Great Faith

It is no surprise that directly after coming off Jesus’ teaching about what makes one truly unclean, and telling the pharisees from Jerusalem that their Ceremonial purification laws could not actually purify them, that we get an example in Matthew about how Jesus goes to a region and ministers to people who would have been considered wholly unclean by the Jewish leaders.

In our passage today we see an example of a gentile woman with incredible faith. Remarkable faith. Faith so great that Jesus himself remarks about it with that word.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

What we see in this passage is a good example of that description in Hebrews 11:6. There is an intense belief, trust, and seeking after in the life of the Canaanite woman we see in Matthew 15. There is no denying that she has full assurance and conviction that Jesus could help her. Nothing could deter her, nothing could persuade her otherwise. She demonstrated true and great faith.

What is true faith? What is great faith?

For centuries, Christians have spoken of true, saving faith in a way that is helpful.

Faith, it is said, has three basic elements.

Notitia (knowledge) - that is, the content of our faith. What we know. These are truths and facts that we read in scripture. We take them to be what we believe.

Assensus (Assent) - that is, the conviction that what we believe is true and that it has a real impact and bearing on our lives.

Fiucia (Trust) - that is, trust. Personal trust, and reliance. In other words, it takes the content of the Christian message, and the belief that it is true and applicable, and puts feet on it.

This is often illustrated by way of a chair.

I know this is a chair.

I believe that it will support my weight

I take the step of trust and reliance by actually sitting on the chair.

Now, are those three terms perfect, and do they guarantee a perfect understanding of faith? No, but I do think they are helpful, and I think they accurately describe what we see in scripture. Even in that verse in Hebrews 11 there are those three elements.

knowledge - He is

assent - believe that he is a rewarder - it is believable and applicable

trust - diligently seek him

Faith is a critical part of our Christian walk. After all, we just read that “without faith it is impossible to please (God).”

Faith is how the saints of Old gained a good report with the Lord.

Faith is how Abraham was justified before God, and faith is how we are justified in the sight of God as well.

Faith was the key that Jesus seemed to be looking for in his followers. Not just amusement or interest, not just intrigue or excitement, but real, genuine faith. And we see that in our passage today.

Faith is the instrumental element of following Jesus. Christ’s compassion and provision flow through the conduit of faith.

1. An Example of Great Faith - Vs. 21-28

If you back up in your memory to last week, you will recall that we looked at yet another controversy with the Pharisees. This time, they came as a delegation it seems from Jerusalem that great city itself.

Jesus denounced them as hypocrites, and wrote off their immense trust in their traditions and the way that they believed one was pure.

Well it seems that after that interaction, Jesus and his disciples again needed a break or sought some reprieve from the mounting tension. Jesus knew that eventually it would be these very leaders that would execute him, but he knew that it was not yet that time.

Matthew 15:21 ESV

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

Jesus went to the district - or region - of Tyre and Sidon. These were lands outside of Israel. Tyre was about 25 miles north of the region in Galilee where Jesus spent most of his time, and Sidon was about 25 miles beyond that.

This journey could have taken them a number of weeks or even a month or two depending on their rate of travel, and where they were going.

Tyre and Sidon are greatly noted in scripture, or perhaps more infamously noted. They were important cities of Trade, and were even up to Jesus’ day, but they were also noted for their wickedness.

In Ezekiel 28, we read of the King of Tyre as an example of pride.

However, we have also seen Jesus use these very cities as examples of faith.

Matthew 11:20–22 ESV

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

And not only that, but early in Jesus’ ministry (in Mark 3 and Luke 6) that people from these regions heard of Jesus’ work and followed him.

Matthew 15:22–24 ESV

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.” 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.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

In verse 22, onto the scene comes a Canaanite woman.

It should never be lost on us that these descendants of the Canaanite people were really still around by two reasons - 1, the Israelites failure to drive them out at the time of the Exodus, and God’s mercy in allowing them to remain despite his commands for them to be driven out.

