Blessing the Outcast Matthew 15:21-28

The Outsider Experience in High School and in Society

High school, for some, was a great experience. Sometimes you hear people say, well into their adult years, that they wish they could go back. But for others, their high school experience was not this case.

They found high school to be a place where there was a hierarchy of popularity. To this day, all the adults in this room could probably still remember who the popular people were, and the present high school students know who the popular people are right now.

Some are considered popular, others in the middle, and still others in the lower ranks. It is sad that this happens, but we all know that it does. To be one who is not on the in, and not celebrated among classmates, can make high school a difficult experience.

In this hierarchy that so often plays out in schools, there are certain unwritten rules. Popular students hang out with popular students, while other students are often left out. Now, on rare occasions, there are popular people who are kind to the outsiders, and they will hang out with any student, no matter what their status is.

But more times than not, some students are in the in, and others are not, and there is a separation between the two, and many feel left out. Now, to experience what many experience in high school, or in other communities in life, wherever it may be, is not a pleasant experience.

It is never pleasant to be an outsider. We all desire to be included, to be liked, to be accepted. During Jesus' ministry, there were two different groups of people that had an insider, outsider feel to it.

In Israel, these two groups were Jews and Gentiles. God chose to accomplish his purposes in the world through the nation of Israel. But this did not mean that the Gentiles were second-class citizens.

It was God's plan all along that through Israel's Messiah, the nations would enter into a relationship with their creator. But the man-made Jewish traditions from the scribes and Pharisees put a permanent divide between Jews and Gentiles.

Jewish tradition said they were not to have any association with Gentiles. The Jews were not. To be a Gentile in first-century Palestine would have been a miserable experience. They would not have been on the in.

They would have been on the out. They were outcasts in a society run by Jews. But when Jesus was around the Gentiles, it was a different story. They were included. They had every right to be included, just as much as a Jew who truly feared God.

Jesus and the Gentile Outsider in Matthew 15

As we continue our sermon series through Matthew this morning, we are going to see Jesus have a conversation with a Gentile outsider. And what he is going to say to her is remarkable for what was considered acceptable during these times.

So at this time, I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 15. We'll be looking at verses 21 through 28. And if you're using a red Bible in the pews, it's on page 976. This sermon is titled, Blessing the Outcast.

And here's our big idea. Come with strong faith to Jesus, expecting him to answer. But before we jump in, let's read the text. Matthew 15, verses 21 through 28. And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. 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.

He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

She said, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered her, oh woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly.

Okay, here's our big idea again. Come with strong faith to Jesus, expecting him to answer. Okay, now before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we were one Sunday ago. The last two weeks, in fact, we have looked at Matthew 15 -20.

The big point that Jesus got across is that it is the heart that matters and not external man-made traditions. Dead external religion does not please God. Rather, it is a heart that has been transformed by the Holy Spirit that pleases Him.

It is God's calling in our lives to live with our hearts engaged to Him. That everything we do would be done out of a deep love for Him. We also saw last week that people need to be alerted of dangerous teachers out there who will lead us away from deep fellowship with God and instead lead us down the wrong path.

It is a true understanding of Scripture keeping man-made teaching out that leads people to a life of fellowship with God, seeking Him with all of our hearts. Okay, so that's where we were the last two weeks.

But here we are in our text. And so, come with strong faith to Jesus. Expect Him to answer. And we have one way how that we will see in these verses. And that is through holding firm to your faith no matter what obstacles come your way.

Jesus Goes to Tyre and Sidon to Pursue the Gentiles

Let's begin by zeroing in on verse 21 where it says that Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. What we know from the beginning of chapter 15 is that Jesus was in the Galilean region when the scribes and Pharisees visited Him in order to challenge Him.

What verse 21 tells us is that Jesus left the Galilean region and went northwest to the port cities of Tyre and Sidon. These were located on the Mediterranean Sea. And this was not the region where the Jews lived.

This was the region of the Gentiles. And so He goes out of His way to pursue these people. And what I explained in the introduction is that this would have been controversial since according to the man-made Jewish tradition, Jews were to have no part with the Gentiles.

In fact, the Jewish leadership even believed that no Gentile would be in heaven in the future. They're just doomed forever. To be a Gentile meant that you had none of God's blessing. Only His curse. When you read the Gospels, you get the impression that Jesus enjoyed hanging out with the outcasts of society.

