Matthew 15:21–28
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.”
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.”
Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (ESV)
Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your Son to be our Savior. Grant us humility of faith to come before him with our utmost needs, knowing our lost and helpless condition. Give us strength to cling to his Word and promises, even when it appears that he is silent. Help us to cling to what our Savior taught, and trust it whether felt or not. Amen.
Dogged Faith
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
What kind of words would you want describing you at your funeral either by the Pastor or your friends? I’m guessing that none of you would like the Pastor to say, “O, she had a weak faith!” or “No one had as weak of faith as him!” Even if it is true, we wouldn’t want the Pastor to say it! That would be rather embarrassing—even for the deceased!
Most of us would prefer to be known as having a great faith. We would prefer Jesus’ words describing the faith of the Canaanite woman. Yet, while none of us want to be known for having a weak faith, we would also prefer not to be ignored by Jesus or compared to a dog. We want great faith, but few of us would want to endure what this Canaanite woman went through. Jesus teaches us a great lesson about persistent faith—dogged faith—in our Gospel lesson. Yet, it can be a difficult portion of Scripture for us to understand.
Jesus came into this world to free us from Satan’s reign. The first gospel promise was God’s declaration of war against the devil. The woman’s Seed would crush Satan’s head. We saw last Sunday how Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations in the wilderness and defended himself with God’s Word, “It is written.” The Son of God became man so that he might destroy the works of the devil and his demons.
So, what’s going on in our lesson? The woman’s daughter was oppressed by a demon. She was suffering terribly. The woman cries for help and Jesus ignores her. She confesses true faith and calls him Lord. She calls him the Son of David; she knew he was the Messiah. She begs and calls for mercy. She is ignored.
I. Knows its Need
The woman was a Canaanite. The Canaanites were not the children of Abraham. They were a pagan nation which continually led the Israelites astray to other false gods. This woman was one of them. She was a foreigner, an outsider. She was not one of the chosen and had no right to claim the promises God gave to the children of Abraham. It would appear as if she had no right to come to Jesus.
But she came to Jesus anyway. This is why Matthew writes, “Behold!” This was a complete shock—a gentile—a Canaanite woman—came to Jesus asking for help. The woman had heard the Good News about Jesus (Mark 7:25). We don’t know all that she knew, but we see that she trusted in his goodness and mercy. She heard about his miracles and that he was the Messiah, the Son of David. And so, she came to him for help. Her daughter was oppressed by a demon. She considered her daughter’s struggles to be her own, “have mercy on me,” she cried. The woman knew that Jesus was the only one who could and would help her.
One of the aspects of “great” faith is that it knows its need. It is a beggar faith. It knows it has nothing to offer God. It knows that it deserves nothing. It knows that without his help, we are doomed. But faith also knows God’s Word. It knows who Jesus is and what he promises to those who put their trust in him.
II. Knows its Savior
The Lord wants us to trust his Word no matter our outward circumstances and feelings. Whether things appear to be going well or not, God wants us to trust his Word. When the woman cried out for help, Jesus commended her. Yet, earlier in Matthew, when Jesus disciples cried out for help to save their boat from sinking, Jesus rebuked them saying, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Why did Jesus commend the woman but rebuke the disciples?
The disciples based their faith on what they could see and feel. When they saw the storm they panicked. They doubted God’s protection, even with Jesus on board. They let their outward circumstances dictate their faith in God. The Canaanite woman based her faith on what she could neither feel nor see. When the disciples saw the threat to their lives, they thought Jesus had forgotten them. When it appeared as if Jesus rejected her, she refused to base her faith on outward circumstances. She put her faith in the Word she had heard about Jesus. True faith is grounded in God’s Word, not in what appears to be true.
Faith clings to God’s Word and holds God to it. Faith clings to Jesus because of who he is and what he has promised to do. Consider the interaction be Jesus and the woman.
