Unfathomable Forgiveness, Irrevocable Invitation,
Inconceivable Compassion
This morning again I want to tie in all three readings with
the lesson to see how each one portrays a characteristic of Jesus and our relationship to Him.
(Genesis 45: 1-15)
In the Genesis account we see Joseph when he was second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt. He is in the palace passing out food to the famine-struck people. But do we all remember the background of how he got there?
He was his father’s favorite son prancing around in his special coat. Then his jealous brothers threw him into a pit and sold him to some Ishmaelites who sold him to Potiphar who later put him in prison. Then he was called to the palace to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. After that he was promoted to look after the distribution of grain during the 7 years of plenty and the 7 years of famine.
When the famine got so bad back home in Israel, his brothers came to Egypt to get some food. After a little more drama Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and tells them not to be distressed or angry with themselves. He kisses them and explains that he does not hold anything that happened to him against them.
WHAT??? This is such unfathomable forgiveness!
I mean he wouldn’t have had to suffer the pain of the pit and prison if they had not almost tried to kill him!
Certainly it was all their fault! How could he forgive them?
But Joseph says it was God’s way of getting him into the position to be able to save not only the people of Egypt, but his own family as well.
“God sent me before you to preserve your life.”
Now hold that thought and let’s go on to look at the passage in Romans a little closer….
(Romans 11: 1-2a and 29-32)
Verse 1 says:
Has God rejected his people? By no means!
Verse 29 says, “For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”
God never revokes the gift of forgiveness nor the call to come to him.
Verse 32 explains that God has consigned all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all.
This does not mean universal salvation (that everyone will be saved) but that there is a universal NEED for salvation.
He gave us over (that’s what “consigned” means) to our freewill to obey or not to obey and we all chose the way of disobedience.
Both Jews and Gentiles sinned, missed opportunities, and perverted God’s gifts.
So even though the Jews may have thought they got mercy because they were God’s favorite they actually got effectively “sent to Egypt” and forgotten about for a while to prepare the way for other nations to receive God’s word and accept Him.
Paul says even their rejection of Jesus turned out well because it gave the Gentiles an opportunity to respond to God’s mercy.
Now doesn’t that sound like a New Testament parallel to Joseph’s plight?
And doesn’t that sound like what Christ has done for us?
For a while he was the favored one.
Then he was the rejected one,
and finally he was the one by which God saves many.
God’s purpose is always to save and restore.
Our unfaithfulness never nullifies the faithfulness of God.
His invitation is irrevocable!
His grace is never withdrawn based upon what we do.
But our response is what makes the difference in whether we receive mercy.
If Joseph’s brothers had heard about the provision available in Egypt but had never gone there to ask Joseph for it, they would have died.
Have you responded to God’s invitation of mercy and pardon?
He isn’t holding any fault against you.
He sent Jesus before you to preserve your life!
Now on to our focal passage in the gospel of Matthew.
(Matthew 15: 10-28)
At the beginning of chapter 15, Jesus has just been asked (rather indignantly, I am sure) why his disciples break tradition and eat with unwashed hands.
The Pharisees had compiled many extra rules and regulations that they said were interpretations of the first five books of the law. This was the “tradition” of the elders which was handed down orally and was considered just as important as the written law.
The handwashing in question had little to do with hygiene.
It was strictly ritual for the purpose of symbolically taking away the defilement of the world in case they had come into contact with an “unclean” person such as a Gentile.
They poured water on their hands with palms and fingers up, then poured water on the back of the hands with fingers down and finally poured more water so they could use the fists to wash each hand further.
Its kind of like we have become obsessed with using hand sanitizer everywhere, not just after public bathroom use when we use another paper towel to open the door, (*demo this motion for a laugh) but also in the grocery stores and Wal-Mart before touching the shopping carts. And we teach our children they haven’t really washed their hands unless they stood at the sink singing the Happy Birthday song twice through before rinsing off the suds.
Jesus says, “Hear and understand…It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person.”
You see, following our traditions does not make us holy. We need to look deep inside to see if we are becoming more like God.
Righteousness is an internal matter, but often we try to make it an external one.
We act a certain way, we avoid certain things and places, we listen to certain music and talk a certain Christian lingo that makes us “seem” like a good Christian.
Just give us a rulebook and let us check ourselves as to how well we are following all the rules. When we should be checking to see how well our heart is like the heart of Christ towards others.
We must not confuse ritual for righteousness.
