A Different Encounter

As we dissect a story that seems odd at face value, we will see that as Jesus deals with the Canaanite woman every action is different than we would expect, but he reveals to us something greater that we can’t always see.

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As a lot of you know, I'm originally from North Louisiana. And my family has a tradition that every Thanksgiving we go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Now, what is a normal vacation for a Western Kentucky yeah, about five hours drive, is an interesting one for someone whom it's 12 hours to get there. I mean, we take all day to get to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, but we have done so, I mean, I can count on one hand the amount of Thanksgivings that I did not spend in the Smoky Mountains. And, you know, even for point of just clarity, I'm 32. I've been to Gatlinburg 40 plus times in my life. Like, I know, I know the place very, very well. And so much so that I can tell you, and it is, I mean, Hilton's, we don't deviate much from what we do. I can tell you every day basically what we're gonna do. Uh, Thanksgiving Day, particularly, I can pretty much tell you down to the minute where we'll be, what we'll be doing, what food we would have eaten, and all of that. Like, it is a tradition to say the least, but it's super special for us. Like, my family, it is the most special place on earth to me at all times. But last year was actually a very interesting occurrence. So, because of my grandmother having some health issues, it was the first time in my life that I found myself in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, without my parents. So, my dad uh taking care of his mom, and obviously my mom staying back with him. Um, they did not come with us. And it was just me and my oldest brother um vacationing there together. Now I'm 32, he's pushing 40, and both of us at one point in the week looked at one another and we were like, this just doesn't feel right. One, we're not old enough to be here by ourselves. Like, mom and dad have to do all the things here, like, and they're like, it's just weird. Like, I've never been in the place without my parents. And the things that we did were all the same, but it just felt off, you know, and like we've all had experience with this. Maybe you've been to a place without a loved one for the first time, and it just feels weird. Or you've experienced a holiday without someone whom you love, and it's just different. Maybe it's even something as simple as you go to your favorite restaurant under new ownership, and it's just not the same. We know what it's like to walk into a place expecting one thing and then ultimately getting something different. This series, we've seen Jesus in a lot of different ways, but a lot of times it's been kind of the same picture. He's met a person in the midst of need. He's met a person wanting or confused, and he meets them there. We've seen a man who is healed, a man who is just comforted and brought alongside and challenged and all of these things, but we see the Jesus that we picture. We see the one that we know that is the guy who we've read about in the entire Gospels, but the story that we look at this morning is just different. Jesus meets a person in the midst of great need, yes. But rather than caring for them, rather than comforting him, we see a harsh picture of him. One that seems cold, one that seems uninterested, one that doesn't seem like the man whom we've known throughout the rest of this series, and ultimately in the Gospels at large. The title of our series or of our sermon this morning is A Different Encounter. And as we dissect a story that seems odd at face value, my hope is that we'll see as Jesus deals with this Canaanite woman, and even as every action is different than what we would expect, we ultimately will see that he is revealing to us something greater than we could ever imagine. So if you have your Bibles, like I mentioned, we'll be in Matthew chapter 15. We're going to read through our text this morning, and then my plan is just for us to walk through it plainly, pulling things out. So would you read with me in Matthew 15, starting in verse 21 and reading through verse 28? God's word says this. And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sedan. And behold, a Canaanite woman that was from the region came out and was crying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us. And 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. And she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the crumb even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And then he answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. So what I want to do as we walk through our text is have three observations and ultimately three revelations. So we're gonna do this differently, I guess, than I normally normally walk through a text, make observations, and then our applications towards the end. I want to apply throughout as we walk through. