.

Let’s go ahead and get into our text. And as we work our way through this text, we’re going to go through Matthew 15:21-28. See if we can’t see all of those truths that I just rattled off for you, coming off the page of scripture, as shown in this encounter of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. We’re going to read the text at large, then work our way through bits and pieces of it along the way.

Matthew 15:21, God’s word reads: Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

Every word in this section of Matthew’s narrative is rich in instruction. We’re going to spend some time this evening pouring over the text and unpacking it. Our text starts here in verse 21, with the words, “Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.” You know, as we saw this morning in His interaction with the Pharisees, Jesus was at Gennesaret. That’s on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee. And that’s where the Pharisees paid Him that visit. We know that Jesus would eventually engage with the pharisees on their turf in Jerusalem. That’s the Palm Sunday account as He makes His triumphal entry. But here we’ll see later in Matthew 16 in about a chapter from this text, Jesus starting to make His deliberate movement toward Jerusalem, in full awareness that His arrival would be met ultimately with hostility, rejection and death. But we’re not there yet. At this point in the narrative in Matthew 15, that time has not yet arrived. The time has not arrived for the Lord to initiate His ultimate confrontation with the Jews in Jerusalem. So, we’re at this in-between phase.

Up to this point, Jesus has been ministering in Galilee. But the scene we’re in today, we’re going to see He withdraws. That’s what the text says. It says “Jesus”, verse 21, “went away from there.” Meaning, after His encounter with the Pharisees, the encounter we saw this morning, Jesus withdrew from the frenzy He was experiencing in Galilee. He withdrew to a place where He and His disciples could be away from Jewish opposition and away from the crush of the crowds. Now, did Jesus withdraw here out of fear? Out of fear of the rulers and fear of the crowds? Did He withdraw out of discouragement? Did He withdraw out of disillusionment with the Father’s will regarding His earthly pilgrimage? No, of course not. We know from other places in scripture, like Luke 9:51, that Jesus “was determined to go to Jerusalem.”

So, as it says here in verse 21: Jesus “went away from there.” But the text also tells us that He went in the direction, as He went away from there, He went in the direction of a certain region. It says He “withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.” Now, Tyre and Sidon was an adjoining territory. And while Tyre and Sidon were separate cities, old ancient Phoenicians cities, with Tyre being about 30 miles northwest of Galilee and Sidon being about 50 miles northwest of Galilee, at this time in history, when Tyre and Sidon were spoken of together, it was referring to a single district. Now, neither this account nor the parallel account of this encounter in Mark, tell us exactly where in Tyre and Sidon Jesus went. We just know He was in this district, in this territory. And from this account, what we need to know is this. Jesus, the holy one of Israel, had entered pagan territory. He had left Galilee. He had left the land of the Israelites and entered into pagan territory. Jesus and His disciples were not in, I almost said Kansas, Nebraska anymore. Now, Jesus had come to this region in Tyre and Sidon for rest and refreshment. That was His purpose. He wasn’t on a crusade to win the Canaanites. But as we’re about to see, He got something totally different. He got an interaction that would end up turning a woman’s life upside down.

Look at verse 22. It says, “And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” Now, in the Greek New Testament, there’s actually a word that follows our English word here in verse 22, where it says in verse 22, if you had a Greek New Testament, you would see the Greek word for “Behold” right there. It’s missing here in the NAS. So this would actually read “And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out.” Syntactically, this means that Matthew, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, wants us to pay attention to what’s about to come next. Better said, he wants us to pay attention to who comes next in this narrative. We don’t have her name. We don’t have her parents’ name. We don’t have her middle initial. We don’t know anything about the house she lived in. We know nothing about her employment history. We don’t know when she was born. We don’t know on what date she died. We have no other biographical data points other that what we have here in the text. We know she was a Canaanite. We know she was female. And we know she was from this region, meaning the district of Tyre and Sidon. Oh, and we know one other fact. She had a daughter. That’s it! That’s what we have to work with.

