Humble Faith and the Compassion of Christ

Introduction

The story we read here in verses 21-28 has disturbed many Christians and non-Christians alike. It seems to be such a contradiction to the Jesus we know, the Jesus who says, “come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The Jesus that says, “whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.” How is it that the Jesus that we serve, the Jesus who is kind to the humble but stern with the proud acts the way he does in this text? Some false teachers have even criticized Jesus in this text, saying he was wrong to act in this way and that he was corrected by the woman’s words. We know this is not the case, since Jesus was without sin as the NT consistently teaches. So how are we to understand a woman, weary and heavy laden, coming to Jesus and being turned away not once, not twice, but three times?

However, if we look at this story closely, we see that Jesus was not acting outside of his loving and gentle character, but rather through this episode and the accounts of healing and feeding that follow it, we see that Jesus’ heart towards those who are humble in faith is always compassionate and merciful. For Matthew’s readers, the shock is that Jesus’ ministry has extended to the Gentiles because of their faith, as opposed to the Pharisees. While those religious men thought of themselves as the clean and academic in the things of God, this Canaanite woman knew more about trust in God and his mercy than they every would. From this, we see the kind and gentle hand of a loving Saviour who has come for all who come to him with such faith.

The Setting: Jesus goes into the Gentile world

Jesus now turns away from Galilee after his encounter with the scholars from Jerusalem and heads to the border of Tyre and Sidon. The wording suggests that Jesus didn’t actually enter these port cities but rather came to the border where Herod’s rule ended and this mostly gentile area began. Why Jesus heads this way is uncertain, perhaps to escape any drama that may be fueled by his clashing with the distinguished Pharisees from Jerusalem.

Already, we know that many had come from this region to be healed by Jesus, but for the first time Jesus meets Gentiles on their own territory.

The Theme of “Uncleanness” shifted from unclean hands to unclean people

Again, we see that these accounts of Jesus life are not randomly told, but there is a theme here. Jesus had just corrected the Jewish teachers on what it truly meant to be unclean. Uncleanness has nothing to do with what goes into your mouth, but rather it is the production of a wicked and unbelieving heart. This was the purpose of the purity laws all along. Now, the theme of true uncleanness remains in the story as Matthew shows through Jesus’ ministry that this is not only true of clean and unclean foods, but of clean and unclean people as well.

The Encounter

Verse 22 Jesus is approached by a woman who is identified as a Canaanite. While Mark more specifically identifies her as a Syrophoenician, a resident of the coastal regions north of Israel, Matthew chooses to identify her by the OT title: a Canaanite. He does this to bring some shock to his Jewish readers. Canaanites were consistently Israel’s enemies, and Canaanite women specifically are often identified in the OT as leading the men of God astray. Abraham forbids Isaac to marry a Canaanite, Esau’s marriage to two Canaanites shows his unfitness to be the leader of God’s people, and the intermarriage of Canaanites and Israelites was always a sign of the impurity of God’s people. This wasn’t for any racial reason, since Rahab the ancestor of Christ was a Canaanite, but rather it showed that marriage to the sworn enemies of God always led to compromising the worship of God. Canaanites consistently led God’s people to worship false gods and abandon the true God, and so are always the enemies in the OT. So here we have a woman whose ancestry was Canaanite, her fathers and mothers were the enemies of God’s people. In other words, Matthew paints her as coming from a people who are the axiomatic children of the devil in the OT history.

However, we see here her cry for help is based on his messianic title. She calls him “Son of David”, displaying her belief that he was the promised King, the Christ. In this line alone, she has shown more faith than almost anyone else in Jesus’ ministry so far; she identifies him for who he is while the Jews cannot see it.

Her faith is shown all the more in her request. She has journeyed out to the border of that territory because she believes that Jesus has power over the spiritual realm. Her daugher is oppressed by a demon, and she believes that Jesus has the power to release her. She doesn’t come with entitlement, however, but with cries for mercy.

Here we would expect a merciful answer from Jesus. She is humble, she cries for mercy from a place of lowliness, she recognizes he is the Christ, and she recognizes his spiritual authority. But there is a problem: she is a Canaanite. Jesus came to be the King of his people, and we see that he had commanded his disciples in chapter 10 only to preach in Israelite territory. Sure, he had done miracles for gentiles before, but now he is in foreign territory. His mission is not here, and is not for her, so he gives us this difficult response.

Three difficult responses:

Silence - Jesus does not even recognize her. In the OT there was no way for Gentiles to know God apart from Israel, the nation of priests. Jesus’ silence is deafening in light of the cries. He doesn’t even recognize her suffering, her cries, or her existence.

The disciples ask to send her away. It doesn’t appear that they were being heartless, but likely the opposite. They had come to know Christ as the one who healed all who came to him, and this woman crying after them while Jesus remains unmoved is likely embarrassing for them. They are likely asking him to send her away by healing the daughter. This woman is crying after the healing of all healers, and he is ignoring her. People are perhaps watching, and the disciples are embarrassed. They don’t understand Jesus’ apathy, so they ask that he would just heal her daughter so that she stops crying out after them and making a scene.

“I didn’t come for you.” Jesus reply is equally as puzzling in verse 24. The “lost sheep of the house of Israel” refers to the entire nation of Israel, since they are all lost in unbelief. What this says to the woman, however, is “I didn’t come for you. I’m not your Saviour. I’m here to help others, not you.” How heartbreaking and hard this would be to hear, and how confusing it is for us. After all, didn’t Jesus come because “God so loved the world?” Wasn’t the Messiah supposed to have a reign over all nations? Why is Jesus, who was quick to heal the certurion’s son, so wooden and cold now?

