Mother of the Year Matthew 15:21-28
Happy Mother’s Day. I wanted to prepare a message this week that was appropriate for Mother’s day. I looked at several moms in scripture, all of which can teach us something. In the Old Testament there’s Sarah, mother of Isaac. There’s Naomi, she’s the mother-in-law of Ruth. And in the New Testament I looked at Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. And of course Mary, mother of Jesus. All of these women can teach us lessons, but then I came to our scripture reading and I thought this woman deserves to be mother of the year.
This woman has at least one child, a daughter, and this child is sick. She’s more than sick, our reading says she’s “demon possessed.” We’re not told how old she is, she could be a young child, she could be in her twenties or thirties; maybe she’s a teen. I always see her at about twelve years old. There’s nothing to tell me that, it’s just how I always pictured her. And it really doesn’t matter, what matters is this woman has a child who is afflicted by something the doctors of the day could not cure.
What do we do if our child is hurt? If it’s a skinned knee we will kiss it to make it better. We wipe away tears, give a hug and off they go. If it’s something beyond the power of a kiss to make better we take them to a doctor.
We live in an age where medicine can do wondrous things. We can prevent childhood diseases like the measles. We’ve even stopped childhood plagues like polio. So when our children are sick we place all our trust and faith in doctors to heal them. But there are families in the same position as this one in our reading, a child sick with something not easily cured; a child with an addiction, or cancer. And despite all the efforts of medicine, they’re not getting better. It’s then that we find ourselves in the position this woman is in, we have nothing left to do but to turn to our faith and to God.
Verse 21, “Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.” These cities were pagan cities, why would Jesus leave Israel and travel here?
First, this is where this woman who desperately needs him is. Jesus is teaching us that wherever we are in life, wherever we are in our spiritual walk with God; he is always ready and willing to come to us.
Second, it shows that God sent Jesus for the whole world; that through Jesus God’s chosen are not just one nation, God’s chosen are anyone in the world who has faith and who believe.
Verse 22, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Son of David, this means something. This woman who is not of the Jewish faith knows that the Torah says the Messiah will come from the lineage of King David. This woman is showing more understanding of who Jesus truly is than those in Israel. And this woman is showing her trust and faith in God.
So here we have this woman of faith seeking Jesus out and asking for his help, and Jesus doesn’t even bother to answer her at first. This doesn’t seem right. I always look at things like this and try to see how God is telling us about man’s reactions verses how God wants us to react.
In verse 25 the disciples tell Jesus, “Send her away for she keeps crying out…” These men are traveling, they have places to go. They don’t want attention brought on themselves. Can’t this be the first reaction we all have? We’re busy, we don’t want to be bothered, we have our own agenda and don’t want to be disturbed.
I remember a few years ago we were in the mall in Albany. When we came out there was a man there begging for a few dollars. He was dirty, he smelled. It wasn’t the money; but like the disciples this morning I just wanted him to leave me alone.
And then Jesus shows us how God wants us to respond, he turns toward her and interacts with her. Verses 24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
Why does Jesus seem to not want to help her? Is he being mean to her? I think he is looking to the depth of her faith. Does she have real faith or is this a “let’s give it a try” moment?
Verse 25, “Lord help me…” Her response shows her faith, her total understanding of who Jesus is. It shows her reliance and dependence on God for the solution to her problem.
And that is what I think many people miss. This is not an accusation, it applies to me too; when we pray to God do we pray with faith, dependence and expectation or do we offer a prayer hoping God might help?
Now this next exchange between Jesus and the woman can cause us to pause. Verse 26 and 27, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Wow, is Jesus saying we’re not worthy of God’s full attention; that like crumbs we get God’s sideways attention. Are we just an afterthought to God?
Absolutely not! I actually think this exchange is a powerful one. First, Jesus is looking at this woman to see her reaction to his statement. Is she earnest in her request?
I saw a movie several years ago, it was about what happened to Ebenezer Scrooge after the end of “A Christmas Carol.” How he has new attitude toward life allowed others to take advantage of him and he ended up poor.
God indeed wants us to reach out to those in need and to give sacrificially of our resources, but nowhere does the Bible say we need to be taken advantage of. Like Jesus is accessing this woman, we should look at each situation with our eyes wide open. This allows us to see where we can help, and how we can help. And when we do help, we need to do it wholeheartedly and sacrificially.
Second, the Israelites are God’s chosen people, but the ancients were supposed to share God and his salvation with the world. I think Jesus statement can be seen as a condemnation of the way ancient Israel withheld God from others.
The children of Israel were given the living bread of God’s word but they only gave crumbs of the truth to those around them. The woman’s response to Jesus shows us the power of God’s message. The crumbs represent those snippets of information about God that those outside of Israel had heard. This woman shows us that the Holy Spirit fanned the fire of faith in those who have heard. She shows us you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to approach God. She shows us that God’s power and reach cannot be denied by the actions of men. She who has heard only the crumbs of God’s word has more faith, has deeper faith than those who had the scriptures taught to them their whole lives.
We can see this today, we all have seen someone who claims to know Christ but seem to have little understanding and they still live a life ruled by greed and prejudice.
Now we come to the great joy in this scripture, verse 28,”Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”
Faith. It’s neither our begging nor our prostrating on the floor in anguish. It’s not grand gestures and proclamations; it’s our faith in the cross and our desire to have Jesus in our hearts and lives. That garners God the Father’s grace and mercy.
I always look to the cross, and the one who is crucified with Jesus. Matthew 23:42, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” No grand gestures, no restitution; only a simple acknowledgement of who Jesus is and a heartfelt desire to know him. And Jesus response? Matthew 23:43, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
I say everything in the Bible is there for a reason, there are no fillers. I also believe things that are left out can be just as important. We are not told this woman’s name so all we know about her is that she is not from Israel. This woman now can represent all mankind regardless of birth or nationality. She shows us that everyone who has faith in God regardless of where you are born, regardless of your family, regardless of your lifestyle, regardless of your sin; everyone has access to God and his grace through faith in Christ.
One more thing: as a woman in that time she should not even be talking to Jesus. This conversation between the two of them shows us that because of Jesus everyone now has direct access to God; that your prayers are heard by the Almighty Creator himself.
We see our reading today has several things to teach us. God is always where we are, in your home, in church, in a jail cell; when you need God, he will come to where you are. And because God is always ready and willing to reach out his hand to you, don’t let him be your last resort. Remember that sometimes God will remain silent to see if your faith is strong, don’t approach him with a “Well let’s see if this works” attitude, approach God knowing what you need, why you need it and be persistent.
I love this church, I love being here; and no disrespect but we all need to know it is not this building or our traditions that gain us salvation. It is our belief in Jesus death on the cross for our sins and his resurrection three days later by the power of God and our desire to want him in our hearts. This is what God asks from us, this is the foundation of our salvation.
In our lives we should look to this mom and emulate her deep faith. Notice she didn’t bring her daughter to Jesus, she believed he could cure her from where he was with just a word. This is why I believe this woman should get “Mother of the Year.”
Happy mother’s day
And God bless you all.
Amen