Faith Revisited

Text: Matthew 15:21-28

Focus: Faith

Function: To Help people see the nature of consistent prayer. And to help people who believe that they are not good enough to find grace.

Form: Story telling with exegesis

Intro:

In Bible College, I was lucky. They had an entrance exam when I first started. It consisted of 150 really tough and precise questions about the Bible. They gave the same test when I was a senior. In order to graduate, one had to get at least 75 questions right. But they administered the test at the beginning to see how well they taught us the bible.

As I mentioned, I was lucky. When I started, I got 136 right. And since I scored so well, I was able to clep out of OT Survey and NT Survey. That was 6 hours of classes for which I didn't have to pay any tuition!

I remember those people taking those classes. They were hard! It was a lot of memorization of a lot of facts. I can still hear people saying: “Matthew 14, feeding 5,000. Matthew 15, feeding 4,000. 14 is 5,000, 15 is 4,000. Wouldn't it be easier if 14 was the 4,000 and 15, the 5,000?”

That was all they had to know about Matthew 14 and 15. But last week, we saw that the story of Jesus walking on the water is Chapter 14 as well. It seemed like they left something out in what they had to memorize.

And Chapter 15, starts out with Jesus and the disciples on a mini-vacation.

If you remember right before Jesus fed the 5,000, He got the news that John the Baptist was beheaded. He was sad. So He escaped to the wilderness to take some time to pray.

And the crowd followed Him. So, He cared for them. He healed them, preached all day and eventually, with miraculous power, He gave them the meal that fed 5,000 men and their families.

He finally gets His chance to be alone by sending the disciples on ahead in the boat to the vacation spot and takes His personal time to pray.

Prayer is important. Even for Jesus. Prayer isn't necessarily spending time on our knees repeating phrases that sound spiritual.

No. Prayer is honest communication with God. Sometimes it is rejoicing and gratitude. Sometimes it is bitter crying and complaining. Sometimes it is meditating and pondering truths and doubts.

People ask me: “How can you spend a day, or hours on end in prayer?” Don't try to be spiritual. Don't try to be spiritual. Don't try to be religious. Remember, Jesus left heaven where for eternity in the past He has been with God the Father every single day. I love it when I talk with my kids. We are family. And you are part of God's family as well. Just have a conversation with God about what matters to you.

Jesus finds refreshment in this prayer time. And during this time, He is made aware of the disciples struggle in the storm, so He leaves His time, walks across the water and delivers them.

In Chapter 14. He is away from the crowds. There are rumors about Jesus everywhere, so He cannot completely escape. But during this time, Jesus is taking time to relax, enjoy time with His disciples and focus on the day to day things that can get neglected when we start getting too busy.

So, it is no surprise when this woman, a gentile, when she requests a miracle, that Jesus ignores her. Did Jesus not love her? Does He love her less? Are the Jewish people more special? Was this some kind of test? Was Jesus just on vacation and doing the 1^st Century equivalent of allowing all of His calls to go to voice mail?

When Jesus ignores the woman, the disciples get frustrated. Not that they cared so much for the woman, but because she wasn't letting them alone.

They asked Jesus to either make her be quiet, or answer her prayer request.

Was answering the woman an hard thing for Jesus to do?

Who knows? In this exchange, we get a big lesson in faith.

Throughout the Old Testament, God reminds the Jewish people that He has blessed them for one reason: “So that they can bless the rest of the world.”

In all the prophecies about Jesus, we read that Jesus will come to save the entire world, not just one race.

Throughout the New Testament, racism is condemned. God makes it clear that not only does He love the Jewish people, He also love Gentiles as well. Brother Paul repeatedly says that Male, female, Jewish, Greek, slave or free, every single person is loved by God.

Does God love some more than others?

Does God love us more than others?

Does God love US Citizens more than others?

Does God love white people, black people, Asian people, Native Americans, Hispanics, Arabs or Jews more than others?

Of course not.

So what is Jesus doing when He ignores one group of people just because they are not born as direct descendants of Abraham?

Let's unpack it by looking at the history of Israel, Palestine and the symbolism in the miracles of feeding 5,000 and 4,000.

Listen, there is a lot to this story. How many baskets were left over when the 5,000 were fed? Right. 12

And how many baskets were left over with the 4,000? Right 7.

There are twelve tribes in Israel. And this woman was a descendant of the Canaanites who were displaced by the Jewish people when they escaped Egypt. 7 Canaanite nations were displaced.

People ask why God allowed such warfare and destruction to the local indigenous population. Well God made it clear. He tried and tried to get them to repent. But they refused and in their idolatry, they did terrible things to one another. They local religions forced people into prostitution. They regularly practiced human sacrifice. There was nothing wrong with not caring for the poor. It was a survival of the fittest mentality that justified all sorts of greed and violence.

And God sent prophets to get them to love their neighbors as much as they loved themselves. And they refused, so the OT indicates that God made an example out of them with the hope that others would listen and be kind.

It wasn't that God didn't love the natives in the land. It was that He gave up trying to get them to be kind, so in order to help other people be kind. He made an example out of them.

But that was OT law and retribution. This woman was a descendant of one of the people groups that God told the Jewish people to annihilate.

And Jesus tells this woman that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

But it is funny. Or it is symbolic what happens next.

He answers the woman's prayer and heals her daughter. He does this while He is traveling abroad with gentile people.

And then He returns to the outskirts of Jewish territory and feeds 4,000. Remember again how many baskets are left over? 7. And there were 7 nations displaced when the Jewish people came into Canaan.

God loves Palestinians as much as God loves Jews.

And this woman is sort of the key, the turning point in the story of God's mercy widening its boundaries farther and farther.

This is God opening the door to our own salvation. This is the end of the Old Covenant, a covenant of law and retribution. And it is the beginning of the New Covenant, the New Testament, the covenant of Mercy and forgiveness.

Let us look some more at this woman.

Jesus tells her that it isn't right to give the children's bread to dogs. Several commentaries are quick to point out something here. The word for dogs is the word for Pet dogs. It specifically refers to puppies. Everyone, even the people reading this story in the 1^st century would catch the subtle meaning of that word. That opening to God's grace.

Jesus says, parents don't give the puppies the food they have set aside for the children.

But everyone would realize that He was speaking of pet dogs, not mongrels, or wild dogs.

The term is a term of endearment toward the pet.

And it is almost as if the woman latches on to that phrase, quickly states, “But even the puppies get the table scraps!”

And Jesus, just as He is with the Roman Centurion is impressed with her faith.

There are only two people whose faith impressed Jesus and both of them were not Jewish.

That isn't saying that gentiles have better faith than Jews.

What it speaks to is Jesus' love for all humanity.

Think again about the woman.

Jesus is ignoring her. The disciples don't care, all that bothers them is that she is bugging them to get Jesus to notice her.

This age old tape, this message sometimes that we have in the back of our heads starts playing. We have this doubt: “we are not worthy of God's grace. God loves the world, but does He love me? What about all the hidden wrongs that I have done, or gotten away with?

Have you ever wondered if you are not worthy of God's love? Have you ever felt judged by the people of God?

Don't despair. It seems as if those are the times that Jesus becomes the most compassionate.

Immediately, He heals the daughter.

What about you?

Do you ever think that maybe you do not deserve a blessing, or the love of God in your life?

I know at times, I have preached, and many more times I have heard sermon after sermon reminding me of how much more I have to do in order to gain the favor of God.

But here is the thing. God's love comes without condition. We cannot earn it. Grace is a gift. Her response is proof. (ALTAR CALL FOR HEALING)