Well, if you're visiting this morning, we are continuing our study in the Gospel of Matthew. I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 15, Matthew chapter 15, and that's found on page 975 in the Bibles that are in front of you. As I've been trying to show you in Matthew, there's a sort of running narrative here that the chapter breaks in sections as we have them in our Bibles, which aren't inspired, the breaks and the chapters, you can miss the connections. And very important is the connection today between what we studied last time with the issue of the tradition of the elders and then the faith of the Canaanite woman. So our text will be verses 21 through 28. I'd like to read again beginning at 15:1. This is the word of the Lord. Let's give our attention to it this morning.
Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat." He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, If anyone tells his father or his mother, "What you would have gained from me is given to god he need not honor his father So for the sake of your tradition you've made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men
And he called the people to him and said to them, "Hear and understand: it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person." Then the disciples came and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone. They are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."
But Peter said to him, "Explain the parable to us." And he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person? For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
And now our text: "And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from this 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's 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."
And there will end the reading of God's Word.
Well, we really do, beloved, come this morning to the heart of the Gospel of in the gospel of Matthew, of what matthew I think, is really intending to show us. This is a crucial section that, as we've been looking at, exposes the very concerns that came out of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. And I want to begin there again. I think we can't miss this: when Jesus said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom," that was a jolting statement, a shocking statement indeed. These were the pastors in Israel. These were the most aspired people wanted to aspire to be. These were the the very sharp, knowledgeable religious leaders who spent so much time devoted to the law of God.
But remember what Jesus is doing: he's essentially saying something shocking in our text this morning. I don't want us to miss, and it is this great truth, that the religion of the scribes and the Pharisees is altogether a different religion than that of Jesus's. I don't know if you heard that altogether different. They had built their own system of righteousness. It was not the religion that came from God. And I think the text today is really capturing this great contrast here for us. Maybe one of the most important contrasts in all of Scripture when capturing and showing for us. Maybe you've wondered: What is the Lord after? And what does it look like when he wants a true worshiper? Showing us or showcasing for us a heart that's truly cleansed what does that? look like um what kind of religion flows from that that's what jesus is after and that's why this this woman is such a unique figure in the gospels and somebody I think we have to spend some time with to show us what is genuine to show us what is true in our day to say this is authentic."
You all know the superficial, external stuff has been very hard on the church's mission and witness. We've all reacted to it. And that's why this text is so important this morning. You know what it is? We've complained about it for years. We have a label for it. We call it Phariseeism if we can say that phariseeism is the imposing of some kind of morality as a man-made standard. As we've been looking at, but even using the law of God for self-justification. What we do, then, is important to study this: to see how this religion shows up naturally in the human heart. That's what we've been studying in Matthew's Gospel. And typically what we do is we just simply trade one form of phariseism for another. Everyone kind of likes to attack the Pharisees, but really we have to remember it's showing us the religion of the best religion that somebody can give God apart from a cleansed heart. And that's our great problem.
So we have here in Matthew chapter 15 the Pharisees and the scribes imposing upon the people the tradition of the elders. Now we can do this, can't we? We've looked at this. It's important. We might say, "Well, the organ is the only way that we could truly worship god it's just a band in a box, you realize right Or the the evangelicals who have the the big bands that's the only way that we're going to truly worship God." See see what we do, and what we're good at, is imposing a standard by which we think the true worship of God can be achieved. And we bypass, in the heart of it, the heart itself. We're all around it. We're all around it. That's why this passage is so important this morning, because then you can begin to see: when you put these two accounts together, exactly what Christ is addressing and what Christ is after.
What we have this morning is Jesus showcasing a heart that is truly cleansed, and from that heart comes true worship.
Well, those were the issues we looked at last time. I want to show you that with the goal that you would identify with this woman today. That's the goal of this: to identify with this woman. For she is a Gentile. She is a Gentile. That is really us, isn't it? There's a picture and something is put on display for us that is really important for the Christian life. Well, that's my goal today: is to show you this.
