Passing the Test
Adapted from John Ortberg’s message
Intro:
Read Matt 15:21-28
How many of you think Jesus seems a little rude here?
Be honest. Boy are you in trouble.
Let me explain what’s going on in this passage. Among other things, Jesus is the greatest teacher to ever lived. I don’t know of another passage that more effectively shows the absolute brilliance of Jesus the teacher.
Several things characterize a great teacher and they are at work in this passage.
A great teacher aims not just at dispensing information, but at changing lives!.
A master teacher doesn’t just give lectures; he or she creates experiences for people.
The teachers knew truth is most powerful when people have to work to discover it.
The new truth discovered has a much deeper impact than truth just presented.
We’ve all experienced that. an update
And a master teacher is able to teach more than one person or group at a time. They’re teaching is going on at different levels. A master teachers methods are not always clear to their students at the time
For instance, Jesus was an expert at using what Walter Wink has called " deliberately induced frustration " e with his disciples.
He tells them once I to feed a crowd when they don’t have enough food.
He tells them to cast out demons they’re not able to cast out.
He puts them in a boat one day with a storm coming up.
Deliberately induced frustration in the hands of a master teacher is a powerful learning tool.
Master Teachers are always testing and probing to help their students see where they are on the learning curve.
This passage is about the master teacher.
Ken Bailey, has written insightfully on this encounter and notes that to grasp the point of the passage. you have to see what Jesus is giving a test for 2 different sets of people.
And tests are not always pleasant to the ones who were being tested
*illustration--- There is a story is a guy taking a class in ornithology, the study of birds.
The teacher has a reputation for being extremely difficult, so this guy studies his brains out for the final.
He comes the classroom feeling prepared, but instead of having normal test, there are 25 pictures on the wall of Bird’s feet.
He is supposed to identify the birds by their feet----- this kid goes nuts,
and he says to the teacher, “ it This is crazy. Nobody could take this test.
The teacher says, “ nevertheless, you have to take. "
The kid says,” I am not going to take it.”
And the teacher says, “You have to take it, or you fail. "
The kid says go ahead and fail me. I am not going to take this test
Teacher says, all right. That’s it. You have failed. Tell me your name.?
The Kid roll his pants up to his knees and says, “You tell me.”
This encounter with Jesus is a test both of his disciples and of this Canaanite woman, and we will see who aces it. and who gets in a complete.
Jesus goes for some rest with his disciples to a region far to the north. Tyre and Sidon are two Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast and the Israelites. Despised these people..
The Jewish historian Josephus , who wrote roughly in the time of Christ wrote , " the people of but Tyre are our bitterest enemies .
To see how badly they are of by the And Jewish people go to Matthew and 11:20
Jesus had performed miracles among the Israelites, but the people did not respond.
Then Jesus began to denounce the city’s " these are Israelite cities--- in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.
Woe to you, Korazin!
Woe to you Bethasaida!
If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have to repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes
But I tell you it would be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon, on the day of judgment than for you .”
He is saying: Even the most wicked people you think you know—even Tyre and Sidon, the bottom of this. spiritual barrel---- would have repented if they had seen the miracle that you have seen.
The point is: This woman would have been regarded by the disciples as the enemy and member of the most spiritually degraded people they know.
She come to Jesus s in Matthew 15 with the traditional crying of a beggar.
" have mercy on me. She humble herself, and she added the title to let: Lord!
The Greek word “kurios” that could mean “sir” but it could also mean “Master” or “Lord.”
She repeats that title throughout this story, and she also calls him the son of David, which means she knows something about Judaism. She is deeply respectful.
Then in verse 23 it says, " Jesus did not answer a word.
This woman’s daughter is suffering terrible so she appeals to Jesus with humility and reverence and he acts like he does not here.
He responds with, what that looks like indifference and rejection.
Notice Matthew does not try to hide this. He did literally draws our attention to it in the text, because Matthew knows what we do not know yet to He knows this is a test and he wants us to have to grapple with what Jesus is up to.
This woman could walk away at this point. She has to decide, in the face of Jesus’ of silence, that how deeply do I want healing for my daughter? How much am I t willing to trust this man?
