Matthew 15:21-28
Notes
Transcript
This is a difficult passage to understand because of Jesus’ apparent attitude toward a person with such a desperate need. He was both silent (v. 23) and blunt (vv. 24, 26). However, one thing needs to be remembered: we do not know what was happening in the heart of the woman, but Christ did. He knew every thought of her heart, and He knew exactly what was needed to lead her to a personal faith in Him.
Christ was not rejecting the woman nor refusing to meet the need of a desperate person. He never turned from a person who genuinely sought Him.
Christ was not harsh or mean to the woman. His harshness (justice) is never manifested except against sin.
At first the woman saw Jesus only as the Son of David, a great miracle worker. She saw Him only in terms of earthly power, as a great man who was to liberate people from their ills and problems whether national or personal. She needed to grow in her concept of Christ.
The fact that the woman needed to grow in her faith is probably the key to interpreting what is happening between Christ and the woman. She simply needed to learn step by step that Jesus is the Lord who is to be worshipped (v. 25). He is the Master of all lives (or dogs, vv. 26–27), and a person must persist and demonstrate humility in seeking Him.
Faith of a Canaanite Woman
Faith of a Canaanite Woman
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.”
Jesus withdrew to Gentile coasts.
Jesus was deliberately withdrawing to the borders of Gentile country. He needed time and quiet to prepare both Himself and His disciples for the end. The only place He could find freedom from the crowds and from His opponents was in the northern area, the area bordering Gentile territory. No Jew was likely to enter Gentile areas.
From this point to His re-entering the coasts of Magdala (North of Tiberias), the miracles He performed were in behalf of the Gentiles. This is where we find a desperate woman approaching Jesus. She cried out to Jesus for mercy. No matter the need, Jesus can never turn from a desperate cry for His mercy. But two things are essential: one must cry for mercy, and one must cry to Him, the true Lord. Many cry, but not to Him. She cried for the Son of David to hear her - note the woman called Jesus the Son of David. This is significant in understanding what happened. It reveals a limited concept of Jesus. She had apparently heard that the Jews expected a Messiah, a son of the great King David, who was to work miracles for them; and she had heard about Jesus, that He was delivering people from their sicknesses and healing them. However, seeing Jesus only as a miracle worker and healer is an inadequate concept of Him. It prohibits Him from working. What the woman needed was to grow, to understand just who Jesus is.
She cried not for herself but for another person, her daughter. The woman had a desperate need—her daughter was under the power of Satan.
Note another fact. She had an inadequate concept of Jesus, yet she got Jesus’ attention. How? She possessed two qualities from which Jesus can never turn. She truly loved another person, her own daughter. She loved so deeply that she considered her daughter’s problem her own: “Have mercy on me,” she cried. Her love was much more than the normal love or sympathy. It was true oneness, a union of living between her and her daughter that she felt. She truly loved another person, her own daughter. She loved so deeply that she considered her daughter’s problem her own: “Have mercy on me,” she cried. Her love was much more than the normal love or sympathy. It was true oneness, a union of living between her and her daughter that she felt.
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.”
She had persistence! Even when Jesus did not immediately meet her need, she persisted in calling out to Him.
There was the silence of Jesus. Note what really happened: the woman’s love and sense of desperation were really seen. She loved so much that she was not going to let Jesus go until He helped her.
There was the objection of the disciples. It seems that two things happened to the disciples. The woman was creating an embarrassing situation by “crying after” them. Because of their aggravation and because of their life-long training, they judged the lady to be unworthy of Jesus’ help because she was a Gentile. They expected Jesus to send her away. She must have followed them for some time. Jesus seemed to ignore her, so the disciples assumed He would not help such a despised person. The disciples had two lessons to learn.
Faith has to be awakened in a person’s heart before Christ can minister. A person cannot just haphazardly approach Christ at every whim and fancy and expect to receive help. There must be a true and sincere heart, a genuine seeking and an awakened faith. This is apparently what Jesus was doing with the woman: awakening her faith.
The servant of God must minister from a heart filled with compassion for all. He must minister to the despised as well as to the accepted.