The issue, of course, of the cleansing of the heart is a big one in Scripture. You cannot go throughout the Old Testament and the New with not seeing how predominant an influence it is to speak about a cleansed heart. Think of all the passages that we have. We sung out from Psalm 51: "Create in me a clean heart, oh God; that was David. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence." I remember Psalm 24, which I think was kind of to the background of this: "Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? And who can stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart." And we can go right to First John, when when John encourages the Christian to come and confess his sins that something happens for us when you confess your sins. "He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and to do what? Cleanse you." There's actual cleansing of the heart that happens in Christian ministry. That issue is front and center in Matthew 15.
Remember, they came to Jesus, and all the way from jerusalem some 80 miles to the top of the Sea of galilee and they came to catch him in a trap. And they came and said to him, "Why your disciples not wash their hands when they eat bread?" Now, it's important we'll look at this next time but our ESV translation doesn't have "bread" there, but it's there in the original. There's three sort of bread incidents here: there's a bread incident that begins with with cleansing; then you have the issue of the the Canaanite woman wanting to eat the crumbs of the bread; and then Jesus will go out and feed 4,000 with bread. But the concern was of the Pharisees and the scribes was that jesus was breaking the tradition of the elders by this cleansing. Remember, 30 chapters in the Mishnah were given on cleansing and the importance of cleansing properly to come before God. They were concerned that this would take place so that people would be cleansed from defilement by the Gentiles. You couldn't even brush up against a Gentile without becoming defiled. So the problem in Israel was clear: of what had developed in this religion of israel was that they had created a system of their own righteousness called the tradition of the elders. And it was this by which they tried to cleanse themselves externally before God. They thought that if the tradition was kept just right, they would then become true worshipers of God.
And in the process, Jesus exposes the glaring hypocrisy: that they found a way out of actually dealing with the law of God. That's why he raised the fifth commandment last time. Remember, where he said, "You guys they added a little word: Corbin their gift, so that if their parents needed something, if they needed help in old age or money to survive they didn't have convalescent homes and those sort of things then they could just say, Corbin it's it's a gift we don't have to give it." And he says, "You hypocrites! You found a way out of actually hearing and applying the law of God itself for the sake of your tradition."
So Jesus reacted strongly. Jesus was aggressive here. He had no time for this. He went after it with both barrels: "Why do you break the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition?" Did you hear what he just did? He just said to the you might say the strict conservatives the legalists he just called them antinomians. I don't know if you caught that: you found a way out to break the law of God. That's why I said legalism and antinomianism against the law or legalism that tries to find a way to justify yourself with the law or extra man-made commandments are just two sides of the same coin. They play off of each other. Both groups both groups can easily set aside the law of God in their own way with their own standards.
Well, Jesus reacted against this. Remember, he quoted uh Isaiah, chapter 28 29 "In vain to these people worship me, teaching his commandments, the doctrines of men." And what's interesting is if you go back and you look at these texts that are cited in the New Testament from an Old Testament passage, what you'll see is: when you read around them, which is what the authors want you to do, surprising things that are said. And this is said right in Isaiah 29, following that statement "In vain do they teach, teach as commandments the doctrines of men." You find this verse: "The meek shall receive fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exalt in the Holy One of Israel." Who would that be? Who would that be? That's crucial for our text this morning.
I went through that again because here remember what Jesus began to apply it he made a big teaching moment of it when he said, "Hear and understand: it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth defiles a man." And then Jesus gave, I think, the most sweeping indictment in all of Scripture to apply the doctrine of sin so that people understand how he levels the playing field with the doctrine of sin.
When he says, "Listen, it's what comes out of the heart that defiles somebody. What comes out of the heart are evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, false witness, thefts, blasphemies. This is all constantly pouring out of your hearts. That is just something, isn't it? That's what's defiling you before God. Putting on this, that doesn't make me righteous. It's what's coming out."
Remember Cain. "Sin is crouching at your door. It's not trying to get in. It's trying to lash out." And that's what happened he went and killed his brother. The murder started there. So this is what Jesus was teaching to the multitudes. It was a big teaching moment. It's by virtue of your unclean's cleansed hearts that all you are in trouble. God sees it all, isn't that something? About the omniscient eye of the Lord: he sees everything coming out of the heart. I mean, what do people do when they send They try to close the shades, they try to close doors. The heart's wide open. He sees it all.
