May 5, 2024
Matthew 15:29–39

Title: The Religious Leaders And The Faith Of A "Dog”, pt. 2

Review

• 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”
• This washing of the hands was no small matter to the Jewish leadership.
• This was a religious tradition from man not from God.
• “The fact that … [these Scribes and Pharisees] came all the way from Jerusalem to speak to Jesus, indicates the seriousness of their purpose.” (Wiersbe, 44)
• Human tradition believes that evil is from outside a person, but Jesus made clear what defiles a person in 15:10b–11.
• 10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
• Our words defile us not others, not objects.
• So again, in the earlier part of chapter 15, we see the utter lack of spiritual sight and understanding in the Jewish leaders. And Matthew continues to give us —by now— glaring contrasts to the religious leaders of His day. This morning the contrast to the unbelieving leaders will come with the faith of a Canaanite woman —who the Jews would call a dog.

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman (15:21–28)

21 And Jesus went away from there [Gennesaret … it was on the north by northwest bank of the Lake of Galilee] and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

• After leaving the encounter with the Pharisees from Jerusalem over hand washing before eating. Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
  • Ancient Tyre was outside of Israel proper. It was located where modern Tyre, Lebanon is today. About 13 miles from north from Israel’s modern northern boarder¹ and approximately 40 mile northwest of the Sea of Galilee. Ancient Sidon was approximately 30 miles north of Tyre. Both of these ancient places were on the Mediterranean Sea coast.²
• In verse 22, Matthew starts us off with “And behold.” These words are always intended to emphasis and draw the readers’ attention to the text.
  • This is the only use of “Canaanite” in the NT.
  • By the first century, this term had an “old–fashion ring [to it], perhaps intended to emphasize that she belonged to the pagan people who oppressed Israel in the Old Testament times.” (France, 246)
  • “To readers of the Hebrew Scriptures, the adjective ‘Canaanite’ means everything dangerous to the faith of Israel.” (Bruner 97)
• So her “appeal to Jesus as Son of David is striking …” (France, 246)
  • With this appeal, one could argue for this being a confession of the woman of Ἰησοῦς (yah-sooce’) — Jesus — being Messiah. (cf. Bruner, 98)
  • What is clear is that she knows that Jesus can help and she is asking for it as any loving mother would with the greatest of boldness. >>
  • Bruner said it well, she is asking “the heavenly man to deliver her daughter from the grip of hell.” (Bruner, 98)
  • The ESV text reads that, the woman was “crying.”
  • Other translations chose a phrase like “crying out” (NASB, NKJV, CSB, et al.).
  • The phrase is more helpful; for her tears were full of specific pleas filled with desperation and determination.

Jesus starts with silence. Verse 23 Jesus … did not answer her a word.

• Here again, this encounter —as one might expect— stands out as a head-scratcher. Both Jesus’ and the Disciples’ initial interactions towards the woman are frankly —unexpected.
• Now I am not positive how the first century folks regarded silence in response to reaped cries for help but we know how a 21st century audience would.

This went on for an uncomfortable period of time and the woman is not deterred.

• From the text we know she was working on the Disciples also: verse 23b And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
• Now the Disciples are begging Jesus: Get her our of here Jesus! is their cry for help!
• We are not sure whether they meant, “Give her what she wants and get rid of her” or just “Get rid of her!” In either case, they were not showing much compassion for either her or her demonized daughter."(Wiersbe, 45)
• The Disciples response seems callused.
• Bruner wrote, “Their desire for public decorum overwhelms everything else they learned. What the woman is screaming —that her daughter is in trouble— is lost in the offense that the woman is screaming at all. ([The] Disciples do not come off well in the Gospels.)” (99)

Jesus finally responds, but it is with some unusual words. Verse 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

• Jesus’ ministry exclusivity has major theological implications here.
• A couple of ideas here:
  • It seems that “The bind is this: If Jesus heals the woman, the Gentile world might come rushing in, and Jesus’ concentrated mission to Israel will be diluted. For the way to the Gentiles is through, not around Israel … [Therefore,] the long-range way to help the Gentiles later is to work deeply with Israel now” it would seem. (Bruner, 101)
  • A theory of some, “It is possible that Jesus could help an occasional centurion in Israel (in chap. 8) without compromising his clear mission to Israel (chap. 10 and here). But healing a Gentile in Gentile country could open a whole new mission, and Jesus had not (yet) been given a gentile mission.”>> (Bruner, 100)
  • “But if this is the case, why is Jesus wandering in or near Gentile country at all?” (Bruner, 100)
• To illustrate, This encounter reminded me of a parallel idea regarding timing: when Jesus turned water to wine before it was time on the account of another woman —His mother.
• John 2:1-4, On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” COMMENT
• Jesus’ initial words were all that the Canaanite needed to get a recharge.>>
• Now that Jesus has said something, “She can say to herself, ‘At least he has not listened to his disciples … I am going to try him again.’” (Bruner, 100)

The woman pressed again in verse 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, [which means Master] help me.”

