The Reluctant Savior
Jesus Full of grace and truth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro:
Intro:
What do we with a silent savior?
As parents when are children are in trouble we rush to help them. We don’t delay.
Yet God will often allow us to sit in stressful, anxiety producing situation and seemingly not do anything about it.
But I thought he was full of grace & truth. How could a truly graceful God watch me drown in the ocean. Listen to Job struggle!!!
1 Then Job answered:
2 Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 If only I knew how to find him, so that I could go to his throne.
4 I would plead my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn how he would answer me; and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he prosecute me forcefully? No, he would certainly pay attention to me.
7 Then an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my Judge forever.
8 If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.
9 When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns south, I cannot find him.
10 Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.
Three weeks ago we learned about “the adulterous woman”
Then we learn about Matthew the tax collector a man who ate with and hung out with sinner.
This week we are going to learn about a foreign gentile dog.
21 When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.
22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
-Matthew 15:21
21 When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.
-Mark 7:24
24 He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice.
-Both Matthew and Mark report this narrative and they both put emphasis on the need for Jesus to withdraw to get some much-needed rest. This lets’ us know that the previous narrative might help us interpret this narrative.
What happened in the previous narrative that frustrated Jesus?
-Matthew 15-There was a dispute that broke out between Jesus and Pharisees about the disciples not washing their hands before they ate.
a. (v.2) Why do your disciples break tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. You will notice that the Pharisees are holding the disciples accountable to the “Traditions of the Elders” not the OT law. It is was a man-made standard. This is not about the disciples eating with dirty hands, but the Pharisees requirement that the people need to ceremonial washed their hands before eating. According to the Law this was a requirement for priest before they sacrificed, but it was not a requirement of the people.
(v.3) Jesus answer via question: “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”
(v.7) Jesus says “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship ME, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of Men.” Listen to Jesus exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Essentially saying that this man-made belief system is not what I prescribed in the Law. It is man-made and divisive. It does not lead people to Me, but away from me.
(v.17-20) Jesus explains that food eaten from unwashed hands goes into the stomach, then is eliminated
What a person eats does not make him unclean?
It is the things that proceed out of the mouth that come from the heart, that defile man. What comes from the heart: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. Jesus says these are the things that truly defile the man, not eating with unwashed hands.
-Jesus has essentially told his disciples that although the Pharisees consider you to be unclean I do not! Writing later with better understanding of the New Covenant related to food laws Mark inserts this in MK 7:19 “19because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)”
-Now understand that Jesus used the symbolism of food to teach a greater lesson about people.
-It was at this point that Jesus left all Jewish provinces, and went to a totally Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon….
-This area is where modern day Lebanon is. It is a coastal city. It is pagan and idolatrous.
-The way the narrative is being stated it seemed as if Jesus was trying to go to a place that he was unknown so that he could rest: Notice what MK says again 7:24 “-Mark 7:24 “24Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.
-In the midst of Jesus trying to get some rest he got a visit from a desperate & determined Woman
Always
-Jesus go outside of the narrow mission he was sent for to give grace to an outsider.
I. Her Cry
I. Her Cry
22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
(v.22) “And a Canaanite woman from that region came out” MK 7:26 “Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race”
-Matthew states she was a Canaanite and Mark gives more information stating she was a Gentile of Syrophoenician race Essentially Matthew is stating who her descendants are, and Mark is stating her current classification. By this time Jesus was on the scene the Canaanites had been eliminated as a people group. She was Syro(Syria) Phoenician(Ethnicity) Analogy-African-American (African ethnicity) (American where we live)
Guess who else shared this same lineage from the OT?
Jezebel was a phonecian Queen from Tyre who married Ahab and terrorize the Nation of Israel!
-Both Matthew & Mark want to make it clear that she is Gentile, but Matthew puts special emphasis in her being a descendant of Canaan, who were the Jews mortal enemies.
(v.22) Notice her Cry “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David” That word “mercy” means: to show pity, compassion, or to extend help for the consequences of sin. When a person says “have mercy on me” they are asking to get something that they absolutely do not deserve. Her cry gives explicit evidence that she is aware of her sin and what her sins have caused, and she is going to the right person for her petition’s rather than the gods and godesses of Baal.
-(v.22) “Son of David” WOW!!!! Now where would she have the wherewithal to call Jesus by his messianic name. Her usage of this name affirms her belief that she is talking to the Messiah. Most of the Jews especially the Pharisees or Scribes would never call him by this title. One would need to study a little to find out why this Canaanite Idolatrous woman would be aware of the Messiah.
1 Kings 17:9-24
9 “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.”
10 So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.”
11 As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”
12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.”
13 Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son,
14 for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’ ”
15 So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days.
16 The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Elijah.
17 After this, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. His illness got worse until he stopped breathing.
18 She said to Elijah, “Man of God, what do you have against me? Have you come to call attention to my iniquity so that my son is put to death?”
19 But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, brought him up to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
20 Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?”
21 Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, please let this boy’s life come into him again!”
