Jesus and Gentiles (Matthew 15:21-39)

Matthew now records three encounters Jesus had with Gentiles. The first is with an individual and the other two are with large crowds. Obviously, his involvement with Gentiles indicates a change of direction in the public ministry of Jesus and one reason why he did so was to show to his disciples that they too would soon be involved with bringing spiritual blessings to such people. The disciples may have wondered why they were taken by Jesus into Gentile areas, but we can see from the recorded incidents that they learned amazing truths about his kingdom.

The Canaanite woman

Matthew points out that the woman was calling loudly and persistently, perhaps an autobiographical detail on his part because he was there when she approached Jesus and his disciples. One question that is often asked is, ‘Why do people come to Jesus for help?’ So we can ask why this woman came to him on this occasion. Here are three reasons why she did so.

First, she loved her daughter who was in great need. That is a good reason for asking Jesus for help. Many a person has been blessed because those who loved them told Jesus about them.

Second, the woman sensed the powers of darkness were at work and knew there was nothing she could do to prevent them making things worse. But she knew that Jesus could do something about it. And that is a lesson for us today because those same powers are at work in our society.

Third, she knew some truths about Jesus and what she knew convinced her that he could help. How she came to know these truths is not for us to know. She gave him two titles that indicated she had accepted who he is – she knew that he was divine (Lord) and she knew that he was the promised Messiah (Son of David). Her knowledge gave her the assurance to draw near to him and to ask for his help. She knew that it was appropriate to ask him for mercy, that he could be gracious to her, even although she was a Gentile.

Obstacles

The woman then had to cope with two obstacles which we can describe as a silent Saviour and a speaking set of disciples. Why did Jesus not say anything to her? He had helped others before who were Gentiles, such as the Roman centurion in Capernaum. He had also helped women who were in need, such as the Samaritan woman mentioned in John 4. It looks as if the answer to the question about the silence of Jesus was that he was testing her faith. If he had healed her daughter immediately, what would the disciples have learned about her faith?

The disciples were not speaking to her, instead they spoke to Jesus about her, and revealed that they did not have any love for her and they had no desire for Jesus to help her daughter. We could almost say that she was a better disciple than they were. It is important to observe that Jesus did not do what the disciples wanted him to do and send her away.

Yet the words of Jesus to them about her are puzzling, at least to begin with, because he seems to say to the disciples that he had no intention of healing the woman’s daughter because he had only been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What could this description mean and why could it have been used here by Jesus?

We can see that Jesus’ words describe the period in which this incident took place because at that stage in his public ministry he had been sent to bring blessing to the Israelites. This is a common way of describing his time on earth. The name by which the woman addressed him indicates this as well because she addressed him as the Son of David. This was the great privilege that was given to the Israelites and which other peoples did not yet have. Nevertheless, the disciples should have known that when the Messiah came he would bring blessings to Gentiles because such consequences were prophesied in the Old Testament. Yet they did not make the connection.

In contrast to the disciples’ response, she does make the connection when Jesus speaks to her about blessings being limited to those he calls children and not given to wild dogs. She uses the illustration and says that some dogs get benefits because they are close to the table at which the children sit. If dogs mean Gentiles, then she is saying that the blessing given to the Israelites (the children) can also be given to Gentiles who come near to where the blessings (depicted by the food) are enjoyed. And that place is with Jesus. In the setting of the illustration, she likens herself to a Gentile taking a lowly place inferior to that of his disciples who did not appreciate what it would be like for her to receive a crumb.

Example of a believer

One reason why this woman’s story is included is that she is an example of faith in Jesus. What did her faith lead her to do? She took a humble place before Jesus and opened her heart to him, revealing her sense of personal unworthiness as well as her confidence in his abilities.

Jesus tested her by probing if she did know her place – she was outside the visible kingdom of God. She had no claim upon him or his ability to help. Does faith give up at the first obstacle? The woman knew who Jesus was, she had seen him appear within her community, and she decided to approach him. This was faith in action. But was her faith one that would persevere?