He didn't like the elite. The pompous, prideful jerks. I mean, for lack of a better way to say it. He was short with them. Especially the Jewish leaders. One of those groups is the Gentiles that Jesus was more than willing to interact with.

The downtrodden of society. The drunkards. The prostitutes. The tax collectors. These are the people He hung out with. And now it's the Gentiles that He pursues. The people in this region, the Jews in this region, were taught not to waste your time with them.

Since the Gentiles are unclean, and this people is a lost cause. But as we have seen in Matthew, we know that Jesus doesn't think very highly of Jewish tradition. It was hogwash. It did nothing to bring one into a closer relationship with God.

Jesus was more than willing to disregard the tradition of the elders. Because this tradition did not come from God, but from man. So when Jesus goes to these port cities of Tyre and Sidon, inevitably, He runs into a Gentile, since this is the land of the Gentiles.

And let's see verse 22 when He comes into contact with a Gentile. 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.

God's No Partiality and the Faith of Rahab

From the history of Israel, we know the dark history of the Canaanites. These are people who were engulfed in false religion as they worshipped not the Lord,.

But their own gods.

When God sent Joshua and the people of Israel into the land of Canaan, which was the land of promise,.

What did God tell them?

He told them to annihilate these people because He didn't want the Jewish people to intermarry. He didn't want them to be influenced by them so that they would go after other gods. He wanted them to be pure so that they would worship Him alone.

This is the history of the Canaanites. A dark history. But what we must understand about God is that He does not show favoritism to one people over another. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in Romans 2, verses 6 -11.

He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil. The Jew first and also the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. The Jew first and also the Greek.

For God shows no partiality. Another word for partiality would be favoritism. He doesn't have a bias toward one group over another. The Bible is very clear. Just because someone was a Jew does not mean that God showed them special treatment.

It is the one who believes and follows Him that He is pleased with, that He will take in to be with Him. In the Old Testament, there's a clear example of God not showing partiality to Israel over the Gentiles.

In Joshua, the Canaanite woman Rahab, who was also a prostitute, hid the two spies who were spying out Jericho. Rahab helped the people of God and God was pleased. She made the Faith Hall of Fame as it's been called.

In Hebrews 11, verse 31 says,. By faith, Rahab, the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. The history of the Canaanites I just shared with you.

God didn't care about that. She wanted God. God took her. To the one who comes to God in faith, whether from God's covenant people Israel or from the Gentiles, He receives if they come in faith. Hell will be populated with Jews who thought they were on the inn.

Who thought that they were special because God made a covenant with their fathers. Who thought they were holy just because of their ethnicity. Now there is an application for us here. There is. People who grow up in the Christian community can fall into this errant thinking.

We can think that we have an inn with God just because we grew up in the church. Just because we were baptized years ago. Just because we prayed a prayer. Thinking that prayer somehow was magical. But a changed life never came from it.

But one does not have an inn with God just because they grew up in the Christian community or have some connection with the church. Jesus describes a terrifying scene at the final judgment where many people like this will hear a terrifying judgment.

In Matthew 7 .23, Jesus said that He will say to many in the future, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness. Clearly from Scripture, God does not show favoritism. It is the one who comes to faith in Christ whom His favor is upon.

It doesn't matter who you are. In John 6 .37, Jesus said, Whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out. If you want Him, sincerely, you have Him. This was the mistake though that the Jews made and many cultural Christians make today.

We have an inn with God. Those people don't. But we do. God receives the one who comes to Him helpless. Realizing how much you need Him. This describes well this Canaanite woman in verse 22. She comes to Jesus crying and pleads with Him, Have mercy on me, O Lord.

Son of David,.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. This woman believes that Jesus can heal her daughter and she knows that He is the only one who can do it. This is faith. What is interesting is that we also see her call Jesus,.

Son of David.

This is a messianic designation. She not only believes in Jesus as this great healer, but also as the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. This tells us that this woman had some knowledge of the Scriptures.

I mean, she's a Canaanite woman. We wouldn't expect her to, but she calls Him Son of David. That's some knowledge of the Old Testament. She probably would have known of Rahab who was a Canaanite. She would have known that the God of Israel is the one true God of the universe.

She would have known.

That the Old Testament Scriptures predicted a future King who would reign forever with those who bow their knee to Him. And that King stands before her right here. Now, when she cries out to Jesus, his response or non-response is perplexing.