Now you can see why it would be such an issue with Jesus to have a whole religion that would try to cleanse itself externally and think that's how people get to God, right? It's begging the question: what is needed? And what then would produce true worship? What could be done to have the heart dealt with this way, so that what comes out is from a purified heart? That's the issue. What does that look like? How do I know if I have it?
And this is where I stop and say: "Well, welcome to the Canaanite woman." You really can't appreciate what happens with the Canaanite woman until you understand all that background.
The Canaanite woman is remarkable. The Canaanite woman shines in Scripture in such a rare way. jesus did you hear him at the end oh woman, I don't know how he said it i would love to have been there great is your faith!" Everyone, look: that's what I'm after. That leads us to this glorious passage.
Jesus encounters something the Jew could have never imagined or would never have wanted to imagine. In verse 21, he arose from there and went to Tyre and Sidon. Don't miss that he had been just assaulted by the religious leaders who had come from Jerusalem. It's like coming from Grand Rapids. We all said that's the heart of it in America, isn't it? Reformed theology. This is where they came from. And Jesus departed out to Hemet. He did that on purpose. He knew right where he was going. And he had an appointment.
Verse 25: "A woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him, saying, have mercy on me, oh Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon possessed Matthew says she's a Canaanite. Isn't that an interesting mark says tire inside, Canaanite." Canaanite. They were the most unclean people all throughout history that Israel despised, and whom Israel was to wipe off the face of the Earth. They were despised by the Jews. These were the people whom the Lord would would execute her in warfare on one day.
Well, notice here: she came to Jesus and she just keeps asking. She just keeps asking. Would you cast this demon out of my daughter, please? What a love for her daughter. And if you've had children afflicted, you know the pain of this. She is deeply burdened.
It's interesting what she says: "Son of David." The issue will come up later in Matthew, but I want you to remember this maybe later in Matthew, remember what happens? Jesus says to the Pharisees, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They say, "The Son of David." Jesus says, "Doesn't David call him now listen carefully doesn't david call him Lord? If he does, how is he his son?" Jesus was making clear that the Lord God is the son of David. He penned them. They wouldn't answer him a word.
Look at her. Look at look at her address here carefully. She comes up to Jesus: "Lord, son of David, Lord, son of David, have mercy on me." She knows him. She sees him. This is a Canaanite coming to the Jewish Messiah, recognizing it's the Lord who is the son of David. No Pharisee would ever have said that about him. What a scene. What a scene. This is a remarkable scene.
Notice she continues begging. She's just begging. It should stand out. She just kept asking. She wouldn't leave him alone. And he's not answering her a word. "Lord, have mercy on me, on my daughter, son of David." It's just glaring. But he answered her not a word. Can you even imagine that?
One thing that I've tried to do as a pastor every Sunday is attempt to communicate over and over that the Lord answers you, right? That when you confess your sins 70 times 7, he actually forgives you? Oh, I want you to understand that. I want you to know that. That's my great burden as a pastor that you'd know the forgiveness of the Lord, that he has answered you. What if you didn't hear a word?
So you can picture this: they're walking. He's in Tyre and Sidon, region Canaanite region. She's dragging herself, if you will, at his feet, begging him. He just keeps walking. She keeps crying out. Nothing. Disciples come up, begged him, "Send her away, she just keeps crying out after us get rid of her."
And then comes the most perplexing response of the narrative something we've not seen from Jesus in the Gospels. Every time somebody seemed to have come like this with this kind of contriteness and this kind of brokenness and this kind of crying out, unlike this prideful scene we had just come out of, he showed mercy. He he helped. Nothing. After all this silence, after all this begging, he then says this: "I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
It gets worse. She continues to beg. He says, "It's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."
Now in any sort of sense at least if this were our day what an insult, right? He just called the woman a dog. That's not going to fly in a woke culture for sure. Well, that word had a lot of meaning for Jews. Was often referred to Gentiles. It's a different word that's used elsewhere, but it's still the same thing. It's a dog.
Matthew has been telling us the whole time: Jesus welled up with compassion for people. This is so uncharacteristic. This is the last thing she seems to get for a while is compassion. She gets kind of rough treatment from him. "I came for Israel. I came for Israel. I'm not throwing the children's food to a dog. What in the world is this?"