22 So the Lord listened to Elijah, and the boy’s life came into him again, and he lived.
23 Then Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive.”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know you are a man of God and the Lord’s word from your mouth is true.”
(v.9) Due to a famine God instructed Elijah to a village called Zarephath located in Sidon
(v.10-16) Elijah ask this woman to take her last handful of flour, and oil and make him some bread. This woman is taking care of herself, and her son. She is apprehensive at first then eventually gives Elijah her last bit of sustenance. Due to her faith Elijah promises her that she will always have bread for her home. Notice (v.15-16) “15So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah
(v.17-23) God through Elijah has richly supplied for this woman, but then something happens to her son. Her son is dead. The woman begins to beseech Elijah as to why this happened to her, reasoning that it was her sin that caused this Calamity. Elijah takes the boy up to his room and lays on him three times praying for him, then God restores life to him……
(v.24) 24Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” After this miracle, the woman is convinced of the Power of Yahweh. She became a worshipper of Yahweh and like other Jews she begins to wait for the promised Messiah.
Two things we can surmise from this Story
1. God’s primary purpose in sending Elijah to this woman was to prove his Power over Nature and Death. Proving that he is more powerful than the Canaanite God(Baal).
2. God’s secondary purpose in sending Elijah was to lay the ground work for his redemptive plan spreading to this area when Jesus came.
-Also in Matthew 4:23-24
23 Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
24 Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them.
It was clear the miracle of the widow of Zaraphath become apart of the expectation of some of the people of this canaanite region.
Transition Statement
-This woman cried to Jesus so passionately, that the disciples grew tired of her. What was troubling her heart?
II. Her Concern
II. Her Concern
22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
(v.22b) “my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed” That word cruelly is also means “severely or to bring harm. The demon was probably causing this little girl to harm herself, and cause danger to herself. Momma is standing in the gap for her little girl.
(v.22b) “Have mercy on me, Lord(Divine), Son of David This woman is pleading for the mercy of God. I would argue that this woman blames herself for her daughter’s demon-possession. Out of guilt and true contrition she is pleading for the Lord to extend her mercy. Let’s take a look at this:
OT References to idols & demons
Deuteronomy 32:16-17
16 They provoked his jealousy with different gods; they enraged him with detestable practices.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your ancestors did not fear.
NT References to idols & demons
-1 Corinthians 10:20-21
20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
-The Region that this woman was from was pagan and worshiped Baal (God of Harvest) and Asherah (Goddess of Fertility)
-I believe this woman is suffering from the guilt of exposing her daughter to Idols, which also became the source of her daughter’s possession. My reasoning comes from the text itself: “Have mercy on me” She is pleading for mercy for herself. I think she believes that if God grants me some underserved compassion it will extend to my daughter who is suffering from my mistakes.
The only reason a person would genuinely plead for God’s mercy is because they believe their sins have caused their current calamity.
Transition Statement
-This woman deep concern for her daughter lead to a great determination to seek Jesus
Part II
Part II
Review Theme Jesus full of grace and truth
21 When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.
22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
Her Cry
Her Concern
This week we are going to talk about “Her Certitude”
That word “Certitude” means conviction. To be convince of something.
III. Her Certitude
III. Her Certitude
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
1st Rejection(v.23) “But He did not answer her a word” As this woman screams for help Our Lord does not answer her a word---This is not the same Jesus that minister to the Samaritan woman. He purposely being obtuse and evasive. He certainly isn’t being graceful.
I wonder why?
2nd Rejection (v.23) “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us” The disciples were basically asking Jesus to “send her away!” either heal or reject her but whatever do it now!
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
3rd Rejection (v.24) “I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” Jesus tells his disciples this is off mission. My first priority is the Jews. The disciples were used to this mandate. Notice Matthew 10:5-6
5 Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town.
6 Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
I am sure when the disciples heard this they were like finally Jesus. Get rid of this woman. Our mission is not these Gentiles. Jesus words had to resonate in her mind! “He was saying I ain’t come for you!” “Salvation is not for you!”
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
(v.25) “She bowed before him saying, Lord, help me!!!” undeterred by Jesus rejection she keeps coming. Saints she is being actively pushed away by Jesus and Jesus disciples. This certainly does not align with our understanding of Jesus as the merciful and graceful savior.
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
4th Rejection(v.26) Jesus is more direct and borderline disrespectful. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” as this woman lay at his feet humbly bowed Jesus’s “donkey kicked her” he described her as “a dog” this was a common derogatory name that Jews called gentiles. Jesus however used a Greek term for Dog “kunarion” which describes a little dog or puppy that lives in the house. The dogs eat what the children have rejected. Jesus says essentially says Salvation is for the Jews. There was another time I thought Jesus was a little “out of pocket” in John 2:3-4
3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.”
4 “What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”
(3-4) Saints over there years I have uttered some things underneath my mouth about my Mom, that she is unaware of, but I ain’t never thought to come at her like this.
Why is Jesus being so cut throat with this woman?
Previously he told her “I ain’t come for your kind!” Now he used the same “racial slur the Jewish people used to describe Gentiles” Jesus is dealing with her just like the Religous leaders would have and in this case like the disciples.
