Ministry of a Mother

Mother’s day 2023

Matthew 15:21–28 (NKJV)

21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”

24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

WHEN GOD WANTS TO EXPRESS his love for his people, he often does so with food. Eden was filled with fruit; the promised land with milk and honey; the wilderness with quail and manna; the Feast of Booths with its food, drink, oils, etc.; and the Lord’s Supper with bread and wine, and at the end of all history there will be the feast of all feasts—the wedding supper of the Lamb. “Blessed are those who are invited” (Revelation 19:9).

In Jesus’ day, God’s people longed for this messianic banquet. They knew, believed, and trusted that when Messiah comes, God’s people would sit at table with him and feast. Our text is but a foretaste of that. When we read these two stories placed side by side in Matthew’s Gospel, we are to say, “Here is the Messiah, the Master of God’s house and God’s people, the one who has set a table in the wilderness, a table filled with food so abundant that there are leftovers and crumbs scattered everywhere—enough food to feed the world, enough food to feed all who have faith in Jesus.”[1]

Jesus starts to travel further afield. He moves away from the lakeside towns, where he has been so disappointed by the lack of response to the gospel. He goes back home to Nazareth for a while, but his own friends and neighbours reject him. Then he receives the terrible news that John the Baptist has been executed.

John’s death puts pressure on Jesus. He tries to find space away from the crowds—but they still manage to find him. They need teaching, healing—and food! They are also looking for a popular Messiah, who will replace their cruel and corrupt king. They dream of a major uprising against the Romans.[2]

Look with me now at 15:21–39. I divide this text not by the two stories but by the two themes, themes that we’ll get at by asking and answering two questions. The first question is, who’s invited to the master’s table? The second question is, how does one get into the banquet?

Who’s Invited to the Master’s Table?

The answer to the first question—who is invited to the master’s table?—is, everyone! It’s an open invitation.

Matthew’s Gospel, which is rightly understood as being the most Jewish of the Gospels, is arguably the most Gentile as well.2 Think of Matthew’s genealogy, which includes Gentiles. Think of the visit of the magi. Think of the healing of the Roman centurion’s slave. Think of another Roman centurion’s confession at the foot of the cross. Think of the Great Commission. Think of Jesus’ words in 8:11, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew’s Gospel says the door to the kingdom of heaven is open to all—to the Jew first (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), but also to the Gentile(Romans 1:16).

What we have seen throughout Matthew is how those with gold star invitations—the Jewish religious and political leaders—have come up with one excuse after another why they can’t make the party. However, here in our text we find people from the highways and byways—the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind (v. 30), the demon-possessed (v. 22)—willing to dine in the desert, willing to eat even the crumbs that fall from the master’s table (see v. 27; cf. Luke 14:12–24).

The house of David will be filled by the Son of David. That is, our Lord Jesus will fill his messianic banquet table with all who are willing to come to him for sustenance. What he said in John 6:37b (“whoever comes to me I will never cast out”), here he acts out. “Whoever” denotes an open invitation—male/female, master/slave, Jew and even Gentile (cf. Galatians 3:28). Gentiles? Yes, even Gentiles.

In case this Gentile inclusion idea isn’t plain to you, let me show you it to you in the verses before us. First, we have verse 21: “And Jesus went away from there [Gennesaret] and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.” Why would Jesus walk from Gennesaret to Tyre and then from Tyre up to Sidon? It is thirty-five miles from Gennesaret to Tyre and twenty-five miles from Tyre to Sidon. That’s a long way to walk. Why walk? And why walk there?

The distance is not as shocking as the destination itself. Tyre and Sidon? That’s Gentile territory. What’s Jesus doing out there and up there? Why is Jesus leaving the promised land for “paganland”? What is the Son of Abraham/the Son of David (the Jewish Messiah) doing there? Craig Blomberg summarizes the move perfectly: “Jesus has obviously withdrawn from Israel ideologically in vv. 1–20; now he … withdraws geographically.” I’ll take Blomberg’s thought a step further. Jesus is on a short-term missions trip. He is showingthe Great Commission before he commandsit.

