Matthew 15:21-39

Intro: our greatest need- the bread of Life

Today we are going to look at two different stories, but while they seem to be very different, they are in many ways quite similar, because both stories have to do with how Jesus meets our greatest needs, the need for salvation, and even the provision of bread in the second story is pointing to Christ, because Christ is ultimately our spiritual provision; He is the bread of life. In fact, both stories have to do with bread, with this first encounter in the analogy that Jesus used about giving bread to dogs. And this is one of the most common theme in the gospel, that Jesus can meet our greatest need? And what is our greatest need? It is not to be fulfilled. It is not to be loved. These things are important in their place, but our greatest need is to be forgiven of our sins. Our greatest need is peace with God, and Christ is the only One who can bring that about through His death and resurrection, and that is why He is called the bread of life. That bread of life passage in John 6 points to Christ Jesus being the One who feeds us, because our greatest need is eternal life, and we cannot have eternal life because we have all sinned against our God. Christ is the One who provides for us, and we can see through this passage how Christ provides for us. In fact, I like the title for this section found in Hendriksen’s commentary: The Work Which Thou Gavest Him to Do. This is the title Hendriksen gave to his outline for Matthew, and yet you can say that this is a good title, because this title is taken from John 6. The work which God had given Jesus to do, and this title is Jesus doing the work that God gave Him to do. Our job is to believe who Jesus is and what He has come to do. Our greatest need is to be saved because we will die and perish apart from his salvation.

The Bread of Life, even if you get some, you get all.

Let’s look at His salvation through this first story of this woman. This is a very fascinating story, because it looks like at first Jesus was rejecting this woman and even calling her a name- a dog! This seems so unlike the Jesus we know in the gospels that we need to take a closer look at the lesson that is for us to learn. But it is also very important to look at this context. The context of this passage is that Jesus had just explained what is clean and unclean, and that it is not what is on the outside that makes you unclean, but it is what is on the inside that makes you unclean. This then leads Matthew to the story of the Syro-Phonetician woman. The tie could not be more obvious. Matthew is pointing here an example of a woman who is a Gentile who is going to be healed, and this in spite of her not being part of God’s people. This shows truly that it is not what is on the outside that makes you unclean- Gentile or Jew, but what is on the inside.

Lesson about faith #1- The faith that pleases God is one that is persistent.

This is true, but what is so unusual about this story is the initial treatment of this woman by Jesus. He seemed to have ignored her plea. Indeed, it looked like she was crying behind the disciples, and Jesus just chose to ignore her, to the consternation of the disciples that they came to talk to Him and to ask Him to send her away. What is going on since we have this picture of clean and unclean, and yet when this seemingly unclean woman comes to Jesus, He seems to put her off. It seems strange, but we need to see the context of this passage. Jesus here is withdrawing into the district of Tyre and Sidon. This seems to be consistent with what He was saying that it is not the outside that makes you unclean, but what is on the inside. This with the persecution that came to Jesus from the Pharisees, led Him to retire from the Jewish areas, and He moved to the Gentiles. This shows that sometimes the greatest persecution comes from those who claim the name of Christ, but are not saved. You see that it is true in many places where there are people who are just Christians by name will really be bothered by those who want to truly follow Christ in all that He says. In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees who were supposed to be experts of the law, were the ones who opposed God the most, because they opposed Him whom God sent. This led Christ to retire to the place where there was less persecution, and it turned out to be a pagan place. However, Jesus did not have peace and quiet because there was a Canaanite woman there who knew of Jesus’ power. She called out to Jesus as the Son of David. She called out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon possessed.” From this statement, we can see that there is much to commend about this woman, indeed, more than many of Jesus’ countrymen. She first called Jesus, Lord. This can be a polite way of saying, “Sir” or it can be going all out, and calling Jesus, “Lord”. We do not know from this word alone, but the next phrase, Son of David. We know that she has a very high view of Jesus. This added to what she says here, “Have mercy on me,” shows that she really believes that Jesus can save her in her situation. The fact that she called Jesus Son of David meant that she believed that Jesus is the Messiah. This is clearly different from the Jews who were skeptical of Jesus’ identity. So you have the woman who believes. What you need to see is that what is important is a high view of Christ first of all. And being in the church you are not saved by just being in the church, just like the Jews who were the people from old, who had the law and the oracles of God as the Apostle Paul said, but who had rejected God’s laws and refused to obey Him while claiming to obey Him just by their outward actions. And here in this Gentile area, you have this woman calling to Jesus for salvation to deliver her only daughter. We can also be in the church and just go through the motions. We can claim to be following God, and yet throughout the week we are living our own lives. Someone has said that you dine with the devil during the day and then turn to God at night, as though you live your life anyway you want to, and toward the end of your life, you turn to God just before death so that you can have His approval. The Pharisees believed that you can just follow God with the bare minimum. It is a religion that takes pride in outward actions. We are clean, and we show how religious we are on the outside by ostentatious show of religion; we make it a habit to pray long, to show how we are religious, and yet, we do these things because we don’t want to be changed on the inside. Here is this woman who does not have any of the outward trappings and yet, she believed. The Scripture said that she kept calling to Jesus; that is the implication of the word, “began to cry”. This reminds you of the story of the widow who cried out for justice day and night to an unrighteous judge.

