1. Title: What Only A Mother Can Do
2. Text: Matthew 15:1-18; Mark 7:24-30
3. Audience: Villa Heights Christian Church, AM crowd, May 14, 2006, Mother’s Day.
Objectives:
-for the people to understand the qualities of the unnamed woman that speak of her outstanding faith; for them to appreciate that these qualities were found in a mother and were applied by her for the sake of her daughter; for them to understand how we can build and uphold those qualities in our homes today
-for the people to feel encouraged to have faith that makes them persistent and humble before God
-for the people to
5. When I finish my sermon I want my audience to
6. Type: Mother’s Day, of course
7. Dominant Thought: Qualities of great faith can be found in a great mother
8. Outline:
Intro: OK, moms, I don’t know what your kids may have written or said to you today, but here’s what some children wrote to their mothers for Mother’s Day:
• Angie, 8 years old: "Dear Mother, I’m going to make dinner for you on Mother’s Day. It’s going to be a surprise. P.S. I hope you like pizza & popcorn."
• Robert: "I got you a turtle for Mother’s Day. I hope you like the turtle better than the snake I got you last year."
• Eileen: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother’s Day wasn’t always on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn’t have to go to school."
• Diane: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother’s Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn’t looking."
• Carol: "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mother’s Day!"
Ill – It was Robert Fulghum who wrote "All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten." It appeared in a number of different places. You’ve probably seen some of it around schools and other places. Fulghum touches on an important fact of life – that we develop our basic values for life by the time we’re 5-6 yrs old. In other words, those values that we especially learn from mothers. See if that doesn’t ring true in these words:
"All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. (then he goes on to share the things he learned like: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.) Then he says: Think what a better world it would be if we all -- the whole world -- had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or, if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is still true, no matter how old you are -- when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."
This morning, I want us to look together at the story of a mother. We’re not even given her name, but she gives a great sampling of godly mothering that we can all learn from, and Jesus pays her a great compliment. So, let’s see her story together. I’ve taken the text from Matthew and Mark and harmonized them together. So, you can turn either or both of those and find these words from the NIV translation. Here’s what they sound like all put together:
(Harmony of Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30)
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. His disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "First let the children eat all they want. It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! For such a reply, your request is granted. The demon has left your daughter. You may go." Her daughter was healed from that very hour. She went home and found her lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
What did this woman do to earn Jesus’ compliment?
I. She Crossed Social Barriers
Add this mother to the list of people who came to Jesus seeking healing – not for themselves, but for someone they loved. I’m thinking particularly of this woman, 4 men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus, and the centurion we looked at 2 weeks ago. In each account, they come seeking Jesus’ help for someone else, and each time Jesus takes note of their faith. Those are already typical qualities of godly motherhood.
There are plenty of records of people seeking Jesus’ help for themselves personally. There’s nothing wrong with that. But isn’t it interesting that the times when people seem to be going to the greatest extremes to get to Jesus is when their motive is someone else’s need?
Put that together with the fact that this woman is a mother who’s trying to get help for her daughter, and you can appreciate that she’s not going to let anything get in the way. Somewhere, beyond what Matthew and Mark record for us, is the rest of the story at the home of this woman. Her little girl, the apple of her eye, at some point becomes demon-possessed. That same kind of possession leads others to try to throw themselves in fire or water. One man gashes himself with rocks and lives in the graveyard among the tombs. This little girl, at home, is hopelessly owned by Satan himself. We can only imagine the heartache this mother feels as her little girl is thrown around and it’s all out of her control. To what extremes would she go to get help for her daughter? Here are a few…
1. She had to seek out Jesus.
This is one of those few times that we read Jesus was trying to keep His presence quiet. With the schedule He was keeping, Jesus acknowledged the necessity of sometimes getting away from the crowds to refuel. No matter. This mother didn’t look at the “Do Not Disturb” sign and say, “Oh, I don’t want to inconvenience Him.” She want ahead and rang the doorbell anyway. That barrier wouldn’t get in the way of her daughter’s need.
Moms, you want an example to follow? Go out of your way to get Jesus to your kids!
Ill - a Mother’s Day card. The front said: Mom, I remember that little prayer you used to say for me every day… Inside it said: “God help you if you ever do that again!”
You may have to work around someone’s sports schedule. You may have to jump the hurdle of homework. You may just have to do battle with the TV or the computer. You may be looked at kind of funny by other parents. You may actually have to listen to some complaining and whining once in a while, but if you’re convinced your kids need Jesus, you’ll seek Him out for their sakes. Helping your kids find and grow in Jesus is the most significant act of mothering you’ll ever do.
2. She was a woman
She’s not the only woman to cross this barrier, but you have to understand that it was a barrier. In that culture, women didn’t just casually approach men and strike up a conversation with them. For her to show up at the house and seek an audience with Jesus may have raised some eyebrows.