So, let’s start by unpacking this woman’s Canaanite heritage. Now in the parallel account in the Gospel of Mark, in Mark 7:26, this same woman is referred to as “the Gentile of the Syrophoenician race.” Matthew uses a more dated, and frankly more blunt manner of speaking about this woman. He calls her, you can see here, a Canaanite. Now, writing to his primarily Jewish audience, Matthew or Levi, doesn’t want the reader to ignore where this woman was from. He doesn’t want the reader to miss out on how diametrically at odds her heritage was with that of the people of Israel. You know, as a Canaanite, this woman was the member of an ancient race, that traced its heritage back to at least 3,000 BC. The Canaanite were a cultured race. And by this point in history, they had developed the world’s first known alphabet. And from their coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon, which are found by the way in modern day Lebanon, the Canaanites were actively trading with and traveling to various other people groups in the then-known world. Meaning they were economically active and economically engaged.

But what the reader of Matthew’s gospel, in the earliest days of this gospel would have picked up on right away, in reading this account of Jesus’ encounter with this woman, is that the Canaanites were Israel’s archenemies. Throughout the Old Testament period these were the people that God had called the Israelites to drive out and slaughter, as they prepared to enter the promised land. Not only that, but God also did not only just want the Israelites to defeat the Canaanites militarily. God wasn’t satisfied with the Israelites running roughshod over the Canaanites or even routing the Canaanites. No. God wanted the Canaanites to be eliminated, decimated, wiped off the face of the earth. And why? Well, because the Canaanites idolatrous worship practices were a constant threat to the religious purity that Yahweh demanded of His people.

See, the Canaanites had their own deities and gods and false religious practices. And according to some ancient Ugaritic texts, there were over 230 of those so-called gods, including El who was the Canaanite sort of generic grey-bearded supreme deity. And they had Asherah who was the wife of El. Then they had Ba’al who was the god of fertility and weather. And then they had Anat who was the goddess of hunting and warfare. And these so-called Canaanite gods, were a constant source of temptation for the Israelites to slide into religious syncretism.

You see, there are no extra words, no unnecessary words, no superfluous words in scripture. God had a specific reason and purpose for noting this woman’s Canaanite heritage in Matthew’s gospel account. And I would maintain that the reason that heritage is signaled here, is to show-case that regardless of one’s ethnic or national heritage, regardless of one’s prior affiliations or prior lifestyle, regardless of one’s prior religious background or religious upbringing, Christ responds. As we said at the beginning, to those who worship Him rightly, to those who worship Him dependently, and to those who worship Him humbly.

So here she is. This Canaanite woman. The Syro-Phoenician woman. Standing before Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish teacher and Rabbi. The questions are just begging to be asked, as we sit here 2,000 years later on the far end of the planet. What was she doing there? How did she get there? What pieces fell into place to set up this scene? Well, apparently she had reached the end of her rope with the religious practices associated with her people. She was done falling down before wooden statues. She was done falling down before bronze carvings. She was done falling down before deaf and dumb idols. In fact, she was in the process, as we’re about to see, of “turning to God from idols to serve the one true and living God” the way that Paul describes the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 1:9.

Now verse 22 says, identifies, this woman as the Canaanite woman from that region, and then it says she “came out.” Apparently she left wherever she was living, leaving the daughter behind that we’re about to hear about, in order to seek Jesus out. For this previous pagan idolater, meal prep could wait. Sweeping the floors could wait. The washing of garments could wait. She had a divine appointment with the One she’d been wanting to and waiting to meet. And note, as she approaches Him, she’s not trying to play it cool. She is not trying to keep things under control. She’s not trying to square her shoulders up and stiffen her upper lip. No, look at what the text says. It says, “she came out and began to cry out.” She was crying out. The word that’s used here for cry out can also be translated, shouting or even screaming. She wasn’t offering a hushed request or a muted mumble. No, she was communicating loudly in a high volume, the text would indicate. Not only that, the imperfect tense or aspect of the words “cry out” here, suggest that it’s a form of crying out constantly. It’s not like she let out a single shriek or a single yelp. No, the sense here is that she was pouring her heart out in despair, experiencing waves of emotion. And for what reason? The text tells us.