This is part one of her exam. We’re going to leave her for a second. look at the disciples, because Jesus is also giving them a test.
They are not surprised Jesus doesn’t talk with this woman, because no rabbi they know would.
There is an ancient rabbinic saying: the debt talks with womankind’s brings evil on himself, that lacks the study of the law, and at the last will inherit gaheena. that is hell
So the disciples are not surprised by this
Jesus deliberately ignores this woman, and he is watching the disciples to see what they would do. Do they understand his heart for everybody including gentiles and women. Do they understand what he is about?
Their response comes from verse 23 and they’re quite confident their words will meet with his approval. "
" send her away, and they said she keeps crying out for us. "
Now the “us” is a little grandiose. She has not said anything to the disciples
She is after Jesus!
But they generously include themselves in Jesus’ power and ministry
And she is bothering us.
We Came north for a little R and R
Everybody wants a piece of us. So Jesus, you send her away
It is reminiscent another store in the Gospels when children tried to come to Jesus. The text says the disciples rebuked the children imbed but .
They were quite clear on the kind of people Jesus did and did not have time for
Jesus goes on to part 2 of the exam. The woman comes up.
The disciples say to him " send her away. " so Jesus says, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.
" why does he say this? In other places he makes it clear he has come for the whole world. He is not willing that anyone should perish. So why does he say here, " the lost sheep of Israel "?
Remember, good teachers don’t just give lectures and hand out information. They know experience is as much more powerful teacher then just presentation.
So Jesus doesn’t simply give his disciples a lecture about negative attitudes. He tried that after his disciples shooed the children away . The disciples need some remedial help.
Jesus appears to agree with them:
Of course, I will get rid of her ….I am sent to Israel, God’s favorites we have no time for Gentile, female, a second rate riff-raft.
Good call, guys. I will send her away
But notice he does not send her away. He appears to agree and then watch to see how they will respond. Will anybody dare to disagree? Does anybody have the guts to stand up for this woman?
Simultaneously the woman goes through part 2 of this test she is hearing what Jesus is saying. Jesus is talking to And facing his disciples. His words say to her, in effect: you are an outsider. I’m the son of David. I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. You are not my mission. Why should I served you?
The question here Is: Is her concern for her child so deep, her confidence in Jesus compassion and power so strong, that she will persevere in her petition even when he seems unwilling?
But she has to no where else to go. So she kneels on the ground in a posture of reverence and humility.
Verse 25:: The woman came in now before him.” She enters a single phrase, a cry of the human soul: among help me! " a second time she calls him Lord.
The disciples are watching. The tensions are still built in them strongly, as Jesus knew it would be, because their theology tells of this woman is to be shunned, rejected, it ignored, and turned away.
And they themselves would say the same thing Jesus said. And yet something inside and begins to be moved.
This is the cry of a desperate mother for a beloved daughter his and physical and spiritual agony. Could be possible that God is better and bigger than their theology?
This encounter is striking at beliefs and prejudices so deeply embedded in them that they will not get rooted out all at once. But the seed is planted here.
That seed would not be fully grown and harvested until the Book of Acts when Peter sees the Holy Spirit fall on a gentle named Cornelius, and Peter realizes got has no favors but except human beings from every nation. But the disciples don’t get it yet.
Jesus speaks again. He had been speaking to his disciples, and it will help you get the dynamic of this story if you picture him still looking at his disciples, still watching their faces, still testing.
Verse 26: it is not right to take the children of bread and toss it to their dogs. "
the meaning of this statement t was clear.
The children or the Israelites in the dog for the gentiles this woman. Dodd and the Middle East were despised animals. There were scavengers and garbage eaters, and they were considered almost as gently as pigs. Jesus is forcing the disciples to face themselves.
He says to them in effect: you want me to get rid of this woman? You want to leave my ministry to Israel?
OK, I’ll do what you ask. You watch her. Listen to her daughter scream
He is voice to their theology. it is one they do have contempt for somebody behind their back; it’s another thing to hear that of the and this of your thoughts and feelings expressed out loud before a real human being.
Will any of them speak up for this woman? Will one them love her? No, not one, not today.
