This is Aaron, and open your Bibles up to Matthew chapter 15, and we're going to look at verses 21-39.
So if you've got a black church Bible, it's page 8-1.
I don't know about you, but one of the things that I love about the Bible is its realism.
People often think it's kind of a fairy tale, a Bibleism once upon a time kind of book.
But I don't think you can read the Gospels and come away with that idea.
There's a realism. Scripture understands what life is like, and what you and I are like.
And we saw that in our passage last week, didn't we, in Matthew chapter 15, and verses 18 onwards.
It says, what comes out of the mouth, what you speak about, what's on your lips,
the reason that you speak in the way that you do, is because your heart proceeds from the heart.
And this defiles a person.
For out of the heart can be for false murder, adultery, sex, and anarchy, theft, false witness, slander.
These are what defile a person.
But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.
It's not the outward acts.
Your problem, and my problem, is my heart.
That's very challenging, isn't it?
The Pharisees, they came at the start of chapter 15 with a complaint.
They said, your followers, your disciples, they're not doing all the ritualistic stuff.
They aren't doing the religious stuff they're supposed to do.
They're not doing it properly.
They're breaking the rules.
But Jesus says, our big problem, and your big problem,
it's not that you fail as through religious duties.
And your biggest problem this week,
it's not that you've not succeeded in what your goals were going to be,
but your big problem, and my big problem, is my heart.
So how does Jesus follow on from this list?
And wonderfully, Jesus follows on from this list
with three stories of abundant, extravagant, amazing grace.
The undeserved kindness of God.
What is Jesus' solution to the big heart problem?
It's a problem that we can't solve.
And Jesus' answer is grace.
Overwhelming grace.
Abundant grace.
Overflowing grace.
And that is what these three stories are about.
They are wonderful stories.
Because they move you and I to answer the question,
how do we move from feeling dirty, or angsty, or weak, and shamed?
How do we move from all of that to feeling clean, and forgiven, and hopeful, and satisfied?
How do we make that transition, as much as we can, aside from the new creation?
And the answer is in these verses that we're looking at here.
It is the overflowing, abundant grace of God.
I love this little chunk of the Bible.
It's another sandwich.
Do you remember?
We had a sandwich the other week,
where there were kind of two little end pieces,
two bread, and then a filling in the middle.
This is a slightly different sandwich.
It is a thick white bread,
with a little filler in it.
Because you'll see that both of the stories,
from verse 21 to 28,
are about bread,
and then the one in 32 to 39 is about bread, too.
And then you've got the little meat in the middle,
with the miracles.
So let's get into it.
Let's look at the first piece of bread,
in verses 21 to 28.
And you'll see Jesus on the move again.
Verse 21, he went away from there,
and he withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
That's an interesting place for Jesus to go,
because historically,
these places,
were where the armies of God,
during times of famine,
armies from these places,
would raid Galilee and territory.
It's terrible business.
It's enemy-occupied territory.
The two groups of people,
these from Tyre and Sidon,
they hated each other,
and Jesus makes a deliberate trip there.
It seems that his intention is to get some rest,
to get some rest,
but when you're Jesus,
it's very, very hard to stay hidden.
When you're well-known,
it's hard to get a break, isn't it?
I was hearing this week,
a friend of mine was a sexual health teacher,
in Dublin,
to teenagers,
went around all the schools,
there were only a couple of them,
he went to thousands of schools,
and taught about sexual health,
in high schools in Dublin.
He said he finally really enjoyed the job,
apart from when teenagers saw him out in the street,
they would say,
ah, it's a sex man,
or they just showed up.
And he said that was fine,
not when he was walking with his man,
or walking with his girlfriend.
It's hard to get a break, isn't it,
when you're well-known.
It's hard to get rest points,
when you're well-known.
And Jesus is quite well-known,
and he's well-known in a place that is,
the enemy of God's people.
And so this Canaanite woman,
who knows about Jesus,
who he is,
hears that he's coming,
and goes up to him.
It's really interesting, isn't it?
And Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman.