Look at the end of verse 22, skipping over to the end, “my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” Have you ever seen that mom who is hysterical over some affliction or harm or danger that their little one is in? Have you ever seen the mom who is panicking as she’s trying to find her lost child at an amusement park? Have you ever seen the mom who jumps out of her chair when she has any inkling that her little one is choking? Do mothers in those situations speak calmly? Ah, I guess my child is gone, I’m sure I’ll find him somewhere. No. They shout? They cry out. Often they scream! That’s what’s happening here. This Canaanite woman had a child whose affliction was very serious. Very grievous. And so, this mother was now naturally agitated and speaking to the Lord in this very excitable, loud way. But she didn’t shout just anything. This wasn’t some sort of out-of-control fit of rage. This was no purposeless outburst. No, she says, look at the middle of verse 22, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” Note the order of her cry here. She doesn’t start, you might notice, with her daughter which in human terms was her most immediate and pressing need. Rather, she starts with her need for mercy. And then she moves into an acknowledgement of who Jesus is. And then she gets to her daughter and her daughter’s condition.

You know what’s coming next. Now comes the point of conviction. Because you know for us, it can often be the opposite. Right? Especially in our prayers. Heal me, fix me, feed me, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Provide for me, protect me, empower me, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Give me, give me, give me, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Not for this Canaanite woman. She got the order right. She is, to borrow from the first truth I mentioned at the beginning of this sermon, showing a sense of worshiping Him rightly.

Let’s spend some time unpacking her plea for mercy here. In verse 22 she says, “Have mercy on me!” or “take pity on me” would be a way to say it too. You know, she’s not looking to redeem a reward for her own merit or inherent goodness. She’s not standing on her own resume of perceived righteousness. She’s claiming nothing for herself or about herself. Instead, right away she shows that she knows she is unworthy of the one in whose presence she stands. And that she knows she is asking for something that’s underserved. And that she knows that Jesus is able and capable of showing her the mercy that she needs. She knows who she’s speaking to. She knows who she’s appealing to. She has rightly discerned greatness in Jesus. Of course, Jesus is not only is capable of showing mercy, He does show mercy, because He is God.

Jesus has, we know, shares completely in the divine essence with God the Father. And God the Father is described in Exodus 34:6-7 in these terms: “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps lovingkindness” could also be translated mercy, “for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin.” Jesus is, and always has been, merciful. And in the Canaanite woman here is asking Him to show her His mercy. However, you noted that she does not stop at requesting mercy from Jesus. Look at what comes next. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” This Canaanite woman here, is placing her faith in a trustworthy object. Indeed, the only trustworthy object, the Lord, the Son of David. Notwithstanding her pagan background, this Canaanite woman apparently had learned of the Jews anticipation of their coming Messiah, who would be called the Son of David. And so, she reverently addresses Him here as Lord. That’s quite the contrast, is it not? From the way that the Pharisees and the scribes addressed Him. They called Him a drunk. They called Him a companion of sinners. They called Him demon possessed. Not this woman, she not only calls Jesus Lord, but she also rightly identifies Him and refers to Him as the Son of David.

Now that “Son of David” nomenclature occurs 8 different times in the gospel of Matthew, and it speaks of a descendant of a great King David. And it came to be used of the Messiah. The one who would, and the one who indeed will, usher in His kingdom when He returns to this earth at the end of the present church age. Remember, this is a Canaanite woman, not an Israelite woman! And she knows this. If the words “O Lord, Son of David” were said in Jerusalem by an Israelite, those words would have demonstrated a great measure of faith by that Israelite. But the fact that these words came from a Canaanite, in the district of Tyre and Sidon would have been shocking and surprising to those who first encountered this gospel account.

Again, only after the declaring her need for mercy, here in verse 22, only after declaring that Jesus is Lord, Son of David does this woman even get around to mentioning her daughter. She doesn’t say how old her daughter is. She simply refers to her daughter as the text says, as being “cruelly demon-possessed.” She’s making it plain that her daughter is in a bad spot. She’s afflicted. But in the midst of her daughter’s affliction, this woman is now being led to God. It is through adversity that she seeks mercy. And it’s through adversity that she will ultimately be shown mercy.

