Content
Faith that never dies (Mk 7:24-30; Mt 15:21-28)
(grasp the rare opportunity)
The main character of this incident is a Gentile woman. She lived in “the borders of Tyre and Sidon”(v24), a remote site alongside the west coast of Israel by the Mediterranean Sea. Matt 15:21 says “Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” Jesus had the rare chance of coming to this remote area, which became a rare occasion for the woman to access him. Besides, the house that Jesus entered was an ordinary family: “and entered into an house, and would have no man know it.” (v24) Jesus somehow was avoiding the crowd that kept following him. So no one expected that Jesus would appear here. It is possible that Jesus came here deliberately for the sake of this Gentile woman. Anyhow, his fame exposed his whereabout. That gives the golden opportunity for the woman to approach him.
(inferior social status)
It is emphasized that the woman was “a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation” (v26) (Matt 15:22 introduced her as “a woman of Canaan”). The Jews rarely had association with the Gentiles. This Gentile woman “came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil (被鬼附得甚苦).’ ” (Matt 15:22) There had been patients who came to Jesus for healing calling him “thou son of David”, such as the two blind men (Matt 9:27). David was the king that the Jews honoured most in Jewish history. When the Jews called Jesus “son of David”, the hearers would not be surprised in that Jesus’ father Joseph was also the descendant of the tribe of Judah like King David. But now it was a Gentile woman who called him “son of David”, that was pretty abnormal. Her calling seemed to indicate, first of all, her knowledge of the Jewish history. Secondly, she also honoured Jesus as the descendant of King David and somewhat acknowledged his kingship. Besides calling him “son of David”, she also called him “Lord”. This Canaan woman not only had faith in Jesus’ power of driving out demons, but also believed that he possessed some peculiar status in the eyes of the Jews. Could it be possible that she believed that Jesus was the Messiah whom the Jews had been longing for? Anyway, she “heard of him, and came and fell at his feet…and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.” (v25-26) Matt 15:25 later described her humility too, “Then came she and worshipped him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ ” Her humble attitude before this “Jewish king” and her urgent desire for his assistance were evident.
Matt 15:23 states: “But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, ‘Send her away; for she crieth after us.’ ” The woman’s begging not only got a cool response from Jesus but was also abhorred by his disciples as a nuisance to them. They asked Jesus to send her away. On one hand, they despised this Gentile woman; on the other hand, they thought that since Jesus ignored her begging, their Master had no intention of healing her daughter anyway.
Jesus finally opened his mouth: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt 15:24) This word of Jesus has to do with the principle of his preaching ministry and the will of the Father regarding his mission. Previously, when Jesus sent his twelve disciples out to preach the gospel, he told them, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt 10:5-6) Is it really unfair that gospel is preached only to the children of Israel, not to the Samaritans and the Gentiles as well? Doubtless to say, the gospel is preached to all mankind regardless of their race. Only that the gospel is first preached to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. Jesus also charged his disciples before his ascension to heaven, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) According to his mission for the disciples, the gospel is first preached to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. If we look at how the gospel is spread in the Book of Acts, we shall understand the preaching strategy that God used in terms of the order of the hearer of the gospel and of the place where the gospel is preached. In Acts 9:15, Jesus gave Paul the mission of preaching the gospel among the Gentiles. Yet, Paul initially targeted at the Jews by preaching in the Jewish synagogues during his missionary journey. Only when the Jews kept on resisting him and the gospel, he began to shift his target to the Gentiles: “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:46-47) Hence, the gospel is aimed for everyone. Both the Jews and the Gentiles have the same opportunity to hear the gospel. Only in terms of sequence, gospel is first preached to the Israelites, then followed by the Gentiles. By the same token, the gospel is first preached in Jerusalem and then spread to other places westward until the end of the earth.