When you read this the first time,.

You're thinking, what is going on here?

Verse 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. You get the picture here, right? She's talking to Jesus, and Jesus doesn't respond to her.

So, okay, let's go to the disciples.

And they're like,.

She's just annoying.

Let's get rid of her. But this woman is exercising faith, and Jesus gives her a non-response. And you might wonder, why does he do this? The disciples believe that Jesus' non-response means He doesn't care.

And He doesn't want her there. And so they tell Jesus to send the woman away, since she continued to cry out to Him. So what is Jesus doing with this non-response? You know what He's doing? He's testing her.

He's testing her faith. True faith is persistent. True faith does not give up. If someone has true faith, even if they have questions or doubts, the solveness of one's faith will hold. It will not crumble.

It's like the one who asks God for something in prayer. As you pray, you don't see Him answer. One with no faith will give up and say, there must not be a God who hears us and answers our prayers.

Let's just give up.

That's what an unbeliever does. But this is not what happens for the one who has true faith. The one who has true faith will not give up. What we are seeing in this narrative from this woman is a true faith that does not give up.

Jesus Tests the Woman's Faith with Silence and a Mission to Israel

After this woman continues to plead with Him, to heal her daughter, Jesus once again responds in an interesting way. OK, so first response is a non-response. Let's see what His second response here in verse 24.

He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That sounds like favoritism. Did we just say God does not show favoritism? Now as He says this, He says it to His disciples. But the woman would have heard Him say this to them.

He wants her to hear Him say this to His disciples. And what Jesus is saying here is that the focus of His ministry is not for the Gentiles when He came, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The disciples were probably perplexed by Jesus saying this because this was not His first encounter with the Gentiles.

In Matthew 8, a centurion came to Jesus asking Him for His servant to be healed. Remember what Jesus said about that man? In Israel, I have not seen such great faith. In John 4, Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well.

And she believed in Him. And because of her witness of Jesus, many more believed in Him. So this is His third encounter that's been recorded with a Gentile. And as we have seen, Jesus was not afraid to talk with one who is taboo in society.

In that passage, Jesus offered Himself to the Samaritan woman living in water. In our text, the disciples are wondering why is He saying that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel?

Because He's talking to Gentiles. Jesus says this because the good news of the kingdom, this good news where people are called to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus, is offered to God's ancient covenant people first.

The Apostle Paul understood this in Romans 1 -16 when he wrote, I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek who would have been representative of the Gentiles.

The good news of God's kingdom is offered to both Jews and Gentiles, yes. But Jesus' main focus during His ministry was to Israel. He's Israel's Messiah. God made great promises with Israel. As God's ancient covenant people, the kingdom was to be offered to them first.

After Jesus' resurrection and ascension, this was also the case. In the book of Acts, Peter and John first preached in Jerusalem to the Jews. The focus of the Apostle Paul was to bring the truth to the Gentiles.

As the Gospel was preached to the Jews, the question they needed to answer was would they remain in a forever covenant with God by believing in His Son, or would they be cut off from Him forever? Because God doesn't show favoritism.

You don't believe in the Messiah. I don't care if you're a Jew.

You're gone.

To reject Jesus was to reject the God of Israel. And most Jews did. And even in the present day, most Jews do. But what's amazing about what the Bible predicts is that there will be a day when there's going to be a mass conversion of Jews, when this hardening will be lifted.

Romans 11 says all Israel will be saved. All the Jews who are around at the end of the tribulation are going to look upon their Messiah. They will look on Him whom they have pierced, and they will believe in Him.

But that's the future. In the first century, most of their hearts were hard. Their ethnicity did nothing for them with God. God wants faith. So as Jesus speaks this truth to this woman, He does it once again to test her.

The Gospel is first to the Jews, yes. But as we have seen, it is not only for the Jews. Once again, true faith pushes through obstacles. And let's see the woman's true faith pushed forth in verse 25. But she came and knelt before Him saying, Lord, help me.

The woman knew that the gods of the Canaanites could do nothing for her because they weren't real. Only the God of Israel and His Son Jesus, the God-Man, could help her. And as we see this woman push through with faith, even though Jesus puts up these obstacles to test her, this raises a question for each of you.

What obstacles are you pushing through right now in your journey through faith? Do you have doubts? Do you have doubts about whether this whole Christian thing is real? Do you have doubts about God's goodness as you face hardships?

