Matthew 15
Mar 13, 2022 2022-03-13 Ben Hoyer Matthew 15A Lenten message on Matthew 15 and the Canaanite woman whose persistent, non-performative, need-based faith Jesus calls great, urging listeners to approach God honestly from a place of brokenness and need.
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I do. I want to think about this K-night woman story for us as well this morning. I mean, we're going to spend some time in Psalm 121 later. I love that Psalm. It's one of my absolute favorites. Back when I could remember how to translate Hebrew, I translated it and I just loved it. But we're going to spend some time thinking about that later. Right now, I'd love to look at this story in Matthew 15.
Thanks, Carol. Matthew 15, verse 21. Remember that all these Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are writing a genre of Greek literature that we would call Bios, right? It's where biography comes from. But they would take true happenings and elements of the story of someone's life
and write those elements in order to communicate something that was true about the person. But it was understood it was not important that these stories went explicitly in chronological order. Meaning, the biographies of Jesus that we call the Gospels are not intended to be a comprehensive chronological account of what happened in the life of Jesus.
They're intended to communicate the true identity and implication of the identity of the person Jesus of Nazareth. And so Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John organized true events of the life of Jesus in such a way to communicate particular truths. Now, all four of them have the macro truths of Jesus being the promised Messiah, the delivering King.
And then inside of that, they all have some nuanced truths for the audience that they're writing to. And so Matthew, perhaps most of the four Gospels, more than any of the other three, wants to communicate that Jesus is the fulfillment of the calling of Israel. Jesus does what Israel could not.
One of my favorite ways that this was described to me is Jesus almost is Israel reduced to one person. That the commissioning that Israel gets, especially, you know, our Old Testament reading assigned for today is where Israel comes into being when Jacob wrestles with the deity, with God, and then gets the new name. He changes his name from Jacob to Israel, right?
But Israel's real commissioning comes in Exodus, maybe even at Sinai, Exodus 19, and says, you'll be these things for me in the world, right? And of course, the conditional parts of that, if you will do this, then you will be for me this. Israel gets stripped of its role because it can't keep up its side of the bargain, but God still has in mind to accomplish the purpose of Israel. He just does it through the one person, Jesus. And so actually Matthew is so intent on communicating that Jesus is Israel reduced to one,
that if you follow the beginning of Matthew, you see he almost recapitulates the story of Israel. Like in Matthew, he goes down into Egypt to escape persecution, right? And to escape danger. Then he comes up out of Egypt, and then he goes through the waters of the Jordan River, he goes through the waters and out into the desert for a period of 40 days instead of 40 years,
where he is tempted. Then he comes out of the 40 days in the desert and goes up to deliver the Sermon on the Mount. In Luke it's the Sermon on the plain, and Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount, right? And where he gives a re-giving of the law. Matthew is trying to communicate to his mostly Jewish audience that Jesus is Israel reduced to one. He's doing what Israel could not. He is the kingdom of priests, the holy nation.
He is the blessing, the city on a hill, now that all people would find their way back to God. That's significant for us today because we're reading Matthew, and Matthew gets into it a little bit here in Matthew 15 verse 21. Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking about how cool it is to me that Jesus has these 12 disciples, these 12 guys, young men, trying to learn from him and be like him. But it's cool to me that he has three that he likes more than the other nine. I like that Peter, James, and John. It's not like I don't like that he has. I don't think of it as an exclusive. They get more access, though they do get more access.
But it seems like they get more access just because Jesus likes those guys better. And I love any time I get a glimpse at the humanity of Jesus. Paul says that the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead is alive and active in me. And when I see the humanity of the person of Jesus, it gives me the hope that I could be a person like him. That I don't have to be somehow dispassionate and 100% even all the time.
That I can have things that I like. And in this one, people that I like. And in this one right here, he says he withdrew from the region. And Matthew pulls this out several times. He goes in and engages in Israel and Jerusalem. He can handle it for a minute and then just needs to withdraw and to tire and sight it and get step out for a minute. He just got to get back and get away. And they love this humanity of Jesus.
