The Canaanite Woman--When Great Faith Meets Great Action
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Intro:
Intro:
How do you picture Jesus?
What is your tendency when imagining God?
What are some instances when Jesus may have thrown His head back and laughed or had a twinkle/sparkle in His eye?
Do you think God intends for us to have fun and not take life so serious? Why/why not
Festivals
Weddings
Bride/Groom
11 You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.
30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,
31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
Spunky Faith
Spunky Faith
What are your thoughts after reading this dialogue?
Look at the preceding verses and their conversation
Consider the disciples and their heart that desired to follow Jesus.
Consider the woman whose faith caught Jesus’ attention
28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! I will do what you asked.” And at that moment the woman’s daughter was healed.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.
Does it seem possible that God could be impressed?
We see this woman had two strikes against her
What are they?
Canaanite—foreigner, an outsider
Woman—not respected at this time
Jesus respected her though
In Matthew 15:22
22 A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”
What are your initial observations of this woman?
What was her request?
3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters,
4 for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you.
33 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land.
In what ways were the people to be cautious yet compassionate toward foreigners?
The leaders rather than being cautious yet welcoming, stopped all interaction with them.
13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.
What does Jesus say about the condition of the religious leaders’ hearts?
Why did he call the religious leaders hypocrites?
What the woman is /is not:
Clearly desperate
Daughter is demon possessed
Knows she has no right to ask anything of JEsus
Not a Jew
Not a disciple
Offers no money
Makes no promises to devote herself to ministry service
*Jesus doesn’t owe her anything/YET she is asking Jesus for everything
But that doesn’t stop her
23 But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”
Jesus gave her no reply
Why?
Could it have been to test her? To see how serious she was about her plea? OR
Could it be Jesus was admiring her “Spunky” faith?
Look at the issue preceding the conversation with the woman. What was the Pharisees issue with Jesus?
How did Jesus describe the Pharisees?
What did Jesus mean when He said they nullified the word of God for the sake of their tradition? (vs 7-9)
Could it have been refreshing to Jesus to have someone ask Him to do what He came to do—give great gifts to unworthy children?
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vii. A Gentile Woman’s Faith (15:21–28)
but the appeal to Jesus as Son of David is striking in the mouth of a Gentile
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vii. A Gentile Woman’s Faith (15:21–28)
and thought the title would please this Jewish visitor; but the developing dialogue (esp. v. 27) suggests a more sophisticated awareness of the significance of Jesus’ role as the Jewish Messiah.
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vii. A Gentile Woman’s Faith (15:21–28)
But her argument that dogs do at least get the crumbs, while it rejects the implied refusal of her request, accepts Jesus’ basic position, that his primary mission is to Israel. But that mission allows others to share in Israel’s blessings, if only as a secondary effect. If she is only a ‘dog’, at least let her have the dog’s rations! The response is surely no less tongue-in-cheek than Jesus’ teasing challenge.
Consider all of this, why do you think Jesus WOULD have been “impressed with the Canaanite woman’s simple faith?
Are you ever reluctant to receive or accept God’s gift?
Have you known someone who is reluctant to accept?
Why do you think people are at times reluctant to accept good things from God?
Obviously the religious leaders were creating hoops to hop through—which presents God as a trainer
In your relationship with God, how do you tend to create religious hoops in order to “earn” God’s grace?
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vii. A Gentile Woman’s Faith (15:21–28)
No-one else receives from Jesus the accolade Great is your faith! (though again the centurion is the nearest equivalent, see 8:10)
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vii. A Gentile Woman’s Faith (15:21–28)
Was it merely her persistence in expecting a response despite apparent refusal (‘by faith, not by sight’)
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vii. A Gentile Woman’s Faith (15:21–28)
Or is there also the idea of her spiritual perception in recognizing both the primary scope of Jesus’ mission to Israel and also the fact that that was not to be its ultimate limit? She thus, like the centurion, foreshadows the time when the true Israel will transcend the boundaries of culture and nationality
The Canaanite woman had no resume,
no claimed no heritage,
she had earned no degree
Two things she knew: her daughter was weak/sick
Jesus was strong
She did not rely on her heritage, race, knowledge, the law—she relied on Jesus and His grace.
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.
A Sincere Speaker
A Sincere Speaker
Look at the disciples response.
**Sometimes the convenient way is not necasasarily Jesus’ way.
Different thoughts on why Jesus responded the way He did:
Jesus was trapped—Couldn’t help her because He could only go to the lost sheep of Israel (Centurion, Samaritan woman)
Jesus was rude—He was tired, long trip, disciples coming along slowly
(compassion on the 5,000, wept over Jerusalem
He was testing her—most popular was she serious about her need—but by insinuating she is a dog?
Could this have been a satirical banter?
11 No, the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
4 For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.
17 For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Obviously Jesus chose to make an example out of the Canaanite woman.
Jesus had just been with the Pharisees who would have called her a dog and meant it.
He had been with religious rulers, who would never have shared their bread much less the same room with a Gentile woman.
He had been with the Jewish elite who questioned His claims and doubted His authority. So imagine how sweet her first word sounded to Him “Lord”—she had made Him Lord before even meeting Him.