So that’s verse 21—Jesus’ journey to Gentileville. Then look at verse 22, and note who Jesus meets there. Why, it’s a Gentile! “And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out …” Not a “Syrophoenician” woman, as Mark would call her in his version of the story (Mark 7:26) and as she would have been called in Jesus’ day, but “a Canaanite woman” is how Matthew puts it, an Old Testament way of describing her race and religion. And, my well-read Old Testament readers, what does the word “Canaanite” conjure up in your minds? They’re the bad guys. These guys and gals are Israel’s enemies!

There are the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites—all Israel’s archenemies. But here is Jesus (who came out of Egypt) bringing (so it seems) even Israel’s enemies out of exile. Yes, Jesus is extending grace to a Canaanite woman. Both descriptions are striking. This is a Canaanite. That’s pretty bad. Stay away from her, Jesus. Ah, but she’s a woman too. Jewish men were not to associate with women, any woman who was not their wife or mother. And Jewish rabbis were never to associate with Gentile sinners. Remember how flabbergasted the disciples were when Jesus talked with the woman at the well, a Samaritan woman (John 4). Well, this is a Canaanitewoman! Tattoo “Gentile sinner” across her forehead.

So in 15:21, 22 we see where Jesus is (Gentileville) and who he is talking to (a Gentile) and who he will minister to (Gentiles). In the following verses we will see three other, less subtle details that show Jesus is extending grace to Gentiles.

First, we have the reference to “dogs” in verses 26, 27. I will say more about their dog dialogue in a moment. For now we have the following scenario: the woman begs Jesus for help. She begs again. And then Jesus replies with his “dog” comment: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (v. 26). What is he talking about? Well, she knows what he’s talking about. Here “the children” (the children of God) symbolizes “Israel” and the “dogs” the Gentiles. Just as someone might call my Irish father a paddy (in fact his name is Patrick or Padraic in Gaelic), and someone might (even still today) call those big police vans paddy wagons (for those troublesome Irishmen), so the Jews of Jesus’ day, as a ethnic/racial slur, called Gentiles “dogs.”

So Jesus is dealing with a Gentile “dog.” But interestingly here he doesn’t use the common slur word “dog,” referring to those “wild, homeless scavenger” dogs one would have found on the streets of Palestine. Instead he uses the word for “house dog.”

Well, you might say, “Big deal. That’s not much better. Messiah or no Messiah, he shouldn’t go around calling women ‘dogs’ or any other animal. Most women don’t appreciate that.” But he is not name-calling. And she gets that. She gets the reference to her. And she gets his point. It’s a loaded theological point. She’ll stick around, as we’ll revisit their dialogue in a few pages, to debate him about it.

For now, however, the point I want us to see (as we are answering the question, who’s invited?) is Jesus’ willingness to let the dogs into the house. He is willing to call Gentiles “house dogs.” He is willing to let these dogs eat from the messianic table in the house of David. He is willing to let Jews and Gentiles live and dine under the same roof.

All this is quite revolutionary, and she knows it. So when Jesus opens that door just a crack, she pushes her way in. She will beg like a dog and even eat like a dog. But the Master of the house, by the end of the story, is very willing to accept her—a Canaanite woman!—as a daughter of Abraham, as a “child” of God. What is taught in Galatians 3:26–29 is illustrated here, or better, acted out here:

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons [children] of God, through faith.… There is neither Jew nor Greek … no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring [his children], heirs according to promise.

Who’s invited to the table? Everyone is; both Jew and Gentile.[3]

Sermon

) Introduction: 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 pointed (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.

In addition to this very basic fact, three other things are clearly known.

1. 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.

2. Christ was not harsh or mean to the woman. His harshness (justice) is never manifested except against sin.

3 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.

1. A knowledge of where Jesus is (vv. 21–22).

2. A cry of need (v. 22).

3. A persistence that will not quit (vv. 23–24).

4. A spirit that worships Jesus as Lord (v. 25).

5. A spirit of humility and surrender (vv. 26–27).

6. A great faith (v. 28).

1 (15:21–22) Coasts: Jesus withdrew to Gentile coasts. He withdrew to the northern border of Tyre and Sidon. The word coasts (ta mere) means the ports or borders. 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 (Mt. 15:39), the miracles He performed were in behalf of the Gentiles. In the present passage, a desperate woman approached Jesus (see note 2—Mt. 15:22).