I trust that there’s a trace of this very story in many of our testimonies here in the room this evening. We were once waring against God. At enmity against God. Striving against God. Colossians 1:21 speaks of that saying” “you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” But then, at some point, as we came to that place of emptiness and hopelessness and despair. As we came to that place where we realized we can not fix our own problems. As we came to that place where we realize we have no ability to reason or think or work our way out of our problems. We found ourselves throwing ourselves upon the mercy of God, seeking forgiveness in His Son. So that now, if we have trusted in Christ, we can affirm what Paul says in Colossians 1:22: that “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” That’s what’s going on here. Though of a wrongly oriented and otherwise hopeless pagan origin, this woman is now worshiping Christ rightly.

Now, the next part of this passage, in verses 23-24, is unique to the gospel of Matthew. Look what it says: “But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Now, note that Jesus here initially is silent. Verse 23 says: “But He did not answer her a word.” That’s what this woman receives from Jesus initially, silence. She’s addressing Him directly in verse 22. But she’s getting the silent treatment from Jesus in verse 23. Our first reading of it, it says as though the Lord didn’t even hear her.

And the Canaanite woman’s experience here, in some way is relatable to us here this evening, is it not? We know, especially as we’re praying to the Lord for answers, for clarity, for help. That sometimes the hardest response to accept from Him, is no response at all. That’s what she’s getting here. But as we’re about to see, there was a purpose behind the Savior’s silence. This wasn’t a situation where Christ was going to heal someone on the spot. He wasn’t going to dispense healing for the sake of healing. Instead, what He was going to do was test this woman’s faith to see it brought to its full fruition. He was first going to erect a few barriers before here. Not to stiff-arm her, but rather than to permanently keep her away from Him, but instead to draw her in.

The narrative takes an interesting turn as we’re going to see, in the face of Jesus’ silence. His disciples are apparently already reading into His silence. And their interpretation of what is happening here, is that He doesn’t want her around. That’s the rest of verse 23, “His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” Apparently they read the Lord’s silence as a sign of unconcern. So, they are pleading with Jesus to dismiss her. They are becoming increasingly frustrated with the woman, they see her as a nuisance, a distraction. An attention-seeker who needs to be sent away. They didn’t like being shouted at, let alone by a woman. And let alone by a Canaanite woman. So, they ask the Lord, send her away. Now, keep in mind the disciples were grown men. They had every ability, if they wanted to remove her, to physically remove her. They could have truly acted as Jesus’ bodyguards here, His henchmen and take this seemingly loud and unhinged woman out of their midst. But that’s not what they do. Though they themselves could have done so, here they are actually asking Jesus to “send her away.” The sense of what they are communicating here is this: “Give her what she wants and send her off.” “Heal her daughter and be done with her.” “Can we just move on with our ministry, Lord? The bottom line is, they want to be rid of this woman. She’s an embarrassment to them. And all the noise that she is causing, is causing them grief.

Isn’t it interesting and sad, the way that Christ’s people can often be less gracious and compassionate than Christ Himself? That’s what we’re seeing here. Indian Hills family, let’s be cautious about taking the lesson that we’re getting here of giving way to that ungodly spirit shown by the disciples here. What I would contend is a spirit of selfishness, a spirit of self-protective comfort, a spirit of uncharity. Let us instead be constantly seeking and striving to have more and more of the mind of Christ. Like Him, in this encounter, being gentle and kind and encouraging in our treatment of all whom come into contact with us, and we with them. Be kind and gentle and encouraging to all who are outside the four walls. Actually there aren’t four walls in this sanctuary, outside this sanctuary, to those who the Lord might be sovereignly stirring to bring into the family of God.