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna have an observation and then a revelation. Observation and a revelation, observation and revelation. And as we work our way through it, I think we see ultimately this picture of what Jesus is trying to show us through our passage. As you have your finger in Matthew 15, I go ahead and encourage you, go ahead and flip over to Mark 7. This is its parallel passage. If you want to have it for yourself, don't take my word for what God's word is saying. You can fact-check me as we read through it. But we'll jump back and forth between both places as Matthew and Mark give us two sides of the same coin, of the same encounter, but each of them showing us something unique in the overall encounter and conversation at large. So as we've just read through Matthew's account, let's start by looking at the beginning of Mark's. In Mark 7, looking at verse 24. Mark writes this, and from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sedon, and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know. Yet he could not be hidden. Observation number one is Jesus goes to a different place. Jesus goes to a different place. And at first, you're like, well, Braden, obviously, he went and he went somewhere else. Like that happens throughout. But the place that he went was very important, and the place that he went was very different. Both accounts tell us that he's going to this district called Tyre and Sedan. And this is the only time recorded in the gospel that Jesus leaves the bounds of the promised land. So in the Old Testament, we see that God sets apart a people for a place, ultimately for a purpose. And the place that he sets apart, we know as Israel, as the promised land. And as Jesus has done ministry, he has stayed within the bounds. Sure, modern-day Israel maybe looks a little bit differently, as now we see that it's broken up by Samaria, but that's still in the bounds of what the Lord set apart in Genesis as the promised land. But here he leaves it. He leaves it to go to a Gentile country. He leaves this to go to a place of idol worship and pagan practice. He leaves it to go to this region of Tyre and Sedon. And what's interesting about this is that the Jews hated these people maybe more than most. Tyre is the place where Jezebel comes from. If you've ever read the Old Testament, you know that Jezebel, even if you've never read the Old Testament, then you know that Jezebel is probably not a name that you want to be called. Their history hated these people. Jezebel comes from this place in Tyre, and she leads the northern kingdom into worshiping Baal in 1 Kings 16. Josephus was a first century Jewish historian. He was a Jew, and he talks about in Jesus' day what this was like. And he says this, that Tyre was notoriously our bitterest enemies. We hated these people. Like he's pulling no punches, we see nothing less. Whenever you would have said these words, as a Jew read Matthew's account or Mark's account, their face would have crunched up like they smelt a bad smell, like it's just what was synonymous with them. And even today, today, this region is modern-day Lebanon, which we know that even today, Israel and Lebanon are not on the best of terms to say the least. They have hated one another in all of time, and it seems like it's just continued. So to say it plainly, this is not a place that we would expect Jesus to be. And even his reason for going there is a bit odd. Mark tells us that he entered a house and he did not want anyone to know. See, it happened normally that Jesus did retreat, or in Matthew's terminology, he did withdraw from ministry at times. But typically these were to remote places. Typically, these were places where he could get by himself and pray or teach his disciples intentionally. But now he's going not to necessarily a remote place, just a different one. As he's walking into this house, he's doing so, and maybe it is to teach. Maybe it is to rest. We don't really know, but ultimately we do know he's not necessarily seeking to do ministry here. He's not going with the premise of making a big scene or letting people know what he is doing. But as Mark tells us, that his reputation precedes him. And as there never is, there just wasn't much of a chance for him staying hidden. And there's a very particular person that finds him. Look back with me in verse 22 of Matthew 15. It says, And behold, a Canaanite woman from the region came out and was crying after him. A Canaanite woman. So Matthew and Mark are writing their gospels for a couple different reasons, or really in a couple different ways. Matthew regularly, as you read throughout his gospel, he's referring to the Old Testament. Of all the Gospels, he refers to the Old Testament the most because he's writing almost for a Jewish audience. He's helping them see, hey, this Jesus is who we have been looking for. And he points back to prophecies and all of these things. And as he is writing to his Old Testament, his Jewish audience, whenever they hear the term Canaanite, it immediately sends up a red flag of these are our enemies. This is a person whom does not like