Title Matthew 15:21-28
As news of Jesus' authoritative words and His miracle-working power spread not only in Galilee but also in all surrounding areas, the religious leaders of Jerusalem, feeling a serious sense of crisis, tried to lower the people's growing respect and trust in Jesus After vehemently refusing the attack of the Pharisees and scribes dispatched to Galilee, Jesus took his disciples and left Galilee for a while to enter the northern Gentile lands of Tire and Sidon. Tire and Sidon are what is now part of Lebanon and Syria. There, Jesus, who was going to rest quietly without anyone knowing, and a Canaanite woman with his companions recognized him and followed him. The Canaanites are a Gentile people who live adjacent to or mixed with the Israelites and have been harassing Israel for the longest period of time and have always been in a hostile relationship.
Today's text introduces the meeting and conversation between Jesus and this Gentile woman. Here, it will be very helpful for our understanding of faith to carefully examine the attitude and words of Jesus toward the Gentile woman and the words and deeds of the Gentile woman. Because in the last verse of the text, Jesus said to the woman, “Woman, great is your faith.”
Our main concern here is what the woman looked at and Jesus said, "Your faith is great." First we need to pay attention to how she understood Jesus. In verses 22, 25, 27, the woman called Jesus “Lord.” To call Jesus “Lord” is to acknowledge his divinity. That is, the woman knew Jesus as the Son of God.
In verse 22 the woman also called Jesus “Son of David.” "Son of David" is a Jewish term for the promised Messiah. That is, when the woman called Jesus “Son of David,” it meant that she believed in Jesus as the Messiah Israel had been waiting for.
And in verse 22, the woman turned to Jesus and said, “Have mercy on me.” “Have mercy on me” is a phrase the Jews use when they ask God for mercy. When the woman said to Jesus, “Have mercy on me,” she said that she believed in Jesus as one who had divine healing and saving power.
The relatively simple story of today's text shows us valuable teachings about faith. First of all, the great faith that Jesus acknowledged is none other than a correct understanding of Jesus Christ as the Son and Savior of God, full trust and earnest clinging to the healing and saving power of Jesus, not having the right to hope for God’s salvation, and only It is the humility of absolute obedience to God's will, acknowledging that we have nothing to depend on but God's grace. It is especially important to know that you are a sinner who can only live by the grace of God. Like the Canaanite woman, we must learn to recognize that we are fundamentally like dogs.
Today's text shows that where there is such faith, there is healing and resolution. Even when the Lord seems heartless, when the Lord's response seems to be delayed, when we seem to be despised, wherever there is faith, wherever there is faith, from anyone and everyone, regardless of nationality or status, a wonderful work of grace will happen. Today's text is testifying to us.
And today's text shows that the Lord sometimes waits for us to make our own faith clearer. We found the reason why Jesus was apathetic towards the Gentile woman. When the Lord's answer is delayed despite our earnest prayer, we must first learn to think that the Lord is waiting for us to make our faith more clear. The Lord sometimes speaks to us in silence. We should have ears and eyes of faith to hear the Lord's teachings even in his silence and to find answers in his non-response.
We often pray to God that He will give us great faith. But great faith does not mean having a huge ambition and trying to make it come true. Great faith does not mean that you have a lust for wrath and believe that if you just pray, God will provide everything. Being able to do great things and perform great powers is not great faith. Just because you were born into a family of faith for several generations doesn't mean you have great faith. Being a member of an old and traditional church like Saemoonan Church is not a great faith. A correct understanding of Jesus Christ, assurance of salvation through Him alone, earnest prayer, humility and obedience to always confess that we are sinners before God and rely only on God’s grace, unwavering trust in God’s goodness and mercy, these These are the elements that make up great faith. I hope that we can all enjoy the joy of healing and salvation through this faith.