Ryan Bates
May 4, 2024
A Gentile Woman Understands Grace
Matthew 15:21-28
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 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. —Matthew 15:21-28
This story is probably the most awkward conversation in the gospels. But it shows us some incredibly important things about: The Mission of Jesus. God’s grace to the Gentiles. How we can approach God.
Jesus so far has fed the 5,000, walked on water, and had a clash with the Pharisees over cleanliness. Now, he went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. This is a significant shift in the gospel of Matthew. He’s going outside Israel, where he does most of his ministry. He’s probably pulling himself away to focus on his ministry to the disciples. But even in these regions where nobody would know him, this woman comes to him.
She’s a Canaanite woman—the descendant of the ancient enemies of Israel. In Mark she is identifies as a Greek speaking Syrophoenician. So she’s a Gentile, pagan, Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia (how’s that for intersectionality?). If Paul was a Jew of the Jews, she’s a Gentile of the Gentiles. It’s the epitome of what Paul says:
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [sounds bad]… 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. —Ephesians 2:11–12
So we expect this loving embrace like Jesus gave to the Samaritan woman at the well but then the conversation he has doesn’t match. Jesus appears indifferent or even cruel to this woman.
She cries out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” She has this amazing recognition of Jesus…
But Jesus didn’t answer her with a word. She comes with this amazing cry, identifying Jesus as Lord, the Son of David, and he ignores her.
She’s begging him, and the disciples are begging him too. Begging that he would send this filthy Gentile away. He doesn’t rebuke them. Instead, he turns to her and replies with I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Which is true for all sorts of reasons. He wanted to give them one last chance. He also had to fulfill all the prophesies the Israelites failed to fulfill. He’s the true temple, etc. It appears he’s saying “it wouldn’t be right for me to grant you this request.”
She finally throws everything at him and prostrates herself, “Lord, help me!”
And he answered, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” This was a derogatory term that the Jews regularly used for Gentiles. It was essentially a racial slur. In that time dog’s weren’t house pets, they were feral, wild scavengers, pests. It was a way of calling somebody unclean. In Harry Potter, the term mudblood is the term used for people who are half wizard and half Muggle (non-wizard). Draco calls Hermione Granger a mudblood. Chamber of Secrets says, “it’s a disgusting thing to call someone…dirty blood.”
All of this leaves us saying, “What?! This isn’t the Jesus that I know, what have you done with him Matthew?” Does this passage say Jesus is unconcerned with the Gentiles and this mother’s plea? No. It says the opposite.
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In the context and throughout the ministry of Jesus, we’ve already seen the grace of God towards the Gentiles. The woman at the well in John 4. The surrounding context provides us with a key as well. And Jesus use of the term bread is very interesting and intentional here. You remember the section begins with Jesus feeding the 5,000. Last week when Jesus is talking to the Pharisees about what defiles a person, (we didn’t see this in Matthew) but in Mark it says Jesus, declared all foods clean. After this Jesus is the story of Jesus feeding the 4,000 and healing others.
This is important because the first feeding is a miracle in Israel, Jewish territory, the second miracle is in the Decapolis, another Gentile region. What is Jesus doing? He’s saying, “I’m not just the bread of life for the Jews like manna in the wilderness, I’m the bread for the whole world.” We’ve seen other indicators in Matthew like the Centurion.
10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 8:10–11
Later in Matthew 28 Jesus says “make disciples of all nations.” In Acts 1:8 he says the “You’ll receive power from the Holy Spirit to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Don’t neglect the mission of God to the nations. God is calling people from every tribe tongue and nation, it’s all over the Bible. In 2 weeks we’re going to have a missionary here to share about how his family and their team are reaching the unreached in Papua New Guinea, we’re excited to hear from him.
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The first observation is this woman’s persistence. She has a persistent faith that won’t give up despite discouragement. How did she have such courage? There are cowards, there are regular people, there are heroes, then there are parents. Parents will simply do whatever they need to do to save their kids. My mom regularly tells me, “Do you know the thing that I fear and hate most in this world is?…sharks. But I would jump into a tank of sharks to save you.” “Thanks mom, hopefully I’ll never be in a situation where that’s necessary but if I get kidnapped by any Bond villains I’m glad you’ll be there to save me.” J.C. Ryle says about the girls situation:
“Hopeless and desperate as her case appeared, she had a praying mother, and where there’s a praying mother, there’s always hope.” —J.C. Ryle
Parents: cry out for your kids. Sometimes all you can do is pray. With faith.
The reason Jesus is responding the way he does is to test her faith, but not just to test it. He’s making a point to his disciples.
Oh Lord this is a cry, a vocative, direct address, the only one in the gospel. Son of David is a Messianic term. She identifies him with far more insight than the Pharisees, the crowds, or even the disciples.
Then let’s drill down on the main point. Mark expands it for us.
27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” —Mark 7:27–28
It’s a good thing there wasn’t Twitter at this time or Jesus would’ve been cancelled. First, the term Jesus uses for dog is a special use of this word that really means something like “little dog.” Or maybe even better, “puppy.” Like with kids…
But he’s doing something else here too. The Geneva Bible says, “he answers her according to the opinion of the Jews.” So he’s answering her but he’s giving the side eye to the disciples that wanted to send her off.
But she still won’t be deterred through all of this. She latches on to that word first. It like she’s thinking, “so you’re saying there’s a chance.”
She says, “I get it, the Israelites need to be fed first, your table is so abundant that even the crumbs are enough for me. I know who you are, I know your mission, I know that it’s not just to the children but to the little dogs too!” She trust in the sufficiency and surplus of Jesus.
She knows that she doesn’t have any rights to the covenant promises, no entitlement of God’s help, but she also knows God is a gracious God.
He commends her, saying, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”
That’s the kind of faith Jesus commends. She’s humble enough to know she doesn’t deserve anything from God, but confident in God’s mercy enough to keep asking his help. What kind of faith is honored by God? Faith that persistently seeks mercy without entitlement or presumption.
We can fail to come to God because of a superiority complex or an inferiority complex. We can scoff like the Pharisees and say, “I don’t need mercy, I’m doing just fine on my own.” Or we can think that our sin is too great and fail to come to him because we think our sin is greater than his love.
We need humility, blessed are the poor in spirit, the spiritually bankrupt.
But we also need to come with confidence to the throne of grace. John Newton was a slave trader who got saved and most famously wrote the song Amazing Grace. In a letter to a man who was depressed this is what he says.
You say you feel overwhelmed with guilt and a sense of unworthiness? Well, indeed you cannot be too aware of the evils inside of yourself, but you may be, indeed you are, improperly controlled and affected by them. You say it is hard to understand how a holy God could accept such an awful person as yourself. You then express not only a low opinion of yourself, which is right, but also too low an opinion of the person, work, and promises of the Redeemer, which is wrong. You complain about sin, but when I look at your complaints, they are so full of self-righteousness, unbelief, pride, and impatience that they are little better than the worst evils you complain of. —John Newton
Nothing you can do can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation for those in Christ. Jesus became the outsider, the dog, the one was mistreated so you can always have a seat at his table.
Will you come? You can do that now if you never have.
One purpose of communion is to remind our hearts that we’re invited to his table. So as you come and this song is sung, remember this.