NOT A WORD
Text: Matthew 15:21-28
….But he answered her not a word.
For any child of God the word of the Lord is very important in our walk with our Father. Bible says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). David said in the book of psalms “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against you” Thy Word! “Thy is lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” Thy word!! “The entrance of thy word giveth light, it giveth understanding” Thy Word!!! His word is so powerful that when He was about to create this whole world all He did was speak the Word. Whenever he got ready to do anything in the bible He would send his Word. Bible at many times says And the Word of the Lord came to Abraham…And the Word of the Lord came to Elijah…And the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah…And the Word of the Lord came to Nehemiah...and the WORD!!! So mightily grew the Word and it prevailed… the Word!!! “He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their troubles”...The Word!!! The Word is so important
It is from the background of the efficacy of the word that we begin to understand the plight of this Canaanite woman. The Bible says the woman came out from the coast of Tyre and Sidon.. These two names are very similar to each other, (Tyre - Rock and Sidon - fortified/Strengthened) both in names and characteristics. So, out of a physically fortified rock came a woman with a serious problem to seek Jesus the Rock of ages. Is it not amazing that there are issues that would befall us no matter how fortified we think we are. You might have all the money in the world yet when trouble comes your money might not be able to help you. You might have a good and secured job yet be in serious trouble. Jesus Christ is the only true fortitude for us in this unstable world. Now Jesus was in this region for a purpose. Here comes this woman who by all standards should not even approach a Jew like Jesus but she came. Forgetting her pride she came. There are situation in life that would make us forget who we are, humble ourselves and seek help. And so she came… it not important how she knew about Jesus but she knew He could help her and so she came. How often we rob ourselves the opportunity of getting help when it is available because of our pride. She came to Jesus. She did not just come, she came crying. Now this is interesting, this was the cry of a desperate woman, verbalising her desperation with her cry for help. Away with our superman/woman mentality that makes us feel crying is a show of weakness. I know we are people of faith but there are times when we need to move out of our cool demeanour and put on the aggressive cry of someone needing help.
This woman cried… Jesus thou son of David.. How did she know about the genealogy of Jesus? Remember this was a Canaanite woman. She must have done a proper research before she came. If a Canaanite would take time to find out about this man Jesus how much more those who claim to be very close to the master. She cried... Jesus...have mercy on me... She understood that she was not qualified for what she wanted and the only way she could get it was if He had mercy on her, but that is not my focus tonight. Despite all the cry of this woman and the name calling Jesus answered her NOT A WORD! This woman in a moment where she needed the master to speak most received NOT A WORD. Hmmm, have you ever been in a dare need of a word from God in your time of trouble and you seek His face and heaven seem to go quiet on you? What do you do when you can't seem to get a word from the throne of grace regarding your issue? He answered her NOT A WORD!! How do you deal with it when your saviour, your hope is silent? Oh, I can imagine the shocked look on her face as she stares hopefully into the face of the saviour willing him to just say A WORD but no. She has heard about how He had spoken to the dead and they'd come back alive, she has heard how he spoke the Word and the centurion's servant was made well, she's heard how he stood by the tomb of Lazarus and spoke and Lazarus came alive, she's heard how he spoke and Peter caught more fish in one night than he'd ever caught in his whole fishing career… Nevertheless at thy WORD!!!...No, she never heard about him being silent. NOT A WORD!! How many times have you been very offended and would've left church because you told your pastor you problem and he answered NOT A WORD? Have you not stopped talking to your friend because they didn’t say nothing to your cry of help. Jesus answered her NOT A WORD.
The disciples made the matters worse for me to understand. Shouldn't they be compassionate and plead on the woman's behalf? No, not Peter and his crew. They advocated that the woman should be bundled away because to them she was a nuisance. It's so heart breaking that men who are meant to be close to God, who are meant to speak on behalf of the people are the ones sending people away from the master's presence. This woman must have felt terribly disappointed by Deacon Peter and Deacon John. What do you do when your mentor becomes your tormentor? I have come to understand that there are too many people who claim to be close to the master but they are not. The fact that these guys were close physically to Jesus, The walked with him, spoke to him, slept with him, but they did not really know his heart. Are there not people in your life you seem to know very well only to discover you actually did not know them? Why are you surprised that two people who were so much in love today suddenly wake up tomorrow and are enemies because they have discovered something in each other that they never knew were there.