That word, Canaanite,
doesn't appear anywhere else in the New Testament.
It's an archaic word.
They didn't use it at the time.
It points the reader backwards,
and pulls them back into the story of Israel.
It's like a journalist writing an article on Russia,
and calling it USSR.
We think that was odd, wouldn't we?
It's not called USSR anymore.
He says, what are you doing?
What point are you trying to make by using that word?
What are you on about?
And that's what Matthew is doing here.
He's taking an Old Testament word,
and he's putting it in the Gospel.
And when we spot it,
it's to make us think.
Canaanite, that's a word that's not used.
What was a Canaanite?
Well, it was an enemy.
It was an enemy of God's people.
It was an idolater.
The Canaanites were unclean.
And this Canaanite woman,
is shouting at Jesus.
Repeatedly.
She surprisingly says to Jesus,
do you see what she says?
Oh Lord,
Son of David.
So you now became that woman,
using the language of the Lord's people,
Son of David.
She is from the enemy of the Lord's people,
and yet she takes the language of the Lord's people on her lips.
And she asks for,
can you see it?
Mercy.
My daughter,
is severely oppressed,
by a demon.
And Jesus is silent.
doesn't say a word.
What's he doing?
Silence is difficult, isn't it?
Do you know how it is?
Go to the doctor.
Go to the GP tomorrow morning.
Do your symptoms.
Say what's wrong.
And there's silence.
Say, what are you doing?
Teachers say that one of the most important things
a teacher can learn,
is when to stop talking.
Preachers should learn that one of the most important things
a preacher can learn,
is when to stop talking.
Silence can be deafening,
can't it?
So why is Jesus doing this?
We want him to respond immediately,
but he doesn't.
The silence of Jesus is very difficult sometimes,
isn't it?
The disciples say,
can I get rid of this woman?
I'm guessing,
and what they're saying there is,
can't you just heal this girl,
so we can get out of here?
She is drawing attention to us,
we've come for a break,
she's causing a scene,
she's speaking loudly,
she's an irritant,
this woman is an annoyance,
we just want to be left alone,
heal her,
get rid of her,
Jesus.
So Jesus responds with this,
this woman whose daughter is severely possessed,
and in a terrible state,
mercy,
my daughter is possessed,
just get rid of her,
Jesus.
But he says to her,
doesn't he,
shockingly,
I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel,
and that's his first response.
You need to understand the movement of the Bible,
God chose the people of Israel.
God chose the people of Israel
to be his treasured possession.
And they were to be like a greenhouse,
you know what a greenhouse is?
A greenhouse is where you grow your plants,
it's a hothouse,
where the plants grow and develop,
and are nurtured.
And then when they're nurtured enough,
and develop,
you take the plants outside the greenhouse,
into the garden,
and they flourish.
And the Lord had chosen Israel to be a greenhouse,
to the rest of the world.
It was to show what life with God looks like.
And the Lord has taught the Israelites,
who he was,
he'd resumed himself to them,
I am the Lord.
And Israel had had covenant promises established with them,
my God,
I will be your God,
and the God of your children,
and you will be my people.
God had pledged himself to Israel,
and they were to be the light of the world.
They had to be the greenhouse of God,
and from then,
God's mission would go out into the rest of the world.
And so we see that Jesus,
early on in his ministry,
is mainly focused on the Jews.
So he's not lying here.
But it still sounds just a little bit mean,
doesn't it?
This little girl is in trouble.
Why doesn't he just heal the daughter?
And so the woman moves closer,
and this time she falls to his speech,
and verse 25,
she says these three amazing words.
Children, we learn them inside the school.
Do you remember what they were?
One of the words we learned?
Lord, help me.
That's all she's got.
Lord, help me.
That's her whole pitch.
Help me.
She has nothing to barter with.
She has no credentials to present.
And she knows that.
And she knows that,
apart from grace,
her daughter is lost.
Nothing in my hands I bring,
she could see.
It's like if you take a child
into the operating theatre,
or into A&E,
and they're really unwell,
and you take them into the hospital,
they're in your arms,
and they are helpless.
And you take them,
and you give them to the nurse,
or to the doctor.
And you are placing your child,
and all your hopes,
into the hands of that doctor and nurse.
And the woman brings all her hopes to Jesus,
and it's a heart-rending request,
isn't it?
Lord, help me.
Jesus is our last hope.
What humility for this woman.
What courage.
And Jesus makes us even more uncomfortable,
doesn't he,
in his response.
Look what he says, verse 26.
And he answers,
it is not right,
to make the children's bread,
and throw it to the dogs.
What does that mean?
Did Jesus just call her a dog?
What's going on?
Look at some of the things,
that are going on.
Jesus is not calling this woman a dog,
I don't think,
in the slang sense,
that we use for children.
It's a tiny little parable.
It's a miniature parable.
And like most of Jesus' parables,
it reflects a kind of typical scene
from Jesus' daily life.
And it's a Gentile parable.
Jews didn't like dogs.
Gentiles were okay with dogs.
For Jews,
dogs were unclean.
They didn't help them.
And the dog words here,
it's a diminutive,
it means like,
it's not like a garland dog,
it's not a massive,
kind of foaming at the mouth dog,
it's a house dog.
It's a pet little dog.
It's like the raised little
bundle of fur.
Willow.
It's like a level household pet.
And he says,
you don't take the kids off the,
you don't take the food
off the kids' plates
and give it to the dogs.
He's basically reiterating the point.
It's the same point.
I come for the Jews first.
I'm here for the Jews first.
I am ministering to the Jews.
It's an issue of chronology,
of timing.
And to which he says,
verse 27,
yes Lord,
yet even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their master's table.
And Jesus answered her,
oh woman,
great is your faith.
Be it done for you as you desire.
And her daughter was healed instantly.
And so all of a sudden,
Jesus says,
your faith is amazing.
Great is your faith.
It's only place in the New Testament
where somebody is told that.
This is great.
You are fantastic.
It's the highest commendation
Christ can make.
And it's reserved for this woman
from enemy territory.
Who had nothing to bring to the table
except this request,
this begging,
this help me.
Now what was it that was so great
about this faith?
It is in the line,
isn't it?
Yes Lord,
yet even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from the master's table.
Here's what's so great about her.
She gets it.
She's the first person,
I think,
to hear a parable
and actually understand it
and believe it.
And she says,
Lord,
yes,
I understand what you're saying.
I understand what you're saying,
that there is so much grace,
so much undeserved kindness,
there is so much life,
there's so much restoration,
there's so much fullness,
there's so much healing
to go around.
There's an abundance of it.
And she says,
I'll just take the overflow.
I'm just happy with the bits
that fall off the table.
There's so much of it.
That's enough for me.
She says,
I know your priority,
I know your chronology,
I understand that Israel
is the greenhouse of God,
and it's wonderful,
Jesus,
that you're here for the Jews,
but I'm just happy
with the crumbs.
She's actually announcing
something wonderful.
She's saying,
God's grace,
which has focused on
the people of God,
Israel,
the Jews,
for a long time,
is overflowing.
It's overflowing
its boundaries
to the whole of the world.
She gets it.
It's like she plays
poker with Jesus.
You can describe it
in terms of a poker game.
She says,
I see you,
I see your mission
to Israel,
and I raise you
the abundant love
of God,
of creation,
that is going to pour
across the face
of all the earth.
So why is Jesus
so reluctant to start?
I mean,
if you read the story
quickly,
you might say,
when he changed his mind,
that is actually the case.
And we know that
because when you read this
in Mark's gospel,
he tells exactly
the same story,
but if you look
the grammar of the sentence
is a little bit
hidden in the English,
she's healed right
at the beginning
at the very first request.
Where she says,
have mercy
of my daughter.
She's possessed,
you can heal her,
and right at the start,
before the back and forth,
that is when
the daughter is healed.
So what is the rest
of it about?
Why is there
this silence
of Jesus?
Well,
because Jesus
is drawing out
her faith.
He is creating
the opportunity
for her great faith
to be exposed.