We don't have to be somehow productivity robots. That we were designed to get tired for heaven's sake. Jesus of Nazareth did. And Jesus went away from there and went through to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying. Now, we missed something here a little bit because of our legitimate and fair ignorance.
For Matthew to say that this was a Canaanite woman, it's like a little bit weird because it's not like Canaan was an active authority in the space. Bartazza version of this story and he calls her more accurately in the moment of Tyro-Fenistan woman. The closest parallel I was reading a little description of this text earlier. The closest parallel would be like if someone were from Ireland and you said a kelp came my way.
It's an old term for a group of people who used to be active and live here and their legacy lives on. And so when Matthew is pointing out, it says there's a Canaanite woman that comes, it's to jab at his Jewish readers. Because the Canaanites are like the long term historic, real, thorn in the side of Israel.
Like of course in their height, the Israelites took Canaan's land. But then not all the way ever. And so the Canaanites are always there pulling the Israelites away from true faith. So any Jewish reader in the church when it says a Canaanite woman came up to try and talk to Jesus, remember when Jesus goes to see the woman at the well and he can't believe, actually he corrects him and says you shouldn't be talking to me.
So when Matthew says this Canaanite woman approaches Jesus, it's only trouble. Whether it's like personal trouble, like she's trying to tempt Jesus away from who he ought to be and what he ought to be up to. Whether it's a political trouble trying to phase him into a political fight or trap him. But when a Canaanite woman approaches a Jewish rabbi, it's only trouble.
And so Matthew's using coded terms here in this story to describe the woman. 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. I mean there's so many things we could spend time on there. I don't want to spend a lot of time. Son of David means she thinks she knows who he is and that's a specific term, right?
And it's an Israelite term. And then my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. You know the church has always said that the things that pull you away, the triad is the world, the flesh and the devil, that you would have like if we in this time of Lent, if we're thinking about our need for repentance, the places that draw us into need repentance are the world in general pulling us culturally away from the culture of the reign of God,
our own sinful desires and it says there is this tempter, the devil. And so the woman is saying that this tempter, the devil is plaguing her daughter and asks for the Messiah, the son of David, to help her. But he did not answer her a word. The Jewish reader would be applauding at this moment. Say the Course, Jesus. Don't pay this woman any mind. She is tricking you.
It only means trouble. She's begging you. So, Matthew's reader, this is a virtuous action from Jesus. But he did not answer her a word and his disciples came and begged him, saying, send her away for Jesus' crying out after us. I love this that the disciples, like this woman, is coming to Jesus and he's toeing the line.
But he's crying. So he's just not saying anything. And it is getting annoying for the disciples. They are like, this woman will not go away. Imagine the headspace of the Canaanite woman, the Cyrofinesia woman from the Iron Side. To be annoying to a group of people, far straight ignoring her.
Like, I wonder if you've been in places where you feel like powerless or hopeless. I remember one time when I went to, I got into the University of Florida by some divine act. Like, I certainly would not make it into the U.S. today.
And I don't think I should have made it in then. I think it was just the grace of God and I'm grateful for it. And then I had this idea, by the time I got there, like I had a semester of work done already. And so I was like my first semester, I was trying out classes from different majors. I thought I might pursue. And I had been playing the piano, like kind of for fun, all through high school.
And so I really liked music theory and I liked the piano. And so I thought I might do like a minor in music theory. So I took music theory one, music theory two, and it started to get kind of tricky after music theory two. But I was hanging in there and then you got to go to declare your minor. And in order to clear your minor, you also have to have a performance instrument.
Now, I had been taking kind of lessons, but I'm especially college freshman me was not particularly disciplined. And certainly high school me was not particularly disciplined. So I liked making stuff up on the piano more than I even liked really reading music and playing on the piano. Right? And so I like, but I was like, I was so enamored with figuring out chord progressions and the relations of music theory. It was so much fun. And so I thought I'm going to figure out how I'm just going to, I scheduled for an audition for the performance thing.
