34 15.21

INTRODUCTION

SLIDE 1 In Luke 18 Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow. Jesus says that there was once a widow who was being taken advantage of. Her only recourse was to take the matter before a judge. However, the judge wasn’t interested in hearing her case. Jesus said the judge didn’t fear God or care what people thought about him, so he didn’t care if she was in the right or that she was being taken advantage of. He wasn’t interested in seeing that justice was carried out. However, the widow wouldn’t drop the issue. This was was her livelihood at stake so she continued coming to him for help. Eventually the judge helped, but only because she was wearing him out. He got tired of seeing her and tired of her begging for help so he heard her case and gave her the justice she deserved.

So why did Jesus tell this story? Luke tells us. SLIDE 2

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. (Luke 18:1)

Jesus uses this woman as an example of how we should pray. We should pray and not give up praying.

The first time the woman asked for help she didn’t receive it. The second time she asked for help she didn’t receive it. We don’t know how many times she had to ask for help before she was finally given justice.

There are times when we may feel like God hasn’t heard or perhaps just doesn’t care, but Jesus tells us in this story that we are to continue bringing our need before God without giving up. We shouldn’t waver in our faith or conclude that God will never answer.

Think about some of the stories of the Bible where it looked like God hadn’t answered a prayer. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego prayed they wouldn’t be thrown into a blazing furnace, but they were thrown in any way. Daniel prayed that he would be thrown into a lion’s den, but he was thrown in anyway. Had God heard their prayers? Yes. Was he with them? Yes.

We don’t understand the ways of God. Of course if we could understand how and why God acts we’d be as smart as God. So there’s no reason to expect that we ever will. We’d like to though. We’d like to know why God allows certain things to happen to us. We’d like to know what God doesn’t intervene and rescue us like we know he can. We’d like to know why God is so slow at answering our prayers. But if our faith is based on our understanding the way God acts we will always be greatly disappointed.

The lesson I learn then is that we should always trust God and we should persist in bringing our needs and concerns before him. God always hears. God always answers. God is love and will always do what is best. Therefore, keep believing and keep praying.

SERMON

Our passage this evening is from Matthew 15. Jesus takes the apostles to a place where he is certain he won’t be facing large crowds, but even here someone comes to him for help. Like the persistent widow before the uncaring judge it may at first look like Jesus isn’t listening or just doesn’t care. But by the end of the story we find that this isn’t the case. Follow along in your Bible with the video from Matthew 15 beginning with verse 21.

Video

SLIDE 1 Matthew 15 starts by telling us about a visit Jesus had from some Pharisees and teachers of the law who had traveled from Jerusalem to see him in Galilee. Jesus now takes the apostles west to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were located along the Mediterranean Sea. This is one of the few times Jesus leaves predominantly Jewish areas to visit a predominantly Gentile area. When Jesus sent out the apostles he had instructed them to stay away from Gentiles and to preach only to Jews. But here Jesus takes his apostles to an area that is almost entirely Gentile and he will do it again in the next chapter.

Most assume Jesus goes to this area to get away from the crowds. Jesus is probably entering the last year of his ministry and there are things he needs to teach the apostles. Constantly being surrounded by crowds that need him takes his take away from teaching the apostles. However, even here Jesus is called upon for help.

We’re told that Jesus is approached by a Canaanite woman. She already has two strikes against her. You may remember from the interaction Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar that men didn’t interact with women in public – especially women they didn’t know. Second, Jesus didn’t interact with Samaritans or Gentiles. This woman would have known that, but she comes to Jesus anyway.

We don’t hear too much about the Canaanites in the New Testament. This is the generic term used to describe the people who were living in Canaan when God instructed Abraham to leave home and make a trip to a land he would show him – Canaan.

These were the people God told Abraham he would judge when their sins reached their full. By the time of Joshua they had done just that and God used the Israelites as the means of that judgment. Later, when the sins of the Israelites – God’s own people – reached their full God would use the Assyrians and the Babylonians to judge them.

So this Gentile woman, this Gentile mother, comes to Jesus for help because her daughter was suffering from demon possession. This was the common description of someone with an ailment that couldn’t be cured – they must be possessed by a demon. We don’t know that the daughter actually had a demon. All that matters is that’s what the mother thought so she came to Jesus to help.

