Matthew 15:21-28 A Bold Woman
3/8/15
Introduction
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
You perhaps recognize the quote from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are telling the children about Aslan. It is a good description for Jesus, as one mother discovers in our passage.
Text
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
This district is just north of the territory of Galilee. Jesus has gone there with his disciples, not to minister but to take a retreat from ministry. Mark tells us in his gospel that Jesus did not want anyone to know where he was. And yet, as a celebrity it is difficult to escape notice.
22 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.”
So again we have an interaction between Jesus and a woman. It is not the same scandal as before with the Samaritan woman in that this woman knows Jesus as a healer and is coming to him for that purpose. Note the humble way in which she approaches him. First, she cries out for mercy. The term for cry denotes great emotion such as wailing. She does not demand her rights. She does not insist that Jesus ought to help. She appeals, not to justice, but to mercy.
She also addresses him with great respect. She calls him “Lord,” not an unusual way to address someone of a higher position. It is the second title that catches attention – “Son of David.”
Matthew’s gospel opens with these words: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). The title will appear a number of times, some with people asking the same thing as this woman – for the Lord, Son of David, to have mercy. According to the religious authorities it was the title for the Messiah. Jesus asked them: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David” (22:42).
How then did this non-Jew hear of the title, and what possessed her to use it? Likely she heard of it as the news got around about Jesus’ miraculous powers. That is why she has come in the first place. Jesus is a celebrity. Though Jesus is outside of his native land, still this Gentile district borders Galilee and word spread. So perhaps the woman is merely using the term that she has heard associated with Jesus, and no more significance should be attached to it. Perhaps. Still, there is the title, which not everyone coming to Jesus uses. Jairus, the Jewish synagogue ruler, addressed him merely as Rabbi.
This mother then presents her need – “my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” Her daughter’s suffering is terrible. You mothers can imagine how awful it would be to see your daughter in such anguish. What then does Jesus do? With the father Jairus, he immediately went to his home and along the way encouraged him to have faith.
23 But he did not answer her a word.
He ignores her. It gets worse.
And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
Ah, the kind hearted disciples. “Get rid of her; now she’s coming after us!” It brings to mind the time they rebuked parents for bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed. Don’t those parents realize that a man from God cannot be bothered with little kids! They would certainly have the same attitude here, for this is a woman outside of the covenant. She is a pagan, an idolater. The nerve of her for even showing up. And Jesus, finally, seems to share the same attitude.
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
It seems that Jesus is answering the disciples in verse 24. He may be speaking to the woman or even to both. We are not there and cannot see whom he is looking at. He affirms his mission as the Son of David, the Messiah. His mission is to the house of Israel. He has come to save the lost covenant people of Israel. As noted before, he had not come into the Gentile district as part of his mission; rather, as a respite from his mission.
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
The woman is not repelled. She draws closer and kneels. “Lord, help me.” She does not argue; she knows her position, that she is outside the house of Israel and that the only appeal to make to this Jewish Man of God is to his compassion.
26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Let’s get this image clear. A mother, a mother filled with anguish for her suffering daughter, is kneeling at Jesus’ feet, appealing to Jesus’ mercy. This is the same Jesus who once had said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart…” (Matthew 11:28-9). He not only refuses her request, he insults her and her daughter.
I have read the attempts to soften Jesus’ response. The term for dog is that of a small pet. It is a term of endearment. Do you know how many times Scripture refers to dogs with affection or respect? Zero. And when humans are referred to as dogs it is always as an insult. Another suggestion is that Jesus is having a humorous banter with the mother. If we could see their faces, we would see that they were smiling at each other. What do you think, Mothers? Would you have appreciated the humor? Some say that Jesus was really speaking to his disciples or so that they would overhear. The episode is really a lesson for them. He is using the woman to teach them about faith and his ministry. He is like a teaching doctor who has his students with him on his rounds and is talking to them more so than to the patient. One commentator suggests that Jesus is showing her great honor to test her faith. Would you have appreciated such honor, Mothers?
I think it best to let the statement stand without attempting to soften it. It is then that we can appreciate this mother with her response.
27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”
What an amazing woman – her boldness, her quick wit. She has been ignored; she has been turned down; she has been insulted. She is out of her element – a woman among men; a Canaanite woman among Jewish men who are hostile to her; a pagan before a holy man whose response is cold. And she whips back a remark that stuns even Jesus.
28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Finally the healing we expected. Jesus makes it clear that he acts in response to her audacious faith. It was not her plea for mercy nor even the humble respect she demonstrated that compelled him to act. It was her audacity to argue with him, even, if we dare say, to out-argue him.
He commends the greatness of her faith, and so it was. Most of us would have given up. She persisted even while Jesus did not follow through on what was expected. She had followed the right formula – be humble and appeal to mercy. No result. She tried again. Still no result; in fact, only insulting refusal. And yet she believed in him; she believed he had the power to save her daughter and that he would if she persisted. Truly what faith to keep her wits about her. Truly what great faith to believe when all evidence is against her.
Lessons
1. Do not “Disney” Jesus
Faith is the subject of this passage, and we will consider lessons about it. But first, there is a notable side lesson, namely, how we are to regard Jesus. We should not try to “Disney” Jesus. Disney movies are filled with cute characters, and their stories end with happy endings, even though the fairy tales and books they are based on can be violent and even terrifying. The stories and characters are softened to make them more appealing and approachable.