And this Canaanite woman in particular will experience a mountain of God’s mercy.

We are told that she cried out - in fact, she continually cried out - she kept on yelling. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!”

Now, that is a packed statement. Within that statement, she recognizes her great need, she speaks to Jesus with a term of highest respect and classification, and she even uses the title “Son of David” which, we have already seen many times as being explicitly Messianic.

“Lord, Son of David, Have mercy on me!” or “Take pity on me!” At this point we could ask if these are merely terms of respect in order to gain a hearing with Jesus, or if they are terms of true believe and faith? We will certainly see.

She desired mercy because her daughter was “wickedly oppressed by a demon.” Matthew doesn’t tell us exactly what the oppression looked like, but even in other accounts we have seen things like dumbness, deafness, erratic behavior, and extreme violence as a result.

Now, what is interesting about this account, other than the plight itself, is the responses that Jesus gives - but first, before he gives any response, he gives no response at all. Silence. total silence, as if he didn’t even hear her.

But he did hear her - for the more he didn’t respond, the more she seemed to follow from a distance and keep crying out - keep yelling.

So much so that the disciples are tired of it - This woman is making a scene! She is out of her mind! Lord, would you just send her away? Whether by helping her or dismissing her, the disciples implored Jesus to at least acknowledge her.

His first words? “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Now, why would Jesus say that? Well, for starters, it was true. Jesus’ primary mission on earth was to come as the Messiah for the people of Israel. Not that the plan or the intention was never to go beyond those borders, and not that he never exercised his power or had mercy on other people, but his statement was true to his mission.

Now, many people take these words and the rest of Jesus’ seemingly insensitive words as words of testing this woman’s faith - and I think that is certainly a major element. For we know that Jesus has already used his power to help gentile people in the past, why could he not do it now?

Matthew 15:25–27 ESV

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

That first statement did not deter the woman - she didn’t ignore it, she didn’t even deny it - but she simply still asked - Lord, help me!

She came and knelt before him. Really, she took a position of worship before him. And the word does often mean worship. It seems this woman had a very high view of Jesus - one that was higher and more developed than most of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

She seemed to know and believe that Jesus could help her. She had, no doubt, heard of his power - even his demon-delivering power. We can’t say for sure, but it is very possible that another demon-possessed person had spread this news to the region. Perhaps even the men of Gadara who became evangelists for Jesus’ power in these Gentile regions.

But Jesus, yet again, responds with something that is hard to even read or swallow.

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”

Dog was a common slander used by Jewish people to refer to anybody who was not a Jew. Dogs were mangy, wild, dangerous, flea-infested, hated pests that roamed Palestine.

However, there are some elements in Jesus’ words that change things up a bit.

For one, he does not use that normal word for wild, undomesticated pesky dogs. Jesus uses the word for a “small dog” or a housepet.

What we also do not know is just how Jesus said these words. Did he say this with a snarl, or with a kind and reassuring grin? It is common to speak in jokingly derogatory terms to those we love. Best of friends can refer to each other in ways that, in print, would seem cruel - but the physical audience could see that there was actually jovial friendship.

We cannot say for sure, but, again, I believe Jesus was testing this woman’s faith, but he was also doing something else. He was demonstrating, perhaps to his Jewish disciples, that he was in fact about to answer the prayer - the plea - of a gentile Canaanite woman.

In emphasizing the vast disparity between this woman and the people of Israel, emphasizing the racial and social divide and hostility that had been present for centuries, emphasizing the common and traditional view that Gentiles were unclean and out of God’s purview, the stage is set for either keeping the status quo, or for doing something remarkable.

Well, no matter how Jesus’ words were spoke, we find that this woman’s faith was persistent - and her response is amazing.

She followed Jesus right into the metaphor about giving bread to the dogs and keeping it from the children. And very perceptively, she said

“yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table.”