Faith lesson 2: The faith that believes God is one that continues even when there’s opposition.

What is the implication of the woman crying out to Jesus? It says that a faith that God delights in is one which continues to cry out to Him. Notice the emphasis on her crying out to Jesus. She cries out, and He did not answer a word, even after all the title and begging she heaped on Jesus. In addition to all the titles, she also said that her daughter was cruelly demon-possessed. The demon was severely oppressing the daughter. We need to make a distinction from true piety from those that are just outward observances. When my father passed away, he requested a Christian burial. And it seems strange, all of a sudden, Christians popped out of everywhere. Are they Christians? Did death all of a sudden make them Christians? No, they were just acting like Christians for a short time, they were not truly changed. You can sound so pious, and if you have been around church long enough, you know what to say. But knowing what to say, and how to act is not going to save you. You may have all the head knowledge, but it is not enough. All of that knowledge is not as valuable as what this woman had: faith. Belief in Christ to save us. And something else you can learn about her faith is that it is an undying faith. Nowadays, it is fashionable to say that you make a decision to trust Christ; you prayed the prayer. If you say this prayer, then you are a Christian. This is the attitude that we often have. You make a decision. The words of the prayer do not save you. It is your faith, and even that faith is something that God has to give you. I remembered that I have prayed this prayer many times, and I did so because I was afraid, because I didn’t feel any different because I said the words. It is true, you are not changed by saying the word. You are changed by the Holy Spirit working in your heart in your life. You cannot bring yourself back to life; you are dead by nature, and it is something that the Pharisee did not realize, in which they did not believe. The flesh counts for nothing. It is the Spirit that brings life. Yet, I believe that I can bring my own life by repeating the prayer over and over again. That is what the Pharisees did. They thought that they could bring life by themselves. This woman was not like that. She believed that only God can bring life. She kept begging, because she realized that life is found only in Christ. Do you believe that? Most of us only wanted to obey the commandments of God to a certain degree. We say that it is wrong to steal. We say murder is wrong, but we don’t want Jesus to be our Lord. You must have Him as Lord if you want to be delivered. And there is a time in which you may feel like you are not being heard, as this woman is. But is Jesus intentionally ignoring this woman? No, if you look at the rest of this passage, you will see that He was testing her, and He was testing His disciples too. Why did Jesus not answer the woman’s request right away? Why does God not answer your request right away? He wants to test your sincerity. Most of you have probably never read Pilgrim’s Progress. You should. It says that God allowed Christian to bear the burden for a while before He gave Christian his deliverance. Is God cruel? No, God is not, but He allows you often to go through a time of travail in order to strengthen and to test your faith. When God doesn’t answer right away, you are to seek God even more fervently. You see that example with the blind men and blind Bartimaeus, both of which cried out in the same way, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us.” We live in such a time of instant gratification, of microwave popcorn, and we think that faith should be like that. If you are seeking the Lord, keep seeking Him, and He will wonderfully reward you, as He has done in my own life. Are you going to stop after once, and then say that this Christian faith does not work? Should you not keep seeking Him? This woman kept seeking Jesus, to the consternation of the disciples, and they said to the Lord, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” In other words, she is annoying. You know what you see here? Even if you are the least in the kingdom of God, God is for you. God is not a respecter of man. He doesn’t care if you are from the greatest family or if you are a nobody, as this woman was. What matters is that you are to seek God with faith. And the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to send her away. It was like Jesus was being passive, and the disciples themselves were being annoyed. Jesus’ response is very strange: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” I must also say that John Calvin said in a very good comment here that even though Christ didn’t answer the woman, and yet, the woman knew from God’s word, and she must know some of God’s words because she called Jesus Son of David, that she knew the Scriptures, and the Scriptures, especially the Psalms, tell us to seek tirelessly. If God so spoke to this woman, may we have the faith to seek Him. Then, we see that this statement that Jesus made about being sent to the lost sheep of Israel, must be something that the woman heard as well, because she came bowing to Him. Notice too that Jesus did not send the woman away. The Lord never sends anyone away; this you can be sure of. In this life, while we have hope, always call out to the Lord. When you pass on from this life, it will be too late: “It is destined for man to die once, and after that to come judgment.” But while you are still on this side of heaven, you have the right to call upon God for help. So call out to Him, and be ready to worship as this good woman was.