We have pretty much done that to Jesus. Look at illustrations done of him today. He is always smiling, always good looking. Many of our songs of love for him are difficult to discern from secular romance songs, one reason being that is the kind of love that we feel for him. He is such a sweet, nice guy.
I don’t think that is how this mother would have described him to us, nor the disciples, nor many others who came into contact with him. It is true that Jesus described himself as gentle and meek, but even that remark came after he had harshly condemned certain cities. It is a hard thing to get a handle on. We are to feel safe with Jesus and yet sometimes a certain discomfort. He is like us and yet he is not like us. He is our brother and our friend; he is also our king, even our judge. As he demonstrated with this poor mother, he can be unpredictable in an unpleasant way.
The only thing we can really trust about Jesus is that he is good. To quote Mr. Beaver again, “Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.” He is the King. He is the Divine King. He is the Son of God, the Almighty God, the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and Omega. As kind as he may be toward us and merciful and compassionate, there lies within him a character far beyond our comprehension and far beyond our comfort zone. And so there should be times in which we shake our heads not understanding him. He isn’t safe. But he is good. Let’s keep it at that and not try to tame him.
2. What we learn from the woman’s faith.
Now let’s turn to the woman of our story who is very much like us and who has much to teach us.
a. The simplicity of her faith
This Canaanite woman could not have been too well versed in Jewish history and theology to fully understand who Jesus was. She would have some knowledge, but what would be most important is the report of a miracle-worker, a man of God who cared about the poor and who healed the sick and drove out demons. She heard the title Son of David and probably knew that it was tied up in the hopes of a Jewish Messiah. Here was someone who would save her daughter. To that belief she attached her hope and would not let go.
Sometimes too much knowledge can interfere with faith. To be sure, we should strive to understand as much as we can. But knowledge – what we think is knowledge – can feed our doubts as well as our faith. The very fact that our faith is a matter of faith means that there will always be matters that we cannot fully explain and certainly cannot prove. This is God’s design, the very means by which he tests our commitment to him.
Remember Martha’s conversation with Jesus after her brother, Lazarus, had died. While her brother lies buried in a tomb Jesus gives his great declaration: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Then he asks “Do you believe this?” Not “can you understand this?” But “do you believe?” Do you believe before I prove my words? Do you believe though your loved one lies in the grave? Do you believe though your age says there is no afterlife; though your age says that it does not matter what one believes about me? Do you believe though your age says all truth is relative? Do you believe in me? Do you believe me?
We would do well to have this woman’s simple faith.
b. The persistency of her faith
We would do well to have her persistent faith. This woman was undaunted. She was rebuffed three times, each rebuff being stronger. She would not give up. Jesus once told a parable about such a woman. Luke records it in 18:1-8:
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The Son of Man certainly found such faith in this Gentile woman who did not belong to Israel. She would not give up.
Some might reply that all of this about the woman’s faith is well and good, but that she was motivated not by faith but by desperation for her daughter. I can sympathize with that view, but it does not quite play out. Faith, not desperation, kept her focused. If all she had was desperation to drive her, her demeanor would have changed to anger. She would have raged at the disciples and even at Jesus after their rebuffs and especially after the insult. She was able to keep her wits about her because she believed he could, and would, grant her request. We would do well to have the same confidence of faith and so the same persistence in our prayers to our Lord.
c. The boldness of her faith
And then we must acknowledge the boldness, even the audacity, of her faith. She argues with Jesus and wins! Like Abraham she reasons with the Lord.
Remember the story of Abraham reasoning with God on behalf of Sodom? The Lord has told him that he plans to destroy Sodom if it proves to be as wicked as the reports are made out to be. Abraham knows that this does not bode well for the city and is particularly concerned for his nephew Lot who lives there. So he reasons with God as follows:
“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake” (Genesis 18:23-26).
Abraham goes on to whittle down that number. How about 45? 40? 30? 20? All the way to 10. And the Lord agrees. We know that not even ten righteous persons were found but Lot was saved because God did remember the intercession of Abraham.
What we take from Abraham, but even more from this woman, is that, far from being displeased by our prayer requests, the Lord is pleased that we come to him. He is pleased that we would have such faith that we come to him boldly even ready to argue our case. Only one with faith to believe in God and to believe that God listens would bother to do so.
That is Jesus’ point in his reply to the woman, “O woman, great is your faith!” This woman really believes in him! Note that he goes on to say, “Be it done for you as you desire.” He grants her request for her sake, for her faith. May we have such faith.
Conclusion
There are two times in the gospel in which Jesus is blown away with the faith shown in him. This one and that of the centurion. In both cases the believer is a Gentile, someone outside of the covenant people. They are individuals who don’t belong to the house of Israel, people who are not children of Abraham. They demonstrate what the Apostle Paul would later pronounce clearly:
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (Galatians 3:7-9).
It matters not your heritage nor your race nor anything in your background to be counted a son or daughter of Abraham. All that matters is your faith in Jesus Christ. That faith does not have to be sophisticated, merely the simple belief that here is the Son of David, the Messiah, sent by God to save you from your sin. Hold on to him. Be persistent in following him and turning to him alone for your help and your salvation. Be bold, confident that in Jesus Christ you may boldly come before the throne of God knowing that you will be welcomed.