What’s amazing to me is that she even came to Jesus. She knew what Jews thought of her as a Gentile woman. I mentioned Sunday morning what Jews thought of Gentiles – God created Gentiles only as fuel for the fires of hell. Gentiles were considered less than human. Jews referred to them as dogs, subhuman. Sadly, you are familiar with that sentiment some people still have had towards people of other races. So it must have been hard for this woman to come to Jesus with her request for help, but she came because there was no where else to turn. Having tried every other conceivable source or help and finding no relief for her daughter she turns to this Jewish rabbi.

How did she hear about Jesus? We don’t know. But even in the village so far from Jewish influence people have heard about him. We know she’d heard about him because notice how she addresses him.

Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! (Matthew 15:22)

She had not only heard about his ability to heal the sick and cast out demons, she’d heard about the hope some had that he might be the promised Messiah the Jews had been waiting for – a son of or descendant of David, the famous king of Israel. So she calls him by this title.

Lord, Son of David! (Matthew 15:22)

And what does Jesus say in return? Not a word. Jesus seems to just ignore her. Jesus doesn’t say anything.

The woman must have kept asking though because the apostles finally intervene on her behalf – or maybe just for their own sanity. Since Jesus won’t answer she just keeps repeating the request. And still Jesus says absolutely nothing. He continues to ignore her plea.

It reminds me of the story of the fortune teller following Paul and the other missionaries while they were in Philippi. There were being followed by a woman who could tell the future because she was demon possessed. For three days she followed them around shouting out to everyone:

These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved. (Acts 16:17)

After three days of this Paul finally had enough, turned around to face her and cast the demon from her. Similarly, the apostles had had enough of her begging and asked Jesus to do something about it. It may sound cruel for them to ask him to send her away, but some believe they were asking Jesus to grant her request so she would go away. Either way, the disciples were tired of her begging.

We have a few other instances of Jesus saying nothing. When the religious leaders brought to him the woman they’d caught in adultery he just knelt down, wrote in the dirt and said nothing. And when he was brought before Herod he said nothing. We’re not told why Jesus didn’t say anything here.

The woman was annoying the apostles though. The Greek leaves it unclear as to whether they want Jesus to reprimand her or grant her request of healing her daughter so that she’ll go away. Either way they want her to go away. They’re tired of having to listen to her. It’s only then that Jesus acknowledges the woman’s request, but not in the way we might have expected. Jesus tells her he no without actually saying no. He tells her he won’t help her because he was only sent to help Jews.

He doesn’t say Jews, but that’s who he’s referring to. He calls them “lost sheep.” Jesus says he only came to help Jews who were in need and that certainly leaves her out.

As I mentioned Sunday morning, the Bible often refers to God’s people as sheep as Jesus does as well when he calls himself the Good Shepherd. While we might take offense at being compared to dumb animals like sheep, the Bible uses it as an endearing term.

While Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel – the Jews – and has sent the apostles only to the Jews, the time will come when the apostles will be sent to all people: Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles.

Like the persistent widow who was told no, this mother continues to plead her case. Kneeling before Jesus she asks again:

Lord, help me! (Matthew 15:25)

The woman is desperate. She has no other options. She knows Jesus can do because she’s heard stories of him doing it for others. So she continues to ask for help. And it’s then that Jesus gives the most startling reply.

It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs. (Matthew 15:26)

Dogs! There it was. That’s what Jews thought of Gentiles – nothing more than a dog. Now Jesus is referring to this woman and her daughter as dogs, less than human.

What we need to know and you can’t see it in English translations it that there were two words for a dog. One referred to wild dogs that roamed free terrorizing a community. They were mangy, could be violent, and were often diseased. That’s the way Jews thought of dogs and it’s how they referred to Gentiles. Greeks on the other hand kept domesticated dogs as pets so there was another word for dogs used when referring to them as pets. Jesus uses the later. It was the household pet Jesus was talking about when he said you don’t take the food intended for the children and feed it to the dog. That wouldn’t be right. The child gets first dibs. The woman seems to understand the difference and the answer she gives is priceless.

Yes it is, Lord. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. (Matthew 15:27)

It’s interesting to watch a dog at a meal. The dog instinctively knows who at the table is going to drop the most food and that’s where the dog waits. We had a miniature schnauzer when Sarah and Jacob were growing up and she would sit under the table in front of Jacob when we ate. She would sit there waiting for him to drop something and he usually would. Before you could tell her no she’d have it in her mouth and swallowed.