us and we do not like them. Canaanites were constantly, from the beginning, were the enemies of God's people. And as he draws their attention back to this, he is seeking to even remind us that this is a long-term enemy of the people. Mark describes her in a little bit different way. He calls her a Syrophoenician. See, so she's from the land of Phoenicia that is under the domination of Syria. So with that, we know this. She is a Greek-speaking Gentile. She's a Syrian, she's a Phoenician, she's a Canaanite, and she is a woman. Add all of that together, and that is the last person who had any business calling out to, let alone looking at, Jesus, a teacher, a rabbi, and a Jew. We see this even at the woman of the well. Like this is a person who she says, you shouldn't be talking to me. But even the Samaritans had some business, this woman had none. From the onset, we see that she is something vastly different as well. As well as the place that they found themselves in. If Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, then she is a Gentile of Gentiles. Which leads us to our first revelation. We see this that Jesus has a greater mission. Jesus goes to a different place, yes, but I think it reveals to us that Jesus has a greater mission. There is absolutely nothing normal or expected about this counter, but yet this is where Jesus has found himself. And if we can know one thing, we can know this: that Jesus does nothing unintentionally. That Jesus does nothing just by happenstance. That Jesus is not taken by surprise whenever people come to him. No, rather, he does things with a purpose. He does things to make us know that this has not taken them by surprise. So let's look at the context of what he's trying to show us even as he goes to this place. If we read in Matthew 14, Jesus has just fed the 5,000. He's done this vast miracle for a ton of people, to say the least. He walks on water. He then heals the sick by just allowing them to touch his garments. He's been doing incredible, mighty works that has been making his name great. Which leads us right into Matthew 15, where we see the first half of this chapter is focused entirely on the idea of ceremonial purity. The Pharisees come to him, reprimanding him, because his followers aren't washing their hands properly or following the cleansing rituals as so that they can be seen as clean. And this is where Jesus gets into a discourse of what really makes a person dirty. What really is the problem that you have. See, he begins to talk about what defiles a person, what makes a person unclean, and as he pushes them on this, he's saying it's not the food that you eat or the cleansing practices that you adhere to or neglect, but rather what comes out of you. The sin that is within you, that's what makes you dirty. And we see this grand argument that Jesus gives us, as he's explaining it's not religious malpractice that makes a person unclean, but ultimately it's what's within them. So as he's telling the people this, he then goes to perhaps the most unclean and vile place for a Jew to imagine. As he's telling them what ultimately is clean versus not, he then leads his people, leads his followers into a place that is vile. And he meets a person that personifies uncleanliness. And yet this woman is one whom we see Jesus commends for great faith. We see the fulfillment, the beginnings of it at least, for what God had been promising all along. See, in Genesis, God gives Abraham a very specific purpose. He says, Abraham, I'm gonna make you into a great nation. So much so that you won't be able to count your descendants, as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the shore. But he tells Abraham something intentional, through you, I'm not just gonna bring blessing to your people, but I will bring blessing to the entire world, to all nations, all peoples be blessed through your offspring. Isaiah talks about this in Isaiah 49, and it says this in verse 5, it says, And now says the Lord, that he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. He says, It is too light a thing. It is not enough that you should just be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel, but more so I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth. See, Jesus is beginning, is trying to show them what God has promised, and he's giving them a tangible example of what ultimately he's gonna tell them in the coming days. But Jesus, after he has died and resurrected, as he meets his disciples and gives them the great commission, he says, Hey guys, there's something so much more here than you could ever have known. It's not just for us, not just for Judea, but for Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth. You will go and make disciples of all nations. And in this quick story, in the middle of Matthew, we see him beginning and trying to show that work. That there will be disciples of all nations, that nationality, heritage, lifestyle, past sins will not disqualify. And friends, I think from the onset, do we see that this is the call not only for them, but for us? First, in the