WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.000 Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:04.959 Amen. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:07.759 All right, you got to see one picture of a dog already. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.160 Um, so let's do another one. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.800 This is Chance. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:14.560 Uh, many of you know him. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:21.120 He's become a little famous at Trinity from the uh Chance Fries illustration from one of my sermons a while back. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:26.079 Uh Chance is our dog, and Chance is old. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:35.359 Uh in Chance's younger years, such as uh those pictured here, uh, this photo was taken just uh a couple weeks ago. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:42.640 Everybody was saying, look how different he looks and how different you look. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:46.079 And I said, I don't I don't think I look different at all, do I? 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:53.039 Um yeah, back in the day, Chance and I were both uh quite more spry, spry or what's the word there? 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:53.439 I don't know. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:55.039 He was very spry back then. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:57.359 Um chance and I would wrestle every day. 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.560 I had a hard time keeping up with him when we would go for walks. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.519 Uh, even when we moved here, I don't know, six, seven years ago, uh, he ran ahead of our family while hiking Black Butte. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:10.400 But things have changed. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:16.879 Chance turned 14 a couple weeks ago, basically a centenarian in doggy years. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.319 He spends most of his time these days lying around the house and sleeping. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.000 And sometimes he'll mix it up. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:28.879 He'll get up and he'll move from the spot where he was sleeping and go to another spot where he can sleep. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.079 He's not too active these days. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:40.799 But every now and then, but for a fleeting moment, his youthfulness returns to him in full force. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:47.840 He'll jump up, he'll run across the room, he'll exude all the energy of the sprightly young puppy that he used to be. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:55.280 Uh, strangely, these moments always seem to happen in perfect sync with our family meals. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:02.560 When one of us gets up to take our plate into the kitchen to dump any scraps into the garbage. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:05.200 Well, to us, they're scraps. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:06.799 Crumbs. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:13.919 But to chance, they are delectable delicacies beyond compare. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:15.599 They're the highlight of his day. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:19.039 I dare say almost the highlight of his life these days. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:23.520 For chance, our crumbs are so much more than enough. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.039 And today I'd like to talk with you a little bit about crumbs. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:37.280 Today we've heard Matthew's somewhat unsettling account of one of Jesus' unlikeliest of disciples, someone that Jesus shockingly calls a dog. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:44.639 Someone who teaches us that the crumbs from our master's table are more than enough for our every need. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:46.879 Let's walk through it together step by step. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:50.479 It begins in the district of Tyre and Sidon. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.439 This is way up north, Gentile country. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:03:01.520 Jesus has decided to withdraw from Galilee because he's just had a conversation with the Pharisees that they didn't like so much. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:03.919 Tensions are running high. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:06.479 But his time has not yet come. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:12.400 And so, rejected by his own people, Jesus intentionally travels to this foreign pagan land. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:26.400 The district of Tyre and Sidon is a Gentile country, city-states that belonged to the Phoenicians, descendants of those who had inhabited the promised land before the Israelite conquest under Joshua. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:33.039 Sidon, for instance, is the hometown of Jezebel, a famous villain from the Old Testament. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:40.319 The prophet Elijah had retreated up to that area when Israel had rejected God's word, and he ended up bringing great blessing to a woman there. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:41.840 You might remember that story. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:44.240 Well, Jesus is about to do the same. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.919 Matthew tells us that a Canaanite woman comes out to him. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:50.479 Now, in one sense, this is hardly surprising. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.400 This is her homeland. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.439 But the way that Matthew describes her is surprising. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:59.360 Canaanite. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:04.879 Nobody in Jesus' day really used that word anymore. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:06.560 It was archaic. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:12.879 Mark's gospel uses the much more contemporary Roman term Syrophoenician. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.959 But Matthew describes her as a Canaanite. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:24.240 It's kind of like if we today were to refer to someone in the American South as a Confederate. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:29.920 The term calls to mind old, longstanding animosities. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:36.800 The Canaanites were the ancient pagan enemies of Israel, the most morally despised of them all. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:45.120 Matthew is reaching back into Israel's scriptures to show us that this woman is as big an outsider as anyone could possibly be. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:48.879 And she has come to Jesus for help. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:52.720 And don't miss the significance of what she says. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:57.040 Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.720 My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:05.120 Like so many, she's coming to Jesus for help. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:07.839 But boy does she stand out. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:15.360 It is incredibly striking that this unclean, outsider, Canaanite woman calls Jesus what she does. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.399 First, she calls him Lord, which on its own could simply be a polite way of saying sir. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:23.279 And she'll call him that three times in this text. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:27.199 But paired with what she calls him next, it becomes massively significant. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:31.600 Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.480 This Canaanite woman calls Jesus by a Hebrew title. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:41.439 Not just that, a messianic Hebrew title. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:46.879 This Canaanite woman is demonstrating knowledge that Jesus is Israel's Messiah. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:56.319 This Canaanite woman who shouldn't have a clue has greater insight into Jesus' identity than almost all of the Jews. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:04.319 She speaks not only like a true Israelite, but as a true disciple of Jesus. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:15.199 Last week I suggested that Peter was standing in for us as our representative as he walked on the sea and showcased his weakness as he fell beneath the waves. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:18.639 I think the woman here stands in for us as well. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:21.120 So let me ask you a question. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:22.879 We're going to dive into more next week. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:26.240 Whom do you know Jesus to be? 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:28.800 Are you crying out to him for help? 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:37.040 Are you praying to him in accordance with everything he is and all the promises that he has made and fulfilled? 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:38.879 Because she did. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:42.879 So how does Jesus answer her? 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:45.360 Silence. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:51.120 She's crying out and crying out and crying out, and Jesus doesn't answer her a word. 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.360 It's unbelievable, isn't it? 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:55.759 That's not the Jesus we know. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:57.839 His silence here is deafening. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:06:58.800 Why? 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:00.639 Is it to test her? 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.199 Is it to test the disciples? 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.519 Or is he serious? 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:09.680 Does he really have no intention to listen to her or to help her? 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:18.560 One church father confidently says it was not that the Lord was unwilling to heal her, but that he might reveal her great faith and humility. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.000 Maybe so. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.000 But through heartbreaking, excruciating silence? 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:30.560 I bet you have felt at times like Jesus is silent. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.160 That he seems to have no interest in your needs or your prayers. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:35.759 You know better. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:39.920 And your experience doesn't seem to jive with your theology. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:45.360 But nevertheless, heaven seems unbothered and uninterested. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.160 What do we do in times like this? 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.120 Well, what does this Canaanite woman do? 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:53.519 She persists. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.560 She keeps crying out, so much so that the disciples ask Jesus to send her away. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:04.319 It's kind of like when they had told Jesus to send away the 5,000 men, plus women and children on top of that. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:06.720 The night of that great miracle. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:12.240 Here it's pretty clear that they're asking Jesus just to kind of give her what she wants so that she'll leave him alone. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:14.720 And so Jesus breaks his silence. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:21.519 He answers his disciples, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.720 Israel is the flock that Jesus was sent to shepherd. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.959 Jesus is Israel's Messiah. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:42.960 Back in chapter 10, Jesus had sent his disciples out on a mission, and he had told them explicitly, Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but rather go to the same phrase here, lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.399 And so here Jesus is practicing what he preached. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:52.879 The dividing wall between Jew and Gentile that he's going to obliterate with his resurrection from the dead is still up for now. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:59.120 And so he makes it clear right in front of her that he's not there for people like her. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.919 Surely that's going to break her spirit. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:04.559 Surely that will send her away. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.279 Well, surely not. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:11.200 She responds to this by kneeling down before him. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:17.360 Matthew actually uses the exact same Greek word here that he does to describe the worship of the magi. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:23.440 And she says, Lord, help me. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:27.759 So finally, Jesus acknowledges her. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:30.000 He answers her. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:37.600 It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:40.960 Now before his silence was deafening. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:50.159 His articulation of his mission to Israel seemed dismissive of her, but this is downright insulting. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:52.320 He's saying it is not right. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:10:00.559 It is not fitting or appropriate or salutary to take what belongs to the children, that is, Israel, and throw it to the dogs. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:05.360 That is Canaanites like her. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.879 Is Jesus calling her a dog? 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.399 It's hard to get around it. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.320 Though many have tried. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:25.600 Like the church father Hilary of Poitiers, he writes, The disparagement of dogs was mitigated by the blandishment of a diminutive name. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:36.399 Now I'm not sure if blandishment is even a real word, but it is true that the word Jesus uses here clearly describes house dogs rather than stray dogs that you'd find on the street. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.519 It's sometimes even a term of endearment. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:42.559 But then again, a dog is a dog. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:46.159 And what he says is shocking to our modern ears. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:49.919 Though it would have struck his contemporaries as unremarkable. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.440 So again, we're left to ask, does Jesus mean it? 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:01.120 Or is he maybe aping the common Jewish sentiment of the time so as to critique it almost as if he's doing satire? 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.279 Again, is Jesus testing her? 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.440 Is he testing the disciples? 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:11.440 Is he leading her to further reveal who she knows him to be? 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:13.679 Well, she does. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.639 Her response jumps out from the page like a puppy jumping up for a treat. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:25.759 Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.519 Now, Jeff Gibbs points out a mistake that most English translations tend to make here. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:40.159 There's usually a yet or a but inserted into her reply, but it's not there in the Greek. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:42.080 And that's huge. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:46.399 This Canaanite woman is not disagreeing with Jesus, not at all. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:48.159 She takes no offense. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.559 She offers no challenge to the idea that Israel takes priority. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:57.519 In fact, what she's doing here is very much agreeing with Jesus. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:08.799 And precisely because she agrees with Jesus, she makes her request with both great humility and confident hope. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:16.000 Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:23.279 She's essentially saying, Yes, Lord, son of David, I agree with you. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:27.279 I know who I am, and I'm not pretending otherwise. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:32.000 I am not after the children's bread that you've rightly come to give them. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:38.480 But when the children eat, dogs like me get to eat too. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:53.360 This woman knows so much about Jesus, about his mission, about his mercy, about his might, that even after he seemingly rejects her three times, she remains confident that she will receive what she's asking for. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:59.039 Because she knows that the crumbs are more than enough. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:05.360 The thing about children is they can tend to be messy eaters. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:10.240 And she knows that at Jesus' table, grace runneth over. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.879 It is excessive and overflowing. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:15.519 It spills forth with reckless abandon. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:20.320 Like a beloved dog eager for a treat or a morsel from the table. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:27.600 The Canaanite woman refuses to stop believing that the mercy of Jesus will pour out even on someone like her and her daughter. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:29.440 She knows who she is. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.679 But even better, she knows who Jesus is. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:53.840 A quarter of a century before Paul writes his letter to the Romans, she knows the truth that we heard from him today, that God's grace is for both Jew and Gentile, that the death of Jesus has come to rescue all people, that we Gentiles have been grafted into the family by the mercy of the Lord. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:14:03.679 It's just as Isaiah wrote in our Old Testament reading today: God is going to bring foreigners to his holy mountain, and his house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:16.879 And before this chapter in Matthew is through, Jesus is going to feed 4,000 men, plus women and children, and a place that the Gospel of Mark makes clear is also in Gentile territory. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:19.200 Talk about crumbs. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.720 And so Jesus addresses her again. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:39.919 And I can't help but picture his face, kind of like that of Ebenezer Scrooge, after his great change of heart, when he's in the cratch at home and he's pretending to still be his gruff miserly self, but he just can't quite keep the smile off his face any longer. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:49.120 Jesus says to this unclean outsider, Canaanite woman, Oh woman, great is your faith. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:53.039 Let it be done for you as you desire. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.480 Talk about a happy ending. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:58.639 Yes, the woman gets what she sought. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.799 Her daughter is healed instantly, and the demon is gone from their lives. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:11.120 But even happier is that Jesus proves to be exactly who this woman has been fervently banking on all along. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:20.559 Jesus is Israel's Messiah, the Lord, the Son of David, and Israel's Messiah has more than enough bread to go around. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:30.320 Children, dogs, whatever you may be, you have a place in his kingdom, in his house, at his table. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:40.399 No matter how far away you feel, no matter how unclean you may be, no matter how much even the other followers of Jesus might want to be rid of you. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:48.480 This Canaanite woman was absolutely right about the overflowing mercy of Jesus. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:51.440 And so Jesus praises her faith. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:55.519 He calls it great, megale in the Greek. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:06.480 And this woman's mega faith stands in sharp contrast with the little faith that we saw from Peter last week, the little faith that his disciples have so often evinced. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:14.879 She has great faith because she knows exactly who Jesus is, and she knows that even his crumbs are more than enough for her. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:20.559 And so the church fathers, one after another, echo the sentiment that this is where Jesus was leading us all along. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:31.600 John Chrysostom says, So we might surmise that this is the reason he put her off, in order that he might proclaim aloud this saying, and that he might crown the woman. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:40.399 Theodore of Mopsuestia writes, For it was for this reason that he postponed, giving a reply, that the woman might cry aloud with this word. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.559 Thereby he would show her to be worthy of a thousand crowns. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:55.679 For it was not because he did not want to give her the gift that he delayed, but because he sought and took care beforehand to reveal her faith. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:00.559 You know, these guys just might be absolutely right. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:08.400 Perhaps when Jesus seems silent, he's not rejecting our faith, but revealing it to us and to those around us. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:14.559 Perhaps the persistence that marks this blessed woman's faith is meant to instill the same persistence in ours. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:21.680 Perhaps all of it serves to highlight Jesus as Israel's Messiah and the Savior of the whole world. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.839 Because we were just like her. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:28.160 We were desperate, we were undeserving, and we were outside the kingdom of God. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:34.559 And I take this especially to heart because the name Caleb means two things in Hebrew. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:36.960 One I'm very proud of, and one maybe not so much. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:42.799 Caleb can mean bold and courageous, but its other meaning, anybody know? 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:45.359 Dog. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:49.920 And so were we all. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:52.960 But Jesus will prove true. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:01.519 What Isaiah wrote about Israel's Messiah, that it was too light a thing for him to bring back just Israel. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:03.759 He was going to be a light to the nations. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.200 He would come and commend Canaanites and centurions for their faith. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:18.079 He would promise that many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.079 He's talking about us. 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:25.359 Jesus instantly healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman that day. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:30.480 But did you know that was far from the greatest act of mercy that he would show to her? 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:42.079 Because the Messiah who stretched out the boundaries of his grace to envelop her would stretch out his arms and die for her and her daughter and for you and for me. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.039 And then he would break death by rising from the dead. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:49.200 And so, like her, you know who you are. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:51.839 You're not pretending otherwise. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:56.000 You are someone who, in your sin, deserves to be outside the kingdom of God. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:02.400 But you have been welcomed into the house of the Master, and his crumbs are more than enough. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:05.920 May he make our faith great. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:07.920 In Jesus' name. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.039 Amen. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:16.240 May the peace of God which transcends our understanding guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus our Lord now and forever. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:17.359 Amen.