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Sermon
The Gospel of Matthew

Great Is Your Faith

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February 1, 2026
Matthew 15:21-31
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Faith

Grace

Transcript

0:16Would you join me as we pray, father in heaven, come now in the power of your spirit and give us eyes to see, and ears to hear your word enliven our hearts so that we would rejoice at the Savior that we see in this word. Come now. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Rejection is almost always painful. It's almost always disappointing. If you remember your dating years, for some of you who are older or some of you are currently dating, rejection always seems personal in a dating relationship. Even if they say something like, it's not you, it's me. We all know it's you.

1:20And hearing those words can send anyone into a tailspin, any sort of rejection you, you begin to think, if only I were more, and you kind of fill in the blank, right? If only I were more interesting, more successful, more attractive, more smart, more intelligent, then I'd be dating rather than spending the upcoming Valentine's Day all alone. Sometimes I'll look at my wife, we've been married about 20 years and I'll say, thank goodness we got married at 23 that we don't have to be dating. Getting rejected from anything is disappointing and painful. Uh, getting rejected from a job can be disappointing.

1:58You go through the interviews, you go through, you meet the team, you go through the final stages and you think you're gonna get an offer. And at that point they reject you and you begin to think, why don't they want me? Is it because I have bad breath or bad personality or I don't have the skills or social rejection? If you see your friends all hanging out and they post the pictures on Facebook, they all got away to the lake and you're thinking, wait, why wasn't I invited? Do they not like me? Rejection always stings, and often we respond with sadness or resentment or even anger, and it's a very natural response to being rejected, which is what makes Jesus exchange with this Canaanite woman so remarkable.

2:47This passage is much more than a healing miracle, but rather this woman serves as this model of faith and a picture of discipleship. And Jesus is foreshadowing the Gentile mission that he will institute after his resurrection. And it has many parallels with the healing of the centurion servant that we saw back in Matthew chapter eight. And we've been moving through the book of Matthew. And so one of the most challenging aspects of this passage that we just heard read is that Jesus comes off as mean. I dunno if you saw it. I dunno if you heard it. He seems cold, even cruel. Let me point your attention to verse 23.

3:32He did not answer her a word. He gives this desperate woman the silent treatment and the disciples knowing of Jesus' compassion say, send her away because she's become a bother. She's become a nuisance. And then Jesus compares her to a dog in verse 26. That is enough to get Jesus canceled in our culture today, compounding our discomfort. The woman gravels at Jesus' feet kneeling before him. And so we're faced with all sorts of questions this morning. What are we to make of Jesus and this Canaanite woman? What can we learn about the heart of Christ and his mission to the Gentiles? How are we to apply this passage in our context today?

4:21And we'll try to answer those questions. And in the process, I think we'll discover that Jesus draws out great faith in order to unveil his merciful mission. Jesus draws out great faith in this woman in order to reveal his merciful mission, not only to her, but to the nations. So he honors her humility, he grants her healing that she desperately desires and he displays once again his limitless compassion and power. And so this woman serves as this model for us to emulate her persistent faith. And this text is also preparing the disciples for the global mission that is to come that will encompass even those the Jews considered as dogs.

5:13And so we're gonna walk through our passage this morning in three parts, great suffering, great faith, and then great mercy, great suffering, great faith, and then great mercy. Look with me ever says 21 to 24. Here we get great suffering. Verse 21 gives us the setting. And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of tire inside him. So these are two cities, ancient Venetian port cities on the coast about 30 miles north from Gu Sur. And they were notorious for their wickedness, materialism, vanity, and arrogance. Jesus called them out back in Matthew chapter 11, and he says, if I've done the works that I did in Razin, in be and Capernaum entire inciden, they would've repented.

6:03It doesn't mean that they were better, but they were less wicked than these other ones. Ezekiel 27 and 28 also call out their wickedness. And now verse 22, who comes to Jesus? And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me. Oh Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely depre oppressed by a demon. And so the word the term Canaanite here goes way back in Israel's history. These are the people that they were to eradicate back in Deuteronomy. Let me just read that for you. Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 17. But you, this is God speaking to Israel, but you shall devote them to complete destruction.

6:50The HIEs and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the parasites, the Hivites and the Jebusites as the Lord your God has commanded so that they wouldn't lead you astray. And clearly Israel did not obey that command because here we have this Canaanite women and Canaanites were known for their wickedness, fertility, cults and religious prostitution, idol worship and human sacrifice. Mark's gospel calls her a gentile, a sian by birth. But when Matthew calls to mind this older term Canaanite, he's evoking ancient history and old hostilities, the Jews hated the Canaanites and the Canaanites hated the Jews.