midst of our own land, to not write off the individual that we deem unworthy. The disciples saw this woman and they wanted her gone. They told him as much. Send her away. But yet the person that the disciples despised was the one in whom Jesus had great faith, said was found great faith. See, we often write a we judge books by its cover all the time, and in some ways, rightfully so. But we often diminish who a person could be if the Lord were to intervene. They're too far gone. I know they're past, they're too dirty, they're too broken. They're just looking for handouts, or they're here for the wrong reasons. Like, friends, I'm saying this in means of confessional. I have said these things as people have made their way in. And Jesus, with a person, is trying to show there is no one outside the bounds of my influence and my impact. But not just because of their past actions or life, but even because of their location. Friends, we have a need to go to the nations because God's plan is much bigger than Murray, Kentucky. There are 7.7 billion people in our world. And studies say that about 42% have never heard the gospel. Not received it, have never heard it. That Jesus' name is a name that they do not know. That the work that he's done is something that has never even come into their ears. 42%. That is over 3.2 billion people who have no idea who Jesus is. Let alone people who actually have a relationship with him, who have surrendered their life to him, that have seen him more than just a teacher or a role model or a zealot, but seeing him as the Lord of all creation and surrendered their life to him. See, the need is great. Yes, it is great in Murray, Kentucky, but the need is great elsewhere. And he's sending all of us into the midst of that harvest. Yes, into the midst of our workplaces, yes, into the midst of our community, yes, into the midst of our neighborhoods and all of those things, but into the midst of the nations. The reasons why I love my job so much is that as college students come here, surprisingly enough, no one wants to stay. Murray doesn't have Sam's, doesn't have a target. What are you doing? You mean they gotta drive an hour for these things? Like this place is the worst. But we just got a Texas Roadhouse, guys. It's not all that bad. But not a lot of college students have an aspiration of, man, I want to spend the rest of my days in Murray, Kentucky. And that's a good thing. Because I see a strategy of as you come here, ultimately you will go there. And I want to leverage. Because students, in a lot of ways, whether you believe it or not, you have the most freedom right now than you ever will in your life. You're not that busy. Have kids, and all parents in the room say, Yeah, they're always there. Like there's always stuff to do. You live in a place where your summers are not tied down by providing for a family. Rather, you can go to a place that no one's walked before. And I want to leverage that. I want to send that in perhaps the most strategic season of your life, trying to show you what oftentimes I myself overlook, that that season didn't end whenever I got a diploma. Because church, it's not just for them, it's for us. That lostness is a big enough problem that we can't just set some age range of five years into meeting the need of it. That's why we send people like the clerk because you realize it makes no sense for them to leave their life in Murray, Kentucky, two young kids, a twin sister in the same town, to go to a place that is deemed unreached in Scotland, where less than 2% of people believe that Jesus is the Lord of all creation. But why? Because they saw the need be greater. That's why we have examples like the Wilsons. A couple in their late 50s and early 60s who have children here, who have grandkids here, but who sees the lostness there and says, that's more important. And I'm not saying all of us are eventually going to find our ways overseas. But my belief is that some of us should. And we can sit on our hands and say, Jesus is not sending me, and we would be missing what he's trying to show his people in this passage. That there is a need that goes beyond the bounds of our country, beyond the bounds of our city and our area. But that the biggest problem in our world is lostness, and all of us have a place to play in that. Some of us go, yes, but a lot of us sin. Even as we talk about Eliza brought us of giving, like so that we can make the gospel known just in our state, but then more so than that. It's why we form as a church partnerships in London. In Scotland, in Denver, in Bowling Green, in Cincinnati. Because we believe that Revelation 7 is true, that he tells us that there will be a people from every tribe and nation and tongue that'll be a part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. We believe, Matthew, whenever he writes in Matthew 24, 14, that this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony of the whole nations, and then the end will come. That if I want to be reunited with my Lord and my Savior, and I want creation to be made new, then I must be