Moms, you want another example to take home? Don’t let culture get in the way of doing whatever your kids need. Culture changes. Kids’ greatest needs don’t. Culture has decided that Mom’s presence at home isn’t as valuable as it once was. Really? When did that change? Or could it just be that culture changes? This mother didn’t let cultural norms become the rule for her life.
3. She was a Canaanite and a Gentile
Once again, she’s not the only person to cross this barrier. In John 4, the Samaritan woman is amazed that Jesus would speak with her. This woman in our texts is crossing that same barrier by walking in with her nationality and her non-Jewishness. This wasn’t a problem for Jesus, but for most everyone else around Him, it was. Just picture having the presidents of Israel and Iran both over to your house for lunch today!
Moms, here’s one more example for you to ponder. Don’t let wrong prejudices get between Jesus and your kids. I’m not talking about tolerance, as our current culture uses the word. I’m talking about wrong attitudes toward people because of their race or their appearance or because of the way others think of them. If you hear your kids putting down a person because of his race or physical appearance or something else that just shouldn’t matter, you might want to look real carefully at where they got such an attitude. I find that most of the character bents my kids have that I consider a negative are usually an extension of my own! Amen? Jesus didn’t teach us that. Why let it get between your kids and what Jesus wants for them?
Now, those are some of the social barriers this lady overcame to get help from Jesus for her daughter. Your list looks a bit different, but you get the idea. All of us parents can see all too clearly some of the obstacles that stand between us and having our kids be what God wants them to be. It’s an excellent mother who’s able to see beyond the obstacles to her children’s need for Jesus. Moms, if you’re really convinced that your child is without hope in this world unless Jesus is part of the picture, you’ll overcome whatever you need to make sure that He’s there.
II. She Didn’t Give Up
Ill - A teenager was tired of high school. He’d gotten behind, and basically giving up. His mom was trying to convince him to stay with it. “Son, you just can’t quit. All the people who are remembered throughout history are the people who didn’t quit. Abe Lincoln didn’t quit. Thomas Edison didn’t quit. Douglas MacArthur didn’t quit. Elmo Cringle didn’t quit.” The son said, “Who? Who’s Elmo Cringle?” His mom said, “See? You don’t remember him because he quit!”
Ill – There’s a cartoon that shows a mother in her home. Her hair’s a mess, the kids are everywhere, the house is an absolute wreck. Then her husband comes home from work all neatly dressed, carrying his briefcase. She takes one look at him. He looks at her with a big question mark on his face. She tells him, "You come home every evening and ask what I do all day. Today I didn’t do it, and here it is!"
Ill - Here’s some advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the Tylenol bottle: Take two...and keep away from children!
Moms, you’re involved in the noblest profession in all of history. We need you! Don’t give up! Especially when it comes to our children and their need for Jesus.
Listen to how this mother faced discouragement and didn’t give up:
(Harmony of Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30)
She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. His disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "First let the children eat all they want. It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs."
What we have now seems so strange. Someone unfamiliar with Jesus might look at this and think, “Why was He so hard on this lady?”
The fact is, many of us have asked the same question of God at some time when we hit the wall: “God, why? Why are You so hard on me? Why don’t You answer? Why so distant and indifferent?” And I think the answer has to be the same as it is in this story. Jesus wasn’t trying to dash her to the ground. He was stretching her faith. He wasn’t doing something that would make her give up. He was showing to everyone who saw it just how far great faith will take a person.
It took her past Jesus’ silence
At first, He didn’t say a thing to her. Have you ever seen someone in public and said Hi or waved and they clearly ignored you? Really lets the wind out of your sails, doesn’t it? Imagine the challenge this lady had when she spoke directly to Jesus and He didn’t even acknowledge her!
Some of you know how it feels to be praying about something, seeking God’s help in something, and for some time – maybe a long time – it seems like He’s just ignoring you. What do you do? Jesus teaches us that we’re supposed to persist. Don’t give up.
Moms, if you’ve been praying for your child for a month, a year, or 20 yrs, and it seems like God hasn’t heard you, don’t give up. Follow this lady’s example in the face of Jesus’ silence to her.
It took her past the criticism of the others
There were a few occasions when Jesus was talking to someone else, but where the disciples were really the ones learning the lesson. I imagine this was one of those times. They were urging Jesus to send this woman away. It wasn’t the only time they’d do such a thing. Guess what? They were wrong! Their critique about whether she should be there or not was wrong.
I’m thankful for mothers who didn’t just listen to the critique of other people.
In 1894, the rhetoric teacher at Harrow in England wrote on a 16-year-old’s report card, "a conspicuous lack of success." The 16-year-old was Winston Churchill. I’m glad his mother didn’t just accept that critique.
