Faith in a Gentile Woman

Matthew 15:21-28

Having compassion for others starts with actually Loving others. It’s a matter of the heart. When we see somebody in desperate need through the lens of loving compassion, our hearts break.

One thing that attracts even unbelievers to the figure of Jesus Christ is His boundless compassion. Jesus demonstrated the unconditional. sacrificial nature of His compassion by giving it to even total strangers.

The apostle John spells it out perfectly out in 1 John 3:17 “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” The question is rhetorical. The answer: It can’t. The love of God that flows from our hearts into our lives is a compassionate love.

We enter the city of Tyre. This largely Gentile area, far removed from the center of ethnic and religious purity in Jerusalem, would have been avoided by mostly pious Jews.

So, What was Jesus doing there?

Matthew is silent on this question, but the Gospel of Mark fills in the blanks for us. Jesus entered a house and wanted no one to know of it. (Mark 7:24 “And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.”

Nothing wrong with that. Surely, He and His disciples had earned a breather. Yet it wasn’t meant to be.Even in a remote region, where few Jews dared to go, Jesus’ reputation preceded Him and He was found out.

A Canaanite woman showed up and began crying out to Jesus. This woman was like the blind beggar we talked about two weeks ago. She was not physically blind, but because she was a Gentile and supposedly could not have known God’s revealed scriptures she was considered “blind.”

In contrast, those who had the capacity to see physically with healthy eyes and spiritually through knowledge of the scriptures were the ones who refused to acknowledge the identity of Jesus.

(vv. 23-24) But Jesus ignored the woman, walking along the road without answering a single word. The disciples noticed. (Wait....what???) This woman persisted so loudly that the disciples became annoyed. The disciples urged Jesus to send her away. The woman was following Jesus and His disciples along the road.

Jesus finally stopped and a gave a reason why he should not honor her request. Two thousand years earlier God had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now God was present in human form to keep His promise. Be He had made no such promise to the descendants of Canaan, or anyone else outside of Israel.

(v. 25) The woman persisted, came close to Jesus and knelt before Him.

Notice, this is true worship in its most basic form. To cast ourselves on God in helplessness, acknowledging the Lord’s power, love, and wisdom as our only source of help.

(v. 26) In those days, dogs as pets were far less common than today. They were seen mostly as wild, filthy dangerous animals that roamed the streets. Jews commonly referred to Gentiles as “dogs” meaning unclean. This single word explained the Jews’ attitude toward Gentiles.

Matthew 15:26 “And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

The promise to Abraham and Jacob to bless all nations through them certainly affected the Gentiles, but it was not a promise to the Gentiles. This of course would change under the new covenant, in which there would no longer be a distinction between a Jew and Gentile. God’s covenant blessings would be equally available to both.

Jesus had come to bring believers of all nations into one kingdom and one church, but he had come first to keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Rom. 1:16)

(v.27) The woman answers Jesus. Matthew 15:27 “She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

She worded her response not as a contradiction of what Jesus had just said but as an extension of the argument. She displayed mature humility by continuing to refer to herself and other Gentiles as “Dogs” and to Israel as “their masters.”

At the same time she called on the compassion of God , who promised blessings on all nations.

(v. 28) Having ample proof of this woman’s heart of faith and having rubbed it in for the disciples, Jesus broke his feigned resistance. There was no longer any reason to test the woman’s faith. Her daughter had been healed that very hour.

Why do we read this Gospel passage during Lent?

The story is read because the encounter between Jesus and the woman serves as a powerful reminder of God’s love for all people, regardless of background or perceived social status.

Lent is a season of reflection and repentance, a time to examine one’s heart and renew one’s relationship with God. This story encourages or should encourage us to recognize the universality of God’s grace and to extend our mercy and compassion to others,.

The story reminds that God’s salvation is not limited to a specific group of people, but is offered to all who believe.