7:38It's remarkable that she even comes to Jesus. This is an age old animosity like the Montagues in Caplets, the Athenians and Spartans, the Hutu and Tootsies in Rwanda, or you could say the the Vikings and the Packers. It it's a feud and a conflict that you don't start but you're born into right? Depending on what part of the border you're in. The use of Canaanites signals to Matthew's audience though that this woman is unclean, she's an outsider and she's an enemy. And so it's no surprise that they say to Jesus, send her away. There is no love lost between these peoples. And notice what she cries out. Have mercy on me.

8:26This is a common prayer to God in the Old Testament. It's often translated be gracious to me. And in so crying out, she affirms Jesus' ability to grant mercy, to grant healing even his deity. Notice what she calls him Lord, son of David. This is very similar to Peter's cry as he began to think, Lord, save me back in chapter 14 verse 30, and son of David, here is this Messianic title suggesting that she may be aware of the Jewish messianic prophecies that have been made about the Messiah. It's almost the exact same title that the blind men in Matthew nine cried out to Jesus have mercy on us, son of David or in Matthew 12, these demon oppressed.

9:19This demon oppressed man is healed and the crowds ask in amazement, can this be the son of David? In other words, can this be the Messiah? Can this be the Christ? Is this the one that we've been waiting for longing for? The chosen one, the Son of David, is a very unique title because in first century Judaism, many would've considered King David the very first exorcist. David is the first person in the Bible to drive away an evil spirit. This happens in one Samuel 16 verse 23. And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the liar and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

10:07So this term, this title Son of David, expresses her belief that Jesus can grant her request exercise authority over demons and perhaps even be the Messiah, the Christ. And this cry for mercy obviously reveals her great desperation. If you have children, you don't have to imagine how painful and how desperate this situation feels. Few things are more painful and powerless than seeing your child young or old suffer. And we know of many families, even here in this church where children are suffering from mental anguish or physical ailments or emotional turmoil or have wandered away from the Lord and making a shipwreck of their faith.

10:59And so we see the desperation of this woman as she comes to Jesus. And we get three shocking developments. So look with me at verse 23 and 24, but Jesus did not answer her a word, and his disciples came and begged him saying, send her away, for she is crying out after us. And he answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So first, Jesus does not say, come near, doesn't say take heart. Oh, child of God. No, no, no. He ignores her silence. She represents everything reprehensible to the Jews. The second thing we see, the disciples having just seen Jesus compassion for the crowds like sheep without a shepherd, he feeds 5,000, maybe 10,000 of them.

11:59They say, Jesus, send her away because this is a gentile woman. She's unclean, she's hounding us. Get rid of her Jesus. She's a nuisance and a bother. And third, Jesus seems to almost agree with them. I mean, he doesn't rebuke them. He just says that his mission is to the lost sheep of Israel. This is the same command that Jesus gave in Matthew 10 where he tells the disciples to go out and he says, don't go among the Gentiles or the Samaritans. Only go to the lost sheep of Israel. So what are we to make of Jesus'? Shocking response here. Jesus is not being harsh, he's not being mean, but he's testing her faith.

12:43Just like we saw when the disciples got into the boat and he sent them to the other side, he says, I'm not getting in the boat with you. Go to the other side. And he knew that they would encounter a storm in order to reveal their faith or their lack thereof, that they had not yet learned the lesson of Jesus limitless power. And so Jesus now seems to reject her request in order to draw out what is truly in her heart. And if you remember what we looked at last week, what makes a man unclean? It it, it's not the hands but the heart that makes a man unclean. And so Jesus, knowing what the disciples are thinking, here's this unclean woman, this Gentile.

13:24If she touches you, then we're unclean. She's getting real close to you Jesus. She's right there by your feet and he's revealing what's within her heart. So this great suffering gives way to great faith. Look with me at verses 25 to 28, beginning in 25. But she came and knelt before him saying, Lord, help me. So she doesn't walk away. She doesn't harbor bitterness, she doesn't nurse her battered ego. She doesn't lash out. She doesn't try to argue with Jesus. This isn't fair. She just persists. She again, bows down, appeals to him as Lord and with the very simple request, help me verse 26. And he answered, it is not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs.

14:18Now to our modern ears, this sounds harsh, cruel. The use of dog or dead dog was a common insult to convey someone's worthlessness. In one Samuel 17, Goliath says to David, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks and the Philistine cursed David by his gods. So while dogs are not technically unclean, they're synonymous with contempt or insult. It's a symbol of disdain. Like sexually impure dogs will just kinda jump on whatever they want, right? And they'll come and lick the blood from a wound. Now, it ought to go without saying, but we probably need to hear it in our day and age that dogs are not children and children are not dogs.

15:13Children are gift and blessing from God. The fruit of the womb a reward. And it's a sad commentary on a culture when there is more outrage at the poor treatment of animals than the intentional and systematic murder of babies from within the womb. I think our culture would go crazy if they discovered some famous person engaged in dog fighting, a dog fighting ring while millions of babies are murdered every year, Jesus proves this point with this simple illustration that the spiritual needs of Israel are his main priority In John's gospel, John 4 22, it says that salvation is from the Jews. And so Jesus is just saying, no reasonable father takes food off of his children's plates at the dinner table and gives it to the pet dog.

16:04The word dog here is the diminutive form it. It's a form of endearment. So instead of just kind of dog as in sort of the wild feral dogs that would be running about eating trash and corpses, this is kind of like a little puppy dog, a a pet dog, a household dog. And and so Jesus is still making the point, though a good father cares for his children before he cares for his animals. He's not saying he doesn't care about the Gentiles, but he has a mission and he has a priority verse 27. And she said, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table. Again, this is so remarkable. Look at what she doesn't do.

16:47She doesn't take offense at Jesus' words. She doesn't argue that she deserves an exception. She doesn't suggest that she has a right or entitlement or this isn't fair. She just says, yes Lord, yes, I am that second class individual. I am that dog. And yet even the dogs eat the crumbs while the children eat at the table. In other words, the father doesn't have to wait to feed the pet dog. He can feed them simultaneously. She exhibits remarkable humility and faith. Here she recognizes her secondary status to the Jews, and yet is contempt content. Excuse me, to receive the crumbs that fall from the master's table.

17:30She's in essence saying, yes, Jesus, I have no right to your mercy, but I believe that you have the power and the compassion to heal my daughter without taking anything away from your mission to the juice of verse 28. Then Jesus answered her, oh woman, great is your faith be it done for you as you desire. This is the climactic point of the story. Jesus commends her great faith and grants her her daughter's healing. She makes no protest, no appeals to fairness, no hint of bitterness. She just throws herself at Jesus' mercy. And Jesus grants mercy.

18:16Jesus' words are the high point of the story. Her faith foreshadows the faith of the Gentiles who will respond to the preaching of the gospel and be welcomed to the messianic banquet table while the Pharisees and scribes in the earlier passage are arguing, what? What? What does it make? What does it take to make someone clean or unclean? This Canaanite woman displays remarkable faith in Jesus. She overcomes generations of animosity, social stigma, disapproving looks, and she comes and throws herself at the mercy of Jesus. And do you see the kind of different contrast that Matthew's drawing out in his gospel?

19:00We we've seen those of no faith. The scribes and the Pharisees, they just wanna debate. They don't wanna come sit at the table. They will in fact not come to the table in order to debate Jesus. And then there are those of little faith which we saw in the disciples in the storm, oh, you of little faith. And then there are those of great faith that Jesus crawl out. He calls that out twice in Matthew, and it's the centurion in Matthew eight, and it's this Canaanite woman. They're both gentiles. Jesus is foreshadowing his mission to the nations. Jesus has abounding compassion and mercy and power to heal this woman.

19:39So great suffering leads to great faith. And now we see great mercy verse 28. And her daughter was healed instantly. Again, Jesus displays his limitless power. He can heal from afar. Now look with me at verses 29 to 31. This serves as a bridge to the next section, but I think it's significant in concluding this account, Jesus went on from there and walked beside the sea of Galilee and he went up on the mountain and sat down there verse 30. And great crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others. And they put him at his feet and he healed them so that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

20:32What's unique about this passage from all the other kind of summary healing passages. So we've seen several summary healing passages in Matthew where he'll say, and Jesus healed all who came to him. And we see another one here. But I think what's unique here is that Jesus actually travels east to the de Capitalis, which is mentioned in Mark chapter seven, verse 31. You can look there if you want. And the de capitalis is a Greek term, meaning 10 cities. So this is Gentile territory where Jesus is teaching and where he's healing the lame blind, crippled, mute, and many others. And so do you see the purpose of 29 to 31?