Well, he won't stop. He won't respond. And when he does, he calls her a dog. Then he says this: "Let the little children be filled first, for it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to a little dog."
What he was saying was: salvation belongs to who? Israel. Salvation belongs to Israel.
Now, this is where I said: you have to put the scenes together. What just happened? Well, it was the children of Israel who assaulted him. It was the Pharisees and the leaders and the pastors of Israel who had just assaulted him for not washing properly, right? The tradition of the elders was just imposed on Jesus. And what was the most unclean thing to a Jew? This was the very reason the hand washing incident was raised: was because the disciples had brushed up against Gentiles. That's where Jesus was often. They called all Gentiles dogs.
What did Jesus just say? Do you think to the multitudes, "Somebody is made clean by properly washing their hands"? It's not what goes in. It's what comes out that defiles. That leveled everyone. But they, of course, only looked at things externally. They looked at her. They would have looked at this woman and said, "She's unclean, she's a Gentile," they would have been in agreement.
Here's here's where I think the scene challenges us a bit: it had the pharisees been standing there, and at least the disciples were standing there, they would have all agreed with Jesus. "Amen. Get her out of here. She's unclean. Have nothing to do with her." Jesus just said, "That's not what makes somebody unclean." You see?
What's he doing here? Well, he's making a scene. He's making a scene. He is drawing something out. Jesus treats this woman roughly for a minute. In fact, he offends her. What just happened with the Pharisees? He offended them. He just offends her.
I always like to think: here's proof of inspiration. Anytime you deal with confronting human righteousness and people's self-confidence, it's going to cause offense. I'm so thankful for that little verse: "You see, the Spirit's wisdom there. Do you know the Pharisees were offended?" Jesus wants to illustrate something. I believe he's using this moment to show the disciples, to draw out a heart that's truly cleansed.
Now, I wasn't there, but I bet it went something like this: as she's begging, he doesn't even look at her, but he looks at the disciples. "Well, you know, it's just for the children. It's not right for me to take what's holy and give it to the dogs, right?" Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong on the you know? inflection Well, whatever the case, the disciples would have said, "Amen. We shouldn't even be here."
What did she do? Here's the grand moment of the story. Here's the grand moment.
Big verse: is verse 25. "But she came and knelt before him." If you look at that carefully, you'll notice there, um, it's really the word for worship. What? What did Jesus just say? He's seeking these people. "Draw near to me with their hearts or mouths, but their hearts are far. In vain do they worship me." She comes down. She worships. And she says, "Lord, help me."
Such a moment in the Gospels. It's sort of everything everything I think Christianity is pushing us to see about Christ and response to him. "I need you. You're all I have. I believe you are the Lord, the son of David."
What a um different spirit than that of the self-righteous leaders of Israel. "Oh, you don't wash properly before you eat."
One is a legal spirit. I don't know if you've you really can see the difference here between a legal spirit and a Gospel spirit, do you? Understand the difference. A legal spirit and a Gospel spirit? See how ugly the legal spirit is? Picking apart everyone, imposing a standard, beating everyone with that standard, and they don't even keep the standard themselves? Jesus just said, "Israel draws near with their mouth, but their heart is far." Is she far? Is that heart far?
Well, what do people want from Christ? See, I believe he is exposing the unrelentless drive of this woman, who just keeps coming. And might I be so bold to say, she won't accept no for an answer. She won't accept no. I think he wants to showcase that. In other words, if this is the Lord, the son of David, to whom else could I go? Where else could I go? I need help.
Now, I'd never thought about this before, but I think this is a play on a very important story in the Old Testament, a very important story. Remember Genesis 33? Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket. And Jacob's hip was put out of joy And as he wrestled with him, then he said, "Let me go, for the day is broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
This is precisely what's happening here.
By the way, this is the wrestling you all must go through. It's what I must go through. The imagery here is Jacob won't let go until he's helped. He had already been dislocated.
Here, beloved, is captured where every true son and daughter of Christ must come in this life and will come. We must come to a place in life where we see how helpless we are. There are a variety of things that can aid this, like a sick daughter. In our sorrow, when we are tested, the question is: where are we driven? It's our helplessness that drives us to him. It's our helplessness that drives us to him. For we see him for who he is. And when we see him for who he is, something happens. When faith comes, something happens. Jacob the story's not over. Jacob wrestled until daybreak. Most of the night, and then finally, after Jacob's strength was all taken away, all Jacob's strength was stripped, he has to cling now. He walked with a limp the rest of his life. He said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with striven with driven with god and with men and have prevailed."
