Matthew 15;21-28 God’s Zoo #7
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
July 18, 2021
Great Faith Trusts God’s Promises Dear Friends in Christ, The animal from God’s creation that we find in our Scripture lesson is the dog. There are many dog references in the Bible. You might even be able to think of some, like when Goliath asked David, “Am I a dog, that you come against me with sticks (1 Samuel 17:43)?” But we’re not talking about that today. And we’re not looking at the account where dogs ate all but the skull, hands and feet of a wicked queen who had been pushed out of a tower window and trampled by horses (2 Kings 9:30-37). Nor are we investigating the story Jesus told where a street dog licked the wounds of a beggar (Luke 16:19-31). No, as interesting as those are, what we have before us is an interaction between Jesus and a non-Jewish woman. They both mention dogs…and the discussion is fascinating! I happen to like this account in the Bible involving dogs probably more than any of the others. And they’re not even real dogs! And this whole thing isn’t really about these non-real dogs! This is about the promises of God where Jesus is concerned and about the unlikely faith of a woman who knew and trusted those promises. We learn today that Great Faith Trusts God’s Promises. Things had been extremely difficult for Jesus. John the Baptist had just been beheaded, the crowds of people—missing the whole point of the feeding of the 5,000— wanted to make Jesus their earthly king, and the Pharisees were actively opposing him. He needed to get away, so he headed for an area inhabited by descendants of the Canaanites, whom the Israelites had failed to eliminate from the Promised Land back in Moses’ time. It quickly became apparent that Jesus was not entirely unknown by the people in the region, because before he could even enter that territory, a Canaanite woman came from there to meet him. Her need was great. Her daughter was possessed by a demon, and she knew that Jesus could heal her daughter. She didn’t just think that he could. She wasn’t simply desperate and trying anything…or anyone…to help her child. No, she absolutely knew exactly who Jesus was and that he could help. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! A demon is severely tormenting my daughter!” That’s what she was shouting at Jesus as she followed after him and his disciples. But Jesus said nothing. It’s like he ignored her! Why did he do that, especially since she knew exactly who he was? You heard what she said: Lord, Son of David. Son of David was the name for Messiah, and “Lord” coupled with that meant that she knew he was both God and Savior! She knew him better than those Jews who were only interested in him because he could give them things. She knew him better than the religious leaders who felt threatened by him and wanted to kill him. She truly knew who he was and had great faith in him—a faith that was confident that he could cast out the demon tormenting her daughter!
How unusual then that Jesus ignored her and her request. Even the disciples didn’t understand Jesus’ non-reaction. Since he had never turned anyone away who looked to him for healing, it is likely that the disciples meant that he should heal her daughter so that she would stop yelling. So Jesus responded…to the disciples, not the woman! “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But that didn’t stop her. She ran in front of Jesus, took a humble position, and asked again. Kneeling down, she said, “Lord, help me.” Then he finally addressed this Gentile woman: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to their little dogs.” Whoa! That came out of Jesus’ mouth?! He called her a dog! That is why this is included in our summer series. And the dialogue between Jesus and the woman is where this gets interesting. She didn’t take offense at Jesus’ words at all. “Yes, Lord, yet their little dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! It will be done for you, just as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at that very hour. So why did Jesus admire her to the point that he called her faith great—something he said of someone only one other time? Why was he so impressed that he healed her daughter immediately? Because she knew exactly who he was and what he meant by what he said. She knew the promise of God to send a Messiah. She understood that the Messiah came through the Jews and to the Jews—that was his mission. He was the Savior of all people of course—and she, a non-Jew, realized that he was her Savior too. Jesus had just gotten away from all sorts of Jews who did not understand his Messianic call and mission, even though they should have. He was not going to go into a Gentile territory or interact with this Gentile woman in a way that would suggest anything but what his mission truly was. Word had gotten around about him already, and surely news of this healing would too. He could not have another feeding of the 5000 problem where people just wanted earthly things when he had come for spiritual reasons—forgiveness of sins and eternal life. And so he said what he said. She knew that he was the promised Messiah, and when he talked about “the children’s bread,” she knew he meant blessings intended for the Jewish people. She also knew what Jesus meant—and what he didn’t mean—when he indicated that she was a little dog. There was a Greek word for dog that was available to Jesus that would have been insulting—extremely so, in fact. It’s the word for a street dog (κύων). That kind of dog was considered detestable and annoying, filthy, and capable of violence. Those dogs ran wild, had no owner, and were scavengers, eating whatever garbage they could find. They would never be let in a house, much less around a dining table. I made friends with that kind of dog when we travelled to Greece years ago, but that would have never happened at Jesus’ time. This word for dog was so bad that it was even used for male prostitutes. Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about one word for a dog—and one that Jesus did NOT use for the woman!