Do you have doubts about His care for you? Do you have doubts that He will really show up? Do you have doubts that He is really working in your life for your benefit? Do you have doubts that He is close when He feels so far away?

Do you have doubts about the lack of progress in your life or the lack of progress in the life of someone else who you care deeply about? If we are honest, this is our common experience. These are obstacles that you face, but true faith will always persevere in the midst of these obstacles.

Doubt will not win in the heart of the one who truly has faith in Jesus. We sang that song today. He will hold me fast.

True faith perseveres.

True faith will always prevail. And this woman is demonstrating this true faith right here. Jesus does not respond warmly to her. And He does it to test her. But she continues to pursue Him. It reminds me of Jacob when he wrestled with God.

You will not leave me until you bless me.

That's faith.

But she continues to pursue Him. And as I mentioned, God does this to you. He may seem so far from you. You might wonder about unanswered prayer. You might wonder about why you cannot get yourself out of this rut.

And you might wonder if God is going to show up. And what this text shows us is that God uses silence in order to stretch our faith. We've already seen in Matthew how much God values faith. You want to make God happy?

Faith. Trust Him.

Jesus is blown away by faith. We saw that with the centurion. And he was first encouraged by the great faith of Peter when he walked out on the water. But then he was discouraged when he didn't have faith.

And then sank. We must believe He will do what He promises. As Hebrews 11 says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. You want to make God happy?

Have faith.

God is in the business of testing your faith and stretching your faith. God asked the question, how much does this person really trust me? Remember when he sent Abraham on that mountain to sacrifice Isaac?

How much does this man really trust me? Will he listen to me as I test him? God does not primarily care about your comfort. He cares about who He is making you to be. So if your life feels hard, don't be surprised.

If it's really easy, you should be surprised, okay? If it's hard, which it should be, as you're living the life of faith, do not be surprised. God is writing your story. I'm amazed what God uses to teach us.

You don't have lots of faith. Children have lots of faith. We can learn a lot from them. And God is teaching me about faith right now through my kids. In particular, my son Isaiah is a little boy full of faith.

He loves climbing high things. And he loves jumping off of high things, expecting me to catch him.

But you know what?

It makes me so happy because I'm thinking this little guy, for some reason, has a lot of trust in me. He expects me to show up. He expects me to catch him. He expects him not to fall and hit the ground hard.

When Peter was walking on the water toward Jesus, you can just see Jesus' face and the joy he must have had. Looking at Peter. He's coming to me. He's trusting me. But then the sadness, when he stopped trusting on his face.

If his eyes remain on Jesus, he would have arrived safely. Problems only occurred for Peter when he started to notice the waves and the wind around him and his eyes were off of Christ. And Jesus asked him, why didn't you trust me?

I'm trustworthy. If we want to please God, if we want to experience God's love if we want to experience true security, put yourself out there.

Trust him.

Trust that he will do what he has promised. The Bible is full of promises and everyone who knows Jesus Christ has a claim on those promises. They belong to you. The life of trusting God is the best life.

When we have faith, he is pleased and we are full of joy when we live that way. It's a miserable life to doubt, right? To always doubt him, to rely on ourselves. What a miserable experience that is. We need to rely on the solid rock who will take care of us.

In our text, Jesus is pleased as the Canaanite woman continues to push forward in faith.

It's interesting.

This has popped in my head and Mark was sharing this this morning in Sunday school.

He's like,.

I don't know how my life arrived where it did.

Right?

And this is an old joke, right? You want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans, right? We don't know what we're doing.

He does.

That's why we need to trust him, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. If you trust him, he will take you where he wants you to go.

And he puts up with our shortcomings.

Along the way too.

But he still leaves us there. He's so patient with us. Now, what's interesting here what we've seen in this text is Jesus gives her a non-response and then he tells her, you know, you're a Gentile and my mission is to the Jews.

The Children's Bread, the Dogs, and the Crumbs of Blessing

What's his third response? Let's see this in verse 26. And he answered, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. That sounds rude. So we get a non-response. Then we get a response that sounds like favoritism and then we get kind of a jab at her.

The Canaanite woman would have known what Jesus meant by these two terms, children and dogs. The children are the Jews, God's chosen people, and the dogs are the Gentiles. This term, this negative term that's applied to the nations.

In ancient Israel, there were two types of dogs. Those that roamed the streets and pets. Those furry friends that we have that live in the home. And we know this because the woman mentions the dogs eating the crumbs from the table.