Right? And so I get, finally I get in the sky like from Europe is the piano instructor at the University of Florida. And I go to his office and he's got a grand piano there. And I'm going to play a piece for him. And I lay out some music. He's like, you don't have it memorized? And I said, no, I don't have it memorized. He's like, sometimes I think people that can't memorize music, it's not the love. They don't love it.
It's like, oh yeah? Oh, well I love it for the piano. And it was not, and he was kind, was not anywhere near of the part that they needed, you know, for me to be a performance minor in piano. I mean, just, he was kind not to laugh at me. Right? And I can't remember, this is the moment I flashed on. Like I'm thinking about this woman who, Jesus is ignoring her.
The disciples are telling her to go away. And finally they go to Jesus and go, would you tell the woman to leave? She's so annoying. And she's not even one of us, man. She doesn't even deserve your attention or your time. Right? But she keeps coming and being annoying. And I had this, I used to, then when they wouldn't let me be a music minor, I figured out, I lived on campus, that I could go at night. And if I took the front doors on the music building really hard, one would open.
So I just liked playing the piano. So I would go at night, I'd leave my dorm, I'd go at night on campus, I'd shake the music, I'd get one open, and I'd go into one of the practice rooms and just play piano, because I just liked playing piano. Right? And they fixed that eventually. And I can remember being so frustrated, like I'm staying on the doors, shaking on the doors going, I just want to know more music, and they won't teach you, they won't even let me take any more classes in music, because I'm just not good enough.
And I remember there's nothing I could do. And I remember feeling like they have all this knowledge in this building and they won't let me get in there and get it. So frustrated. Right? And the only thing I could do, they had the answers, I had no answers, they didn't want to give it to me, I couldn't make them. Right? And I flossed on that image at night trying to get into this building, this woman who has heard there's a Jewish rabbi around who can solve this problem for her daughter.
And he's not paying attention to her. His friends are telling her to go away. But they are the ones who have the answers. She can't make them, so she's just going to keep their shaky on the doors. It means the things that I need to solve this problem. Which makes Jesus' next phrase even harder, right? And his disciples came and begged him, saying, send her away, for she is crying out after us.
And he answered, I was sent only to the law sheet of the House of Israel. Which the readers of Matthew are happy about. And it's true, Israel reduced to one. It's like, I got to finish the calling of Israel, and then once we get through that little wicked, boom, it'll open up to everybody. But we got to do it this way. We got to resolve the calling of Israel, complete the calling of Israel, and then once we do that, everyone will see the city on the hill, like the surface lifted up on the snake.
But everyone will find their way back to the God. And Jesus is like, I'm tired, came out here to withdraw, and came tonight. Look, the peanuts have been problems forever. I don't have time. Came out here for Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord help me. She's like, persistent. The only reason I can think that she is this persistent is she has no other options.
And then he answered, it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. This is the same Jesus. Now, the thing I was reading a new day points out that he could have been harsher. It was just like small consolation when you call someone a dog. But it was like the nice term for dog. I guess there are two in the Greek.
There's one that's more like street mongrel, like just running around the street. This one's like the dog that might be a pet, it's like more an endearing term for the dog. But it's like, look, I came for Israel first. And this is a thing that we are solidly in the individualism of the West. The notion that we might be lumped together with the third and the fourth generation.
You remember that when you look at the story of Scripture, when you just read it as a whole, God talks about nation groups and generations more than he talks about individuals. And definitely when he talks about the way he's relating to humanity, God talks more about generational lines and nation groups than he talks about individuals. It means that so much of who we are is shaped by where we come from. And God says that he visits his grace down to a thousand generations, but the sins of the fathers follow down to the third and the fourth generation.
And part of the way that we think and live, we owe to our parents. That's not rocket science, we've all been through enough therapy by now to think about that. But there is spiritual components to that. There is a reality that connects to the divine that follows through that same thread that we all have been trying to unravel. We're getting more and more aware of.