So what did Jesus say? He used a word that meant a house dog (κυνάριον), a pet. Picture the tiny dogs that celebrities carry around in their purses or your dog at home. These dogs were in the house and part of the family, so to speak. They were even allowed near the dining table where food scraps—“crumbs” as the woman put it— would be given to them. They weren’t the children, but they were in the house, and they were cared for. This wise woman with great faith understood what Jesus meant. He meant that he came for the children of Israel and there were certain blessings that were theirs, but indicated that the Gentiles were “in the house” too—and they receive blessings also. Some have said that she wore Jesus down with her humility and wit and faith. How could Jesus resist? But that’s not it. Jesus took the opportunity to express his divine call to be the Messiah. He expressed his mission to reach the Jews, who were all looking for the Messiah to come. He could not abandon that in order to now go to reach the Gentiles in this Gentile land. He had to reach the Jews. Others would later be called to reach the non-Jews. But that never stopped Jesus from helping Gentiles who sought him out—and it didn’t stop him here. He considered it high priority, however, to be clear about what the Father had called him to do. Jesus wasn’t holding up his blessing to make the little dog jump to get it, only to raise it a little more to make her jump higher. No, the Gentiles were in God’s house also. Call them scraps or crumbs or whatever you want, but they received blessings also. Jesus was simply making it crystal clear who he was and what he came to do. And she got it—so Jesus gave her the highest honor, saying that she had “great faith.” No disciple, no Jewish leader, no Jew at all ever heard that from Jesus, as far as the Bible tells us. But she did, because it came as a bit of a surprise that this woman knew and believed all that about Jesus and followed the imagery he was using to express it! She persisted with her request and she was rewarded…and so was her daughter who was healed at that moment. Do you have great faith also? Do you know all the kinds of things that the woman knew? Are your prayers and requests to God persistent and prompted by a great faith? This wise woman had heard all about the promised Messiah and knew that Jesus was that Savior. She was also confident of Jesus’ power and love for people. She knew the deeper things, not just the cursory truths about God. Where are you at with that? Is your faith well-informed and deeply-rooted? It’s a little surprising that she had access to those deep truths—and we don’t know how she did. But we have the greatest access to the good news about Jesus that this world has ever seen. As far as knowing the intricacies of God’s will and ways, we are without excuse, if we don’t know these things. We ought to understand that he came from the Jews and to the Jews—the ones who had all the spiritual background to recognize him as the Messiah. We ought to be certain that he came for all people—and paid for everyone’s sins on the cross. There is not one Jew, nor is there one “little dog,” whose sins Jesus didn’t pay for. Great faith knows that—and the details of all that.
But don’t we sometimes show a lack of deeply-rooted faith? When we are lax in our reading and study of God’s Word, we do. When we think that some people are beyond saving or that Jesus only died for those who would believe, we do. What about our requests of Jesus? We are invited and encouraged to go to him and ask. We definitely do ask God for things. We have enough troubles and concerns, don’t we? We’re stressed about what’s going on in our lives, in our kid’s lives, in our parents’ lives, in our friends’ lives, in the lives of people at church, in our state, in our country, in the world. There are things that we need and things that we want. But how do we view Jesus in those moments? Like some genie stuffed in the pages of the Bible and who is ready to automatically grant unlimited blessings—just the way we want them? Jesus wanted to be clear that his priority was spiritual, not physical. Do we see it that way too? Are we as clear on that as this woman was? Like the woman, we can ask—and we should ask—about earthly things. But do we pray as much about the spiritual as we do about the physical? Do we repent and seek forgiveness daily because we are concerned about our sins? Do we ask for help in avoiding sin, in having the desire to go to church, go to Bible study, read our Bibles? How much of our prayer time is used to show our faith, to simply praise God? Do we present our requests to God in prayer, but then don’t ask again—or not much? The woman gives us an amazing example of not giving up when asking Jesus for help or blessing. This is what God urges us to do in his Word also. No doubt, we have sinned by not always showing a great faith that is based on a deep knowledge of God. We have sinned by not always having the right motivation for our prayers. We have sinned by giving up on our requests to Jesus and not persisting in seeking his blessing. These kinds of sins may not be obvious on the outside, but God knows them. They are as hell-worthy as any other sin. That means that these are sins Jesus came to pay for. This is why he was so focused on his appointment as the Messiah and on his mission—on the spiritual. And Jesus did pay for our sins. By his cross and by his blood, we have been healed and freed from sin and Satan’s possessive grip. When we know that, we understand that we are part of God’s household, and we receive his blessings—both physical and spiritual—just like the “little dogs” we heard about today. May this lesson lead us to have a great faith that is confident in Jesus, and move us to go to him with our persistent prayers. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.