Now I would want us to take careful note of the 1st statement Jesus made in this passage of scripture. He said “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. First thing I’d like us to confirm from this is that He is sent. He, the saviour of the world was sent. He did not just wake up one day and thought …Well, I think I have enough anointing now so let me just enter the world and save men… He was sent!! Why do we have Christians who just want to do their own thing? I have heard about people who say they don’t belong to any church but they read their bibles, pray and even fast on their own. Bible says we are a body and not body parts. I have never seen where the hand would jump off the shoulder and say it wants to be by itself, neither have I seen a leg just run off from the body to be alone ( Except in movies of course). Away with this Isolated Christianity that makes people think that the church is too corrupt for them to be a part of. I think this is borne out of pride and arrogance.
Not only was Jesus sent He was sent to a specific place (The lost sheep of the house of Israel). Now, this is purpose and focus!!! He did not want to waste his anointing and energy on people He was not sent to. He did not even acknowledge the woman because she was not part of His agenda. Despite His anointing He knew He was not sent to everybody. It is important for us to also know that we are not sent to everybody. Not everyone would like your message. It is not everyone that would appreciate the grace of God upon your life. It does not make them less spiritual than those who do. Jesus understood this and would not waste time on those who were not His.
If there is any lesson to be learnt from this woman it is her ability to comeback from her setbacks. In a flick of an eye she's suffered so much disappointment yet she never went into a pity party mode like most of us would have done. She was too determined to be stopped by any man's opinion. How determined are you to get your miracle? Someone said the size of your opposition is an indication of the size of your breakthrough. This nameless Canaanite woman wanted her daughter healing so badly that she kept her voice up till the master finally spoke. Not the kind of word she'd have wanted but at least this was a progression from the silence.
This woman decided to change tactics. If cry wasn't getting her the Word she was going to try something else. Now I don't know how she knew to worship Jesus but bible said she worshipped. Maybe she heard about Mary Magdalene worshipping him or maybe someone told her about Mary the sister of Lazarus but she worshipped. If it was possible for the Almighty to have a weakness it'd be for worship. God himself says he is seeking a worshipper!!! Hence this woman worshipped!! David was a worshipper that was why he was a man after God's heart. She worshipped!!! Paul and Silas worshipped and God himself came to join up with them in their worship and the result was an earthquake. She worshipped!!!
Jesus again made a very significant statement that I think we should consider… It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. There is so much to be learnt in this simple statement. Jesus spoke about children and dogs in the same scripture. Whatever it was this Canaanite woman was asking for was meant to be the children’s bread. Who are the children? John 1:12... to them that believeth He gaveth power to become sons.. Children are they that are born of the spirit, believers. So, if I don’t believe then I’m not a child but a dog. It might sound really very harsh but if you look at when you were not a believer, you did stuff whenever and however you wanted to. You had no shame at all... just like a dog!! So Jesus was telling this woman this thing you are asking for your child in meant for my own children. You are a dog and so your daughter is a puppy.
I would feel very insulted if I got the kind of response this woman got from Jesus but the bible says that she refused to be discouraged. There are time we actually miss our miracles because of our pride. If this woman had been proud and walked away she would have walked away from her breakthrough. She kept on!!! Call me names if you like I wouldn’t stop until I get my deliverance. Mock me if you want, I wouldn’t give up till I get my breakthrough. We need to learn from this woman’s resilience. Away with our Christianity of convenience. We only serve God when it is convenient. We get offended and walk away from church if the pastors don’t acknowledge us. “They don’t even greet me in that church, they don’t love me…” Why not greet them if they forget to greet you!!!
If you have never given you life to Christ, and you don’t know Him as your Lord and Saviour you might just be like this woman and her daughter. Maybe you are wondering in your heart what is the big deal about giving your life to Christ. I want to tell you that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. The void, the emptiness in your heart that you are trying to fill can only be filled by Him. Men have invented different means in which they get peace and joy but without the author of peace and the river of life you would continue to go round in circles.