about the gospel getting everywhere. Friends, I've known families over the past two summers who have taken vacations to go on mission work for weeks. That's how it started with the Wilsons of what would this look like for a short term, a couple weeks. Friends, we set aside parts of our budget to do that for you, to come alongside you in funding so that ultimately you can be sent. You don't have to have an organized trip. You just have to have a willing heart. Let us help you in that. Because Jesus is trying to reveal to them what he's trying to reveal to us. All people are a part of his plan. We just need to go to them to get to them. Church, how will you be a part? Sure, for the vast majority, it means walking across the street, which is maybe scarier. But there are the ones whom the Lord is just waiting for you to say, send me. And he'll tell you exactly where to go. It says, And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us. And 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 to throw it to the dogs. Observation number two Jesus has a different interaction, to say the least. This is not the Jesus that we picture as the hippie that kind of works the ways around, long hair and all love. Like, this guy seems cold. This guy seems different. It's weird and it's hard, and it's attention that I don't like. See, this woman comes to him and understands some pretty important core truths about him. First, she calls him Lord. But she even takes it a step further. Someone that we have yet to see in Matthew's gospel as she calls him the son of David. She understands something about Jesus that the Pharisees have not, that the disciples have not, that he was more than just a teacher, more than just a miracle worker. He is the Messiah. See, Peter makes a similar proclamation, but it's not for a chapter later in Matthew 16 or in Mark 8. See, that's whenever he declares him to be the Messiah, but he's actually heard it before from the mouth of this Canaanite. We see her give a title to Jesus that no one else has to this point. She calls him her Lord, yes, but she recognizes that he has an authority. And she acknowledges her own need for his help. Her hope, her confidence was in his person. She's staking her whole trust in him. Notice her appeal, her entreaty, her request. She says she's persistent, relentless, over and over, falling down at his feet and begging. The word there is given the imperfect tense, saying she's just asking and asking and asking. Lord, my daughter is in pain. She's hurting. She's sick. In Mark, we see that she says little daughter. It's not necessarily that she may be very young, but that she's very dear. I have a four-year-old and I pick her up all the time and call her my baby, and it's a quick response of I'm not a baby. Thomas is a baby. But I don't care until she gets, you know, 79. If I'm still alive, she's still my baby because I love her. I don't know how old this girl is, but a mom loves her. And the only thing she knows to do is to grab a man whom she believes is the Messiah, prostrating herself before him and saying, Lord, help. And he ignores her. He doesn't even give her the light of day. The disciples match her crying, saying, Send her away, which oftentimes we give the disciples a bad rap. I mean, in Matthew 10, Jesus literally told them, Don't go to the Gentiles, stay amongst the lost sheep of Israel. They're thinking, hey man, she didn't catch the memo. We're not here for her. So Jesus tells her as much. Hey, I'm not here for you. Because Isaiah 53 is clear that all of us like sheep have gone astray, and the suffering servant must have the iniquity of his people put on him. But she continues. So we see in verses 25 and 26. She says, But then she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he takes it even a step further. He says, It is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs. She persists, and we get more uncomfortable. You are just a dog. Why would I give you the bread fit for a child? I'm uncomfortable with that. That's not the Jesus that I know. This term dog, let's not lighten it. Let's say it for what it is. It is perhaps the worst insult you can give a person in this day. I love my dog. He is my firstborn, genuinely. That's not the way they saw dogs back then. This is a typical term to return to address the Gentiles. It was one in which she'd probably heard often given to her by Jews. Dogs were vile, dogs were dangerous, they were scavengers, they were unclean. And sure they had some uses in the first century, but most of the time they were a menace to the society that they find themselves in. And this is what Jesus calls her. And I'll be the first to admit, this is super uncomfortable. And I'll give you the disclaimer. Yeah, we don't know his tone. We don't know his cues, we don't know his facial what he's trying to let on to her. But if we read this at point value, this seems like he's being a jerk. But it shows us something more, which is Revelation 2, that Jesus has a greater purpose. And as we sit in the midst of this tension, we do see something happening. See, as