• DO SOMETHING LORD! COMMENT
• “Henry, 218, commented pastorally: ‘The vexation of children are the trouble of parents … ‘Though vexed with the devil, yet she is my daughter still.’’” (Bruner, 98)
• One has not witnessed persistence until one sees a mother needing help for her desperate child and knowing the solution to the problem is within reach.
• We see a good example here.

Jesus’ follow-up sends a shiver to the spines of some readers. Verse 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

• First we know that Jesus used a harsh idiom of His day to explain to Canaanite woman His primary ministry’s limitation —that being to the Jews exclusively. But to do this, Jesus enlists a common idiom of the religious leaders in Judaism who called all those outside of Judaism “dogs.”
  • The word for Greek word for “dogs” here should be translated “puppy” according to Hart. Bruner disagrees and said that is should be rendered “house dogs” not “puppies” or “little dogs” (Bruner, 101) (kynarion, not kyon).
  • What is clear is there is a distinction between “dogs” and this term.
  • The distinction is not found in Aramaic however. COMMENT (Bruner, 101)
  • With that said, this is not an attempt to weaken an offensive text. (Bruner, 101)
  • This term “dog” (referring to a person) was “an atrocious saying,” expressing incredible disdain. >> (France, 247)
• How did Jesus say this? we will not know here.
  • There is much debate over Jesus tone & meaning here. (See Bruner, 102, et al.)
  • Caveats:
    • How one fills in the blanks here on Jesus’ body language and tone of voice, etc. has a big impact on the interpretation of this passage. Is Jesus being playful here or is He indifferent because He is only about the mission, mission, mission?
    • It has been said that our “Body Language” communicates 55% of what we mean in our interactions. Our “pitch, pace, tone and volume of our voice” communicates 38% to the interactions, and the words themselves “make up” 7%.³
  • If this be true —and to a big degree it is— then we are trying to interpret a passage with 7% of what we need to understand the exchange at all. >>
  • We should caution ourselves with passages like these. >>
  • To have a strong opinion here is unwise.
• With only words to go on, Jesus’ actions seem to go from indifference to contempt.
  • The feminist commentators jump all over this passage with their typical unbelieving worldview.
  • The opposite is from guys like Beare who said, that, "there must have been “a twinkle in the eye” of Jesus with His answer. (France, 247)
  • France too saw the exchange as playful. (p 247)
  • But Bruner calls France out for his views, while not dismissing Matthew’s choice of “house dog” as being significant. (See Bruner, 102)
  • I would say with passages like this one: error on the side of putting Jesus in the best light.

Nonetheless, in Jesus’ new sentence, Jesus had at least put her "in the house; here she found “hope.” “Jesus is moving, almost perceptively, toward her.” (Bruner, 102) Verse 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

• The woman calls for the “dog’s rations!” (France, 247)
• Matthew Henry picks up a [“nice note” (Bruner, 103)]: “Observe, She calls it their master’s table; if she were a dog, she was his dog, and it cannot be ill with us, if we stand but in the meanest relation to Christ …”
• We might often “dispraise and disparage” ourselves, but we often take offense when others do it to us. (Henry) Not so with the woman here. >>
• She has one goal in mind —her daughter’s deliverance.

28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

• The tension id released. (Bruner, 103)
• Bruner observed, The “Your faith…, let it be done for you exactly as you want.’ This triple ‘you/your,’ after an initial silence and two hard sayings, is a triple kindness.” (Bruner, 104)
• Mark Bailey, saw this account as being the hinge point in Jesus’ ministry. He would now minister to the Gentiles also.⁴
• The following healings in this Gentile area and feeding of the 4000 that follow in this text seem to back this idea up.

APPLICATION

• Human faith in one of only a few acts that seems to be admired by God. (Bruner, 104)
• Faith is one of two absolute essential virtues for a good work.
• "It is worth noting that both of the persons in the gospel of Matthew who had “great faith” were Gentiles… [The Roman centurion being the other(Matt. 8:5–13).] (Wiersbe, 45)
• The Canaanite woman persisted and won.
• “This woman’s faith was great because she persisted in asking and trusting when everything seemed against her. Certainly her race was against her: she was a Gentile [the text makes sure to add a Canaanite]. Her sex was against her, for most Jewish rabbis paid little attention to women. It [could have] seemed that … [even] Christ’s words might have led her to believe that even He was against her. All of these obstacles only made her persist in asking.” (Wiersbe, 45)
• “Another discouragement overcome by the woman is the discouragement of hostile disciples. As we well know, the church can turn people away as well as attract them. But “great faith” refuses to let even the church, or disciples be the last word: the last word is Jesus alone.” (Bruner, 105)
• One of the most deeply etched truths of the Gospel is “the truth of faith: faith in Jesus always helps.” (Bruner, 98)
• “Faith, to use the vernacular, is ‘hanging in there.’ It is believing that Jesus will deliver.” It is persevering and tenacious. (Bruner, 104)
• Biblical faith is dogged.