21:12It proves the Canaanite woman's words of faith in verse 27. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table. Even the Gentiles will gladly receive whatever you have left over in your mission to the Jews, Jesus. And here we see the Gentiles enjoying the crumbs from the master's table. The lame are healed, the blind, the crippled, the mute. And and if you go back to the feeding of the 5,000, how much are leftover 12 basketfuls giant baskets? Those are the crumbs that have metaphorically fallen from the master's table. It's enough to feed many. And so the picture where to see is that Jesus overflows with compassion and mercy, not just to the Jews, not just to the Gentiles, but his mission is going global.

22:11These healings probably allude to Isaiah 35, 5 and six. Just listen as I read it, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the death unstopped then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. These healings. I think if we are thinking of Isaiah 35, remind us once again of this woman's opening words, son of David. Lord, this is the Messiah and the Christ. And just to confirm that Jesus is ministering among gentiles. Look at verse 31. And they glorified the God of Israel. You don't have to say the God of Israel unless you're speaking of Gentiles who revel in all of their other small G gods and now they're glorifying the God of Israel.

23:00So Jesus is foreshadowing what will later become clear that Jesus intends to draw all people to himself. Yes, he's come for the lost sheep of Israel, but his mission is going to broaden and expand to encompass all nations. And he will gather from the four corners of the earth, some from every tribe, language, tongue and nation, and even Jews and gentiles will eat under the same roof. This account illustrates for us. Galatians 3 26 to 29 4, in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek.

23:48There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. So here comes this age old enemy who begs like a dog around the household table and she is given a new identity, a new status. She's made a daughter of the high king seated at the table. She no longer takes the crus, but she dines with the family. And this is true of all those who are in Christ. Jesus tears down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile by the blood of Christ. And so this is the good news of the gospel this morning, no matter your background, your heritage, where you came from, your legal status, your ethnicity, your socioeconomic status, the size of your bank accounts, how people look at you, you are welcomed into the family of God by faith.

24:57And this is true of all who come to Jesus by faith this morning. So what we see is that Jesus draws out great faith in order to unveil his merciful mission. And he wants to do the same this morning. Jesus is not being cruel, he's not being rude, he's not being demeaning. But he draws out her faith in order to emphasize his mission and to unveil the greatness of his mercy. He makes sure this example of humility and persistence and of dependence. And so I wanna draw out three applications for us to consider this morning. Three applications. The first is to persist in coming to Jesus, persist in coming to Jesus.

25:49She approaches Jesus with humility and dependence and desperation and no hint of entitlement. There's no name it and claim it at work here. There's no presumption that she deserves this. There's no argument for this isn't fair. There's just the simple childlike, cry for mercy and help from the one who abounds in compassion. He overflows with 12 baskets, fools of leftovers after feeding the thousands. And she humbly comes to Jesus to eat of the crumbs. And so this morning, whatever we're feeling, whatever we're experiencing in our life, whatever we're seeing at work in our world, you can come to Jesus, cry out to him.

26:39He's teaching us to walk by faith, not by sight. It may mean that we may not get the answer that we're looking for for some time may maybe in this earthly life. We never see the answer to a particular prayer request. And yet it does not mean that he's not merciful, that he's not compassionate and that he doesn't see and love his children, but he's drawing out great faith at work in us. Are you fearful and anxious this morning? You too can cry out like this woman, Lord, save me. Help me. Have you prayed for something a thousand times? Keep coming to Jesus. Come to Jesus on behalf of that sick child, that unbelieving family member that unreconcilable impasse all things are possible with the Lord.

27:35This woman refused to relent despite Jesus' silence and Israel's priority. And so the invitation for us this morning is to keep coming to Jesus. Keep knocking, keep coming, keep seeking. Don't give up. It's not faith to cease praying. Prayerlessness is not of faith. Cynicism reveals a prayerlessness. Sometimes when I'm busy doing something, my kids will ask me the same thing. And you know, sometimes I'll say yes, just because I'm distracted and I don't have enough time to think about it, right? Uh, and other times I'll say, no, don't ask me again. And they've gotten clever. They have the youngest child ask now, right?

28:22So, uh, but sometimes in my impatience, I, uh, I'm ashamed to admit I will say, no. Don't ask me again because I'm just tired of answering. I'm tired of being asked the same thing. The repeated request wear down my patience. And yet this account reveals that we cannot inconvenience Jesus. We cannot go to him too much. We cannot wear out or wear down his patience in prayerful dependence. We cannot become a nuisance or a bother to Jesus. Keep coming to him. Is there anywhere in the scriptures that say, if you've asked him, you know, 45 times, 77 times, or 777 times, then stop asking because the Lord has given you your answer.