he continues in a lot of ways to push this woman away, she keeps coming. Her faith and her persistence are being put on full display. She clings to him. She continues to come to him despite his apparent rejection. See, because instead of answering this woman's request immediately, Jesus is allowing her faith to be put on full display. And I think oftentimes we're uncomfortable with his reaction to her because we're uncomfortable whenever he gives this reaction to us. We don't like whenever Jesus doesn't answer. We don't like whenever he seems distant. We don't like whenever he doesn't respond the way that he calls us to. We don't like verses like James 1, 2 and 2 through 4 that say, count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Or Peter, as he writes in 1 Peter 1, that in this we can rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, we are grieved, we are pained by various trials, so that we can see the genuineness of our faith, which is more precious than gold, that perishes, though it is tested by fire. And it may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. See, oftentimes Jesus is actually doing here what he's done before. He pushes back on the faith of people, on the outspoken words of people to see, is this real? And whenever he does this to us, we equally do not like it. We don't like it whenever hardship stays. We don't like it whenever he seems distant or we don't seem to hear him. See, because a random a normal practice of Jesus is to test back the faith of the people to see if it's real. We see Jesus at the largest crowds, he preaches his hardest messages. He tells them plainly, yeah, you want to follow me? Foxes have their dens, birds have their nests, the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. My life isn't that easy. Are you sure you want it? He tells people to count the cost, but unless you're willing to forsake all else, father, mother, child, brother, sister, you have no part with me. As he tells the people whom he just fed the five thousands, we see John as he says, Hey, I'm not feeding you anymore. You either eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, or you don't get anything else on the menu. And a few chapters from now, we see a rich young ruler who has a lot and has done a lot. And Jesus says, Okay, go sell everything you had because there's eventually a limit. Or even in Matthew 7, as he told them, there will be plenty on that day that say, look at what I've proclaimed. Lord, Lord, did we not? Did we not perform many mighty miracles in your name? Cast out demons in your name. And he says, at that point, I will say, Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness, because he does not know you. See, this is a normal pushback of Jesus. It just hasn't been this harsh yet. And whenever we find ourselves in similar places of the Canaanite woman's, sometimes we're met with a spot a response that's just as hard. Whenever we beg to the Lord help and we don't get an answer. Whenever we're met with silence, whenever we come again and again and it just doesn't seem like he cares. Because if I told you that, what happens whenever the cancer wins? What happens whenever the baby doesn't come? What happens whenever the hardship of life is real? What's the purpose in that? Rather, I think in the midst of his silence, too often we equate it with his absence, but he's trying to do something more. And guys, I don't stand here as a preacher and a pastor saying, Yeah, it's easy. Just look to Jesus. He's gonna work all things together for your good. That's hard to believe. As a person who sat in hurt and pain and questioned, but we see that Jesus does do something particular in the midst of the darkest and the deepest valleys of our lives. We get the testimony that as we walk through these situations, he can really do what he says in Psalm 34 or in Psalm 37. That as we delight in ourselves in the Lord, he'll give you the desires of your heart because he ends up becoming that desire. Or in Romans 8, whenever he says that he'll work all things together for good of those who are called according to his purpose. See, it's in the midst of hardship that we actually can believe that verse. Why? God allowed the nation of Israel to wander and die for 40 years in the wilderness because he was trying to get the Egypt out of them. And sometimes God allows us to sit in heartache and pain and sickness to help get sin out of us. And yeah, sometimes healing doesn't come. Sometimes what we ask for doesn't come. But if in the midst of that pain we learn to trust in Jesus more, then it's worth it. If in the midst of that pain we can look and know Him more, it's worth it. And I don't tell you that it's easy, but I can tell you that it's worth it because if we have Jesus, then we have all we need. See, and some of us have stories of that victory, but we're too quick to keep them low. Friends, we should be sharing how God used us even in the pits of our despair and cared for us there. Because there's people who walk in that pit in darkness right now, who want to see some sort of