Right?

We know this all too well with our pets, right? You know, the food gets off the table. They roam around the table, right? They love that. To call Gentiles dogs was insulting. And it's interesting that Jesus uses this negative slang term while talking with this woman.

Right?

His style sometimes surprises us.

He's sinless, right?

And he said this. He's not sinning here. He's testing her. And we might think by this point, she would give up to show that there really was no true faith. But she shows her true faith once again by her persistence.

Let's see her clever response in verse 27.

She said,.

Yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

Right?

She's saying,.

Even the Gentiles get to share in your blessing. This woman believed that Jesus' power to heal even extended to the Gentiles. Just as dogs benefit from the meal on the table, so the Gentiles, who were not God's chosen people in the Old Testament, benefit from God's work.

And she is right. God's blessing is not just to the Jews. She believes this. And Matthew 5, 3 says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The problem with the Jews in the first century is that they were full of pride.

They were self-sufficient. They thought they could earn their way to God. The kingdom of God is for the humble. It's for the humble Jew and for the humble Gentile. This woman, although a Canaanite, meets that criteria.

I mean, think of the history of the Canaanites. Just dark history. I mean, imagine coming from a tribe of cannibals, which do exist in this world. If you come in faith, he'll take you, even if you come from a tribe of cannibals.

Even if you come from a group of people like the Canaanites, who sacrificed their children to their gods. That's their history. It's a dark history. But if you're a Canaanite and you want God, you have Him.

Great Is Your Faith: Jesus Heals the Woman's Daughter

So after she continually pleads with Jesus to heal her daughter from this demon possession, Jesus finally responds warmly. Let's see this in verse 28. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith.

Be it done for you as you desire in her daughter. Her daughter was healed instantly. We would have expected that the first time. But He tested her three times. And He did it for her good. To show the genuineness of her faith.

And He does this to teach us. Everything in here is for our instruction. In our own lives. It is faith that impresses Jesus. And it doesn't matter who it's from. A Canaanite woman, a centurion, the woman at the well.

Doesn't matter. It is the one who is persistent in faith that pleases Him. And this is God's calling on your life. You need to show strong faith in Him. You need to trust that He will answer. You need to trust that He is there when you need Him.

And the truth is, you always need Him. This woman repeatedly got a hard response from Jesus. God may feel distant in your life. But you need to understand that God is very close. Isn't that something?

He is so close to you. And yet sometimes He feels so far away. And He does that to us. And He does it because He loves us.

But you know what?

That distant feel is not going to be there forever, right? He wants you to continue to pursue Him in your life. He is there. He wants to help you in your journey through the life of faith. And He wants to be with you.

And I love the picture at the end of the Bible. Where God dwells with us. And this distance we might feel with God now is not forever. He is close. Like the song we sing, right? Our faith is our eyes right now.

But in the future, we will see Him with our eyes. So come with strong faith to Jesus, expecting Him to answer. In these verses, we have seen one way how. And that is through holding firm to your faith.

No matter what obstacles come your way. This Canaanite woman sets us a great example. And we see the blessed response of such faith from Jesus. And this ought to motivate you in your lives. As you grow in your faith in God, you will experience the blessing of going that much further with Him.

As you persist, you will be blessed as you experience intimacy with Him and a lively life where you see Him work. You want to live a life of adventure? Live the life of faith. Trust Him. Ask Him for great things.

Do things that are hard. And He will catch you because He's trustworthy. Now, next Sunday, you will see the case for His messianic identity increase. As the common folks in this region, in fact, it's the region of Galilee, are amazed at His otherworldly power.

And I look forward, I've been working on this. I like to work ahead in my preaching. And I'm excited about preaching our next text next Sunday. But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for your closeness to us, even though sometimes you feel so far away.

Thank you for the relationship that you have with everyone here who knows Christ as their Lord, Savior and treasure. And I just want to say, if anyone here does not have a relationship with Jesus, Lord, I pray that they would see their sin, that they would see that Jesus went to the cross to die for those sins, and He was raised gloriously from the dead.

And by believing in Him, we'll have eternal life. And my prayer, Lord, is that everyone here would know you. Everyone here would be growing. Everyone here would be growing in faith. And this Canaanite woman sets us a great example.

So may we live that life, this persistence of faith that pleases you. In Jesus' name, Amen.