“Great is Your Faith” (Matthew 15:21–28)
1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this morning is taken from Matthew 15:21-28. Here we see that Jesus comes into contact with a Canaanite woman who pleads for His mercy to heal her daughter who is demon possessed. Now we remember that Canaanites were considered unclean and sinful by the Jews. In fact, they were one of the nations that Israel was told to drive out as they began to enter the Promised Land, because of their sinfulness and worshiping of false gods. The Canaanites were looked upon by the Jews as being disobedient and rebellious against God’s Holy Law. As we read this text please reflect on Paul’s words to the church at Rome in Romans 11:30, which says, “You were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy.” The message is entitled, “Great is your Faith,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. How did she know? Who taught this Canaanite woman about Israel's Messiah? We simply don’t know. But, Matthew's readers do know that ultimate answer to the question of how this woman came to know and believe. God our Heavenly Father revealed it to her. This Canaanite woman here in Matthew 15 is like the Magi and the centurion before her, an unlikely candidate for such faith. That, however, is the way of God, to hide things from the wise and understanding and to reveal them to babies (Matthew 11:25-27). Great was her faith. In what does greatness of faith consist? Two things. She knew who Jesus is: "Lord" and "Son of David." And she knew that Israel's Messiah had come to give such an abundance that there would be something left over even for her. And so, by Jesus' generosity, on account of her great faith, her daughter was healed from that very hour.
3. Matthew 15:21–28 says, “21 Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22And 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.” 23But 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.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”
4. As you heard this text from Matthew 15 did you notice how this pagan, unclean Canaanite woman submitted to Jesus’ authority as Lord and the Messiah? She knew that Jesus had the authority even to drive out a demon from her daughter who was demon possessed. How much of a contrast is this to what we’ve seen in the news recently about what’s happening in Great Britain. Rioters as young as 9 are looting shops and burning buildings in cities there. Of course people are trying to answer the question, “Why?” Liberal thinkers are blaming social conditions and government cutbacks, and conservative groups are putting responsibility on the individual “hooligans.”
5. But, probably a better way of looking at the riots in Great Britain is that western nations in general are suffering from a crisis in authority. In other words, there are more and more people today who don’t believe in obeying the 4th Commandment of honoring our father and mother and submitting to those in authority over us. Young people today don’t want to obey ANY authority over them. Not their parents. Also not the police, their teachers, their pastors. Nor the law or a moral code. And certainly not their governments and definitely not God Himself. That causes me to ask the question, “Do you submit to those in authority over you?” Do you submit to the authority of your father or mother? Do you obey your pastor and your teachers? Do you see the government as God’s servant to do you good to keep the peace and order in our society?
6. Well, this woman believed that Jesus had the authority that could save her daughter from demon possession. That submission to authority comes out all the more in our text when we know that Jesus had just been examined by the skeptical Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, who represented Israel. These Pharisees didn’t believe that Jesus had authority, let alone that He was the promised Messiah, the Son of David. If Jesus’ own people the Jews didn’t believe Him to be the Messiah how surprising then is it that He found faith in this Canaanite woman, this foreigner. That’s the exciting thing about faith. It comes unexpectantly. Sometimes those who we think should believe hold back and we become discouraged. And then, suddenly, faith appears in a person we would normally write off. Then we thank God that He shows mercy on all people, Jew and Gentile alike.
7. Even though this Canaanite woman was showing her faith in Jesus the disciples begged Him to send her away. The disciples of Jesus treated this woman like chattel. She was unimportant to them, a sinner and a foreigner, an outsider. This makes me think about how we treat those outside of our church. Do you look upon them as sinners unworthy to have contact with? Do you look at those wayward sheep who don’t come to our church very often as deadbeats and deadweight, instead of as souls who need to hear the message of grace and mercy given in Jesus Christ our Lord? Well, remember the words of St. Paul in Romans 11:30, which says, “You were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy.” The truth is dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that all of us are unworthy of God’s mercy and grace. We have failed to submit and honor God’s authority and to honor the authority of our leaders. We have all rebelled against our Heavenly Father and are deserving of nothing but eternal death and punishment in the flames of hell. You need to be careful not to be like the disciples who looked at the speck of sawdust in this Canaanite woman’s eye, but failed to see the great big plank of sin in their own eye.
8. This woman was persistent. Jesus had told her that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel and yet she continued to ask Him for help. At this point Jesus speaks to the woman directly, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” To us that may sound like an insult. Jesus compared her to a dog! But his words weren’t an insult at all. The word he used for dog in Greek actually refers to little lap dogs that children would have in the house as pets. The Canaanite woman understood this and felt encouraged rather than rejected. Yes Lord, she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Such crumbs of God’s mercy for her daughter were all that this woman wanted and Jesus granted her request.
9. Jesus commended the greatness of this woman’s faith. There’s only one other instance mentioned in the New Testament when Jesus commended someone’s faith. That was the faith of another Gentile, a centurion, whose servant Jesus healed. Among the Jews we hear Jesus often frustrated with the littleness and weakness of people’s faith. That’s why it’s important we see in our text that this woman saw Jesus as being the one who has the power to save. Faith always has an object and the object of our faith is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the one who has the power to save us from sin, death and the power of the devil.
10. Now one might think that since Jesus didn’t immediately answer this Canaanite woman’s request that he didn’t care about her. In the end we know that He did, because He answered her request. Jesus’ immediate silence to the woman reminds us of a time when He would encounter a similar silence. In fact, at the height of His suffering during His crucifixion, Jesus turned to His heavenly Father for help and “He answered Jesus not a word.” It was this silence that prompted Jesus to cry out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).
11. This isn’t an illustration that those who use silence shall perish by silence or an instance of poetic justice. It’s not even a parallel between the situations o this Canaanite woman and Jesus. Instead, it’s a reminder of the very heart of the Gospel. The very basis in which God saves the Canaanite woman, her demon possessed daughter and us.
12. Even though Jesus was the house of Israel reduced to One, God treated Him at the time as a dog for whom not even the crumbs of God’s mercy were available. The innocent Jesus on the cross was made our sin. God’s beloved Son was now little more than a dog in the sight of His pure and holy Heavenly Father. To His plea for help, God, “answered Jesus not a word.” Because Jesus experienced God’s silence and damnation in our place, God is now able to regard us as sheep of the house of Israel. He looks upon you, me, and the Canaanite woman as His beloved children. To those who call upon Him for help His ears are always open. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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