silver lining in it. See, because sometimes God uses our need to reveal our fickleness, our lack to make us see that we do not know him. Friends, all of this comes down to as we see a greater purpose, it makes us ask the question do we really trust him? Do we trust him whenever we don't understand him? Do we trust him whenever we don't whenever we don't get the answer that we want? Because that's what Jesus calls us to. That's what we see in this woman. He claims that she has great faith because she continues to know that he is the one that she needs. And we see, as we keep reading, that she does not give up. Verses 26 through 28, it says this, and he answered, It is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs. And she responds, Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And then Jesus answered, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. The third observation we see is that Jesus offers a different healing. Finally, Jesus, you're acting like what we expect you to. Finally, the miracle comes. But let's not just pass over it. Let's see what he says. Mark, again, gives us a different side of the same interaction. In Mark 7, 29 and 30, he says, and he said to her, for this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon had gone. In an instant, her daughter is healed. Jesus does not have to go to her. Jesus does not have to see her. But yet in the moment, her daughter is healed. And we see that in the Gospels that a healing at a distance only happens with Gentiles. But everywhere else, Jesus goes to the one whose troubles, but with the Gentiles, he can heal them with the word without even going. And even here, he does not even speak a word. This healing is different than what we've even gotten to see. It's no touching of a person who's dirty, though it's miraculous. It's no meeting in the midst of pain. But from afar, he does a work that only God can do. J.C. Ryle, as he writes about the little girl in this passage, says, this little demon-possessed girl, she is hopeless and she is desperate. But she had a praying mother. And where there is a praying mother, there is always hope. The girl wasn't even in his midst, and he was able to save her. But why? How? What made this turn? Well, look at verse 28. He answered, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. Why does this healing come? Because of the faith of the woman. Which is Revelation 3. Jesus is calling for a greater faith. Guys, do we see her example here? That this woman whom hate who the Jews hated is given a praise that is only given to her a great faith. He does not give anyone else these accolades but her. And all of the gospels. Mark tells us, Mark 7, 27-28, it says, He said to her, Let the little children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. But she answered him, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eating the children's crumbs. See, do you see what she's doing? She does not shy away from the fact that she is a dog. We see something interesting in Mark that he says the children must be fed first. Maybe he's giving her some breadcrumbs as how to follow of the path that she needs to take ultimately for what she's desiring to happen to happen. But he calls her what she is: a dog. And she does not deny it. Put ourselves in that shoes. Would we say, Jesus, what do you mean I'm a dog? She doesn't stand up and push back. She doesn't bow up and say, and you're calling me the same thing that all these other people call me. The people that you chastise, you're using the same language. What do you mean I'm a dog? What do you mean I'm this? No, rather she looks at Jesus and says, Yes, Lord. The third time in Matthew, she calls him Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, I know that you have come for the lost sheep of Israel. But I've seen plainly that there's also a plan for all nations. Yes, Lord, the dogs do not deserve the food. The dogs just get scraps. But Jesus, a scrap of what you have to offer, is all I need. As I mentioned, my dog is my firstborn. I love him dearly. But there's even things that are not for him. Namely, the table. The food I make ultimately isn't for him. And I don't sit him up in our chairs and say, hey, have your way. But he's pretty smart because he knows where to be. See, dogs in this day did have their purpose. The ones kept in houses, some of them were kept so that bugs stayed on them and not on the people. Gross. But all of them, even in today, acted as really great vacuum cleaners. Because there's no one that can clean up after Thomas, my son, than my dog. He knows just where to sit to get the scrap. See, this is what this person realizes. Yeah, I realize my place, but I realize if I set myself at the feet of the master, I'll get what I need and what I'm wanting. She knows. She knows where to go for what she's looking for. But what makes her faith great? What makes it saving? Well, let's see. And in verse 27, again, and Chelsea, you can leave this on the screen for us. We see a two-part response from her. First is yes, Lord. She sees herself rightly. She knows she's not fit for the table. She is a dog and she does not deny it. She knows she's dirty. She knows she's a pagan. She knows she's an idle worker. She knows she's broken. She does not have an ounce of self justification here. She doesn't say, no, look at me. I'm really actually a pretty good person. I can do all of these things for myself. No, she says, yes, Lord, I am a dog. We've got that on the same page. But she also knows whose presence she is in. Because she recognizes her brokenness, yes, but she sees the master's grace and mercy. That even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Yes, Lord, I am a dog, but Jesus, you are merciful. Jesus, you are gracious. Jesus, you give healing and blessing to those who don't deserve it. What is saving faith? It's both of these things. One, it's seeing ourselves rightly, which we can only do whenever we see ourselves before the Master. And even our best deeds are dirty rags before him. It's understanding our position, our helplessness, but also understanding the vastness of his grace and of his mercy. See, because oftentimes I think we miss one of these things. We either think ourselves too worthy. Tim Keller on this passage says that too often we see ourselves deserving a place at the table, and if that is the case, then we will never get a seat at one. We think that Jesus owes us for what little we've brought before him. And friends, that's ignorance. But too often we do the opposite, that we we think that our sin and our past and our brokenness is more than the grace and the love of our Lord, which is not true. We make our own sin greater than his grace, and we sit in shame and pain to punish ourselves, which too is ignorance. See what this woman does is she sees herself as broken, but she sees the Lord as the one who can heal and wants to. And guys, we know why. Why does the dog get the child's portion? Because the child got the dog's punishment. That Jesus actually offers us something more than just the scraps from his table, but he invites us to the banquet. As Paul writes in Galatians, as he says, whenever the fullness of time has come, God had sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law. He sent him in the perfect time, in the perfect place, in the perfect way, ultimately so that he may die to redeem those under the law. But for us, so that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of a son into your hearts, which cries out, Abba, Father, you are no longer a slave. But you are a son. And if you are a son, then you are an heir through God. He says, Stop sitting at my feet and sit at my table. All that I have is given to you because of what Christ has done. He offers us something so much more than we could ever imagine, than what we even really need. He offers the abundance of life, because of what Jesus did for us, friends, will we see it? Will we see what Jesus has done for us? Will we see the faith that he's calling us to? Because whenever we see ourselves rightly but see the love that he has for us, there's one person who gets the glory and it's him. There's one mouth that stays at the forefront of our lips and it's and it's him. There's one name that ultimately gets lifted up and it's him. And friends, if we see ourselves and what Christ has done for us, then Christ is elevated in our lives. Friends, we see the faith that he's calling us to. Jesus had a greater mission in going to this place, and he has a greater mission for us. He has a greater purpose even in the midst of our hardship. And he's calling us to walk in a greater faith. Will we? As we move into a time of response, as the band comes back to the stage, friends, I just want to ask you ultimately, what is the Lord calling you to in this time? Guys, first we see that he does have a greater mission. And if we call ourselves believers in Christ, then we all have a part to play in that. Yes, the vast majority of us will probably stay here in Murray, Kentucky, and praise God that we get to be a gospel witness here. But I genuinely believe that he is sending. Sending some of us to make his name known in the nations. Will you be a part of that mission? Whether it's across the street or across the world. Friend, will you be comforted that Jesus has a greater purpose? That even as you sit in pain and confusion and heartache, all he wants is to love you. To bring you closer to him, to help you see fresh and new that he is the one thing that you need. And too often I'm too ignorant to see it in the midst of the mountaintops, so by the Lord's grace, he puts me in the valley, so I rest in him. And we see that he's calling us to a greater faith. One that sees ourselves rightly. But we still see him greater. We see a Lord of all creation that loves us in spite of us and has done the entire work necessary for us to find life in him. It is through his grace by faith that we are saved. Father, I pray that you show us how you long for us to respond. Lord, show us the greater thing that you're calling us to. And help us not merely hear your word and turn our back to it, but help us respond rightly.