That’s what the woman is referring to. The dog may not get the main course, but the dog does get something. The dog gets whatever falls from the table.

You’ll remember the story of the rich man and the beggar named Lazarus. Jesus tells us that Lazarus longed to just eat the food that fell from the man’s table. He didn’t ask to be served a meal at the table, he just wanted the crumbs that fell from the table. That’s all this woman wants as well. Surely there must be some crumbs that might fall for her daughter.

Jesus rewards her faith and persistence. The daughter is made well.

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:28)

The gospel of Mark we read Jesus saying:

For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter. (Mark 7:29)

Why didn’t Jesus just grant her request from the beginning? Why make her go through this long drug out begging? While we can’t read Jesus’ mind, there are some good reasons that have been proposed. First, to teach the woman that she too can be a part of the kingdom. Jesus is more than just a nice guy do good things for those who are in need. Jesus is the Messiah and she needs him as much as the Jews. Second, he wanted to teach the disciples. This wasn’t the first Gentile he’d helped or the first woman he’d helped. But Jesus wanted them to know that the kingdom was for all people.

What is Jesus telling us? What are we supposed to learn from this story? I think this is a story of faith.

In this story we see the simplicity of faith.

How much do you think this Canaanite woman knew about Jewish history and theology? How much do you think she understood about the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah? The answer is not much. And she wouldn’t have cared much either. All that would have been important to her was the stories she’d heard about a miracle-worker who healed the sick and drove out demons. Perhaps she’d heard someone use the title “Son of David.” But the only thing that mattered was that here was someone who could save her daughter. To that belief she attached her hope and would not let go.

Sometimes too much knowledge can interfere with faith. We should strive to understand as much as we can about God. However, knowledge – or what we think is knowledge – can feed our doubts as well as our faith. The very fact that our faith is a matter of faith means that there will always be matters that we cannot fully explain and certainly cannot prove. This is God’s design, the very means by which he tests our commitment to him. We would do well to have this woman’s simple faith.

In this story we see the persistency of faith.

We would do well to have her persistent faith. This woman was unshaken. She was rebuffed three times and each rebuff made her resolve all the stronger. Like the widow before the judge she would not give up.

Some might reply that all of this about the woman’s faith is well and good, but what really motivated her was faith but desperation for her daughter. However, that doesn’t quite play out. Faith, not desperation, kept her focused. If all she had was desperation to drive her, her demeanor would have changed to anger. She would have raged at the disciples and even at Jesus after their rebuffs and especially after the insult. She was able to keep her wits about her because she believed he could, and would, grant her request. We would do well to have the same confidence of faith and so the same persistence in our prayers to our Lord.

And in this story we see the boldness of faith.

We must acknowledge the boldness, even the audacity, of her faith. She argues with Jesus and wins! Like Abraham she reasons with the Lord.

Remember the story of Abraham reasoning with God on behalf of Sodom? God has told him that he planned to destroy Sodom if it proved to be as wicked as the reports are made out to be. Abraham knew that it didn’t look good for the city and was particularly concerned for his nephew Lot who lived there. So Abraham reasoned with God. “If there’s a hundred righteous people will you destroy the city? Will the hundred righteous people suffer? When God said no, if there were a hundred people he would spare the city, Abraham began working the number down to ten. If there are ten righteous people will you spare the city? I think Abraham worked it down to ten because he wasn’t sure there were even ten.

What we take from Abraham, but even more from this woman, is that, far from being displeased by our prayer requests, God is pleased that we come to him. God is pleased that we would have such faith that we come to him boldly even ready to argue our case. Only one with faith to believe in God and to believe that God listens would bother to do so.

That is Jesus’ point in his reply to the woman, “O woman, great is your faith!” This woman really believed in him! Note that he goes on to say, “Your request is granted.” Jesus grants her request for her sake, for her faith. May we have such faith.

There are two times in the gospel in which Jesus is blown away with the faith shown in him. This one and the other is that of the centurion. In both cases the believer is a Gentile, someone outside of the covenant people. They are individuals who don’t belong to the house of Israel, people who are not children of Abraham.

What matters is not your heritage, your race, nor anything in your background. All that matters is your faith in Jesus Christ. That faith does not have to be sophisticated, merely the simple belief that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, sent by God to save you from your sin. Hold on to him. Be persistent in following him and turning to him alone for your help and your salvation. Be bold, confident that in Jesus Christ you may boldly come before the throne of God knowing that you will be welcomed.