Faith Lesson 3: A Good Faith Is One that knows God which will persist even in seeming rejection from God.

The woman upon hearing this word, began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord help me!” The word ‘began’ here communicates continuously as well. She was tirelessly coming to Jesus that He was the only One who can help her. Do you believe that? We often only come to God when we think that all of our help in this world has been exhausted. She came to Jesus and worshiped Him. You know above all else, we need to recognize that Jesus is Lord. Even before she got her help, she worshiped Him. You can see the faith that she has. So you see that this is a real faith which exists in this woman. Yet, even now Jesus still rebuffs her. He did so by saying something that insulted her sensibility. He said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” This is something that is insulting to this woman. He is calling her a dog. He is saying that the children are the sons of Israel, and that the bread is Christ, which is given for their benefit, and so Gentiles should not benefit from it. Jesus is, of course, speaking of His earthly ministry. Otherwise, we as Gentiles would be in trouble. But this is still insulting, especially since the word for Canaanite sounds like a dog, and the most derogatory term that the Jews called the Gentile was a dog, like the feral creatures found on the market. Does Jesus offend you? If you have never been offended by Jesus, you have not met the real Jesus. I read the other day that Jesus said that if you want to come after Him, you must hate your mother and father and your children, and even yourself. If you don’t do that, you can’t be His disciples. Yes, of course, Jesus is not saying to hate them and hate yourself, but your love for Christ must be so much that it seems like hating your parents. Jesus makes you stumble. What I want to say to you is that even if Jesus causes you to stumble, do not let that by itself cease you from going to Him. He is Lord, and He wants you to put Him first. He is not obnoxious, but He is Lord, and an absolute One. If you come to Christ, and He makes you stumble, humble yourself. It’s the best thing that you can do. I can’t explain everything. I can’t probably even explain exactly what Jesus was doing here, but I am to tell you that you should humble yourself, because what He said about you, your culture, your ethnic background is true. This woman is Gentile, and she was unclean. Hear Him. What He says is true. We, as pastors, often dance around the things that Jesus says, but you must believe Him, for your good and salvation. This woman was not put off, and instead said to the Lord, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” You see here she turned an insult and made it a comeback. You see this is faith. Ok, she is called a dog, but even a dog gets their masters’ food. You see here that she said that these children are masters to her, but even she gets some of the crumbs, and she is saying, please Jesus, just give me some crumbs. And we have the wonderful answer here given by the Lord, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. This shows that the testing provided by Jesus was not that her faith would fail, but that it would be refined. Think of the testing of Abraham. Abraham waited until he was 99 years old to have his first child. Yet, he was called the man of faith. You are called too to be a man, a woman of faith. Abraham’s faith is beautiful. When you grow in the Lord, you will have places in which the demands of Christ seem to be too much. When those times come, instead of shrinking away, keep persevering, and keep an optimistic attitude. In Romans, the Apostle Paul said that Abraham’s faith did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, even though he contemplated that his body was as good as dead. There is something about that here, that God loves a faith who believes in Him. And Abraham’s situation is comical and desperate. He was 99, and his body must have looked like it, and there is no possible way for him to have a child, and yet he did not waiver in faith, but believing in God. This is the same thing with this woman, who took God as His word. And may we do so. We need to move on now. Let’s look at the following section in which Jesus healed many people. Now, we are not told exactly where Jesus went on the Sea of Galilee, but it seems best to take that the indication points that He was at the eastern or southeastern shore of Galilee, and we can safely assume that, because at the end of this section we see that the people who were healed glorified the God of Israel. This term God of Israel would be natural for someone who is a Gentile to say. What does this section say? It says that Jesus is really not opposed to healing Gentiles. And it almost as if that woman’s faith unleashed a healing to the Gentiles. Maybe it’s her words, but Jesus went up on a mountain, and as He sat there, large crowds brought their sick to Jesus to be healed: the lame, crippled, blind, mute and many others. They lay them down at His feet and He healed them. This shows that Jesus is not opposed to healing Gentiles. Do you know what other stories in the Bible does this correspond to? It corresponds to the story of Abraham and Sarah. I had just mentioned that it took Abraham waiting 25 years for a son to be born, and he was called a man of faith. Do you remember what happened after Sarah died? Abraham remarried, and he had a slew of children. You can see that in chapter 25 of Genesis. What was the point? It was that it was the Lord who had closed the womb for Sarah for many years, to test Abraham’s faith, and you all remember that even after Abraham had Isaac, there was that big, big test that almost broke Abraham: he was told to sacrifice his son. Abraham passed with flying colors, and the Lord blessed him. And I think that this present story matches that. I believe Matthew is showing that Christ is not slow in blessing the Gentile world, but that He tests and refines as He does it. I look at our church too, and I look at the Chinese churches across North America, and I mention Chinese churches because that’s the world I am, and not because I think that God is better than all. I look at the past blessing God has on the churches in China, and I wonder why is it not happening here? I have to say that it is because God wants to refine our faith. Do we believe that He is building His world, or are we caught up in chasing our American Dream, and not believing in the gospel of giving ourselves up for the kingdom of God? Maybe that is why we don’t see the breakthrough that we so long for in our lives? Christ is testing us and refining us? Will we walk in it? “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the whole earth, that He may strongly support those whose hearts are completely His.” We have to believe the gospel!