29:10No, Jesus just says, keep coming, asking, seeking, come to the Lord. And in that process, he may not give you what you're asking, but he's reshaping our minds and hearts and conforming us to his image. And he's drawing out in us a greater faith that we otherwise would not have if we did not pray. And so cynicism stops asking Prayerless, prayerlessness reveals our faithlessness, but Jesus beckons us to come in humility and dependence and desperation. And some of us we're too smart for our own good and we're, we're wrestling. Well, how does it work, pastor? You know, if I pray, but God already knows what I'm praying and he's already ordained things.

29:57And so how do I pray for someone's salvation? Or do I ask for stuff 'cause he already knows and and maybe the spirit groans on my behalf? And how does it all work? I I can't figure out prayer. We'll, join the club. Just pray. You're not told to figure it all out, to dot all your i's. Cross all your t's to know exactly what to say. This woman just comes and she says, Lord, help me. I know I don't deserve your mercy, but I know you have abounding mercy. So help me. And and let me draw one more thing out.

30:35If you have great faith, and I know there's many here in this room who have great faith, you pray, you trust, you knock. You're just so confident of what the Lord is doing, even in suffering and hardship. And I praise God for that. Let me encourage you to come alongside those of little faith. Sometimes we don't even have the ability to pray because our hearts are so overwhelmed. And that's why often we'll ask people if, if you came in with a burden, pray with someone after the service. Not because you can't pray by yourself, but because they may have a a, a faith to ask for the things that you want to ask for but you're not even willing to ask for anymore.

31:16And that's how we build one another up in our faith. And doing so requires that we grow in our vulnerability to let others in, to see where we're struggling, where we're wrestling, and where we're faltering. Do we hold those cards really close or do we begin to share those with other trusted individuals who can pray with And for us, that was the first application. Second, beware our prejudice. Beware of our prejudice. There's an implicit rebuke here in the text. Don't be like these disciples. Send her away Jesus. And Jesus does not listen to them, but he heals her daughter to let them see that they are out of step with his heart.

32:03Their prejudice against the Canaanite. Women went back centuries. And we probably don't have such longstanding president pre prejudices. We may, but are there prejudices that we subtly believe that somewhere beyond God's grace or maybe not beyond God's grace, God can certainly do what he wants. I just don't like them very much. And I don't wanna be the instrument in order to reach them or to pray for them. And we judge people by their appearance, by their face, by their size, by their clothes, by their education, by their politics, by their age, by their employment, by the color of their hair.

32:39We disdain certain types of people and maybe we even consider them dogs, though we would never utter it out loud with our words. And we have cultures that have historically been very resistant to the gospel, often clashing with western values. And that can be very jolting for many of us. But yet we must not forget God's mercy, compassion, love, and power overflow even to the dogs who will be grafted into the vine and will someday sit at the table as children with us. And so is there something we need to repent of that we think some are beyond God's grace or we just harbor a prejudice against them?

33:27Number three, participate in the global mission. When we get to Matthew 28, it becomes explicit. Jesus will say, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now therefore, go and make disciples of all nations. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved by faith. And the amazing reality is that 99.9% of us here in this room, were the recipients of the gospel going global to Gentiles. We are the ones who are the dogs who eat the crumbs from the master's table. Aren't you so glad that in Acts 10, Peter finally realizes what God has made clean do not call common. And Peter says, truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

34:30And so some of us are called to go. Most of us are called to pray and to send. And so let me invite us all in, in light of kind of increasing tensions and hostilities at work in our world to continue to persevere in prayer for those who seem impossible to reach with the gospel. I'm amazed to think that there are some where, where there's almost no gospel witnesses, almost no believers in that culture. They will be gathered around that table. But it will require some who are praying, some who are sending and some who are going. And so pray that there would be some who are brought in to the kingdom of Christ and would be gathered with us around that table in that day.

35:21And there is coming a day when all of Jesus' disciples will be seated around this Messianic banquet feast. And there will be no dogs, if you will, running around eating the problems, but we'll all be children seated with our savior, enjoying the spoils of this kingdom. Everyone will be a son and daughter of King Jesus. And everyone who gets there gets there not from what they've done or what they were born into, but by faith, all who will sit around that table will have at one time or another, cried out. Lord, help me Lord, save me. May we delight to be those people seated at that table. Let's pray. Father, give us hearts like yours.

36:16We live in tense times, heightened animosities, perhaps over many things, and yet conform your people to be more and more like your son Jesus in every way, truth and love, worshiping you, knowing you, loving you, and crying out to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Sermon Text

Matthew 15:21-31

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