There’ll be other tests in days to come in able to better they are still learning... But not today.
Jesus is giving some of you the test that was given to them... The love test.
There is somebody in your life your having a hard time offering authentic, Christ like love for. Maybe it is a parent may be is somebody at work may be is your child or your spouse.
Maybe it’s somebody you are and church with. Maybe as with the disciples, it involves the whole group of people you have problems with. The love test goes on all the time in our world. The love test has no summer vacations school is always in
This is from a book written by Tony Campolo:
Some time ago always invited to be a counselor at a junior high camp. I don’t know how many of you reading this book are Roman Catholics, but that old Roman Catholic theology is right. There is a purgatory. It is a junior high camp, a place between heaven and hell for people go to suffer for their sense
I had never met meaner kids And my life than at this camp. Don’t get me wrong.
I love Jr.High kids individually, but the gang at this campus rally bad. Let me tell you. These kids at this year hike temporarily turn mean, and their meanness was focused on an unfortunate kid named Billy.
It broke my heart, because he had been born with a whole host of birth defects. He has cerebral-palsy, and his brain was unable to exercise proper control over the movements of the body or his speech.
The other kids mocked him. They call him spastic. Billy would walk across the grounds of Camp in his disjointed manner, and the others lined up behind him, imitating him and mimicking his every movement. They thought this was funny. It was the worst kind of cruelty I had ever seen.
One day I saw Billy ask one of the boys a question: Which way is the craft shop? " The other boy twisted up grotesquely, pointed a dozen different ways and said, " that way. "
I felt like punching out that mean kid. How could he so cruel to a handicapped boy?
The level of meanness reached its lowest point on a Wednesday morning. Billy’s cabin had been assigned for the morning devotions for that camp of a hundred 150 kids.
The boys in his cabin had voted for Billy to be the speaker. I knew and they knew he could not do it did this
They wanted him to get up there so they could mock him and laugh at him. They thought it’d be fun to watch spastic Billy try to deliver a devotional talk.
Been I was livid. I was seething with anger. As a little Billy got up out of his seat And limped t his way to the platform you could hear the mocking laughter in sneering going through the group. I cannot remember ever being so angry.
What was amazing was that the ridicule the boys did not stop that little guy. He took his place behind the pulpit And he started to speak. It took Billy almost 10tortured minutes just to say, Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. And I love Jesus. "
When he finished there was dead silence. I looked over my shoulder and there were junior high school boys shaking and trembling and crying all over the place
A revival broke out at camp in Kid’s turned their lives over to Jesus.
A host of junior high school boys committed rights to Christian service.
I wish I can’t count of how many ministers I have met as I travel across the country who told me they gave their lives to Christ because of the witness of a kid named Billy.
Test comes to you when a human being comes into your life. Will you say: " God, will you help me love this person? Will you help me speak and act with compassion and truth and courage?
God, here’s somebody who’s difficult for me. Here’s someone who doesn’t know you. Maybe they are far from you but they are poor and needy, and I have stuff.
This is the will of God for you. This is the way of Christ. I hope your doing well on this test. I hope you’re living as Jesus is didn’t devoted to learning from him how to love, because he’s still looking for disciples who were willing to love.
Jesus uses harsh the language about dogs to force the disciples to face themselves, to give voice to what they have been thinking and feeling privately.
At the same time he softens his language slightly for the woman. Two words to be used for dolls, and Jesus use is the diminutive word, meaning a little doggy.
The word Jesus uses is for a little puppy, not a big scavenger dog. Jesus uses the word dog for the disciples sake, but he makes them little dogs to soften it for the woman.
And to better illustrate let me tell you a story of a guy that went into bar with this small tiny dog he had a leave the dog outside because of the bar’s policy of no pets allowed
A few minutes later a big biker guy walked and said you better go get your poor excuse of a dog because my big great Danes problem is going to Kill him. The little guy walked out the check on his little dogs and came back and said to the big biker guy,” You’re not you’re a going to believe in this but my little dog killed your big dog. the big biker guy said,” No way how did that happen? “My dog got stuck in your dog’s throat”
This is the hardest part of the test for per.