Its as if she is saying, “I know who you are. I know you are the Jewish Messiah. I know that you have a mission to accomplish and I am not one of your covenant people - but I also know that there is enough power and blessing in you for some of the scraps to spill over to us Gentiles.”

And she was right - and in fact, she was being modest. She may not have known this scripture, but even from Genesis 12 and God’s calling of Abraham we know that there was much more than scraps of blessing reserved for the Gentiles - but that all the nations being blessed was part of the plan all along.

In fact, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, from the seed of Abraham, is the primary way and the culmination of that promise. That is how Matthew Starts his Gospel record, by tying Jesus right back to Abraham - for in Abraham’s seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

Even this Canaanite woman, even you and I who are not children of God by birth, but by faith.

Matthew 15:28 ESV

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Whatever Jesus’ intention was, he had accomplished what he wanted to, and he had seen what he was looking for - great faith.

That word is “megadol” where we get our prefix mega. Mega-faith? I think so.

It was mega faith for several reasons.

It was in Jesus. She had a good understanding of Jesus and who he was. Not a perfect understanding, but she knew enough to understand that Jesus was the one who could help.

She had a proper view of herself. There wasn’t an ounce of entitlement in her words. She knew that Jesus did not owe her anything as a Gentile woman. She didn’t presume for a moment that Jesus “had to” help her.

Persistence - she knew, she believed, she trusted and persisted. We see all three of those elements of faith. Knowledge, Assent, and Trust. And in that ‘trust,’ we see a persistence that we are taught to have, but do we often have it?

Think of it in terms of even our prayers.

Jesus himself, in a parable, taught that our prayer should be persistent and earnest - like the widow who gained justice from a unjust Judge because of her persistence. How much more does a loving heavenly father hear the persistent and earnest prayers of his faithful ones?

Do you have great faith, dear one? Do you know about this Jesus? Do you believe that He is who he says he is? Have you personally trusted him, and do you place your trust in him daily and persistently?

2. An Example of Great Compassion - Vs. 29-31

We don’t know how long Jesus stayed in Tyre and Sidon, but we know from Mark that he travelled to the region near Galilee called the Decapolis.

The Decapolis was a region of 10 Greek cities. They operated on the old Greek city-state kind of government. They were independent, not part of Israel or having to do with any of Israel’s rulers.

So from that, we understand that Jesus is still in Gentile country.

Matthew 15:30 (ESV)

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,

Now picture this scene. This is one of the most descriptive scenes of mass-healing that we have in the Gospels.

Again, matthew tells us “great crowds” or, literally, crowds of crowds, came to him. And they brought to him all manner of broken humanity.

The lame - usually the halting or limping, but the word used can often refer to someone with a missing limb or foot.

The blind - again, in the Old Testament we don’t see any healings of blind people - yet we continue to see Jesus open the eyes of the blind.

The crippled - this literally means “deformed.” not just unable to walk, but not having normally developed legs or limbs. In other words, something obviously wrong.

The mute - usually that meant mute and deaf - they often went together.

Many others - any any number of unnamed diseases or maladies - but they brought them all, and they put them at his feet.

Imagine this - a whole pile of broken humanity laying at Jesus’ feet. A whole pile of people who had issues so obvious and serious that nobody else in the world could help them, yet here they are at the feet of Jesus.

And, if they are truly still in gentile country, which it seems they are, Jesus is surrounded by a whole pile and crowds of “unclean” people - and what does he do? He heals them all. He heals them all!

Think about this - this is no modern day televangelist healing where people with arthritis and low-back pain get relief from the man on the screen who asks for their money in return.

This is no modern hoax where people are paid to act as if they are unable to walk so the charlatan can pretend to heal them.

These are people who cannot see - people who cannot hear or talk - people with deformed limbs, even missing limbs - and they are made whole - they are healed. There is no mistaking it, no questioning it, no manufacturing it.

Matthew 15:31 ESV

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.

And what was the response? Wonder! Amazement! I mean, what other option would you have? If you saw a man with a missing limb or a withered leg suddenly made as if he had never had an issue, how else can you respond?