The Greek woman did not give up easily. She knelt down before Jesus and pleaded with him, “Lord, help me.” (Matt 15:25) However, she could never expect Jesus to give her a reply like this, “Let the children first be filled; for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.” (v27) Anyone can understand the implicit meaning that “the children” refer to the children of Israel, whereas the “dogs” refer to the Gentiles. This is entirely racial discrimination, and the Canaan woman was depicted as a dog; plus, the word came from the mouth of Jesus! When Jesus was approached by the woman, the disciples intended to dispel her, proving that she was not welcomed by the Jews at all even in her hometown. Now that she received such insulting word, how would you feel and react if you were the woman? To be sure, you can be very much disappointed and sadly depart, thinking that you were seeking the wrong guy. The Jesus that you saw was not truly as benevolent and merciful as you heard of. Plus, the reason that Jesus gave was a very reasonable one and very difficult to argue against—his mission was to serve his own people, not the Gentiles, especially when his time was limited and the occasion was rare. Compared with Jairus, the ruler of a Jewish synagogue (Mark 5:22), this Greek woman stood at a very inferior position. As Jairus nervously besought Jesus to heal his dying daughter, Jesus went with him right away to his home. This poor lady had a very lowly social status in Jewish society. Now, according to Jesus’ saying, she was disqualified for his assistance. What else could she do?
(first part of faith)
While little can be done to Jesus’ reply, this Greek woman gave an extremely surprising answer that somehow pleased Jesus greatly. Mark 7:28 is her answer, “Yes, Lord; yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.” (“yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.” Matt 15:27) Why would this answer please Jesus so much? Although Jesus’ statement was full of insult, his shocking reply indeed was an acid test for the faith of the Greek woman. Now her answer expressed several things about her attitude:
-
Humility. First of all, she was not irritated at all by Jesus’ reply or filled with any resentment. On the contrary, by saying “yes,” she admitted her inferior status as a Gentile and as a dog in the eyes of the Jews. She also accepted the fact that she was not qualified for Jesus’ intervention in her family affair. She still respected Jesus and honoured him “Lord”--a remarkable move.
-
Persistence. For the sake of her daughter, she never thought of giving up. She did not want to lose this rare opportunity because once she quit, Jesus would never come back again. She insisted to give it a last try and beg for a bit of grace and mercy from Jesus. As a Gentile “dog”, she was asking for the crumbs left that were to be thrown away by the master!
-
Undying faith. Her faith was truly great in the sense that she was in a much inferior position to make her request. She admitted she was acting like a dog begging to lick its master’s food. It was this pitiful picture that touched the heart of our merciful Lord! Notice that Jesus was saying in his reply: let the children be fed “first” (v27). Even though it implied that the Jews had the priority to receive God’s grace, it didn’t mean that the Gentiles had no chance at all to obtain God’s grace. Somehow, she trusted that Jesus would be convinced eventually by her humiliated attitude and unceasing begging. Jesus immediately comforted her and praised her faith, “O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” (Matt 15:28)
(second part of faith)
The first part of the faith test is passed. Now comes the second part of the test. Jesus continued, “go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.” (v29) This answer certainly requires some faith as well. The woman spent great efforts to have successfully obtained Jesus’ promise to heal her daughter. She expected that he would follow her immediately to her home. After Jesus uttered this statement, would she cast doubt on its validity? Yes, at this moment, she needed extra faith to accept this statement. She had to trust that the devil would be cast away purely by the power of his mouth without his presence at all. She departed out of her full trust upon Jesus’ authority and his credibility. Just as what she hoped for and believed, “when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.” (v30)
Why didn’t Jesus follow her to her house? I believe Jesus wanted to show her of his magnificent power and thus consolidate her faith that he was the Messiah—the Jewish king--that she met. In John 4 is recorded such an account: a nobleman besought Jesus to heal his dying son. He asked Jesus to come down to his house at Capernaum from Cana of Galilee. But Jesus said to him, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” Jesus continued, “Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth…So the father…himself believed, and his whole house.” (John 4:46-53) Why did Jesus choose not to follow the nobleman to his home? Not that the way from Cana to Capernaum was too far for him. Just that he did not want people to merely believe that he was a great physician but, more significantly, he was their Lord and Savior. Therefore, we might say that part of his specific mission to visit the borders of Tyre and Sidon was to preach the gospel to the Greek woman, not just to heal her demon-possessed daughter. The great faith of the woman not only healed her daughter, but fully expressed her determination to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior.