WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.919 Now we're going to turn back to the chapter that we… that Louise read for us, Matthew 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:08.160 chapter 15. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:13.519 And it's a great passage, quite a challenging passage in many ways. 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:19.160 And I think, you know, and I've said this before from here, that 2,000 years on from 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:27.440 Jesus, I think sometimes it's easy for us to tame Him and to almost keep Him at a distance, 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.800 because sometimes we feel like we read about Him in the Bible. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:37.480 We can just close the Bible and then we can keep Jesus at a distance and maybe not consider 00:00:37.480 --> 00:00:45.680 His claims and the reality of Him being God the Son who is continually relevant for us. 00:00:45.680 --> 00:00:52.260 But I think also it's easy for us to forget how provocative He was in His ministry. 00:00:52.259 --> 00:00:57.320 We have this image of, you know, a smiling, benevolent, gentle kind of character in many 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.239 ways sometimes in our hearts. 00:01:00.239 --> 00:01:05.159 And John last week when he preached on the chapter before, which was the calming of the 00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:13.879 storm and the walking on water, well, this week, this is Jesus rocking the boat. 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:17.959 He's certainly not calming the storm, He's rocking the boat. 00:01:17.959 --> 00:01:26.679 And I hope that He will rock the boat that you are in at the moment spiritually as I 00:01:26.679 --> 00:01:30.199 pray that He rocks the boat I'm in also. 00:01:30.199 --> 00:01:36.839 And I would encourage you today just to look into your soul and even right now just think 00:01:36.839 --> 00:01:44.199 about yourself and if you're maybe, if you read perfectly honest, you're bored already. 00:01:44.199 --> 00:01:46.599 You're maybe disinterested. 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:56.599 You know that you can close the link if not close the Bible and so do and keep Jesus out 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:03.079 of your life and the challenges that He brings to our lives, whether we're Christians or 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:04.799 not. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:11.079 I also think it's very possible in the same way to shut Him down because you're afraid 00:02:11.079 --> 00:02:15.599 that He is the storm that your life desperately needs. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:21.319 You know, there's a comfort in unbelief, there's an ease in unbelief, there's an ease even 00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:28.840 in not dealing with issues and problems and difficulties that you might have in your life. 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:36.799 There's a comfort in just knowing, walking with disaster in your life as it were. 00:02:36.799 --> 00:02:40.879 But Jesus comes and He ruffles all that in our lives. 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:46.680 And really the point of the passage today is very much to see Jesus as the Savior that 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:47.680 we need. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:53.439 You know, Matthew's gospel is all about introducing us to the King and to His kingdom. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:02.319 And Jesus in this passage is very much speaking into our need for Him and not just the disciples 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:04.479 but all people. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:09.639 So just think for a moment of this passage that was read by Louise. 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:15.639 He called the Pharisees, that is the religious leaders of His day, He called them hypocrites. 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:21.119 And we read that they were offended, the disciples said, well, the Pharisees are offended by that. 00:03:21.119 --> 00:03:25.559 And that was because they didn't get it and they didn't get Jesus. 00:03:25.559 --> 00:03:33.959 And then we're told that He called the disciples uneducated or dull or misunderstanding of 00:03:33.959 --> 00:03:39.079 His truth because they didn't get it either. 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:44.080 So He's offended the Pharisees and He's called His own disciples dull. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:48.720 And then to turn the top all off, He calls this Canaanite woman a dog. 00:03:48.720 --> 00:03:55.200 Now, you're going to have to let me explain that later on in the sermon. 00:03:55.200 --> 00:04:04.480 But He called this woman a dog, but He exalted her above all of the others because she got 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:10.319 it, she absolutely got who Jesus was and what He had come to do. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:14.239 And so that's what we're going to look at because it is beautifully fused together this 00:04:14.239 --> 00:04:19.800 passage with one message really that Jesus is wanting to get across. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:21.920 What is it all about? 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:27.199 It's clear that Jesus is taking time out to teach His disciples and the Pharisees if 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:28.639 they would listen. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:36.959 And also, of course, us, is telling us who He is and why He's come and why He's so important. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:43.439 And it's in the context of, as we've seen through Matthew's Gospel, of the disciples 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:51.639 particularly and the people around Jesus believing that they were God's chosen people. 