“You are not a child of God, why should I help you?” The woman ceases to call him “Son of David”, seeing that Jesus does not consider her his subject but rather an enemy. However, she doesn’t cease. Her words are simple but desperate: “Lord, help me!” The most faith-filled prayers are often the shortest ones. But here, a third time, Jesus rejects her in verse 26 by referring to the Israelites as children but her as a dog. We shouldn’t read too much into this as an insult, however. The use of the word dog is not a petty insult, but rather an illustration of who Christ prioritizes in his ministry.

Carson:

“The question is one of precedence: the children get fed first.”

That’s it, right? Jesus has three times now rejected her. Perhaps he isn’t as kind and loving as we thought. Perhaps his love is limited to only the holy few, and not the dirty sinners like us.

The Result

However, this is where the story takes a turn. Her answer is brilliant. She agrees with his illustration. She is a dog, and even widens the gap but talking about the masters table rather than the children. She is actually emphasizing her unworthiness here. The phrase translated yet even in verse 27 is a big misleading since this is not what the Greek construction means. She is not countering him, but rather adding further agreement. It would be better to translate yet with a simple and. She agrees, and because this is so she has a reason to keep asking. She is a dog, yes. She doesn’t belong at the table of God’s gracious promises, she knows that. However, she shows the reason for her faith. She, as a gentile, cannot rely on the promises of the OT as a basis for her faith, but she can rely on this: dogs get fed. In other words, she had a reason to continue to plead for mercy because God’s grace, although directed at his people, is so abundant that it is bound to fall off the table for her to lick up.

See humble faith in action. See boldness and meekness together in this woman. See the heart of saint here. No claim does she have on grace herself, but her faith stems in her knowledge of God’s abundant grace; so abundant that there surely is some left over for the dogs.

Now Jesus responds and we see the Jesus we love come back to life on the page. “O woman” is an emotional exclamation. Jesus is truly moved by the woman’s great faith. He cannot resist it. Though he rejected her three times, she persisted in the hope of a crumb of grace and she indeed received what she desired. This is one of the greatest demonstrations of the heart of true faith in all of Scripture, and here is why:

Her insistence despite initial rejection. Since she had a reason to hope for spare grace, she would not stop her humble pleas for help until she got what she desired. This lowly woman was like Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the LORD until he would bless him, like Abraham in his prayers of Sodom, like Solomon in his prayers for wisdom; she is one who wrestles with God! She is literally Israel in its literal meaning (one who wrestles with God).

Her agreement with Jesus to her own self-abasement. True faith can only exist in the context of humility. She is not upset that she is a dog or treated like a dog. She doesn’t go away in discouragement of this fact. But she accepts it with boldness. She is willing to be low. What a secret to happiness in Christ this is. We could perhaps rewrite the famous hymn Trust and Obey as humble and low, for there’s no way to know, all the mercies of Jesus, but when humble and low.

Her belief in the mercy of God, even for dogs. True faith is not only seeing yourself as a poor, weak, and needy sinner, but to be content in that position. That contentment can only come with a confidence in God’s mercy, a confidence that even defies the words Jesus says to her. These are truly the two ingredients to true faith: humility and boldness. Humility knowing how filthy and guilty we are, boldness in knowing how gracious and merciful God is. Her conviction that there was grace, even a crumb of grace, for a dog under the table is why her daughter was healed that day.

But how can we understand this? Why did Jesus act this way in the first place? Christ surely tested her in this way so that he might draw her faith out and put it on display, to the shame of the unbelieving Pharisees. They saw many miracles, they feasted at the table of grace and did not believe. But she, meek and lowly under the table, savoured every crumb of grace that fell to her.

Chrysostom:

“Not in insult then were His words spoken, but calling her forth, and revealing the treasure laid up in her.”

The reason Jesus tested her so severely is because he, in his infinite wisdom, wanted to draw her faith out. Many came to Jesus that he healed immediately, but she was special. She had great faith that nobody but he could see, and he pushed her to her limits so that such faith would be displayed. Just as an athlete is pushed hard to win the prize, her faith was tested and proved to be more valuable than anything in this world.

Jesus Heals and Feeds Gentiles in Aftermath of this Event

In the text, this begins a cascade of mercy on the gentiles.

Jesus healing in the Gentile Decapolis section of the Sea of Galilee according to Mark 7:31, which is on the East side of the lake.

Feeding of 4000 gentiles reflects the grace shown to the Israelites.

The Gospel to the Nations Foreshadowed

In this way, Jesus foreshadowed the reality that we see take place in the book of Acts. The Gospel, largely rejected by the Jewish people, would go to the nations and among them would find true children of Abraham, that is children of faith. Although they be Canaanite, Greek, German, Indian, Chinese, Filipino, or British, they who believe in the humble faith of this woman have all the blessings of Israel through faith in Christ and show themselves to be the true Israel. Eph 2:16-19

Ephesians 2:16–19 ESV

and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Conclusion: The Compassion of Christ extends to all who have true faith

And so, we may conclude this text with three exhortations for us today:

Since Christ had such a heart, even in the part of salvation history where his main ministry was to Israel, to go into Gentile territory and share the grace of God with those without the eternal promises of the Old Covenant, let us seek such a heart to reach the lost with the compassion of Christ.

Take heart, you who know your unworthiness before God, for Christ has a heart that cannot help but be compassionate on a sinner with faith.

Be fearful if you dwell is self-righteousness and in pride reject the Word of God, for God is ready to move on from you to those you would deem less worthy and show his great power in them while you are left alone.