Matthew 15:21-28
She and We
This event occurred, as far as we know, the only time Jesus ever left
the nation of Israel. \\#21\\ tells us that for some reason, Jesus
traveled north to the trade cities of Tyre and Sidon. They were about
100 miles north of Jerusalem, outside of Israel’s borders, and were
definitely Gentile territory.
There, Jesus met a Gentile woman—or rather was met by a woman. Let’s
consider her this morning and while we are doing so, let’s consider
ourselves, she and we.
I. \\#22\\ She and We Are A Desperate People.
A. Let’s look at SHE first.
1. She was desperate because her daughter is demon possessed.
a. Neither Matthew nor Mark ever introduce us to the
daughter.
(1) It is likely that she was not present at this
meeting.
(2) Had she been, I believe the woman would have
brought her before the Lord to stir up His
compassion.
(3) It is one thing to ignore and even reject someone
whose problems you cannot see, but it is entirely
another thing to ignore and reject someone who
you can see.
b. None of the Bible writers tell us what the daughter’s
symptoms were, only that they were caused by a demon.
(1) Some afflicted with demons have physical problems
(i.e. could not see or speak).
(2) Others were violent, even suicidal (i.e. casting
themselves into the fire, cutting themselves).
(3) Still others seem psychotic, mad, or crazy (one
man lived in the grave yard ).
c. Whatever the daughters symptoms were, they were
profound enough that the mother knew she was
possessed by a demon.
2. She was desperate because the situation was hopeless.
a. If a child breaks an arm, you go to the doctor.
b. If a child knocks out a tooth, you go to the dentist.
c. Where do you go when a child is possessed by a demon?
d. Hollywood and some religions would tell us you go to
an exorcist.
(1) However, Jesus told us that Satan does not cast
out Satan.
(2) Lost people have no power over demons, and even
if they were to get one demon out of a person,
Jesus told us that more demons—more in number
and more in wickedness—would come back.
\\#Matt 12:45\\
e. The only one who can get a demon out is God and the
only ones who represent God are born-again
Christians.
f. The sad truth is that there were not many worshipers
of God in Israel at that time, let alone Tyre and
Sidon.
3. She was desperate because her daughter’s condition meant
she was lost.
a. If the devil has you in this life, you can be sure
that hell will have you in the next.
b. People don’t like to think of the eternal in the here
and now, but once you see the devil or death close
up, it becomes much more difficult to ignore.
c. This mother had seen the devil close up.
d. She was desperate to get her child away from him.
B. Let’s consider WE for a moment.
1. The Bible and religion are so much easier to listen to
when it is someone other than us it is talking about.
a. We don’t like to think of ourselves as being
desperate, or needed, or damned; but we most
certainly are.
b. Notice that Jesus had traveled to a Gentile city.
(1) Tyre and Sidon were 100 miles north and west of
Israel.
(2) As far I know, this was the only time Jesus ever
left Israel.
(3) A Gentile is a non-Jew, not born of Abraham.
(4) Even more specific, not born of Jacob.
(5) As far as I know, everyone in this church today
is a Gentile.
c. That gives us something in common with this woman.
d. We are like her.
2. We are the She.
a. I promise you, we are desperate.
(1) We are desperate because the devils are
possessing us.
(a) Laugh if you wish but in our culture today,
we are exposing ourselves to demons daily.
i. Satan’s music and movies entertain us.
ii. Satan’s philosophies and values guide
us.
iii. Satan’s drugs and liquors have numbed
us.
(b) The problem with most Americans is we are so
blinded to the devil, we don’t recognize it
anymore.
(2) We are desperate because our situation is
hopeless.
(a) Our culture has turned from being Christian,
to being apathetic, to being anti-God.
(b) Christ can bring revival to this God-
cursing, God-blaspheming, God bashing
nation; but with each passing day, things
get darker and darker.
(c) As Peter said to Jesus, "Thou hast the words
of life. Where will we go?"
(3) We are desperate because we are lost.
b. We are She.
II. SHE and WE are doubting.
A. Let’s start with SHE.
1. There is no Bible verse for that thought, but I believe
there was likely some doubt in her heart.
a. I don’t know the exact timeline of Jesus’ ministry,
but I believe we are at least at the half-way mark of
His work if not further.
b. People had come from Tyre and Sidon and places further
beyond to see Jesus because they had heard the
stories about Him.
c. And I know 100 miles is a long walk, and a demon-
possessed daughter would be hard to travel with and
hard to leave behind, and that she may have been a
poor woman, and that her husband might not have allowed
her to make the trip, and that there might have been a
thousand other reasons why she had not come to Israel
to see Jesus; but I can’t help but to wonder if maybe
one of the reasons she had not come was that she had a
little bit of doubt.
d. Would you make the trip if you were told about a healer
over Massachusetts or California, only a three-day,
comfortable drive for us?
(1) Probably not, and me either.
(2) Why? I don’t think I would believe them.
2. I am not throwing stones at her.
a. I understand doubt.
b. It is logical, sensical, and reasonable to doubt the
impossible.
3. I just want to point out that she may have had some doubt.
B. And the WE…
1. We Gentiles, we Americans, we are filled with doubt about
Jesus.
a. It wasn’t always so, but it is now.
b. 100 years of evolution has convinced most that
something can come from nothing, that man came from
an ape, and that cosmic accidents of numeric
impossibilities can occur in consecutive order for
an indefinite period of time.
c. Our history has been rewritten.
d. Our philosophy has been reshaped.
e. Our conscience has been seared, and our mind has been
washed.
2. We not only doubt that Jesus can help us, we doubt that
Jesus is God or that God even exits.
