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August 18, 2002
13th Sunday of Pentecost
Matthew 15:21-28
Pastor Robert Raasch

Consider the Faith of a Canaanite Woman

1. A Faith which was Tested by God
2. A Faith which Trusted in God

Have you ever had someone give you the cold shoulder? You know, they just totally ignore you, won't return your phone calls, never answer your e-mails. When you're in the same room with them, they act like you aren't even there? That can be awfully frustrating, can't it? Nobody enjoys getting a cold shoulder, whether that shoulder belongs to your child or your spouse or your most recent date.

And yet, as discouraging as it is to get the cold shoulder from a fellow human being…can you imagine what it would feel like to get the cold shoulder from God? I mean, it's one thing to have your husband act like he doesn't hear you, but for God to treat someone that way??? That's practically unthinkable. Or is it? Maybe there have been times in your life when you felt like you were being ignored by God, times you felt like God was oblivious to what you were going through, the pain you were feeling, the trouble you were enduring. There may have been times that you desperately wanted to talk to God, but you felt like he was giving you the cold shoulder. And that left you wondering, "Why?"

My friends, in the Word which God has given for our study today, we are introduced to a woman who found herself in a very similar situation. Undoubtedly this grieving mother must have felt as if Jesus were giving her the brush off, the cold shoulder, the silent treatment. And yet, through it all, this woman displayed a truly remarkable faith. A faith which Jesus ultimately commends as a "great" faith. A faith which can still serve a s model for each one of us. This morning let's take a moment to:

Consider the Faith of a Canaanite Woman

We'll see that it is:

1. A Faith which was Tested by God
2. A Faith which Trusted in God

In this account, Jesus has traveled north to the region of Tyre and Sidon, on the NW edge of Galilee. There he is met by a Canaanite woman. Remember the Canaanites? The Canaanites were the people who lived in the land which God promised to give to Abraham and his descendants. The Canaanites worshipped all kinds of false gods. In fact, when the Children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, God told his people, "Don't associate with the Canaanites. Instead kill them." In other words, this woman belonged to a nation of people who were enemies of God's people. She grew up with people who were pagans and unbelievers.

And yet, for some reason, in spite of her heathen background, this woman is drawn to this man named Jesus. When she has an opportunity to meet Jesus, she cries out to him, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession." With those few words we learn two things about this woman. First, we learn that she was a believer. She calls Jesus the Lord, the Son of David. That's a loaded term identifying Jesus as the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. Apparently, through her contact with the Jewish people or their Scriptures, she had come to believe in the True God of the Bible.

Secondly, we learn that this woman was enduring a severe hardship in her life. She had a daughter who was possessed by an evil spirit. Although demon possession does not seem to be as common today as it was in Bible times, the fact is, this woman was carrying a real burden. Can you imagine having a daughter who was physically inhabited by a demon, literally under the control of an evil spirit? Is it any wonder that when she comes into earshot of Jesus, her number one concern is, "Lord, please heal my daughter."

How did Jesus respond to her request? Matthew tells us, "Jesus did not answer her a word." Ouch! That must have hurt. Can you imagine, pleading your case before the one whom you had hoped with all your heart could heal your daughter…the one whom you believed to be the Son of God…and he gives you the brush off? Who wouldn't be discouraged by that?

And yet, this woman doesn't give up, does she? In Mark's parallel account we read that the woman "begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter." In fact, she is so persistent that finally Jesus' own disciples are pulling for her. The disciples come to Jesus and urge him to "send her away for she keeps crying out after us." By that the disciples probably didn't mean, "send her away empty-handed." Rather they meant, "Please, Lord, answer her prayer so that she can go in peace-and so can we."

So, how does Jesus respond to the disciples' request? He tells them simply, "I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel." Now what does Jesus mean by that? He means that he was sent by God to primarily work among the Jews. Even though Jesus is the Savior of all mankind, the fact is, Jesus spent the majority of his earthly ministry working among people of Jewish descent. But can you imagine how Jesus' words must have effected this Canaanite woman? I mean, first Jesus ignores you. And then when he does speak, he basically says, "I didn't come for your kind, lady. You're the wrong nationality."

But notice that this woman is still undaunted. She persists in her prayer. Matthew tells us that "the woman came and knelt before Jesus. 'Lord, help me,' she said." It is at that point that Jesus for the first time speaks directly to her. He says, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." Wow! Do you hear what Jesus is telling this woman? He's basically calling her a dog. He's saying that the Old Testament children of Israel in effect are the children of God and anyone else, including this Canaanite woman are just dogs. And since it would be wrong for the head of the house to feed the dog at the expense of his own children, so also Jesus says that it would be wrong for him to take care of her needs instead of his fellow Jews.

