Have you ever done something totally embarrassing in front of a very famous or powerful person? I remember when Ronald Regan was running for governor of California (I know I’m dating myself here). I was a young (very young) boy in a small town in northern California. Mr. Regan came by plane for a quick visit at the airport. I was there and joined the small crowd welcoming the candidate.
Everyone was getting autographs and I had just started collecting them so I had my autograph book and my pen at the ready. My chance came when Mr. Regan drew close so I reached out to be nice and hand him my pen to sign my book. Instead of giving him the pen, however, I ended up drawing a huge line all across his hand. I quickly slunk back into the crowd and I never got that autograph.
Today we’re going to look at a woman who does the outrageous – as a gentile she approaches Jesus and asks for healing for her daughter. But Jesus doesn’t just do it – He at first refuses. Now if it were us, asking the Messiah for something audacious when we knew we really had no right – once Jesus says "I’m not called to you folks" – I’d have slunk back into the crowd and faded away – embarrassed. But not this woman – and as we’ll see her tenacious faith is a lesson for us and shows the difference between Jesus as simply a sign maker and the Messiah.
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs."
27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table."
28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Principles of the Canaanite woman
Jesus was not insulting her, only telling her of His primary mission to give the Jews first options at accepting Him
The term "little dog" is not derogatory – the Jews would call gentiles "dogs" but that term is of wild dogs – this means a household pet
Jesus didn’t slight her, he challenged her to think deeply
She understood His parable – and took it a step further – the children are fed first, then the dogs, but often the children give little morsels at the table. She knows that the gentiles will receive the gospel later, but couldn’t she just have a little crumb now in the form of a miracle for her daughter?
The principals for us
Jesus knows our level of understanding and will often bring us just past our ability in order to stretch our faith
We need to go with what He’s telling us – follow His logic, even bounce things back to Him – that is His way of revealing us to ourselves, and Him to us
Maybe you feel unworthy to ask Jesus for anything – because of sin or weakness, maybe because of the enemy’s accusations or just how you feel about yourself. This woman shouldn’t have come to Jesus, but she did and she persisted. Even if you don’t feel worthy, come before the Lord and be persistent.
Look at Jesus’ authority – He didn’t visibly do anything, and the demon left the Canaanite woman’s daughter
Also look at the disciples attitude – dismissing this woman because she didn’t fit the preconception of who they were ministering to. We need to make sure that "churchiness" doesn’t stand in the way of someone accepting Jesus.
James says: "You have not because you ask not." Jesus in Luke 11:5-13 says:
5 Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ’Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
7 "Then the one inside answers, ’Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
This story emphasizes the principal: seek – be persistent. But notice He says the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Often the physical thing we want is actually inconsequential to the Lord – it’s the transformation of our character He wants most – accomplished by the Holy Spirit. But that’s not to say He doesn’t care about what we need.
29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."
33 His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
34 "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."
35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
The Decapolis is mixed Jewish and Gentile (the other feeding miracle was to Jews only) Notice that Jesus is NOT making a distinction between Jew and Greek when it comes to giving out His miracle power. The issue is not what, but when. Jesus told the woman that the children ate first – then the dogs. This again refers to Jesus as the Messiah coming to the Jews so the Jews can share Him with the world.
But Jesus power and person was and is freely available to all. So Jesus is not discriminating by only giving Himself to the Jews. Clearly here He shows that He can and will minister to Gentiles too.
I find it interesting that the disciples still asked Him about where to get bread. They were so focused on the physical that they really missed out on who Jesus was.
Now I want you to take note of the two prior miracles – to a gentile woman who was pleading for her daughter – and for people who were hungry because they were following Jesus. Contrast that with what’s about to happen:
16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He replied, "When evening comes, you say, ’It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ’Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away.
The testing of a prophet was a valid thing – but these guys didn’t want to test, they wanted to discredit Jesus. The same word is used in Hebrews 4 in terms of an intention to discredit.
If you are talking with someone, and they are not intending to find out more information about Jesus but are simply arguing with the intention to discredit you or the Lord – just give the gospel basics and leave it at that. That’s what Jesus did – the sign of Jonah is the cross.
The Pharisees were perhaps asking Jesus to do an atmospheric wonder – something they probably felt was totally beyond His ability and proof that He was from God. Jesus refused, pointing to a sign in His timing – the sign of the cross. Jesus could have easily done some kind of sign – but He was not inviting people to come to Him by performing miracles, He invited people to come to Him in Faith – you see the difference between the two groups of miracles? The woman put her faith in Jesus and He examined it to see that it was genuine. The Pharisees had no faith so they got nothing.
Now a side note here. We’ve talked about this before but I want to emphasize this – Jesus is NOT a performer. He doesn’t show up in meetings in order to wow the audience by miracles. And He doesn’t bring people to faith by showing how powerful He is. We need to be careful. People today long after miracles – and they use a supernatural manifestation as proof that God is in their midst. Jesus said "where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst." Our focus needs to be on Jesus Himself and the cross – not on signs and wonders.
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn’t bring any bread." 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The disciples once again focused on the temporal things like bread – not realizing that it was souls, not stomachs that were at stake.
It’s interesting to me that Jesus said "Don’t you remember?" They’d forgotten that He was their supply, both physically and spiritually. Do we sometimes forget what God has done for us? We go through a trial and past the last possible second God works something powerful for us. Then as soon as it’s over we forget and are perplexed and frustrated at the next trial. We need to remember what He’s done so we can bank on that faith the next time.
The yeast of course, represented the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees that was leading an entire nation astray.
There is a lesson for us today. You see – the Pharisees were the conservatives of their day and the Sadducees the liberals. The Pharisees taught that by strict obedience to the law one could earn his way to eternal life. The Sadducees didn’t believe in eternal life or the supernatural at all – they were the liberals who embraced empiricism – the belief that everything must be proved.
Today we have two similar streams of thought – the Pharisees teaching translates today into legalism. Many people would tell you that if you obey a certain set of ethical or religious standards you will be accepted by God.
In fact, Islam is very much like this. You must obey a certain number of rules (some of which are quite silly) and then maybe, just maybe God will accept you when you die.
The teaching of the Sadducees would today be called Rationalism. We in the west are full of rationalism. For 300 years we’ve had to have everything proven to us – and most rationalists are quick to point out the silliness of God or the Messiah or heaven. We should only believe what we can see and touch and prove – like evolution.
Legalism quenches faith by binding you little by little from loving and serving Jesus to embracing a set of rules – and your love for the Messiah will grow cold as your love for yourself will increase.
Rationalism starves faith because if everything must be measured and proven, there is no room for faith hope or love – no room for trusting in a Messiah who refuses to give a sign.
Conclusion
Very simply to sum up this section of Matthew – it doesn’t matter who you are or what position you hold. What matters is how you approach Jesus.
Are you looking for a genie to perform tricks for you?
Are you looking for God to prove His love by some miracle?
Are you looking for a reason not to believe if you don’t get what you want?
Are you forgetting what He has done for you?
-or-
Are you willing to engage the master – probing His will and His willingness to move – adjusting your prayers according to a dialogue of faith? The Canaanite woman was willing to come to Jesus on His terms and ask Him anything – but was ready for a response and a conversation as He sought to probe and strengthen her faith – just as He will probe and strengthen yours.