In fact, even this afternoon, after first service, I’m going to ask you to add something to your prayer list this week. I met a young woman at Scooters Coffee. I’m trying to do all the Nebraska things on this trip. I think I’ve been to Scooters like four times this trip alone. Anyway, there was a young woman named Katie in the Scooters drive-thru down on 84th this afternoon. And she asked me how my day was going. You know, they are super peppy and excited at Scooters, I don’t know if you’ve noticed. I think that’s part of the training. She is supper peppy and super excited, asked me how’s my day going? And what am I doing today? And I share with her, well I’m actually just going back to my hotel. I just preached a sermon at this new church I’m a part of. And I’m getting ready for the evening service. And I ask, do you go to church? And her words, I’ll never forget them, were, no, if I step my foot into the church building, the church will burn down. Well, first of all, I have another car behind me, so I don’t have much time to say anything. But I say, I think her name is Katie, that’s not true. Katie, you are always welcome to come to Indian Hills Community Church, it’s just up the road. Please, please come tonight. Come on Easter, next Sunday. She was against it. She was hostile. At that point, you could just see her countenance change. But my countenance didn’t. And that’s how we need to think about how we’re engaging with those who are outside the family of God. To make sure we’re winsome and generous and joyful, as we present the good news message of the gospel of Jesus Christ knowing it’s God that turns the heart. So, pray for Katie.

Well, after his prolonged silence, the next words we hear from Jesus in this account, come in verse 24: it says: “But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” These words are linked and logically related to the words of the disciples in verse 23, which we just looked at. And this is the reply to the disciples. They are saying: “Send her away.” And in doing so, what they are implying, is that Jesus should give her what she wants, physical healing, send her away, be done with her. But Jesus’s reply here in verse 24, to his disciples is that He was “sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” So, this is a negative response to the implied request of verse 23. Jesus here, is recognizing and stating, as He does His Father’s will, that His earthly mission was to the house of Israel. And He delighted to do the will of Him, the Father who sent Him. Jesus here, recognizes that His primary earthly ministry was to the “lost sheep”, the house of Israel, God’s original people, the apple of God’s eye.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of this Canaanite woman. I believe she would have heard this interchange between Christ and the disciples, where He says He came only for the lost sheep of Israel. Those would have been hard words for this woman to hear. Those would have been discouraging words for this woman to hear. There would have been a temptation for her to throw her hands up in indignation and say something like, “Fine, I don’t want anything to do with your narrow-minded, closed-off religion anyway.” “I wouldn’t worship a god like yours anyway.” Have we heard those kinds of responses in our evangelism? “I can’t worship a god who would only offer one way of salvation.” “I would never worship a god who would send my sweet old Roman Catholic grandmother to hell.” “I won’t worship a god that allows all this evil to exist in the world.” She easily could have gone down that path. But that’s not what we see. That’s not her response at all. There’s no bitterness. There’s no hard-heartedness. There’s no resentment. Rather, there’s only open realization here, that Jesus is her only hope. There is no other place to turn. She is, at this point, in a total place of dependence on Him, which highlights our second point in this message, that Christ responds to those who worship Him dependently.

Look at verse 25, for this truth. It says: “But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” The scene has shifted again from Jesus’ dialoguing with His disciples, to Him now turning His attention to this woman and dialoguing with her directly. Jesus has said that His mission is to Israel. And the Canaanite woman hears this, but she’s undeterred. She is earnestly seeking the healing of her daughter. And she’s vividly pictured here in an act of worshiping Jesus as she prostrates herself at His feet, bowing down to Him, or before Him, it says. The scene that Matthew is painting for us here, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, is a woman who is completely dependent on Jesus in her greatest moment of agony and despair. And note, she puts her cry here, in the simplest form. Her plea is so sweet and straight forward. She again calls Him here, in verse 25, “Lord”, Kurios. And look at what comes next. She doesn’t use flowery language. She doesn’t use manipulative language. She doesn’t use confusing language. She uses the most clear and simple and desperate language a human could use. “Help me!” “Help me!” This is a simple plea. It’s an urgent plea. It’s an emotional plea. And it’s all coming from this place of total dependence. She’s doing nothing here but stating her need. This is not an argument. This is a plain spoken and dependent appeal, rooted in extreme emotion and extreme deference.