When the woman called out to Jesus for help, what happened? Her cries for help appear to fall on deaf ears. Jesus doesn’t even answer her a word! But his silence does not stop her. She continued to call out to him for help. Her crying must have been so extreme that even the disciples eventually pleaded with Jesus to help her so that she would go away. But their insistence didn’t help. In fact, it appears to even makes things worse for her! Jesus replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Yet, Jesus’ words don’t cause her to doubt or turn away. Instead, they emboldened her to kneel before him and ask for mercy. Then Jesus says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Everything seems to be against the woman. No help appears to be found. But she doesn’t give up. In fact, she sees in Jesus’ words an invitation—an opening. The woman agrees. You shouldn’t give the dogs the children’s food. However, she catches Jesus on his Word and embraces Jesus’ allusion to dogs: people let dogs have the crumbs from the table. Even the crumbs from Jesus’ table would be more than enough. If Jesus showed mercy to her, it wouldn’t take away from the love Jesus had for Israel.
The woman had persistent faith. She refused to believe that what she heard about Jesus was untrue, even though it appeared as if Jesus was her enemy. According to what she saw and felt, she should have rightly given up. But she didn’t. And Jesus says, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” Faith in Jesus never disappoints!
III. Keeps Begging
What should we learn from this lesson? God does not want us to judge him based on how we think or feel, but strictly by his Word. Notice and pay close attention to what Jesus does not say. He doesn’t say, “I won’t help you,” “I didn’t come to save you,” or “You are a dog.” However, when we read this, we can’t help but feel this is what he’s saying.
Every Christian will experience times in their lives when they feel or think that God is not listening, that he did not come for them, that we are no better than a dog. Tragedy strikes. There is trouble at home or abroad. We are depressed. We are weak. A relationship didn’t work out. The test results did not come back with the results we wanted. Where is God? Why didn’t my prayers get answered? Don’t you care about me?
The devil, the world, and our flesh tell us either to get angry with God or to give up. But neither of these are examples of faith. Instead, even when everything seems to be going wrong and God appears to be against us, true faith keeps begging for mercy. Faith clings to God’s word. It catches him on it. Why? Because God wants to be caught on his word. He wants us to hold him to it.
Children hold parents to their word. A child asks, “Will you play with me?” A father responds, “After I finish this, I will play with you.” If the dad forgets, what will the child say? “You said you would!” While a father might fulfill his promise with reluctance—your good God does not. God wants us to hold him to his word.
And this is why, the Lord allows us to go through hardships. He uses these as opportunities to drive us to his Word and strengthen our faith in him. When we are going through financial difficulties, he wants us to hold him to his Word—God will grant me my daily bread. When we are feeling lonely and distressed, he wants us to hold him to his Word—“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” When we are troubled by the turmoil in this world, he wants us to hold him to his Word—“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
Every week you come to church burdened by the sins of this past week. You have not loved God perfectly. You have gotten angry with your spouse, your child, your neighbor. You have doubted God’s goodness. You have sinned and the wages of sin is death. When the Law of God causes us to see our sin, he is driving us to hold him to his Word like the Canaanite woman—Jesus promised, “[I] did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” He came to save sinners like me! How do I know this? His Word.
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” Jesus came for the house of Israel, but that does not exclude me! Paul writes, “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’” (Romans 10:12–13).
God intends to use the trials we face in this life to drive us to the Word of Christ, his life, death, resurrection, and eternal life. So, thank God for the difficulties you endure which drive you to pray more often and seek out God’s Word.
At our funeral, we should not be worried about what the Pastor will say about us because the focus of a Christian funeral is on the life of Jesus, who lived a holy life for you and died an innocent death on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. Every funeral sermon should point us to the love of Christ, his mercy, his grace, so that a dog like you and me might have a seat at the children’s table—heaven itself. Great faith recognizes that it is not so great, but that it has a Savior whose love and mercy are greater than our sins. We rely on God’s promises: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” God grant us all a dogged faith, that we like the Canaanite woman, may cling to Jesus, his word, and his promises, which will never disappoint. Amen.