The Pharisees thought they had all truth and they must lead others into it.
Now his disciples try to do damage control for Jesus.
They say, “You know you offended the Pharisees when you said that!”
And Jesus says, “Every plant that the heavenly Father hasn’t planted will be rooted up. Leave them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind.”
Then, Peter, bless his heart, stepped up and asked for an explanation of what Jesus was talking about this time.
“Is this another parable with a secret meaning?”
Amazed that his closest followers still didn’t get it, Jesus asked him,
“Are you still without understanding?”
What goes into the mouth will take the natural bodily process and proceed out by digestion. But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and can defile a person.
Then he mentions evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
These defile the person and society as a whole.
These actions start with a thought…
We look at someone who is more attractive and jealousy leaps into our heart.
We look at pornography and lust leaps in,
We look down upon others and self-righteousness gets a grip.
See? Even if we don’t carry out a sin, are hearts are defiled.
We need some mind washing, and some HEART sanitizer!
Now Jesus has caused such an uproar He is practically run out of town. He goes away from the Jewish area.
He and his disciples make their way through the region of Tyre and Sidon, which is Gentile country.
A Gentile woman begins following them, pleading with Jesus to do something to help her demon-possessed daughter.
The woman speaks directly to Jesus. "Lord, help me."
But look in verse 23, and we find Jesus doing exactly the opposite of what we think He should.
He does not rush to her aid.
He does not agree to follow her home to see the daughter.
He does not soothe her heart with words of encouragement.
No, it says he remained silent.
“He answered her not a word.”
She had heard that this man Jesus could do anything. Now when she came to him for help he was silent.
It’s a hard thing to deal with God’s silence.
But this Canaanite woman, kept on crying out.
She was persistent.
She knew that if He didn’t answer, there would be no hope.
Faith is not proven true so much by answered prayer as by unanswered prayer that does not make us waiver or give up!
Jesus cares but he is concerened enough to show her her deep faith.
Most Bible commentators suggest that Christ was role-playing for His disciples.
He was showing them exactly how unfeeling, heartless and downright insensitive the Jews treated the Gentiles.
I want to suggest to you that Jesus was silently looking at her and assessing his teachable moment.
(Meanwhile the disciples spoke up advising Jesus to just send her away.)
This seems always to have been their advice to Him….
“Send this large hungry crowd away, Lord.”
“Send the children away Lord.”
In verse 24 Jesus breaks His silence, but what he says sounds even more callous than just ignoring her.
“I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
How she must have felt then, thinking that God had rejected her!
But the scriptures tell us she kept coming toward Jesus.
She doesn’t expect him to heal her daughter because of who she is but because of who HE is.
Verse 25. “Then came she and worshipped Him saying, Lord, help me.
Now comes His most shocking statement of all.
"It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs."
(And this is exactly how the disciples felt about it.
They are the Jewish children.
She is the Gentile dog.)
But was Jesus calling this woman a dog…like a worthless street mongrel?
No! The Greek word he used referred to beloved little household pet dogs or puppies who often got special treatment by being allowed to eat regular food dropped from the family table!
This kind of dog knows he has a master who will always look out for his welfare.
And she understood.
So she played along, saying, “Yes, but even the dogs get to eat the crumbs.”
She meant something like, “Oh yes, I don’t mind grabbing whatever you throw my way from all the abundance you have for the family!
“You be my master. I’ll be your little pet puppy.”
She had been begging like a dog for some of her master’s attention, when all along he was looking at her with inconceivable compassion and affection.
He was so glad she understood.
Jesus commended her great faith!
And he rewarded her with favor.
She didn’t get less than what she wanted.
She didn’t get crumbs.
Her daughter was healed.
Now what was going on in this story?
First, Jesus was confronting the prejudice and arrogance of his disciples.
He was going to heal her daughter, but he also wanted to heal them… to “take away the stony heart and give them a heart of flesh.”
They needed to see that this woman was as much a child of God as they were.
Just because she was from a different part of the world with different traditions and culture, made her no less a candidate for God’s blessings than they.
We need this lesson also.
The scriptures tell us that He could do no great works in his own hometown because of their unbelief.
She believed what she had heard about the Lord.
This woman was both presumptious and persistent.
He was showing that His ministry was open to all who hope in Him and expect things from Him.
God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us!
Whoever you are and whatever you have done, when you come to Him this is what you can expect:
Unfathomable forgiveness,
an Irrevocable Invitation,
and Inconceivable compassion.
