Podcast Introduction

Our reading today is Matthew 14-16, and I’m calling the episode “The Long Detour.” 

Thoughts on Matthew 15

When the chapter begins, Jesus is in Gennesaret, by the Sea of Galilee.  But in verse 21 Jesus travels to the area around Tyre and Sidon, about 50 miles away. And the area is in the opposite direction of Jerusalem. For reference, Galilee is roughly due north of Jerusalem, about 75 miles away. As the crow flies, Tyre is about 105 miles from Jerusalem. 

Remember, Jesus walked everywhere. He didn’t own any animals. So it probably took him two to three days, depending on his speed, to walk from Gennesaret to the area around Tyre and Sidon. 

Why am I telling you this? Because when Jesus went there, this was not on the way to any of the places he usually frequented. He was there on a mission. He had an appointment to keep with a Canaanite woman. A Gentile.

There was a lot of hatred between the Jews and the Canaanites. Yet this woman cries out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!” She must have heard the accounts of the miracles of healing that Jesus had done, even for Gentiles, and she believed that Jesus was the Son of David, and that He could heal her daughter. The people in his home town had no faith in Jesus, but this Canaanite woman did. 

Let’s step aside for a moment to note that the Gentiles Jesus healed previously had travelled to his location. In this case, Jesus made the trip to her. 

Now back to the scene. The woman cries out, “Have mercy on me…!” and Jesus doesn’t even answer her. Maybe he didn’t even acknowledge her presence. This doesn’t sound like Jesus. He ignored her.

Evidently her reaction to being ignored was to keep pleading with Jesus, because the disciples said, “Send her away, because she is crying out after us!” At this point, we don’t know what Jesus was doing, but the disciples were annoyed. They wanted her to just go away. In saying “send her away”, the original language implies that they were asking Jesus to do what she asked so that she would stop her pleading and go away.

Instead Jesus said in essence, “I was not sent for the Gentiles, but for Israel.”

This made her even more persistent. “Lord, help me!” Listen to what Charles Spurgeon wrote about this plea: “I commend this prayer to you because it is such a handy prayer. You can use it when you are in a hurry, you can use it when you are in a fright, you can use it when you have not time to bow your knee. You can use it in the pulpit if you are going to preach, you can use it when you are opening your shop, you can use it when you are rising in the morning. It is such a handy prayer that I hardly know any position in which you could not pray it: ‘Lord, help me.’”

Lord, help me. Some people don’t feel like they’ve prayed effectively unless they use a lot of words. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:8 that “…your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Lord, help me.

But to our ears, Jesus seemingly doubled down in his coldness to her. He says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs!” Sounds pretty racist, doesn’t it? Knowing how Canaanites and Jews hated each other, it sounds like Jesus is calling her a dog, doesn’t it? But not so. The language tells us that what Jesus said was “little dogs”, as in the pet dogs that even Jewish people had, not the wild dogs that roamed the streets. 

We aren’t told the tone of Jesus’ voice when he made this statement, but I imagine He was beginning to let her in on the fact that He was using this as a teaching moment. I can even believe that He had a hint of a smile on his face.

So she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She understood what he was saying. She didn’t take offense at being called a little dog. And she continued her plea. “Just throw me a scrap, Lord. Just a scrap from You will be enough to heal my daughter.”

In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestled with God. Remember, when God appears in the flesh in the Old Testament, we understand that to be the pre-incarnate Jesus. They wrestled all night long. Finally, Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And Jacob prevailed.

Here Jesus has tried three times to discourage the woman. And yet, she prevails.

“O woman,” Jesus said, “your faith is great!”

“O woman, your faith is great!” Do you know how many other people Jesus said this to? Zero. He did compliment the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant in Matthew 8, but he said it to the crowd, not the centurion. Jesus looked into her eyes and said it. Can you imagine!

 “O woman, your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you want.” Her faith was enough to move Jesus, and He healed her daughter. In the face of Jesus’ apparent lack of interest or motivation to help her, her faith was great. She didn’t give up. She kept pushing. She knew Jesus could heal her daughter, if she could just make Him see. She wrestled with God, and she prevailed. In fact, Jesus gave her something she hadn’t even asked for. He healed the woman’s daughter immediately.

And then what happened? The next words we read is, “And departing from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee…” Remember where Jesus was when the chapter started? Gennesaret, by the Sea of Galilee. Talk about a long detour! A hundred mile round trip walk.

How’s that for love?

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 14 ESV, Ch. 15-16 LEB

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