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:56.879 And the Pharisees believed that, the disciples believed that, and in many ways there was 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:58.879 a lot of truth in that. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:05.560 But because of that, they had become proud and they had twisted God's word as the Pharisees, 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:08.159 we saw that when we were talking to the kids. 00:05:08.159 --> 00:05:12.800 And they lacked understanding about what it meant to be God's people and what it meant 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:19.800 to be the nation that introduced the Christ man into the world for the benefit of the 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:20.920 world. 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:26.519 And so Jesus here is educating them and something very, very important about His global mission. 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:31.359 And about His character and why He had come. 00:05:31.359 --> 00:05:36.079 And He's still teaching that and He's still teaching us that. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:41.719 Speaking about who He is, our need for Him, above all, our need for His mercy and for 00:05:41.719 --> 00:05:43.319 His love. 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:45.439 And that's what He was wanting to teach the Pharisees. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:47.079 They would have nothing to do with it. 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:52.919 He wanted to teach the disciples because they were dull of understanding. 00:05:52.920 --> 00:06:01.280 And He used a great example in the introduction that He brings us to this woman that He meets. 00:06:01.280 --> 00:06:05.560 So there's two things really that I want to speak about from this passage that are really, 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:06.560 really important. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:13.560 The importance of our heart before God, and we kind of hinted at that with the address 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:18.160 we did to the kids, and also His mercy. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:26.439 To our heart and His mercy, both hugely significant and important for us to consider. 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:35.200 So the world in which we're living in today, change is really the word of the day in many 00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:36.960 ways, isn't it? 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:39.040 Everyone wants to change the world. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:40.960 And everyone thinks the world needs changed. 00:06:40.960 --> 00:06:43.840 The institutions need changed. 00:06:43.840 --> 00:06:46.600 We need to change the past and change our history. 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:51.120 We need to change other people and their thinking and their attitudes and what they believe. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:52.360 We need to change behavior. 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:54.600 We need to change statues. 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:56.800 We need to become more woke. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:01.320 We need to be more aware of everything that's happening in the world around us. 00:07:01.320 --> 00:07:04.200 And you know, who can deny that? 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:09.560 I think probably we could get people from all kinds of parts of society here today, 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:13.960 and everyone would agree that there's definitely a need for change. 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:22.199 And many of the cries for change are hugely worthy and significant and important. 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:25.639 But Jesus, what Jesus is saying, and Jesus doesn't deny that, but what Jesus is saying 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:33.000 here, there is a much more fundamental change needed in our lives. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:36.399 And that is a change in our hearts, you know? 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:41.959 Changing our diet, changing our hygiene, all these outward things are significant and important. 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:48.039 But He hones in here, because it's the core of the gospel message, He hones in on our 00:07:48.039 --> 00:07:54.719 personal responsibility before Him, and to recognize that He sees our hearts. 00:07:54.719 --> 00:07:56.919 Our hearts need changed. 00:07:56.919 --> 00:08:02.319 We need to receive His mercy if we are to know life, eternal life, and relationship with 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:06.919 God and fullness of life here. 00:08:06.920 --> 00:08:14.040 You see, the Pharisees, the self-righteous Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:21.879 who were highly educated, particularly in the Old Testament, in the Bible, they were offended 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:23.400 by what Jesus said. 00:08:23.400 --> 00:08:29.600 In verses 10, well, Jesus says to them, you know, He exposes their hypocrisy, and He basically 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.759 says, you're a bunch of hypocrites. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.759 Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when He said, the people honours me with their lips, but 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:37.519 their heart is far from me. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:42.159 In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.519 And He called the people to Him and said to them, hear and understand. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:49.480 It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth that 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:51.360 defiles a person. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:57.039 Then the disciples came and said to Him, do you not know that the Pharisees are offended 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:59.559 by what you're saying? 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:05.439 And they were offended because Jesus had exposed the way that they were twisting the Bible 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:12.000 and adding to the Bible, really to allow them not to change and allow them to live the way 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.000 they wanted. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:18.960 And He gives the example of not honouring their mother and father. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.760 That was one of God's commands. 00:09:20.760 --> 00:09:24.400 And basically what they were doing, they were saying, anytime they got money, anytime they 00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:30.960 got a gift from anyone, or anytime they had money, they dedicated it, they said they dedicated 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:36.759 it to God, and because they dedicated it to God, they couldn't give anything to help and 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:41.360 support maybe their elderly parents who were needing support. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:47.120 But the thing about it was that although it was dedicated to God, they could still spend 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:51.960 it as long as they were still alive, and it would go to God when they died kind of thing. 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:59.560 So they were using this gift and this twisted argument about honouring God to keep the money, 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:04.719 enjoy the money for themselves and not honour their parents, which was hugely serious. 00:10:04.719 --> 00:10:08.039 And God was saying, you're a bunch of hypocrites for doing that because you're just wanting 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:11.959 your wealth and you're wanting your money and you're not wanting to obey God's law, 00:10:11.959 --> 00:10:14.079 which was to honour your mother and father. 00:10:14.079 --> 00:10:19.799 It was a bad tradition and it was bad addition to God's law. 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:21.639 And the same was true with the washing of the hands. 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:25.479 That's what started this whole event was the Pharisees were complaining that the disciples 00:10:25.479 --> 00:10:28.119 weren't washing their hands in the proper way. 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:32.360 Now again, that was in addition to God's law. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:38.120 And they were saying that unless you washed ceremonially in the right way, you would be 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:40.000 dishonouring God. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:46.039 And again, I guess washing hands is that's a touchy subject today, but not about hygiene, 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:52.120 but it's about… it's missing the point if we're talking about hygiene in this story. 00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:57.720 It's much more about they were saying themselves being clean before God because they cleaned 00:10:57.720 --> 00:10:59.840 their hands in a proper way. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:09.320 And the Pharisees hated when Jesus exposed that because it was cheap on their part to 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:11.440 minimize the requirements of God. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.800 They didn't need God. 00:11:12.800 --> 00:11:18.000 All they needed to do was wash their hands and eat the right things and obey the laws 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.279 that they had themselves added to the Bible and that would make them right with God. 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:26.240 They were offended when Jesus called them hypocrites. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:32.200 And I wonder today whether Jesus offends you or does He offend me? 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:40.200 You know, when He says, He can't just simply be clean by… or right with me by being right 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:46.519 on the outside, by doing things outwardly, by being self-righteous or comparing ourselves 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:47.720 to others. 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:53.840 You know, He's very real in exposing what we're like in our hearts. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:59.040 In verse 19 He says, you know, it's not what we take into our bodies that makes us sinful, 00:11:59.040 --> 00:12:01.360 but rather He says it's out of our heart. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:06.639 It's the evil thoughts, it's the murder and just anger, adultery, sexual immorality, 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:13.519 theft, false witness, slander, all of these things which to a greater or lesser degree 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.800 we recognize and we know and we are guilty of. 00:12:16.800 --> 00:12:22.160 He says, what Jesus is trying to say is that you can't come near His holiness and His 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:31.319 purity and God's standard of love and perfection for Him or for others because we are sinners 00:12:31.319 --> 00:12:32.319 on the inside. 00:12:32.319 --> 00:12:36.759 We hate, we lust, we covet, we lie, we make others look bad, we judge people, we condemn 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:39.360 people, we find fault. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:43.039 Very often our lives are all about what we're like on the surface, how we appear to other 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:51.079 people, how we can present ourselves, what good particular cause we can follow to make 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:56.639 us as it were justified and right. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:03.000 But we can't hide our heart motives from the living God and He says we're hypocrites, 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:08.080 all of us in many ways if we ignore Him and if we don't see our need of Him. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:11.520 And that scandalizes people still today, absolutely. 00:13:11.520 --> 00:13:14.920 People are offended by that and I wonder if you're offended by that, would you rather 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:21.399 a kind of gentler, sweeter, more beautiful message? 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:24.079 Well I hope you'll find that it is a very beautiful message. 00:13:24.079 --> 00:13:29.120 But the Pharisees were offended and even His own disciples didn't get it. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:32.599 In verses 15 and 16, Jesus speaks to them. 00:13:32.599 --> 00:13:38.000 He tells them a parable about the Pharisees and says, look, every plant, my heavenly Father 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.679 is not planting, we'll be root up. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.120 Then let them alone, they are blind guides and if they blind lead the blind both will 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:47.360 fall into a pit, then Peter said, explain the parable. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:51.159 And he said, are you also still without understanding? 00:13:51.159 --> 00:13:55.480 That's a rather gentle translation. 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:57.679 Are you really so stupid is what he's saying. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:01.720 Are you so dull of understanding? 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:06.399 They didn't seem to understand that even the religious leaders of the day were blind 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:09.799 guides. 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:16.240 They didn't seem to understand that it was more than just following Jesus as a friend 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:19.879 or just doing religious things. 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:22.199 They themselves didn't seem to get it. 00:14:22.199 --> 00:14:26.879 There was so much about Christ and about their need for Christ and about His mercy that they 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:29.079 didn't get. 00:14:29.079 --> 00:14:31.759 Was being a religious enough? 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:36.159 Are they still so dull and so stupid? 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:42.199 Was it following the rules even despite the fact that Jesus teaching, being close to Jesus 00:14:42.199 --> 00:14:47.799 and for whatever reason they didn't do the ceremonial washing themselves, maybe they 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:56.120 just thought He was there to break these rules of the religious Pharisees or was to bring 00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:57.120 in an earthly kingdom. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:02.399 We know they had lots of different ideas about who Jesus was but they didn't get the 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:03.600 depth of the message. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:05.600 They didn't get the depth of who Jesus was. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.440 They lacked spiritual discernment. 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:10.680 And again that's so easy for us. 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:11.879 Is it just following the rules? 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:14.159 Is that enough for you? 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:18.440 Is it that you think that you're basically good enough? 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:21.840 Other people have the problems but not me. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:27.360 Do we really, and do you really feel that you need God's mercy in the same way as maybe 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:28.600 somebody else? 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:36.320 Well, let's bring it to a conclusion by looking at this remarkable end to the chapter or the 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:42.320 passage that we've read together because it was Jesus Christ needed to get this message 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:47.279 across to, particularly to His disciples. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:54.920 And this last story about the faith of the Canaanite woman is what connects all the stories 00:15:54.919 --> 00:16:00.159 that we've read together today about the Pharisees and about the disciples. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:04.799 Jesus was wanting to bring a really important message home to the disciples and to us, I 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:05.799 think. 00:16:05.799 --> 00:16:09.959 Now the Pharisees were not told that the Pharisees followed Jesus to the tire inside and they 00:16:09.959 --> 00:16:10.959 probably didn't. 00:16:10.959 --> 00:16:16.000 They weren't interested really in learning from Jesus but the disciples were. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.199 And they were to be the founders of the church. 00:16:19.199 --> 00:16:23.759 And Jesus needed to get across a very, very important message to them. 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:25.519 They needed to understand. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:29.600 They couldn't continue to be dull of hearing and dull of understanding. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:36.600 So He brings them and gives them a dramatic visual and life-changing lesson about His 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:42.439 mercy and about what He'd come to do and about His kingdom. 00:16:42.439 --> 00:16:45.639 So He takes them to enemy territory, okay? 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:56.000 They're inside a Canaanite people, Syrophoenician, Gentiles, people who the Jews didn't mix 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.000 with. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:02.080 You know, we've learned that already in the stories from Matthew. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:10.200 Steeped in idolatry and enemies to the Jewish God and to the Jewish religion, pagans in 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:16.840 many ways, it's that last place that any self-respecting Jew would go and visit. 00:17:16.840 --> 00:17:22.120 And they must have been very uncomfortable following Jesus into tire inside him. 00:17:22.120 --> 00:17:25.160 And yet Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:29.120 A first century Jew, particular religious Jew wouldn't go there. 00:17:29.120 --> 00:17:31.440 I was trying to think of a modern parallel. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:32.880 I can't really think of one. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:40.039 Maybe a well-known preacher taking a group of very young Christians to an atheist convention 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:44.119 for three days or something like that, where the last kind of place you would think of 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:47.799 going maybe, and that's maybe a really bad example. 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:55.079 It's difficult to get a parallel without probably causing undue offense one way or another. 00:17:55.079 --> 00:18:02.960 But he went there specifically with them to meet a woman of great faith, okay, who puts 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.759 them to shame and puts the Pharisees to shame. 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:15.720 In verse 22, and behold, Luke, Luke, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:23.119 have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David, my daughter severely oppressed by a demon. 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:30.680 She is immediately, it strikes us as being radically different from the Pharisees and 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:32.319 from the disciples. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:40.639 Lord, she says, O Lord, she gives them this great title of worship, and she's informed, 00:18:40.639 --> 00:18:42.000 Son of David. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:46.960 You know, that's got all kinds of Old Testament connotations with it that she knew he was 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:47.960 the Messiah. 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:50.919 She knew that he was the one who could help her. 00:18:50.919 --> 00:18:55.359 She absolutely knew her need, and she had nowhere else to turn. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:56.599 She's completely helpless. 00:18:56.599 --> 00:18:58.599 Now, there's lots we don't know about this. 00:18:58.599 --> 00:19:00.439 We don't know how she knew this. 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:04.120 We don't know how she knew Jesus was coming to the area. 00:19:04.120 --> 00:19:05.400 We don't know how they met. 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:08.360 There's lots of things we don't know. 00:19:08.360 --> 00:19:12.320 It may have been that God prepared her in a dream or whatever. 00:19:12.320 --> 00:19:13.519 We don't know. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:21.320 But she is in great need, and her life is so bound up with her daughters, and her daughters' 00:19:21.320 --> 00:19:29.039 terrible condition of demon possession, that she sees her own need linked in with her daughter's 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.039 great need so much. 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:33.519 She says, you know, she doesn't say, have mercy on my daughter. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:35.799 She says, have mercy on me. 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:39.480 Now that we don't, again, we don't know the emotion behind that or the history behind 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:41.200 that, was there a reason? 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.799 Was there something in her background that had caused her daughter to be in this condition? 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:46.799 We don't know. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:51.599 But all she knew that she was in desperate need herself, her daughter was in desperate 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:52.599 need. 00:19:52.599 --> 00:20:00.559 There was a spiritual, deep spiritual darkness and evil in their lives, and she needed to 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:01.559 be rescued. 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:03.240 She needed to be saved. 00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:04.679 And there we go. 00:20:04.679 --> 00:20:07.639 So far so good. 00:20:07.639 --> 00:20:09.319 But then Jesus goes to work. 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:14.240 Or more to the point, he seems not to go to work. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:19.159 He apparently ignores her, but he did not answer her a word. 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:23.880 It's very interesting, isn't it? 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:27.480 Your first reading of that, you must have thought, this is a really weird passage. 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:30.320 Jesus is not acting like I normally expect him to act. 00:20:30.320 --> 00:20:32.480 And here he is, he's not saying anything. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:39.519 And really, he's not saying anything because he's giving the disciples time to expose their 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:46.640 ignorance and their need for mercy. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:51.520 Because he's silent and she's begging for mercy and for help. 00:20:51.520 --> 00:20:57.360 They say, look, send her away. 00:20:57.360 --> 00:20:59.920 For she's crying out, she's crying out after us. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:00.920 She's a nuisance. 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:02.560 Lord, get rid of this woman. 00:21:02.560 --> 00:21:06.120 What are we doing here anyway among these pagans? 00:21:06.120 --> 00:21:08.320 Why is she crying out like this? 00:21:08.320 --> 00:21:10.440 Send her away. 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:17.640 And his silence provokes that response from them. 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:18.640 Here's someone in pain. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:20.480 Here's someone who's really needy. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:21.759 Get rid of her. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:23.320 There's racist undertones. 00:21:23.320 --> 00:21:25.559 Even maybe misogynist undertones there. 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:26.559 Get rid of this woman. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:27.559 Get rid of her. 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:33.640 And he's exposing and so doing in that moment of his own silence, he is exposing their own 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:39.559 need to be changed, to be changed in their thinking and to be changed in their understanding. 00:21:39.559 --> 00:21:44.519 And he then goes on, I believe, to speak out their thoughts. 00:21:44.519 --> 00:21:47.200 Again, there's so much we can't see, isn't there? 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:53.519 But I wonder whether Jesus was looking at them when he says the next things, I'm only 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:58.839 come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:01.399 Isn't that right, disciples, as it were? 00:22:01.399 --> 00:22:02.399 You know? 00:22:02.399 --> 00:22:04.399 Is this what they were thinking? 00:22:04.399 --> 00:22:05.399 Well, why? 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:11.840 There's almost half truths in it, but it's as if this is what they thought that, well, 00:22:11.840 --> 00:22:12.840 Jesus isn't for Gentiles. 00:22:12.840 --> 00:22:13.840 He isn't for you. 00:22:13.840 --> 00:22:14.840 He isn't for pagans. 00:22:14.840 --> 00:22:15.840 He's for the lost sheep. 00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:20.759 He's for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:22:20.759 --> 00:22:23.880 And then it gets worse. 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:24.880 It really gets worse. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:27.440 But she comes to him, Lord, help me. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:30.480 And he answered, it's not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the little 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:31.480 dogs. 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:33.720 That is the family pet, as it were. 00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:38.799 It's not the wild dogs that were sometimes used in a derogatory term. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.440 But it's the same thing, isn't it? 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:44.200 He's thinking the thoughts of the disciples for them. 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:48.759 He's saying, you know, the disciples, you think you're the children of God. 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:50.079 You think you're the privileged ones. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:51.200 You're the sons of Abraham. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.600 You're the covenant people. 00:22:53.600 --> 00:23:00.440 It's not right for me to do anything that would even, you know, throwing the scraps 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:02.559 to those, to the dogs. 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:07.839 It's not right to do that because that is the Gentiles were often called dogs. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:15.519 And that is really what Jesus is expressing here in exposing their own thinking. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:18.200 And she gets it. 00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:19.440 She absolutely gets it. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:24.960 I would love to have been there to see the interaction between them all. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:30.159 But she's not put off in the slightest by what the disciples think of her or by what 00:23:30.159 --> 00:23:32.519 Jesus is saying. 00:23:32.519 --> 00:23:36.799 Somehow she knows who Jesus is. 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:41.519 And she seems to know what he's doing here. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:44.440 And she's not in any way offended by what he said. 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:49.279 Yes, Lord, she sees even the dogs eat the crumbs from their master's table. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.559 She knows who he is. 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:57.879 There was clearly nothing in the way Jesus said it that put her off. 00:23:57.879 --> 00:24:00.279 She has great faith in him. 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:07.639 And she trusts in him, even though what he says appears to be offensive, she doesn't 00:24:07.639 --> 00:24:08.639 take it that way. 00:24:08.639 --> 00:24:13.319 And I guess we miss all the kind of facial expressions and everything else that's going 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:14.319 on. 