He's creating
the opportunity
for the great faith
of this woman
who is part
of a country
that hates
the people of God,
but her faith
is put on display
because it's so great.
She realises
that from Jesus' table,
each crust
is a treasure.
each crumb
is a banquet,
each morsel
is a meal.
And this lady says,
there's enough for me.
There's enough for me.
There's enough.
And we need to
hear this story today,
don't we?
There's enough grace
for you.
Because we are
like the disciples
in the other story,
the other slice of
branch,
so I can get
the other slice of
branch,
verse 32.
And the feeding
of the 4,000.
It's the lesser
known miracle.
I've been doing
the children's
colouring sheets
for the last little while.
They're not as good
as they used to be
when they used to be
in Lichford.
If you go on
and you look for
colouring things
for children,
feeding of the 5,000,
it's everywhere.
But you cannot find,
as far as I can tell
on clip art
or on the internet,
a drawing of
feeding of the 4,000.
I don't like it.
It's like the
forgotten about miracle.
It's like people
kind of erased it.
Look at
verse 32.
And Jesus
called his disciples
to him
and said,
I have compassion
on the crowd
because they've
been with me
three days
and they have
nothing but eat.
And I'm unwilling
to send them away
hungry
lest they faint
on the way.
And the disciples
said to him,
where are we going
to get enough bread
in such a desolate place
to feed such a great crowd?
And Jesus said to them,
how many loaves do you have?
They said,
seven
and a few small fish.
And directly
the crowd
sat down on the ground
and took the seven loaves
and fish
and given them
thanks,
he broke them
and gave them
to the disciples
and the disciples
gave them to the crowds.
And they all
acted on the sacrifice.
And they took up
seven basketfuls
and the broken pieces
left over.
And those were
actually 4,000 men
besides women and children.
And after sending them
away,
the crowds,
he got into the boat
and went to the region
of Magadine.
It's not a repeat.
It's in a different place
at a different time
than the feeding of 5,000.
In a Gentile region.
And there's a couple
of details that jump out,
aren't there?
That question is
astonishing,
isn't it?
Of the disciples.
In verse 32,
where are we to get
enough bread
in such a desolate place
to feed such a great crowd?
They say this to Jesus
who in the previous chapter
had fed 5,000 people.
A chapter ago,
he fed more people
with less bread.
He fed more people
with less produce
and his disciples
asked him,
how on earth
are we going to feed
these people?
Because they
so easily
forget the grace of God.
they so easily
forget the grace of God.
How stupid can you be
like us?
We hear about
God's grace
every week,
don't we?
We confess our sin
very clearly
and very deliberately
every Sunday morning.
We receive God's
assurance
of pardon
very clearly,
very deliberately.
and yet many of us
are satisfied
living with a kind of
low grade level
of guilt and shame.
There are many of us
where our minds
go back over and over
and over our sins
and suffer that
which we did
years ago,
decades ago.
Why?
Because you and I,
we imagine
that there's not
enough bread for us.
Because we think
there's not enough
bread for us.
I'm different.
If only you knew,
if only you could
get inside my head
and my heart
and see what I like,
I'm different.
That's what we think.
But there is enough
bread,
it is overflowing.
Look at verse 37.
They ate
and were
satisfied.
They took
seven basketfuls
of broken pieces.
Why that detail?
Because the writer
wants you to understand
there was so,
so much.
So if you remember
the last
few years ago,
I think a couple
of weeks ago,
the disciples,
there was
twelve baskets
left over.
Do you remember that?
How many disciples
were there?
Twelve disciples.
How many tribes
of Israel were there?
Twelve tribes
of Israel.
It's shown you
this is volatility
that God's grace
is enough
for the people
of Israel.
But you know
when he feeds
on the four thousand
it's about God's
abundance.
So look at what it says.
It says there were
seven loaves,
seven baskets.
God created
everything
and there is
in seven days.
And here through
his son he creates
anew.
There is more
than enough
with God.
There is more
than enough
grace for you.
There is more
than enough
forgiveness
for you.
And you may
be desperately
hungry.
You may be
desperately sick.
You may be
desperately guilty.
But Jesus
can feed a crowd
with crabs.
And he's able
to feed you
in needs.
There is more
than enough
to go around.
And we forget
this,
don't we?
And the
disciples
say to you,
look at verse
33.
where are we
to get
enough bread
in such a
desolate place
to feed
such a crowd?
We need
the woman's
faith in
God's goodness.
Let's look at
the meat
and the sandwich
really quickly.
Not only is
there enough
bread for us,
but look at
the middle
section,
verse 29
and 31.
The meat
and the sandwich.
Jesus went up
from there
and walked
beside the
Sea of Galilee
and he went
up on the
mountain and
sat down.
And great
crowds came to him,
bringing with
them the
lame,
the blind,
the crippled,
the moot,
and many
others.
And they put
him at his
feet and he
healed them.
So that the
crowd wondered
when they saw
the moot
speaking,
the crippled
healthy,
the lame
walking,
the blind
seeing,
and they
glorified
the God
of Israel.
The way
it's written,
literally,
they are
carrying people
up to Jesus
and they just
drop him.
drop him
in front of
Jesus.
And he
healed them.
Here's my
son,
here's my
friend,
here's my
neighbour,
here's my
husband.
And so
the crowd
wonders.
Can you
imagine the
celebrations
on the side
of that
mountain?
And they
glorified the
God of
Israel.
People are
bringing their
friends to
Jesus.
People are
bringing their
family to
Jesus.
People are
bringing their
colleagues to
Jesus.
People are
bringing their
neighbours to
Jesus.
And they're
bringing people
who have got no
way of getting
out of
themselves.
And Matthew
wants you
and I to
see that
God's grace,
God's super
abundant,
overflowing
grace is not
just sufficient
for us,
but it's for
others.
It's for the
people that we
love.
It's for the
people that we
care for.
It's for the
people that we
know.
God's
solution for
our heart
problem is
abundant
grace.
And this
Canaanite woman
trusted in it.
There was the
fuzzy understanding
of the
disciples.
There was
increasingly
bitter opposition
from the
Pharisees,
trusting in
their religious
practices,
promises,
but her
faith is
in the
goodness of
God.
Her ability
to trust that
he will bring
life with
his death,
and grace
where there is
shame and
forgiveness,
where there is
guilt.
This
moment's
belief that
someone's faith
is like a
flare going up
into the sky
that we see.
it is
awesome.
And it
is why
Jesus
painfully
draws it
out of
her.
So for
those of
you this
morning who
do not
believe that
God is good
enough to be
really trusted,
and for
those of
you who do
not think
this morning
that there's
enough bread
for you,
and for
those who
think you've
wandered too
far away
you look
in faith,
you look
in faith to
him,
because his
grace is
super
abundant
and overflowing,
and there is
bread at the
table,
and there's
wine at the
table,
and there's
more than
enough for
you.
We're going
to use the
prayer of
humble access
before we
sing.
It's after
the hymn of
your sheets.
This is a
prayer from
the book of
common prayer,
and Cranham
wrote this.
It is a
beautiful,
beautiful prayer
that uses
the words
of the
Savior.
You'll see
that in the
third paragraph
it speaks
about as we
come to the
Lord's table
that we eat
the flesh
of your
dear son
Jesus Christ
and we
drink his
blood.
We know
we don't
do that
literally.
Don't
misunderstand
it.
But as
we come
to the
table,
we do
partake.
And we
do by
faith feed
on Christ.
Jesus
says this is
this is my
body
given for
you.
This is my
blood
spilled for
you.
The blood of
the everlasting
covenant given
for you.
You drink of it.
And as we do
that, as we
exercise faith in
Christ, we are
made clean by
his body.
And our
souls washed
through his
most precious
blood.
There is a
fountain filled
with blood
drawn from
Emmanuel
saints.
Let's just
take a moment
in the silence.
Let's read
through this
prayer of our
own.
And then we'll
read through
it together.
Amen.
Let's pray.