And notice what Matthew says - they glorified the God of Israel.

Now, apart from Mark telling us that this was in the Decapolis, this statement right here tells us that these were gentile people.

In other words, they saw the works of Jesus, and they could explain it in no other way than this was a work of God. This is the power of God on display.

Think back also about the contrast - when Jesus was in his own home country, back in chapter 13, the people of Nazareth had seen and heard of the same kind of miracles - but what was their response? They took offense at him. They rejected him

But here, you have a whole multitude of Gentile people blessed by the Jewish Messiah - and they glorified God. Whatever amount of faith they had in bringing their sick to Jesus was rewarded. The heard, they believed, they trusted - and they glorified God for what he had done.

What a pattern for us! We know, we believe, we trust, and let us glorify God for what he has done!

3. An Example of Great Provision - Vs. 32-39

Well, the last part of Matthew 15 is amazing, and we can only give it a little time. But Jesus yet again feeds a multitude miraculously.

Matthew 15:32–39 ESV

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.” And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Some skeptics say that this is an example of Matthew “doubling” or making up another story to add to his account, because we have just had another story of a mass feeding.

But the details in this story are not the same, they are different in almost every way.

The first crowd was a Jewish crowd, this is a gentile crowd.

The first crowd was 5000 men, this is 4000.

The season has changed - in the first story, there was much grass - it was springtime, just before Passover. But this time, they are told to sit on the ground which is “hard ground.” It seems it is now late summer, which makes sense with all the travelling that had gone on.

The number of bread and fish is different.

The first time they had 12 baskets left over, this time they had 7 baskets.

Also of note, the baskets in this story are different.

Hard to see it in english, but in the story of the feeding of the 5000, the word for “baskets” are “kophinos” - Jewish baskets. But here, they word is “spyris” - which were traditionally Greek baskets, and they are extremely large baskets.

In fact, this was the same kind of Basket in which the Apostle Paul was lowered out of the city walls of Damascus to escape his death.

So, clearly, Matthew intends us to see this as a completely different story, and I think it shows a different message.

The main message of the feeding of the 5,000 was really a lesson for the Disciples - remember, Jesus said “you feed them.” And they couldn’t. They had to be shown the miraculous provision of God in serving and following Jesus. That when we are unable to complete what God has given us to do, the power of Christ works through our inability to accomplish it.

We see the disciples here in the same position. Had they forgotten? I don’t think so, I think they had learned their lesson., “Lord, if a crowd like this is going to be fed, you are going to have to do it.”

But here, we see Jesus’ compassion on a group of Gentiles in gentile country. A group of people who had eagerly and faithfully waited by Jesus’ side for 3 days!

A group of people who had seen the work of Jesus and were convinced that he was working the works of God.

Jesus had compassion on them, and they were again filled - miraculously and completely - by the Lord’s provision.

All of this - the Canaanite woman, the healings, and the feeding of this crowd - stand in opposition to the attitude of the Pharisees earlier in the chapter.

All of this is a lesson to us as readers, that our interaction with Jesus and our standing before him is on the basis of faith.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We know those familiar verses, and we believe them. But do you know that they relate directly to what Jesus was demonstrating in this passage today? That in Jesus, even the Gentiles - those who are alienated and far off, are brought near? They experience the blessing and compassion of God?

Ephesians 2:11–22 ESV

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 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, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Dear one, have you been made part of this wonderful family by faith? Have you come to this Jesus and received his Grace through faith in Him?

Do you rest on any of your merits, history, or abilities, or do you see yourself poor and needy and undeserving?

Maybe you know and even claim to believe, but do you trust him daily? Do you trust him personally and sincerely?

Do you cast yourself upon him, like those mamed and lame and blind were cast at his feet, knowing that only he can help you?

Faith is the instrumental element of following Jesus. Christ’s compassion and provision flow through the conduit of faith.