And look at what Jesus says in response in verse 26, it’s not what you would expect. He says and He answered her and said “It is not right to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.” Now, on the surface, what Jesus says here, referring to a group of human beings, the Canaanites, who despite all their pagan practices, were yet fellow image bearers of the one true God. For Him to refer to them as dogs, sounds harsh. It doesn’t sound right to our hyper-sensitized 21st century ears. It doesn’t sound right in our critical race theory-infused culture. It sounds racist. It sounds cruel. It sounds like it might be adding unnecessary insult to the suffering that this woman has already going through. But is it? The Sunday School answer, we all know it, is no. We know that Jesus never said anything wrong or untrue or sinful. We know that Jesus, as God, is entirely righteous and perfect and incapable of sinning. We know that all of His ways, not some of His ways, are all together holy and perfect. So, what is going on here? What is Jesus driving at? Well, what’s happening is this, He’s making even more explicit what He said back in verse 24, when He said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And then the words He uses here in verse 26 are really just a masterful use of illustration. He’s painting a picture for the Canaanite woman. And the picture He’s painting is that of a family dinner table and through this family dinner table illustration, Christ is laying out God’s economy of salvation. He’s making sure that she understands fully, the distinction in the mind of God between Jew and Gentile. And in the Lord’s illustration, that the children are the people of Israel, while the dogs are the Gentiles.

Now, when you see that word “dogs”, I don’t want you to think of, you know, of a large mangy savage dog that’s prowling around in the wilds scavenging for food. That’s not the word for “dog” that Jesus uses here. Rather, He uses a different word for “dog” that would refer to a domesticated house pet. So, when we get past our initial visceral reactions against how much we don’t like Jesus calling people “dogs”, what we actually come to see is that His illustration here, like everything else He ever said, is brilliant! He’s explaining to the woman here, through this illustration that the issue here, is simply a matter of precedence. He’s already shown the woman, in verse 24, that He was not sent to those outside of Israel. And now, along the same lines, He’s indicating to this woman that it would not be proper to give Israel’s blessings, blessings to the children, to those who do not belong to Israel, to the “dogs”.

Now, in our days, there have admittedly been some blurring of lines as it relates to relationships between “children” and “dogs” in homes. You know, these are the times in which dogs are toted in purses. We live in a time where dogs are given human food and given oatmeal baths and treated in the ways people of the Ancient Near East 2,000 years ago could have never fathomed. But in the original context, which is so important to lay a foundation for what’s happening here, the context in which Jesus ministered before the world had gone crazy on matters of human-canine interactions, people would have clearly understood that no matter how dear they are to their owner, dogs are not children, and dogs have no right to be treated like children. I’m not sure how many toes I’ve stepped on with that statement. No, the children, being the most dear members of the family and also in this culture, the most helpless members of the family, would be fed first. Dogs, by contrast, are our house pets. Clearly, they must be fed, but not at the expense of the children. That’s all that Jesus is saying here in verse 26.

And as we keep on finishing up with the text, we see that the Canaanite woman gets it. She understands the illustration. Look at verse 27. It says, “But she said, yes Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She understands the illustration. She gets what Jesus is saying. She’s following along with His logic. She’s clearly intelligent and able to think clearly. But even more importantly, she’s spiritually attuned. She agrees with Christ. We see that here in the first words of verse 27 “Yes, Lord.” She’s not fighting back against Christ and His read of the situation. She knew that she did not belong to Israel, and thus had no claim as belonging to the chosen people. She wasn’t asking to be grandfathered into the promises that God had made exclusively to Israel. And she’s not even showing resentment about being compared to a house dog, as contrasted with a child. She knows where she stands. But that’s not the whole story, because then she says “but even.” “Yes, Lord but even.” Those words show that she really gets it. She’s stepping right into the Lord’s family dinner table illustration and shows that she’s getting the Lord’s logic here. “But even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She sees it, and it’s clicking. Even the household pets have their place in the home. Namely, they eat scraps from the masters’ table. The table is set for the family, but no dog is pulling up a chair to sit at the table. But, still the dogs are fed as the food falls on the floor. And it’s that statement, the “Yes Lord, but even,” of verse 27, that really turns the tide in this dialogue.