Now, I don't know about you, but I look at this whole scene and I'm thinking, "Man, why would Jesus treat this woman like this? Why does it seem like he's repeatedly giving her the cold shoulder?" The answer of course is found in the fact that Jesus is testing her. The faith of this Canaanite woman is I. A Faith that Was Tested. Now, when I say that her faith was tested, I don't mean that Jesus was trying to figure out whether she had faith or not. Jesus knew that she was a believer. No, Jesus' actions were not designed to determine whether she had faith but rather to give her the opportunity to put her faith into action. Through his interaction with this woman, Jesus was trying to lead this woman to trust him more completely. Jesus was attempting to peel away any ulterior motives she may have or any self-righteousness she may be harboring. He was forcing her to take a good hard look at who she was and what she deserved from God.

My friends, you realize that God still does the same thing today for you and me today? God doesn't always give us what we want. He often doesn't give things when we want them. Sometimes it seems God is ignoring us, giving us the brush off, just as Jesus seemed to be doing with this Canaanite woman. The question is: Why? Why would God do such a thing?

Well, there are a number of possible reasons that God might ignore our requests. Sometimes God ignores our requests because what we're asking for is just plain no good for us. If my daughter comes to me and says, "Dad, can I borrow your hammer? My sister is bugging me and I want to fix her once and for all"-if that's the request she brings, am I going to grant her request? No, I'm going to ignore it! I love her too much to allow her to use a hammer on her sister. So it is with God. Sometimes the requests we bring to God, the plans we make, the desires we have may seem perfectly logical to us, or perfectly acceptable in the eyes of the world, but God judges them as harmful, or not in keeping with his good will for our lives. And therefore, in love for us, he denies our requests or makes sure that our plans don't work out the way we had hoped. Remember that the next time you feel like God is ignoring you. Maybe what you are asking God to do for you isn't good for you or your fellow man. In fact, isn't that why Jesus teaches us to pray, "Not my will, Father, but your will be done"?

But now, maybe there are times when it seems that we bring a legitimate request to God, something that wouldn't be harmful to us, times when we bring a request like-well, like the woman's request to heal her daughter from demon possession. What's wrong with this request? Why didn't Jesus immediately grant her request? Why doesn't God grant our requests which aren't harmful to us?

Well, sometimes we ask for the right things. But still have the wrong attitude. In other words, sometimes we come to God with an attitude that says, "God, you owe me this one. I've been a good Christian all my life. I've paid my dues. There's no reason for you not to answer my prayer."

My friends, you do hear what's wrong with that kind of thinking? Even if we are asking God for something good, something that he wants to give us, still if we come with the attitude that says, "I deserve this, I've earned it. God, you owe it to me, well, that's pure self-righteousness on our part. Let's remember what we deserve from God. The only thing that we sinners have earned from a just and holy God is hell. Sometimes God delays his answer to our prayers to remind us exactly what we deserve from God. Sometimes God wants to give us the opportunity to realize that we are nothing but beggars, who are asking for scraps from the master's table.

In fact, isn't that the attitude that the Canaanite woman displayed here in our text? When Jesus tells her that it's not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs, what is her response? She says, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table."

My friends, do you hear that beautiful expression of humility on the part of this woman? She is basically saying, "Lord, I know that I don't deserve anything good from your table, but I humbly ask that you allow me just a crumb or two. And I trust that in your mercy, you will grant my request."

You see, that's the faith of this Canaanite woman. A faith that was not only tested by God, but more importantly, II. A Faith that Trusted in God. Isn't that the bottom line here? This woman trusted that Jesus had the both the desire and ability to heal her daughter. She trusted that Jesus could and would heal her daughter not because of who she was but because of who Jesus was. And isn't that what made this woman's faith "great"? In spite of all the obstacles that appeared to be in her way, she continued to firmly cling to the hope that God would have mercy on her and her daughter. And in the end, her hope was not in vain, was it? Jesus final words to her are these: "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And as Matthew informs us, "her daughter was healed from that very hour."

The question that we have to ask for our lives is, "How could this woman do it? How could she keep the faith in spite of what seemed like insurmountable obstacles? The answer: this woman put her trust in her Savior-God. Somehow through her contact with the people of Israel, she had come to know the promises God has made to send a Savior to rescue her from her sins and guilt forever. Promises which were now being fulfilled in the person of this Jesus in whose presence she stood. Because this woman knew what God had done for her in the past, because this woman knew what God promised to do for her in the future, she could trust that God would also take care of her needs in the present.

My friends, isn't the same thing still true for you and me today? Let's face it, there are going to be times when we feel like God is ignoring us. Times when we feel like the trials are more than we can bear. It's at times like these that we need to go back to what we know about our God. God loved you and me enough to die for us. He's already made the ultimate sacrifice to make us holy in his eyes. He wants nothing but good things for us. And he promises that even the trials that he allows into our lives, he will use for our eternal good.

When you and I, by the power of the Holy Spirit, keep our eyes and our hearts focused on that God, then what God said to a Canaanite woman, he will also say to you and me, namely, "Christian, you have great faith." God grant it for Jesus' sake. Amen.