Will she run away? She could decide this is not worth the effort. She could give up. She could test him back. Or is her love for her daughter so intense…. is her trust in Jesus’ the power to heal so deep, is her e faith in Jesus’ compassion so strong, is her commitment to Jesus as her Lord so unwavering that she won’t give up?
Her response is unbelievable.
Verse: 27 " yes, Lord. For the third time she speaks to him for a third time she calls him Lord. Still he is her Lord. "Yes, Lord, " she says, the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. "
You need to know part of the color of the story.
She picks up on the diminutive word dogs and uses the same word, and then she has admitted to the word crumbs. Literally it might be, " yes, Lord, but even the dog --gets get the crumb-ettes from their masters’ table. she comes back to Jesus with grit and grace and even wit.
There is an element of playfulness from her, as if she sparring with Jesus. She has got a little attitude going: All right, Lord. Go ahead, by all means feed the kids. I bet you have a credit for even me. She won’t give up.
This is what might be called endurance test.
The disciples face the love test, she faced the endurance test. Some of your are facing this test. Something is going on in your life… it’s difficult. You don’t know if you will ever find relief. But it is not just that. You pray, you kneel, beg, and you don’t understand God’s response. He seems silence. He seems indifferent, even hostile.
There is some which I don’t know. I only know that finally, the choice every human being aces is a choice between hope and despair. In Jesus says: choose hope. I know my Father well, and there is reason for choosing hope.
Some of you facing an endurance test today. The question is: will you keep going even when you don’t know why, even when you don’t know if or when you would get relief?
When you can get any answers that could make that pain go away, will you still say, " My Lord, " even when His ways are not clear to you? Will you keep going with all the grace and grit and faith you can muster and hope that one day He will set everything right? We you trust that the Lord is good?
Reading this story made me think about Jacob, I remember the story in Genesis when Jacob meets man at Jabbok. He realizes afterwards that it is God. He says: I met God face-to-face and lived.
He met this man and he wrestled with him all night. When it was almost the daylight, the man said, “let me go, " a Jacob would not quit wrestling. It says the man reached out and touched his hip, crippling him.
Even at the point to Jacob says, " I will not let go and until you bless me." he and He When the man saw that Jacob would not quit, he blessed him. He gave him a new name.... Israel.... Because he wrestled with God and man and prevailed. The name Israel means one who wrestles with God.
Why does God rest with Jacob? Obviously, God wouldn’t have a problem winning the match, so why does he wrestle with him all night long? Why didn’t he just give him the blessing? God prizes a greatness in the human spirit that will not give up. Of the things that God wants in this children is greatness of soul: people who will endure and wrestle and persevere refuse to quit, like the woman that new keeps banging on the door of the unjust judge and will not give up;
people like a neighborhood who pounds on the door of another, confidently there will be an answer;
people who claim to the goodness of God even when there is much they cannot see clearly.
This woman in Matthew 15, do you know what her name was? Her name was Israel, “one wrestles with God” and prevails.
The disciples, who didn’t t do so well on their test, are watching this encounter with open mouths.
They had never seen anybody show so much confidence with Jesus or demonstrates such risk-taking a love. When this woman approached, they thought they were watching their inferior, the spiritual bottom of the barrel. It turns out she’s relating to Jesus on a level of understanding, humility, reverence, trust, and boldness that puts them to shame.
Finally Jesus turns to face this woman. Now the mask comes off. For a moment he conceals a great goodness of his heart, he had a purpose, but now that purpose is the fulfilled.
The Test is over, and it is time for the grades to be given out.
Jesus says,” Woman, great is your faith. Your prayers are answered. Your daughter is healed. You were my beloved daughter all the time. What a spirit is in you. You have wrestled with God and prevailed. O woman, great is your faith.”
The word great comes from a form of the Greek word “mega” it . We have words like mega-malls or mega-churches. She had mega-faith.
This woman, ho everybody thought was the spiritual bottom of the barrel, is honored by the One before whom she knelt and whom she called Lord and of whom she would not let go.
She passed the test.
Two tests. The test of Love and the test of endurance. Will you pass? Good news. You have the rest of your life to finish the test .