C. Yet though this woman has some doubt, she also had some faith.
1. When Jesus was close enough, she came; and as we shall
she came determined.
a. I am not one that believers doubt is detrimental to
receiving God’s help.
b. The Bible says if we have faith only the size of a
grain of mustard seed—with obedience—God can work
miracles for us.
c. This woman may have had doubt, but she had faith
enough to come when Jesus got close to her and faith
enough to stay until she knew that Jesus was a Healer
or a fraud.
2. And you are here this morning.
a. Perhaps your faith is small, but that is all right.
b. Water whatever faith you have with obedience and watch
what God can do!
c. I pray WE all will this morning!
III. \\#23-27\\ SHE and WE must be determined.
A. Let’s look as the SHE first.
1. I do not know how much faith this woman had, but it was
enough that she would not leave until she knew for
certain whether Jesus was a real or a fake.
2. Nothing was going to stop her from finding out. Which was
good, for there were some obstacles.
a. She had to get Jesus’ attention.
(1) Mark gives us an additional detail. Jesus did
not want anyone to know He was there.
Mark 7:24 And from thence he arose, and went
into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered
into an house, and would have no man know it: but
he could not be hid.
(2) I do not know why that is the case.
(a) If it was anyone but Jesus I would say the
plan doomed to failure.
(b) Anytime 13 orthodox Jewish men come marching
down the street of a Gentile village, they
are going to get notice—even if One of
them is not known as a miracle Worker.
(3) \\Matt 15:22\\ To remedy that condition, the
woman "cried unto him.
(a) The word "cried" means to call out.
(b) It is not a word to imply the use of a meek
voice.
i. \\#John 11:40\\ When Jesus called
Lazarus out of the tomb.
ii. \\#John 18:40\\ When the people
demanded Barabbas be released and
Jesus be crucified.
iii. \\#John 19:6\\ When Pilate was trying
to get the people to let Jesus go but
they insisted He be crucified.
(c) A woman speaking to a man in this kind of
voice would be pushing the rules of
etiquette but especially a Gentile woman to
a Jewish man.
b. She had to get past the disciples.
(1) Typically, the disciples were a helpful lot. They
worked to get people TO Jesus not keep them
away.
(2) But here, their human, Jewish, sinful nature
comes out.
(a) Perhaps this was another of those trips that
Jesus planned so the disciples could rest
and it was falling apart AGAIN.
(b) Perhaps their Jewish prejudice against
Gentiles was showing.
(c) Perhaps their national prejudice against the
the Canaanites was showing. The Jews were
supposed to have destroyed the Canaanites
centuries ago.
(3) For whatever the reason, the disciples wanted the
woman gone.
(4) The woman got past this obstacle by simply
refusing to leave.
c. She had to get past what seems like Jesus’
indifference and rejection.
(1) \\#23\\ At first, Jesus ignored the woman.
(2) \\#24\\ Then He rejected her.
(3) \\#26\\ Then He insulted her.
(4) Why would Jesus treat this woman this way?
(a) In a short sentence, to see if she wanted
Him more than anything else.
(b) Jesus may have wanted this woman to
demonstrate how badly she wanted Him.
(5) Without any doubt, God wants Christians to make
the gospel as accessible to every person as
possible.
(a) He has commanded us to tell the gospel to
every creature. This is our duty.
(b) However, while we are to make salvation
accessible for every person, we cannot make
salvation easier for any person.
(c) It seems to me that many claim to know Jesus
who never wanted Him very badly to begin
with.
i. While Christians are commanded to make
the gospel accessible to every person,
we cannot make salvation easier for
any person.
ii. The requirements for salvation are the
same for everyone: faith and
repentance.
iii. If the "salvation" you have was
discounted in anyway, it may not be
salvation that you have but mere
religion.
(6) Jesus gave two short parables in Matthew 13 that
most skip over, in part because they do not
understand them.
(a) I think they are both about repentance.
(b) One is referred to as the Parable of the
Hidden Treasure, in which a man finds a
treasure buried in a field and sells all
to purchase the field and the treasure.
(c) The other immediately follows it. It is the
Parable of the Pearl of Great Price where a
merchant finds a goodly pearl and sells all
to have it.
(d) In both, the emphasis is that salvation is
worth anything and everything we have.
(e) The parable is not telling us to SELL ALL to
be saved but it is telling us that if it is
not our attitude to SELL ALL for Christ that
we may not be saved.
(7) Do you remember the rich, young man who came to
Jesus asking what he had to do to receive
eternal life. Jesus told him to sell all and
follow Him. The man left sorrowfully because he
had many possession; yet Jesus did not run after
him. Why? Because the man did not want Jesus
badly enough.
(8) Why was Jesus so rude to this woman, treating her
worse than He treated any other person? Perhaps
He was allowing her to show Him how bad she
wanted Him.
B. And the WE…
1. The church today has become a worldly, carnal,
doctrinally-diluted and Biblically-twisted body.
2. It does not matter what flavor of faith you want, you can
shop around until you find it—except maybe for that old-
time, Bible-believing variety. That one seems to be in
short supply.
3. The church wants to be like the world and with the world
to win the world as if we can make it easier for the lost
to be saved.
a. Well, Jesus never did.
b. He ate and drank with sinners, that is sure enough;
but He never became like them and He never left them
like they were.
4. We cannot make it easier for someone to be saved.
a. The price of faith and repentance is the same for
everyone.
b. Once you cut repentance out of the price, you might
offer then religion but not salvation.
5. We must tell them who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and
what the requirements are; but they must determine
whether they want to accept it or not.
Then there is one last thing about the SHE in this event, but I can
not say whether it is true about the WE. In \\#28\\, the SHE got the
deliverance she sought. I hope that is true of you today!
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