This mother in our story didn’t let the criticism around her stop her from getting Jesus into her daughter’s life. Moms, you may be criticized. Your kids may be criticized. Don’t give up.
Quote - Washington Irving: “The love of a mother is never exhausted. It never changes—it never tires—it endures through all; in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the world’s condemnation, a mother’s love still lives on.”
It took her past Jesus’ answer
Having Jesus not answer was hard enough. Hearing His answer didn’t make it any easier!
First He points out that she’s not a Jew. Jesus had come to the “lost sheep of Israel.” But she didn’t let that stop her. She persisted. Her faith was somehow big enough to know God’s love extended to non-Jews too. The next thing we know, she’s kneeling at His feet and saying what any person says when they realize their only hope is in the Lord: Lord, help me.
God doesn’t turn people away when they come to Him with that kind of prayer – the one that says, “I can’t do this on my own. I’m depending on You!”
Still, Jesus pushed her even more. Not only was He holding off on helping just yet, He also used a word picture: Taking the children’s bread, and throwing it to the dogs just wouldn’t be right. Now, notice, that He didn’t call her a dog. He didn’t say that helping her would be just a waste. He just continued to stretch her faith.
Her reply was perfect. In essence, she was willing to become “a dog,” if need be, in order to help her daughter. She wasn’t going to give up.
Moms, we need you to not give up. We need you to hang tough when it gets tough. And we know it does.
Ill - Erma Bombeck:
Sometimes we forget how important stability is to a child. I’ve always told mine, "The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth.... the hardest part is showing up for it each day..."
Mother’s day is traditionally the day when children give something back to their mothers for all the spit they produce to wash dirty faces, all the old gum they held in their hands, all the noses they wipe, and all the bloody knees they "made well" with a kiss.
This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing all those sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus, and enduring all the football games in the rain.
It’s appreciation day for making your children finish something they said they couldn’t do, not believing them when they said, "I hate you," and sharing their good times and their bad times.
Their cards probably won’t reflect it, but what they are trying to say is, "Thank you for showing up." And, I will add – thank you for not giving up.
The third quality of this mother that caused Jesus to praise her was…
III. She Humbled Herself
God is never impressed with people who get in a huff and walk off at the first sign of resistance. It’s an awfully small and self-centered faith that doesn’t get what it wants and runs off to pout. Not this lady.
(Harmony of Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30)
"First let the children eat all they want. It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! For such a reply, your request is granted. The demon has left your daughter. You may go." Her daughter was healed from that very hour. She went home and found her lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
I can just picture the look of shock on the disciples’ faces and the joy on Jesus’ face as this lady answered like she did. Most people would have become indignant. A mother with great faith, seeking help for her child, became humble.
Her status didn’t matter. How she looked in everyone’s eyes didn’t matter. Even accepting a lowly title from Jesus Himself didn’t matter. Her daughter needed help and Jesus could help! That’s what mattered to her.
She didn’t argue with Jesus’ insinuation. She agreed. She realized she didn’t have the right to ask for Jesus’ best. We don’t come to the Master and act like He owes us. She was content to just ask for a crumb of help – a scrap of care from Him.
Moms, I know it isn’t easy, but Godly motherhood means having an extra big humility too. The experience of childbirth helps start that! The teen years pretty well complete it. One of the qualities that made this woman an excellent mother was her willingness to be humbled for the sake of her child. What does that have to do with faith? Everything! It’s humbling to close your eyes and be guided around – but Paul says we walk by faith, not by sight. It’s humbling to say we’re counting on someone we’ve never seen – but Hebrews 11 says faith is being certain of what we can’t see. Accepting Jesus means humbling ourselves by saying that we can’t depend on ourselves. That takes great faith.
When this mother put her great faith into play, it helped her win over the devil’s control in her daughter’s life.
Ill - One Mother’s Day a "For Better or Worse" comic strip showed Michael’s mother tossing & turning on her bed, thinking about her role as a mother, asking herself: "Am I too tough or am I too lenient? Do I give in too much or too seldom? Do I listen to what he has to say? Do I understand him? Do I nag him too much? Am I really a good parent?"
The last frame shows Michael lying on his bed saying, "The problem with grownups is they think they know it all."
Probably not. In fact, the only perfect parents are the ones who aren’t parents yet. Don’t worry about your mother thinking she knows everything. You already cured her of that many years ago.
A mother who’s a woman of faith is someone who humbles herself before the Master.
Boy, we’re asking a lot of those ladies, aren’t we? Really, it’s the same qualities God wants from all of us, especially this last one. The Scriptures tell us that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Coming to Him to be saved means humbling yourself. Are you prepared to do that?
Are you able to come to Him, humbly, and say, “Lord, help me.”? That’s the walk of faith you need to make this morning if you never have…