Works Cited

Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Click here to access the works cited web-page for this document, save those marked as “Notes” or “Other Works Cited”–if any. Most of these cited works correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of general background information and references, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with. ¶ Furthermore, there may be numbered notes that are URL linked; these are usually retained numbered notes from Thomas Constable’s, “Dr. Constable’s Expository (Bible Study) Notes.” These links are preserved “as is” at the time of this work’s formation and I usually include other citation information from Constable as well (e.g. authors’ names).

Other Works Cited

Note: All of the resources below were cited in at least one of the sermons in the Book of Matthew but not necessarily this one.

Augsburger, David. Dissident Discipleship. Brazos Press, 2006.

Barclay, William. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible. Westminster Press, 1955-1960. Sourced digitally from studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb.html.

Blomberg, Craig L. Matthew. New American Commentary, vol. 22, ed. David S. Dockery, et al., Broadman Press, 1992. May be sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/matthew0000blom

________. Preaching the Parables: From Responsible Interpretation to Powerful Proclamation. Baker Academic, 2004. Sourced from archive.org.
(https://archive.org/details/preachingparable0000blom/page/82/mode/1up)

Bruce, Alexander Balmain. The Training of the Twelve. Ed., A.C. Armstrong and Son, reprint 1984, Kregel Publications, 1971 edition.

Bruner, Frederick Dale. Matthew: A Commentary. Vol. 2: The Churchbook Matthew 13-28, rev. and expand. ed., William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004.

Carson, D. A. “Matthew.” The Expositors Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, Ed. et al., Zondervan, 1984.

_______. The Sermon on the Mount : an Evangelical of Matthew 5-7 Exposition. 1978, Baker Book House, fifth printing, 1989. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/sermononmounteva0000cars/page/54/mode/1up

_______. When Jesus confronts the world : an exposition of Matthew 8-10. Originally published by Inter-Varsity Press in 1988, Paternoster, 1995. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/whenjesusconfron0000cars/page/n3/mode/1up

Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Our Daily Bread Publishing, web ver.

France, R. T. The Gospel According to Matthew. Gen. Ed. Leon Morris, W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1985.

_______. The Gospel of Matthew. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthew0000fran/page/n6/mode/1up

Gibson, J. Monro. “St. Matthew.” Expositor’s Bible Commentary. William R. Nicoll, Editor. Sourced from Bible Portal. Click here for a list of the authors of the EBC.

Harrington, Daniel J . The Gospel of Matthew. Sacra Pagina Series, vol. 1, A Michael Glazier Book, Liturgical Press (publ.), 1991. Sourced from archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthew0000harr/mode/1up

Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke. Baker Book House, 1984.

Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete).
Six vol., originally written in 1706. Sourced from biblestudytools.com et al.

McGee, J. Vernon. Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee. Thru the Bible Commentary (Series), Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1991.

Phillips, John. Exploring the Gospels: John. Loizeaux Brothers, 1988.

Plumptre, E. H. “Matthew.” Commentary for English Readers, Charles John Ellicott, Compiler/Editor, Lord Bishop of Gloucester Cassell and Company, Limited, 1905. Sourced from BiblePortal.com. Click here for a list of the authors of the CER.

Robinson, Monte. The Way of Discipleship. Independently published, 2021. Web, aimdiscipleship.org/book.html, accessed Oct 2023.

Wiersbe, Warren. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary. 2 Volumes, David C. Cook, 2007.

Yancey, Philip. The Jesus I Never Knew. Zondervan, 1995.

Notes

Notes from above may not be in numerical order.

¹ See “Google Earth” by Google, https://earth.google.com, accessed May 3, 2024.

² See “Places in Matthew 15” by Crossway Bibles, 2001, openbible.info, accessed May 3, 2024. Cf. “Israel During the Time of Jesus” by Knowing the Bible LLC, 2004-2024, knowingthebible.net, accessed May 3, 2024.

³ These percentages are widely cited around the internet. Albert Mehrabian’s work is the source of many of these citations. For example: “The 3 Elements of Communication – Body Language, Voice and Words.” Revolution Learning and Development, 23 June 2021, revolutionlearning.co.uk, accessed May 3, 2024.

⁴ From a lecture at Dallas Theological Seminary. Date unknown.