And it’s where we see the third truth, that I mentioned at the beginning of the message, unveiled. That Christ responds to those who worship Him humbly. That third point comes from Jesus’s commendation in the final verse of this section. In verse 28, we see Him respond to her words. “Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.” Those words, “O Woman”, that are used here by the Lord, they’re not given in some cold or emotionless manner. These are not formal words of address like we see the Lord use in other parts of scripture when He’s addressing a woman. Rather, the construction of these words in the Greek, in verse 28, shows that this is an emotional statement. And then the text acknowledges her faith saying, “your faith is great.” Remember, at the outset her faith simply sought mercy. And now her faith is being recognized, recognized as great. Her faith is great. Not necessarily in comparison to the Jewish leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees of this day, whose faith we saw this morning, was learned and formal but was ritualistic and empty. Rather, her faith was great when considered in light of how little light and previous revelation she had been given. Remember, she was raised in a pagan culture that was renowned for its wickedness and its vileness. She was from a people that God had commanded His people, the Israelites, to destroy. She was not grounded in God’s word. She was not steeped in the Shema. She had never visited the tabernacle or gone to temple. She was completely unacquainted with Israelites’ system of the priesthood and sacrifices. So, her faith was great comparatively, meaning relative to how little she had at that point in terms of revelation. In that way, she’s kind of like Rahab in a way. Rahab, the story of another pagan woman in Joshua 2. Little revelation but makes great declarations about who God is. And then we see her faith commended in James 2:25 and the hall of faith in Hebrews 11:31.

This Canaanite woman’s faith was “great.” And at the end of this section, we see her faith is rewarded. She believes in Jesus as Lord and Son of David. She professes her faith in Him from the deepest recesses of her heart. And in the end, she obtains what she had pleaded for. Her deepest desire was granted. And He healed her daughter, it says, at once. It’s clear from this story, that this woman had exceptional faith. God-given faith, pure faith, true faith. And in faith, she had asked, she had sought, and she had knocked. And because of that faith, she was rewarded.

So, we’ve spent our time today, both morning and evening, going through these back-to-back narrative accounts in the gospel of Matthew. The encounter of Jeus and the scribes and the Pharisees from Jerusalem this morning. And now this evening, the account of Jesus’ encounter with this Canaanite woman. As we prepare to part ways this evening and as I prepare to say goodbye to you until we arrive in Lincoln, I think in about six or seven weeks now, I leave you with this question. If you were to go home tonight and earnestly evaluate your life in Christ and your walk with Christ, which of the people that Jesus encountered in these two encounters that we’ve looked at today, would you say that your life most closely resembles? Are you more like the Pharisees meaning you’re tied up with hypocritical traditionalism and you struggle with pursuing genuine, heart-level worship? Or instead, are you more like the Canaanite woman? The one who worships Christ rightly. Who worships Him dependently and who worships Him humbly.

My prayer for this church and each of its members, has already been, and I can assure you, will continue to be, that we will aways be like the latter profile that we looked at today. Now, my prayer for this church already has been, I can show you my prayer journal to backup this statement, and will be in the future, that we would always be those people who are marked by a simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, which we see in 2 Corinthians 11:3.

Let me pray for you, let’s pray. Our God and our Father, we thank You for this Lord’s Day. This day to gather with the people of God. This day where we’ve been privileged to worship You, our King through song, through prayer, through fellowship, through the teaching and reception of the word. I ask in faith God, that You would raise up a strong church. That You would strengthen this church. This church that is already had such an amazing and faithful legacy. That You would help us all to see that this church has not yet arrived. Just like any church in this fallen and sin-cursed world, has not arrived. There are still temptations to sin. There are still temptations to take our sight off You. There are still temptations to grow lukewarm. There are still temptations like the church at Ephesus to grow loveless. Help us God! Help us to have true faith, abiding faith, faith like the Canaanite woman that we see here this evening, that’s humble and dependent and never believes or thinks that it has arrived this side of heaven. I pray that in the weeks ahead of our arrival here in early June, that You would continue to give this church body great joy in the Lord. And You would continue to strengthen them in their walk with You. That You would give all of us, just a sense of eager anticipation about what’s next. That You would give Gil a great last few weeks here as He finishes his ministry at Indian Hills. That faithful 52+ years of pulpit ministry. That You would strengthen us and equip us and prepare us for the days ahead. We love You and thank You for this time today. In Jesus name. Amen.