After Jesus teaches about the necessity of having hearts near to God in the first part of Chapter 15, Matthew shows us two more miraculous stories. First, Jesus heals a gentile woman who show’s great humility. Then Jesus once again feeds a multitude. This time 4,000 people. Jesus’ compassion is on full display!
GREAT FAITH AND HUMILITY
Jesus and the disciples traveled north toward the Mediterranean Sea to Tyre and Sidon. He was ministering there when he was approached by a Canaanite woman who was crying out for help from Jesus.
Matthew 15:22-…” Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon possessed.”
The Canaanite woman’s reverence for Jesus comes out strongly in her request. She approaches Jesus, calling him “Lord” and identifying Him as the “Son of David”. She is expressing that she knows that Jesus is the promised Messiah. However, Jesus doesn’t respond.
Matthew 15:23- But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”
Jesus ignores her initially. Although, as we’ll see as we read through the passage that He is doing this for a purpose. But the disciples are quick to speak up. They tell Jesus to send her away. She’s annoying! In Matthew 14, just a chapter earlier, the disciples asked Jesus to send the hungry crowd away. This is becoming somewhat of a trend. After the disciple’s “advice”, Jesus responds to the woman, but not the way that you might expect. The conversation that ensues between Jesus and this woman has eternal implications!
Matthew 15:24-27- But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from the masters’ table.”
Jesus’ conversation with this woman is both for her and for the benefit of His disciples who just requested to have her sent away. Jesus initial response is a simple statement. It’s notable that Jesus doesn’t respond to the disciple’s request. Rather, he engages her in conversation by stating that “He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, the Jews. In Matthew 10, Jesus sent the disciples out on a mission trip to the same group, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 10:6). Jesus is still on a mission to the Jew first. However, the gentile will be welcomed in due time!
The Canaanite woman, however, responds by bowing before Jesus and cries out again for help. But Jesus repeats his point. Only this time using an illustration. He tells her that it is not good to give food meant for your child to a dog. This sounds so offensive when reading it and in more than one way. To fully understand what Jesus is saying here, there are a couple of things we should know. First, dogs in this culture were not like your pet that lives in your home. They were mangy scavengers that were completely undesirable.
Jesus isn’t calling this woman a dog, necessarily. The disciples were ready to send this woman on her way, partly because she was shouting at them, but it was likely also because she was a gentile. The Jews referred to gentiles as “dogs” on multiple other occasions in scripture. So, Jesus uses the illustration of food from the children of Israel to be offered to the so called “gentile dogs”. We must be careful not to read too much into this statement. Jesus loves this woman and does not think of her what some in that culture would have thought. He’s exposing their hearts while making His point.
But this woman’s response is astounding! It seems to me she very well could have been offended at what Jesus said. Or maybe just taken it as a rebuke and left Him thinking that this Messiah was only for the Jew. But instead, she responds by saying “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters table.”
This woman’s humility is amazing. She has already confessed Jesus as the Messiah and has accepted her position before Him. She doesn’t try to prove her worth or argue about why she deserves a seat at the table or to be considered a child rather than a dog in His illustration. That’s where my first thought went. Instead, she humbles herself and accepts her inferior position in this illustration. She also doesn’t question the goodness of Jesus at any point in this conversation. Her response is a lesson to the disciples and to us today. What great humility and faith this Canaanite woman had!
Matthew 15:28- Then Jesus said to her, “O Woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.
Wow, to hear those words from the Lord must have been an awesome experience! This woman, much like the Roman Centurion in Matthew 9, is putting the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” to shame as a gentile. This story is a glimpse into the future for the disciples as they will expand their ministry to the gentiles.
THE COMPASSION OF JESUS
Jesus then returns to the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee and is greeted by another throng of people.
Matthew 15:30- And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute and many others, and laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.
Jesus takes time to once again serve this huge crowd of people. We learn in Matt. 15:38 that there are 4000 men, besides women and children. This crowd may have been 10,000 plus. The crowd is amazed as they witnessed all that Jesus was doing and in Matthew 15:31 he says the people glorified the ‘God of Israel.’
It’s notable that Matthew uses the phrase “God of Israel” in this passage. The reason he uses that phrase is because many who were in this crowd were not Jews. The area Jesus is healing in here had many gentiles living in it.
And yet here we see Jesus healing their sick and afflicted along side the jews that were coming to him. And we get to see why he’s doing this in the next verse.
Matthew 15:32- And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me for three days and have nothing to eat, and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way”.
Jesus has been healing the needy in this crowd for three days! Working miracles, no one else could perform, and they were staying with Him. They didn’t want to go home. But Jesus tells His disciples of the compassion He feels for them. And He’s concerned with the simplest of concerns. He didn’t want them to leave hungry. He’s been ministering to them in miraculous ways and teaching them eternal truths, yet He wants to serve them in their most basic physical need. But the disciples, who had already seen Jesus feed a large crowd once before, ask a familiar question. They ask, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” Jesus once again gathers the small amount of food they could find from someone in the crowd and once again he multiplies it until everyone was satisfied and they had seven large baskets full of leftovers.
CONCLUSION
This is a wonderful chapter in the bible!! Jesus shows His love and compassion for both the Canaanite woman and the crowd around the sea of Galilee largely comprised of gentiles. He is unchanging, so He still has that same love and compassion for you and me today.
I’m also encouraged by the amazing faith and humility of the Canaanite woman! How convicting that must have been for the disciples traveling with Jesus. We will see in the following Chapter (Matt. 16) that they will argue about which of them will be the greatest in the kingdom. There was a big lesson for them being taught by her. And that same lesson is there for us today as well.