So, according to both the context and language involved, Jesus wasn’t referring to the Canaanite woman as a “dog,” either directly or indirectly. He wasn’t using an epithet or racial slur but making a point about the priorities He’d been given by God. He was also testing the faith of the woman and teaching an important lesson to His disciples….Got Questions
I would disagree with “Got Question” assessment of Jesus intent in this Narrative. He actively ignored her, pushed her away and now have speaks to her like she would expect from a Jewish person.
and why?
Non-Jews were considered so unspiritual that even being in their presence could make a person ceremonially unclean
Here is where will park a little bit. I was debating a Hebrew Israelite and he took me to this passage to prove “Jesus mission was only for the Israelites” He was interpreting this scripture literally. On face value this intepretation would be correct, but on further investigation it is clear Jesus is baiting this woman. He is pushing her away at the same time she is not allowing him to escape.
Jesus is using sarcasm as a rhetorical tool to teach his disciples a spiritual lesson. It is important when you read Narratives that you are able to discern when Jesus is using; Hyperbole, Metaphor, or Figurative speech when addressing people. Let me take you place where Jesus uses hyperbole to crystalize a point. In Matthew 5:27-30
27 “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.
28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Just is using Hyperbole to teach a spiritual principle. If one takes this scripture literally no one in this room should have “any eyes or hands” because they would have been cut off years ago.
But he is making a spiritual point. In order to stop sinning you must address the deep rooted cause of the sin then violently remove it from your life.
Jesus is employing this same method with this Woman. Jesus in the final rejection calls this woman a dog now look at how the woman responds to him.
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
(v.27) The Woman responded to Jesus “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table” This is in response to Jesus claim statement “Its not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” The woman concedes the point. she was not asking Jesus to neglect his children who in this case are the children of Israel to feed her. She is aware of place in the religous system of the Jews(outcast, dog).
This woman was so desperate, broken, and determined and convinced of the mercy and grace of Jesus that she essentially says; “I will be a dog, as long as I can catch some of the residual blessing that fall from the table as the Jews eat” This woman is so convinced of the Power of Jesus, that she believes the crumbs that slip off the table are enough to heal her, and her daughter. The Woman says I don’t have to be the direct reciepient of your power just say my daughters name and she will be healed. I believe this woman might say it like this: It is better to eat off the floor in heaven, than be at the guest table in Hell!!!
This is first time Jesus has lost a debate! She got him. Jesus couldn’t say anything. He conceded the point the woman made! Now notice what he says!
(v.28) Then Jesus said to her “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish” Jesus starts by emphatically addressing this woman; early in story he was not even talking to her. Now he is blow away by her faith!!! Jesus heals her daughter at once. Not when he got to her, Not when the Mother got home, but at once. He spoke the word and she was healed. There was another time he did this as well. Matthew 8:5-10
5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him,
6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”
7 He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”
8 “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.
(5) This centurion was also a Gentile he was Roman. Jesus baits him because he knows how he will respond. Jesus says do you want me to come to your house.
(8) The Roman Soldiers says “essential says I am man of authority who’s reach extends beyond this region. My servants are working all over Judea even though I am not there” in this way he was comparing his authority with Jesus. He recognized that Jesus though in one place at one time had spiritual authority to perform miracles in places that he was not physically in. Then look at what Jesus says:
10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.
Like the Syro-Phonecian woman Jesus says about this Man “I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith” Now couple this reponse with the response to the Syro-Phonecian woman:
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.
Why would Jesus take such great pains to give honor to each of these gentiles for their “Great Faith”?
How does Jesus describe his disciples faith?
30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
8 Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread?
Matthew understood the assignment. When Jesus said this to those gentiles he was contrasting their faith with these “people they considered unclean and unsavable”
Jesus was honoring the faith of people who had little knowledge of the messiah over and against people who had the word of God and a rich history of God moving on their behalf to preserve them.
Application
Jesus initial response to this woman was so disrespectful?
Did she just eventually wear him down, so he changed his mind? or did he truly heal her daughter out of respect of her faith?
Is Jesus a racist?
No to all of these: Jesus is using relational rejection to create a deeper thirst so as to magnify the depth of this Gentile woman’s faith as an embarrassment to his disciples and the entitled Religous leaders who rejected him. Jewish people largely believed other ethnicity were incapable of true faith. So depraved they could not see the truth and turn. God uses this story to deconstruct that lie.
Jesus knows that this is a Spirit work and he will continue to draw her to him despite his apparent rejection of her. While Jesus is actively pushing her away the Spirit is saying keep going!
1. When you truly seek Jesus he will answer, any perceived silence is just his way of getting you to keep coming.
2. The way of Salvation is on your knees broken before God, and this applies to everyone.
3. The way of Salvation is not based on ethnicity, social status or gender. It is based on being humble enough to admit you are a broken vessel and he is the only potter who can put you back together again.
Open the Doors/Prayer/Gospel
If you do not remember a time, that you were broken, helpless, and humble before God