And so when he says, look, I'm over here feeding the Israelites. The Canaanites have been distracting and confusing and confounding and tempting the Israelites for generations. Why would I come and give the grace of Israel to a Canaanite woman? It's just like this is the way the scriptures talk about it. We can talk more about it if you want to have to.
But that's just what he says. And then she says, yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters table. She's like, I don't need, I get it. You're the son of David. You're an Israelite messiah. I'm a Canaanite woman. But throw me a bone here. Persistent and clear eye. The only reason she would put up with this is she has, she's like this person is the only one who can handle it.
This is the only person who can fix this problem for me. And so then Jesus answered her, oh, he's standing. Great is your faith. I haven't verified this, but I read that this is the only time Jesus admonishes someone's faith in Matthew's gospel. His real, thickened eye for all the Jewish readers for Matthew.
That he's working hard to draw out. He's got a real play-by-play of this conversation which doesn't always happen. And he sets it up with, he's gone, out is withdrawn, away from Israel, into Tyre and sighted. And he sets it up with you again by intentionally calling the woman a Canaanite woman instead of a Cyrophonnesian. And then Jesus does the right thing by ignoring her. Then he does the right thing by telling her I came for Israel not for you. And she pushes through all of those things so that then Jesus says, what does he say?
And then great is your faith. He had done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. My daughters are doing okay, thank God. But I think my life would be better. My future would be more secure.
My experience, my self-conception, if I had that kind of faith. I would like to be someone who has great faith. I believe the story enough that when Jesus says this woman has great faith, I want to know what it is. There's a lot I'd be interested to hear what you guys think at some point about this, why Jesus calls this woman's faith great.
But there's a couple of things that are that are distinctives about it. One, there's absolutely no performative aspects to it. She does not dispute she is the dog under the table. He does not claim any right or obligation from God to give her anything.
He just says, hey, just a little bit from you would solve all of my. There's absolutely nothing performative about it. She says, I haven't, she doesn't point to her persistence. She doesn't point to her patience. She doesn't point to the severity of her need. She's not like my need is big enough. She doesn't try and argue him into it. She's just like, please, because you can.
And I think the other thing is like the persistence shows her the humility of her neediness. I think this happens. There is such shame around need that I think even privately, like in our own self conception, in the quiet corners of praying with God, we are hesitant to approach God from a simple place of need.
And for me, this is a great tragedy. This sirofinesian woman, this Canaanite woman from prior and side end, this is all under the table of Israel, gets free grace outside of the proper order of God, moved without expectation or intent. God was not playing games with her. He was not setting fences saying, if you come this far, he defoli intended to keep on moving past her and not give her anything, right?
But her humility, her honesty, he got grace from God before he was expecting to give it. I would like grace from God. And it occurs to me that a straight way to the grace of God is to acquaint myself with my need. If I wonder, last week we talked about the life ordering potential in the gospel.
And if I'm not encountering the way of Jesus as a life ordering truth, if it's an interesting idea that I can append to my life, part of the reason I'm not interacting with all of it is because I am unacquainted with my need. I am satisfied with my own capacity to live.
This is foolishness and tragedy for you. Became that woman was acquainted with reality. And from a position of brokenness and a reality, she approached God and got grace to change her life. If you would like grace to change your life, the greatest way is brokenness.
This is why the prophet, Hosea, especially says God will tear you down and then restore you also. This is why one of the movements of God is to kill you and then make you alive again. If you would like to encounter God, invite some brokenness.
Hey Lord, remind me of my need. In what way am I like the woman? But I have been either haughty or blind to my need to do the dangers around me. I don't want to live that way, especially because I don't have to. Because your goodness and grace rushes in to meet me in my place of brokenness.
It's a good season for that. This is Lent. That's what we do now. I'm just saying this is an act of God. He's doing it over and over again and he will give you brokenness if you ask for it. It's fair that you should. It would be great. Because then he can also give you restoration of your goodness. Bye. Hey Lord, love us as only you can. The love that convicts and restores, that breaks down and forgives.
Love us as only you can this morning, even now. For the sake of your son Jesus we pray. Amen.