It was. She took the words of Jesus and looked for encouragement in them. We might have imagined that there was nothing encouraging in his words. But she did see something very encouraging and she used what she found as an argument in her prayer. She thought about his illustration of children at a table and of their pet dogs eating the crumbs that fell of it. And she mentioned to Jesus that all she wanted from him was some crumbs, a little share of all the good things that he was giving to people in Israel. I suppose we could liken the crumbs to his promises and having some of them is greater than all earthly blessings.

We have the opinion of Jesus about her spiritual logic – he says that she had great faith. What was great about her faith? It was what she did with her knowledge of his name and his word. That is how anyone shows great faith. Faith in Jesus is based on truth about him and responds eagerly to what he says because it assumes that his words contain promises of blessing.

Lessons from the woman

There are several other lessons that we can learn from this incident. First, Jesus was willing to travel a long way in order to help a needy person. He had travelled thirty or so miles into Gentile territory and the one person he helped was this needy woman. While he may have had other reasons for being there, such as spending time with his disciples away from the hostile crowds in Israel, he did go there to help this woman who had faith in him.

A second lesson we can learn from this incident is that believers in Jesus can be found in surprising places. The disciples would not have imagined that it was possible for there to be a devout person in that Gentile area. It is a wonderful experience when we meet a Christian in an unexpected place.

Third, often the way to obtain blessings is by perseverance in requesting from Jesus the blessing that we want from him. It may be revealed one day that we could have received answers for petitions if we had prayed one more time for them, or just a few more times. We can see what this woman would have lost if she had not persisted. In passing, we can observe that it was the disciples who tried to hinder her, and sadly that kind of barrier still exists.

Fourth, we should not let difficult truths hinder us from obtaining answers from Jesus. It was true that Jesus had come at that time to mainly bring blessings to the Israelites. Obviously, this would change later. But at the time it would have been a difficult truth for her. Yet she also knew what the Bible said about the Messiah and she used the truths that helped her and was not discouraged by the truths she could not understand. We may have to do something similar with other difficult doctrines, such as the doctrine of election.

The disciples’ discovery

Matthew goes on to describe what happened after this short break the disciples had around Tyre and Sidon came to an end. He tells us that Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee. Mark gives more information because he tells us that the area that Jesus went to is what was called the Decapolis (Mark 7:31), which was an area with ten cities. Strikingly, it was a Gentile area. This area is where the healed demoniac was sent by Jesus to speak about the great things he had experienced, and perhaps this is one reason why such crowds knew about Jesus.

What did Jesus do in this Gentile area? He did the same range of activities that he had engaged in when he was in Israel. He taught great crowds and healed many people with physical troubles. Matthew records the response of the crowd, which was that they praised the God of Israel. The disciples discovered that Jesus could do in Gentile territory the signs that revealed he was the Messiah and that Gentiles would respond to him in large numbers. They had seen one Gentile helped in Tyre and Sidon and many helped in the Decapolis. Unlike the Pharisees and others who concluded that Jesus was an imposter, the Gentiles who were helped by Jesus realised that he had come from God.

The disciples also discovered that Jesus was willing to perform similar big miracles for Gentiles as he had been previously for Jews. One such activity was feeding large numbers from small resources. The four thousand men, plus women and children, who were fed on the second occasion were from Gentile areas. It is not hard for us to work out, and it should not have been hard for the disciples to work it out, that Jesus could do great things among Gentiles.

The curious thing about this Gentile crowd is not their hunger for everyday food, but their hunger to listen to the words of Jesus. He reminds his disciples that the crowd have been there for three days. Perhaps they had some food initially, but eventually they would have none. Still they waited to hear what Jesus had to say about his kingdom. And we can see the response of grace in that the Saviour meets their physical needs as well as in giving spiritual instruction to them.

Moreover, the disciples discovered themselves being used by Jesus in serving those Gentiles with food. Unlike the situation in Phoenicia, where one Gentile woman was surrounded by a dozen Jewish men, the dozen Jewish men found themselves surrounded by thousands of Gentiles who were eating food from their hands. Jesus had a role for them in bringing blessings to the Gentiles, but what it would be they had no real idea at that time.