The Value of Persistent Faith
Matthew 15:21-28
January 14, 2007
When Noble was just a little baby, he faced a life-threatening illness (details); we’ve also had other children who, when we went to the hospital, had rather slim outlooks.
And all Debra and I could do was cry and cry out to God.
Begging God on behalf of a sick or injured child is something some of us, maybe even most of us have done.
The child is in the hospital, and kissing the boo-boo doesn’t make it go away anymore. It’s serious, and maybe even life-threatening. And we can’t do anything about it.
Except beg God to bring healing.
And if you’ve ever done that, you know the heartache and desperation that goes with that.
It might not be a child for you, but it could be a friend or loved one who is sick or injured, or whose soul is in danger.
Same for those who have watched their children walk away from Jesus.
You’ve done all you can to tell them about Jesus and model Him to them, but they simply walk away for some reason or another.
Or it could be that you feel you haven’t done that, and now you wish you had, because they’re missing out on something you’ve just discovered for yourself.
We’ve known the feeling of being so desperate for something that we simply couldn’t sit back and wait.
We needed to act – do what we could ourselves and pray that God would do something huge.
It’s hardest when we simply can’t do anything. It’s beyond our control.
It may just be that you need God to intervene in a specific situation that only He and you know about, but if you don’t get some divine help, then there’s no hope.
Well, the good news is that we’re not alone in any of that.
Scripture has examples of how God has moved in situations like these, and today’s passage is one of those examples.
The lady in our example didn’t come to Jesus because her child was injured, but because she was suffering from something that I wouldn’t wish on anyone – being possessed by a demon.
Let’s look at this passage, and I want you to pay attention in particular to the faith and persistence of the woman.
Matthew 15:21-28 (p. 693) –
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.
Am I the only one here who thinks that, at least on the surface, Jesus’ first response to this lady was a little harsh?
First He ignores her, then says basically, “Look lady, I’m busy with the people I’m supposed to be busy with, okay?”
This is one of those passages of Scripture that at first makes me just scratch my head and go, “Whaaa…..?”
So why is He acting like this and saying this?
Jesus’ point here wasn’t that He wasn’t willing to help, or that the Gentiles couldn’t have help from God, but rather that His mission was to focus on Israel, on the Jews.
They were to have first crack at the Messiah, and it would be them who took the news of the Messiah to the Gentiles.
Jesus was simply trying to make sure that He wasn’t dragged off task.
But let’s look at the lady for a bit, okay?
She understood the idea of the Messiah, that He would be the Son of David, so she was familiar with the Scriptures, at least to some degree.
There was a temple dedicated to a pagan god of healing just three miles from Sidon, but she comes to Jesus.
She agrees with His priority of making sure the “children” are fed first, but expands His example by saying that she could be “fed” even as the others are being fed.
She’s not saying, “Help me first or instead of them,” she’s saying, “Help me while You’re feeding them.”
She sticks to him like a bulldog on a mailman, because she knows that Jesus is the only hope for healing her daughter.
That knowledge and her desperation to have her daughter healed drives her to keep it up.
Folks, you need to understand that being possessed by a demon is horrific.
Demons are those fallen angels who were cast out of heaven with Satan, and they serve Satan.
And since they serve the one who hates Jesus, they will do their utmost to harm the ones He loves.
I think that I can say with confidence that Hollywood, even with its graphic depictions, can’t really communicate how horrible this must be.
And I would also venture to guess that they would fall waaaaay short of depicting the anguish of a parent who sees their child afflicted this way.
Is it any wonder she kept after Jesus? She knew that He could heal her daughter and heal her anguish over her daughter’s condition.
Think about it for a moment. If you knew there was something terribly wrong with your child and the doctor was blowing you off, would you just let that go?
Of course not! You’d be all over that guy.
“Wait a minute – something’s wrong here, can’t you see that? Where’d you get your medical degree – out of a box of Cracker Jacks?”
Now this woman wasn’t questioning Jesus’ credentials. She knew that Jesus could take care of it.
She simply wasn’t going to leave until she had heard the last word from Jesus.
But it wasn’t simply a matter of bugging Jesus until He gave in.
She was persistent, but her persistence as based on her faith that Jesus could do something about her daughter’s predicament.
She acted persistently in faith.
And it was this act of persistent faith that brought the response from Jesus that she needed.
The lesson here is that Jesus rewards persistent faith.
This episode here isn’t the only example of that. The gospels have a number of examples of Jesus responding to the faith of those who call on Him in any number of circumstances.
It’s a bit ironic that back in chapter 13, we see that Jesus could do very few miracles in his own hometown.
They weren’t ready to accept Him as Lord, and yet here’s a woman from a pagan community that’s practically got her arms wrapped around His legs to keep Him from getting away.
And Jesus responds. Why? Because He rewards persistent faith.
So what do we do with this? Just chalk it up as a nice story about Jesus healing someone way back then?
Nope. There are a couple things that I want you to take away from this.
First rejoice that since His death and resurrection, we all have access to Christ and His healing power.
Everyone here is eligible – because all who call on Christ as their Lord and Savior have access to Him.
Second, don’t give up hope.
You might be facing what looks to be a hopeless situation. It may not be a child of yours being possessed by a demon, thank the Lord, but it’s something huge.
Don’t give up hope. Jesus rewards persistent faith.
But we also have to remember something else here.
The woman came to Jesus not only with persistent faith, she came with humility. The woman here didn’t make demands from Jesus.
She came humbly. She called Him “Lord” three times. She was submissive to Him.
Remember, we have no right to make demands of God. Every time God grants a request, it’s out of His grace and mercy, not out of some sort of obligation He’s under.
Important: this story is not a promise that Jesus will take care of everything in every situation.
We’ve talked about this before – Jesus doesn’t promise to answer all of our prayers the way we want or the way we think He should.
But as long as we can pray, we have hope. Don’t just throw your hands in the air in resignation.
Come to Jesus. Beg. Plead. Call on the One who can do anything and everything.
Come to Him, exercising a persistent faith.
Is there something in your life right now that you can’t seem to handle?
Is there a need in your life that absolutely needs the hand of God to intervene with?
Is there a question on your mind that you absolutely need the answer for in order for you to stay the course in your walk with Jesus?
Is there a burden on your heart that you can’t shake?
Is there something in your life that’s driving you to cling to Jesus like this woman?
A situation where you don’t feel you can take “no” for an answer?
Then I want to end our time together with a time of prayer, and I want to open the altar.
If you’re facing some sort of situation that just looks hopeless right now, I want to invite you to come and kneel at the altar.
I’m going to ask the worship team to come and sing, “Come Just As You Are,” and you’re welcome to sing along if you know it.
And as they’re singing, you come.
If you want to tell me what you’re facing, you can certainly do that. You don’t have to, but you can if you want.
Otherwise, I just want to lay my hands on you, and pray for you.
Maybe you’re not in need of this prayer for yourself, but you’d like to support someone here at the altar and lay your hand on them, then you just do that.
I’m going to pray a closing prayer, then if there’s anyone up here, we’ll dismiss the service for those who need to leave, but we’re going to pray individually for those who need it.