There was the strange statement of Jesus that she was undeserving: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” There was no rejection whatever in this statement to the woman. It was merely a statement of fact. Jesus had come primarily to the house of Israel while on earth. He had to concentrate His ministry if He were to achieve His purpose. But why make this statement to the woman? There were apparently two reasons.
The woman needed to learn persistence, humility, and trust.
The woman needed to learn that there is only one true religion and only one true Messiah. She was a Greek from a proud pagan society. She had been and probably still was a worshipper of false gods; therefore she was undeserving of being heard by the true Messiah or true Lord. She had recognized Christ as the Son of David, as the miracle worker of the Jews who was delivering them from their diseases, but what she needed was to see that He was the only Messiah of all and the only hope of all. No other religion, no other gods could do anything for her or for anyone else. He alone was her hope. He alone was to be the Lord and Master whom she was to worship. She had to learn the same lesson that the Samaritan woman at the well had to learn: salvation is of the Jews.
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
There is a great lesson here for believers. The woman was a heathen, yet she knew and did something that so many of us have never learned.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
The woman came to Jesus and worshipped Him as Lord. She called Him “Lord” before (v. 22), but now she took the one essential step: she worshipped Him as Lord. At first, the woman did what so many do: she approached Jesus only as a great man, not as the Lord who is to be worshipped. God, of course, will never honor such a low view of His Son. What is needed is to experience what she did in this verse: a growth in seeing who Jesus really is, the true Lord who is to be worshipped by all.
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.”
These words could be interpreted as harsh except for one thing: Jesus never spoke harshly or rejected anyone who came to Him with a desperate need. If a person was truly sincere and had the potential of trusting Him as Lord, He always accepted the person. So whatever happened, we know the words were not meant to be harsh or rejecting.
What do they mean then? Again, Jesus had to move the woman forward in faith and in trust and in a clear understanding of just who He is: the Lord and Master of everyone’s life, not just of the Jews. He is much more than just the Son of David. He also had to teach her that salvation is of the Jews and that He is that Salvation, the Master of all lives. He is telling her this: “It is not right to take the bread of the gospel that belongs to the true worshippers of God and give it to the ‘dogs,’ that is, the heathen.”
The woman was a Greek, a proud people with a rich heritage who despised the Jews. She was a worshipper of false gods, a heathen, an outsider, a sinner; and He was the Messiah, the Master of all lives. Was she willing to humble and surrender herself to Him as the Master of her life?
With great spiritual insight, she clearly saw and confessed in humility that she was nothing spiritually: she was only “a dog;” but being a dog of the family, she had the right to eat the crumbs that fell from His 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.
One thing rises above all others in the experience of this mother: she believed that Jesus could meet her need, and she would not let Him go until He met her need. Her belief was so strong that she would not quit—despite being met with silence, irritation, opposition, apparent rebuff, and the attitude that she was undeserving (v. 23–24). There is no way to describe the scene except “O woman, great is thy faith.”
Imagine this also: she believed that Christ’s power could overcome space and time. Her daughter was back home! What enormous faith!
But note a critical point: her faith in Jesus’ power, as great as it was, was not enough. Her faith was not what caused Jesus to answer her prayer. What caused Jesus to answer her prayer was her personal humility (surrender) and worship of Him as Lord. Christ answers the prayer and exercises His power in behalf of those who (1) surrender (humble) themselves to Him and (2) worship Him as Lord.
What is great faith? The steps taken by this dear woman tell us.
(1) It is a desperate cry of need (v. 22).
(2) It is a persistence that will not quit (vv. 23–24).
(3) It is a spirit that worships Jesus as Lord (v. 25).
(4) It is a spirit of humility and surrender to the Lord (vv. 26–27).
(5) It is a faith that receives its request (v. 28).
*** There are only two individuals whose faith Jesus pronounced to be great: this woman’s and the centurion. It is worth noting that both were Gentiles.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2004. The Gospel according to Matthew: Chapters 1:1–16:12. Vol. 1. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.