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:16.879 But she argues, she wrestles, she doesn't give up. 00:24:16.879 --> 00:24:19.799 She certainly doesn't take offense. 00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:24.960 And, you know, people talk about this passage and commentators will talk about it and say, 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:31.400 you know, Jesus' silence and then his apparent abuse of this woman was to test her to see 00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:39.559 how much she was willing, how far she was willing to go to remain dependent or keep 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:42.360 asking Jesus for help. 00:24:42.360 --> 00:24:45.279 And it was a test of her faith and the depth of her faith. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.079 Well, that may be the case. 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:53.720 But I think it was far more a test of the disciples and an exposure of the heart of 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:55.360 the disciples. 00:24:55.360 --> 00:24:59.279 And it was an exposure of her heart, but in a very different way. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:06.200 Jesus was exposing the depth of her understanding and her heart being right with God because 00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:08.559 she needed him. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:12.360 And she came to him because he was the only answer. 00:25:12.360 --> 00:25:17.640 And we can only presume that she had already by this time great faith. 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:19.319 And Jesus, of course, praises her. 00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:25.960 In a way, he never praises really anyone else in the same way, particularly not of his own 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.480 culture and nation and tradition. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:32.119 Well, women, great is your faith, be it done to you as you desire. 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:33.720 And her daughter was healed immediately. 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:35.720 Didn't even need to go to his daughter. 00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:38.559 Didn't even need to give words of healing to his daughter. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:40.559 To her daughter. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.399 Her daughter is healed. 00:25:42.399 --> 00:25:43.399 She gets it. 00:25:43.399 --> 00:25:47.079 And the disciples' dullness is exposed. 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:49.399 They needed to learn that lesson. 00:25:49.399 --> 00:25:56.599 They needed to learn about the international reach of the gospel that they would be founders 00:25:56.599 --> 00:25:57.599 of. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:01.960 They needed more than anything to learn about God's mercy. 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:06.799 So what is, very briefly as we conclude, what is Jesus teaching us? 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:09.919 Well, clearly, our need for mercy. 00:26:09.919 --> 00:26:14.639 That is at the core of our faith. 00:26:14.639 --> 00:26:15.879 Lord help me. 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:19.040 That doesn't just happen once when you become a Christian. 00:26:19.040 --> 00:26:24.840 If that's not happening on a daily basis, then we are dull of understanding. 00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:30.320 As this relentless prayer, sometimes we may think God is silent like Jesus was. 00:26:30.320 --> 00:26:33.920 Sometimes it may seem like he's rejecting us. 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:39.160 Sometimes we may feel the unworthiness of his exposure of our hearts. 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:41.680 Sometimes we might feel the offense of the cross. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:47.000 But I'm saying if you don't see your need of a Savior, you will never seek a Savior. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:50.759 You'll never look for Jesus if you don't think you need Jesus. 00:26:50.759 --> 00:26:57.480 And if we can't really go on and on in our lives day to day with a closed Bible and 00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:03.000 with a silence before God and thinking we don't need Him. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:08.279 And yet Christ is so, and that's the beauty of the passage, Christ is so willing to forgive 00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:15.079 us, all he requires is that we see our need, that we accept his diagnosis and we see that 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:18.839 on a day to day basis we absolutely need him. 00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:22.319 And we need his grace and we need his love and we need his glory. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:28.160 I read a great chapter last night from a book by Joni Erickson Tadda. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:29.160 It's called A Place of Healing. 00:27:29.160 --> 00:27:34.799 Joni's been a paraplegic for most of her life following a diving accident. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:39.839 And in the second last chapter she speaks about heaven and she speaks about what God 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:44.960 is preparing in the light of what he's given in this life to her. 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:47.519 And if you do get a chance to read it, you should read it. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:58.639 It is the most remarkable and beautiful just outpouring of spiritual imagination based 00:27:58.639 --> 00:28:03.759 on the promises of Scripture about what God has prepared for those who love Him. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:10.000 And that mercy is overwhelming for us, not just in the life to come but for every single 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:11.599 day. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:13.680 So our need for mercy, remember that. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.319 Do think about it. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:21.519 We're reminded also that God chooses the unlikeliest of converts. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:26.319 You know, who would have thought this Canaanite woman from Tyre and Sidon was going to be 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:31.279 such a great example to all the privileged religious leaders, the disciples and everyone 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:35.319 else, it's those who need Him most. 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:37.039 And that's a great lesson for us. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.879 Are we reaching people like that in our lives? 00:28:39.879 --> 00:28:41.399 Do we care for them? 00:28:41.399 --> 00:28:46.399 Do we write people off saying they'll never come to God in their lives? 00:28:46.399 --> 00:28:49.799 Do we make judgments about who we share the gospel with? 00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:54.039 Do we have a sectarian view of the kingdom? 00:28:54.039 --> 00:29:01.879 One is that I need for us to be much more believing about this world in which we live, 00:29:01.879 --> 00:29:06.039 which is very secular, which is very far from God, which is very idolatrous. 00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:11.200 I hope we don't just become insular and look inward and think, oh, God's not going to work 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:14.480 in our nation. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:20.200 God brings the most unlikely of people to Himself. 00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:30.880 So it's important for us not to tell God who He can or won't reach with the gospel. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:36.160 And then we need to always be aware of not being dull spiritually like the disciples. 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.720 Isn't it great that this confession of this Canaanite woman in Matthew's gospel comes 00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:46.559 before Peter's confession in the next chapter, you know, which is great. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:50.440 Peter's great confession, you know, you are the Christ. 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:56.279 The Canaanite woman got there first because she wasn't as dull as the religious leaders 00:29:56.279 --> 00:30:01.960 of her day or the modelists of her day or the disciples even who were following Jesus. 00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:08.440 And he praises this outcast woman for great faith, bringing healing to her daughter and 00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:11.679 mercy into her own life. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:16.880 And so our prayer should be surely in the same way, Lord, increase our faith, increase our 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:20.600 faith so that we're not dull of hearing. 00:30:20.600 --> 00:30:24.920 And I close with a quote that was part of the reflection on the service sheet, although 00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:29.400 we don't give out the service sheets now, obviously it still gets printed, it still gets 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:31.360 published online. 00:30:31.360 --> 00:30:37.640 And the quote is from a great Christian leader of this last century who died this week, J.I. 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:45.560 Packer, whose book Knowing God has been crucial and fundamental in the lives of many Christians. 00:30:45.560 --> 00:30:50.540 But he says, we must learn to measure ourselves not by our knowledge about God, not by our 00:30:50.540 --> 00:30:56.320 gifts and responsibilities in the church, but by how we pray and what goes on in our 00:30:56.320 --> 00:30:57.980 hearts. 00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:04.000 Many of us, I suspect, have no idea how impoverished we are at this level. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:06.360 Let us ask the Lord to show us. 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:08.359 Amen. 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:14.119 Lord God, we pray that You would show us, that You would teach us about our hearts and also 00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:20.319 remind us that they are without You extremely impoverished, that we have great need for 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:29.000 Your mercy, that our pride, our self-righteousness, our lust, our impurity, our greed, our anger, 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:35.279 violence in our hearts, all of these things separate us from You and help us to see our 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:42.680 need for Your mercy and follow You and learn of You and grow to know Your mercy and love 00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:45.319 which will transform us from the inside out. 00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:50.879 And You're also willing to pour out Your mercy and to forgive us because of what You have 00:31:50.879 --> 00:31:52.920 done in the cross. 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:58.079 And we thank You that the message of Matthew and the teaching of Jesus leading up to the 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:08.240 cross was all with a view to His crucifixion and His resurrection and to how that exposed 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:09.480 His great mercy. 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:10.480 Reminders of that today. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:30.160 In Jesus' name, amen.