Who's the true Israel? Who becomes an Israelite? She clung to him. She believed, "This is the Lord, the son of David."
And Jesus says, "No, it's not for the dogs." He's right. He's right. She's not a dog. She's not like the Pharisees who got offended when he challenged their righteousness.
And here comes the big response of faith: "Yeah, Lord, but even the little dogs have to eat, even the little dogs that sit under the table have to eat the crumbs, don't they?"
I always get annoyed with that when I had a dog, and almost inevitably we would always hear, "Don't feed the dogs from under the table create scavengers." What a statement. Listen to the spirit behind it: "I know what I am. I know I'm a dog. I agree with you. salvations of the Jews. I don't have any right to this. I don't. I don't deserve any of this. I have no claim to this. I have no right to this. I have no privilege that makes me worthy of this. In the eyes of everything, everyone i know I'm an unclean thing."
She thinks, "I'm not bothered. You called me that? I welcome you calling me that. You know why? Because that means there's hope. Because a dog's still got to eat."
I just think it's amazing. We have dogs that teach us this. I'm like a little scavenger. I'm like the dog that comes up and licks the ground. I, I'm not offended by that, but I still have to eat. And you have the bread. So can you give me some crumbs? How can the unclean have bread from the clean? I have no way of cleansing myself. I know what I am. I I know i still need you and i need your help and you're the only one that can give it. And I worship you alone. oh woman, great is your faith! Great, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire."
And by saying this, Jesus recognized in the midst of this other religion that tried to purify itself before God by the tradition of the elder she was the only one in that scene that had a truly cleansed heart. The disciples did, but he's making the point. She's the one. By faith, she had been cleansed. Her faith made her well.
What is the truth of the Christian Gospel, beloved? A true Jew is not one through outward observance. This is a really hard concept for people, I guess, to get. A true Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is not outward. It's that of the heart in the spirit and not in the ritualistic observance of the letters of the law. So that the praise is not from men but from God. That's Romans too That means that when the heart is cleansed by faith in Christ, you're an Israelite. You are the Israel of God, a true child of God. looks like this, and worship then follows: a people who come to him and worship him for who he is and see him for who he is and rest in him for such grace and deliverance. I don't care where I'm positioned. You could use Psalm 84. You could put me in the bathroom today. I'm not missing worship. If I have to sit in the bathroom just to be near to you, I'll do that. Just give me the crumbs.
Now, I hope you see the difference today. It's the most difficult thing for people to ask for mercy. I think you know this. It's really hard for people who have everything to accept a free gift, who think they have to pay for it. And most of all, it's humiliating for you're actually going to need help. You're actually going to realize you can't do any of this. You have to recognize that you have come to a place in life where you're totally helpless. And I want to say that's the best place to be to receive grace.
Have you bowed the knee to Jesus today and asked for help? That's my question. If you look at your life, why is it so hard for us to get on the knee and simply ask for help? "Lord, help me." It's because pride is a terrible thing. "I won't let you go until you bless me. Everything else has fallen apart in life. I have no other source of help. I'm a sinner under the just judgment of God, but I need mercy."
And to close this out, I want to say this: Jesus is not teaching that mercy is hard to to get that it's hard to receive mercy you just have to no that's not what he's saying. He showed us this for this reason: he's showcasing how hard an external religion of an uncleansed heart will go to refuse it. He's showing how hard in this passage an uncleansed heart will go to refuse it, but that a true Israelite can go nowhere else but to him to receive it.
Where else would we go? Said Peter. You have the words of eternal life.
Jesus intends this for you today. Then she came and she worshiped him, saying, "Lord, help me. Lord, help me." This is the heart, beloved, that offers true worship to the living God. Behold, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us this today and thank you for showcasing your great work in the life of your people. We are Gentiles, but you have brought us in to be the true Israel. Thank you for such a work of grace. May we never forget how helpless and needy we are, for salvation belongs to the Lord. And thank you that he came to make it so. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.