The Bread of Life: God’s wonderful provision

Faith Lesson 4: God is a generous God.

Lastly, let us look at the feeding of the 4,000. We see in this story that Jesus had the crowd with him for 3 days, and He said that He had compassion for them. The word here for compassion is a wonderful word. It is the word for entrails, intestines. It was the word that was used for Judas when it said that his body fell and his entrails were spilled on the ground. That’s a graphic picture, but the word compassion that is used here has the same graphic picture; it meant that Jesus was deeply moved in His inmost being for the need of many, so that His heart, intestines were all affected. You may hear some who tried to explain this miracle away by saying that this was just a doubling of the feeding of 5,000 to apply it to Gentiles, and it has no historical significance. They say so because the disciples seem just as clueless as the first time around, and these people say that they could not be that clueless. Don’t believe those who say that. This is the word of God. Jesus Himself referenced two different feeding in chapter 16, which we may not have time to see. And really to be honest, we are that tone deaf to the things of God, that we need constant reminder. I remembered Edward saying to me that he read Mark, and can’t believe all the stupid things that the disciples did. It seems so impossible. In fact, it is so incredible, but we only need to look at our own lives. Are we that deaf to the things of God? We are. These scholars have too high of a view of themselves, and forget that we are sinners. We always need to stand under the Word of God, and not above it. In any case, the Lord had compassion on the people here, who are at least mostly Gentiles. The point is that the Lord had compassion for the Gentiles just as He had compassion on the Jews. And the compassion of Jesus here is that it led to Him to care about their physical needs. Now, we talk about meeting physical needs, and the church can explode. We are in the city and many people come through, and some no doubt, do so with ulterior motives, such as trying to feed a drug habit. How is the church supposed to deal with this? We need to do so carefully. On the one hand, we need to see that the mercy ministry must grow because of the Word of God, not in sacrifice to it. You remember that was precisely the point that the apostles had when it came time to the neglect of the hellenistic widows in Acts 6 in the distribution of food in the Jerusalem church. The apostles insisted that it was not their responsibility to stop the preaching of the word to distribute food, but that the preaching and teaching of the word of God must be held primary. Having done so, though, the church does have responsibility to care for those in need. We must not forget the warning given by James that if we say to someone be well and well fed, and yet do not help someone in need, how can we say that we have faith? So we see that in Christ He does care. We do have to think through about caring for the whole person, and wherever God calls us to go may we have the courage to think of where God would have us do.

Faith Lesson 5: Maybe your faith will help others to see the Messiah.

Again this is a Gentile region.

What is interesting in this situation is what the Lord did when the disciples once again complained about the impossibility of the work. And we have to see that the work is impossible. It is impossible to do by ourselves, but the Lord is with us, and to help us. We are to believe in Him. And the Lord uses what you can offer to accomplish His mission. He asked them both times, what do you have? The fact that it is doubling means that we doubt God highly that He can provide for us. This is given to us for our benefit. Do you think you only have a few things to offer the Lord? Offer it anyways, and the Lord will bless you beyond what you can imagine. Nancy and I have seen this multiplied in our lives. They said seven loaves and a few small fish.” These are smaller fishes than last time. Jesus gave thanks, and the food multiplied. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they collected the pieces into seven large baskets. So trust the Lord and He will accomplish great things in your lives.