Matthew 15:21-28
In this passage Jesus travels north of Israel into a nearby Gentile territory. Apparently, he’s seeking some time away from the crowds and from the conflicts that his ministry has stirred up. He wasn’t there to do ministry, but to rest.
But a Gentile woman of that region approaches Jesus and asks him to heal her daughter. At first Jesus refuses her request saying that his ministry is only for the Jews. He goes on to refer to her and other Gentiles as dogs. Jesus saying that may not be as harsh as it sounds to us because the word he uses for dogs refers to household pets, not the wild street dogs.
Surprisingly, rather than getting offended the woman turns Jesus’ words to her favor, saying that even the pet dogs get the scraps that fall from the children’s table.
Scholars offer various ideas about the apparent oddness of this exchange. Some think that Jesus struggled to obey God in this situation, though in the end did what God wanted. After all, Scripture tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way, as we are; but unlike us he didn’t give in to temptation. Some think that Matthew is encouraging Jewish Jesus-believers resistant to including Gentiles in the church to change their mind like Jesus did.
Another view is that Jesus is setting up an opportunity for the woman to exercise faith. Whether that was Jesus’ initial intent or not, that’s the result of this exchange. “Great is your faith,” he tells her, and heals her daughter.
By including this story Matthew emphasizes the importance of faith in our relationship with God. That’s the point of so many accounts of Jesus’ interactions with individuals. The focus is on their faith.
We might think of the disciples who walk away from their livelihoods and incomes to follow Jesus. Or the woman subject to bleeding for 12 years who elbows her way through the crowd to touch Jesus’ garment. Or the “sinful” woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears in the house of a conservative religious leader. “Your faith has saved you,” Jesus tells her
Faith is at the heart of our life in Christ. For Scripture faith is much more than merely having an intellectual belief or holding a correct doctrine. Faith involves trust, allegiance, loyalty and steadfast faithfulness. Faith in Christ is shorthand for having an all-out, fully committed relationship with Jesus, loving him and following him as our Lord.
That’s the kind of faith we’re called to have. And that’s the kind of faith that God is developing in our lives, bringing us ever closer to Jesus. So how does that happen? How does our faith grow? This another way of asking, how do we become closer to Jesus?
One way is by choosing to do God’s will, by taking faithful actions. Those who were baptized last month took a big step in faithfulness, bringing them closer to Jesus. This week we’re having
a special period of prayer and fasting. Participating in that, in whatever ways God leads us individually, will help us grow in faith.
Acting faithfully in God’s will brings us closer to Jesus. Our everyday lives give us many opportunities to do that. God may nudge us to take on a particular task, some new service to God. Or to reach out and provide help to someone in need. Or to overcome an unhealthy practice. A friend of mine recently felt God calling him to stop his habit of nicotine vaping. By God’s grace he was able to do that. His relationship with Jesus has been strengthened.
Some acts of faithfulness in God’s will are risky. We can think of those who proclaim the Gospel in hostile places, including areas where some RIMI churches are located. Here in this country we can think of the people risking jail and even their lives by protesting unjust arrests by ICE.
I also think of a friend of Diana and mine who is an engineer. He resigned his job because his boss kept giving him work designing military weapons, which he felt as a Christian was wrong. That’s how our faith grows, by putting God first, by placing God’s will and purposes above of everything else, even when it costs us.
Some acts of faithfulness are difficult for us because our old nature resists doing them. Moses at first refused to go to Egypt to free the Hebrew people from slavery. He didn’t want to give up the comfort and security of his life as a shepherd of sheep. The Apostle Peter at first resisted proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentile Cornelius. He couldn’t stomach the thought of fellowship with Gentiles. When we have trouble obeying God, we’re in illustrious company!
Sometimes we have to ask God to soften our resistant heart. Sometimes we can only take a tiny first step and trust that God’s power will enable us to do the rest.
I’ve told the story before of Corrie Ten-boom from Holland. During World War II she, her sister and father were imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp because of hiding Jews in their house. Her father and sister died in the camps.
After the end of the war, Corrie traveled around the world talking about her experiences and God’s faithfulness to be with her and her family. Once after she spoke to a church group a man came up to Corrie and told her how important her message about forgiveness was to him. How he had experienced God’s forgiveness and that he had changed.
She recognized him as one of the cruelest guards in her prison. As he held out his hand to her, hatred welled up inside Corrie, and she couldn’t at first shake his hand. But she thought, if I can only just lift my hand a little toward his, even just an inch, perhaps God will help me. As she made that small effort, the Holy Spirit came upon her, and love filled her heart toward her former tormentor. She embraced him, and holding each other, they wept together for God’s incredible grace.
When we’re willing to let God change our heart and to take the first step – lifting our hand even an inch, as it were – God will help us. Acting faithfully by God’s grace when our old nature is shouting “no, no, no” strengthens our faith and brings us closer to Jesus.
Another way our faith grows is when we experience God’s presence and faithfulness during hard times. As I young believer I remember going through a difficult period. As I prayed God impressed on my mind a verse from the book of Jeremiah. The verse read, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how will you compete with horses?” God was telling me to learn how to handle the small trials of today because the future would bring bigger one.
Sure enough, in later life, I found that verse to be prophetic. I had to learn to run with horses, to find strength in much harder circumstances. And God gave me the grace to do that.
I’m sure that many of us here have run with horses, experiencing challenges far beyond our own ability to handle. And God has been with us, hasn’t he? Enabling us to put our trust in him, giving us grace and peace. With such experiences of God’s faithfulness our faith grows, and we enter new depths in our relationship with Jesus.
We’ve been talking about the ways God works in our lives to grow our faith and deepen our relationship with him. Above all, we grow in faith by experiencing God’s love in Jesus and loving him back. By being in love with God.
To be in love with God is to be gripped and captivated by God. It is to be knitted to Jesus in wonder and gratitude.
Some Jesus-followers feel “love at first sight,” as it were, from the moment they first come to know Jesus. But often a love relationship with God develops over time as we experience Christ’s faithful presence in our lives. That’s something we can pray for. We can ask God to open our hearts to experience his love and to love him in response.
When we have a love relationship with God in Jesus, our faith is alive and centered. We grow in all the rich dimensions of life in Christ, and we learn to love as Jesus’ loves. If we want to grow in faith and be all-out for Jesus, the way to do that is to fall in love with God.
I’d like to close with the words of Fr. Pedro Arrupe:
“Nothing is more practical for our everyday life than falling in love with God in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with . . . will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love with God, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
Marty Shupack, 8.15.26