It should be noted that this event foreshadowed the spread of the gospel worldwide and God’s great desire for all barriers to be broken down (see outline and notes—Ep. 2:11–18; 2:19–22).

DEEPER STUDY # 1

(15:22) Canaanites: they were not just ordinary enemies but ancestral enemies of the Jews.

2 (15:22) Intercession: a cry of need. The woman cried out for three things.

a. She cried 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.

b. She cried for the Son of David to hear her (see Deeper Study # 2—Mt. 15:22).

c. 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.

1) 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 livingbetween her and her daughter that she felt.

2) She approached the right person, Jesus Himself, and cried out for mercy. Despite her inadequate understanding of Him, she did the right thing: she approached the true Lord and cried for His mercy.

Thought 1. How many experience their children’s living under the influence of Satan, in a different sense, perhaps, but nevertheless living in the sin and shame of the devil?

Thought 2. How many loved ones would have their needs met if we interceded for them as this woman did for her daughter?

(1) Do we honestly love as she did?

(2) Do we honestly cry out to the true Lord as revealed in Scripture or to our own idea of God?

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Mt. 21:22).

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (Jn. 14:13–14).

“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Is. 55:6).

“Seek ye me, and ye shall live” (Am. 5:4).

“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles” (Ps. 34:6).

“From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps. 61:2).

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (De. 4:29).

DEEPER STUDY # 2

(15:22) Jesus Christ, Son of David: 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.

How gracious is our Lord! He knew her heart, every thought and every movement of it. He knew what she needed in order to be brought around to understanding His true Messiahship. Therefore, He began to lead her step by step to understanding His Lordship and to confessing her faith in a humble and worshipping spirit.

3 (15:23–24) Persistence: a persistence that would not quit. The woman faced three major obstacles.

a. 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. She kept after Jesus …

• despite His silence.

• despite the objection of the disciples.

• despite her being undeserving.

b. 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.

1) 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.

2) 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.

c. 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.

1) The woman needed to learn persistence, humility, and trust.

2) 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 alland 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 (Jn. 4:22).

Thought 1. There is a difference in the way people seek Jesus and pray.

(1) There is the prayer of chance or of no expectancy. Many people pray this way. They pray because they think God just might hear. They are not quite sure—they cannot point to any (and certainly not to many) instances when He really did answer, but they pray anyway just in case He might hear.

(2) There is the prayer of persistence or perseverance, the prayer that will not take “no” or silence for an answer. This was the woman’s prayer. She truly loved her daughter and she was desperate. She knew Jesus was her only hope, so she would not quit. She would not be discouraged by anything—not by silence, not by an objection, not even by an apparent rebuff.

Thought 2. 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.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Mt. 7:7–8; see Lu. 18:1–6).

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (De. 4:29).

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Je. 29:13).

“Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore” (Ps. 105:4).

4 (15:25) Worship: a spirit that worships Jesus as Lord. The woman came to Jesus and worshippedHim as Lord. She called Him “Lord” before (v. 22), but now she took the one essential step: she worshipped Him as Lord.

Thought 1. 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.

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 7:21; see 7:21–23).

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Ro. 10:9–10).

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Ro. 10:13).

“And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Ph. 2:11).

5 (15:26–27) Humility: a spirit of humility and surrender. 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.

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:4).

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath deal to every man the measure of faith” (Ro. 12:3).

“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Ph. 2:4–5).

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (Js. 4:10).

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Is. 57:15).

6 (15:28) Faith: the woman had a great faith. 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.

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Mt. 21:22).

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (Jn. 6:29).

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (He. 11:6).

“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment” (1 Jn. 3:23).

Thought 1. 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).[4]

[1] O’Donnell, D. S. (2013). Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth(R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 427). Crossway. [2] Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 422). Augsburg. [3] O’Donnell, D. S. (2013). Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth(R. K. Hughes, Ed.; pp. 427–430). Crossway. [4] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to Matthew: Chapters 1:1–16:12(Vol. 1, pp. 356–359). Leadership Ministries Worldwide.