Matthew 15:21-39: “Jesus Casts A Demon Out Of A Syro-Phoenician Woman / Jesus Feeds The 4,000”
by
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In this next section we see how that Jesus cast the
demon out of the daughter of a Syro-Phoenician woman, but only after the woman
pleaded with Him for a long time
1.1.1.
In this story we see that it was not that Jesus did
not care about the woman’s situation and thus that He did not immediately grant
her request, but rather Jesus was testing and proving the woman’s faith
1.1.2.
This woman was eventually commended by Jesus for having
‘great faith’, and her faith was faith in the good nature of Jesus
1.1.2.1.She
continued to believe steadfastly that Jesus could not but do good unto her
because of her need
1.1.3.
We see in this story that this woman had a true
understanding of humility and of her unworthiness to receive anything from the
Lord
2.
VS 15:21-23 - “21 And Jesus went away
from there, and withdrew into the district of
2.1.
Here in these verses we see that after being confronted by and condemning
a group of Pharisees and Scribes, men who now are deeply offended by Jesus and
plotting His murder, Jesus retreats for a brief period of time out of the
2.2.
In this story, Jesus ignores the plea of this woman as He is testing and purifying
her faith in Him
2.2.1.
Jesus is not calloused nor uncaring towards this woman, for He plans all
along to heal her, rather it is that He has a work to ‘perfect’ in her
2.2.2.
Sometimes we Christians find ourselves in the same predicament as this
woman, for at times when it seems that we need the Lord the most His voice
cannot be heard, and it is as if He does not hear us, and, in those times we
need to do just as this woman did and persevere in seeking out the Lord
2.3.
As a result of her continual pleading the disciples show their real
character and get perturbed by the woman and ask Jesus to help her just because
she is an annoyance to them
2.3.1.
As we read through the New Testament we see that prior to Jesus’
resurrection from the dead the heart attitude and understanding of His
disciples is not at all on track with His
2.4.
This woman is not a Jewish proselyte, nor is she of Jewish ancestory,
however she somehow recognizes Jesus as the Jewish Messiah for she calls Him,
“Son of David”
2.5.
Notice the great love of a parent here, for this woman considers her
daughter’s sufferings and needs to be her own when she asks the Lord to ‘have
mercy’ on her
3.
VS 15:24-28 - “24 But He answered and
said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
3.1.
In the gospels Jesus occasionally healed a gentile, however His primary
calling was to reach His own people, the Jews, that they might accept Him as
their Messiah, and thus He tells her that He is called only ‘to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel’
3.1.1.
In saying this to this woman, Jesus infers that she is a lost sheep
herself, and as for herself the woman realizes that only the shepherd of souls
can meet her in her need
3.2.
When Jesus said to this woman that, ‘it is not good to take the
children’s bread and throw it to the dogs’, He could have used a word for dogs
that meant big vicious dogs, but instead He used the word, ‘kunavrion’, which referred to ‘the little
household dogs’ that people would have in those days
3.2.1.
The use of this word gave this woman something further to plead before
the Lord as she persevered in seeking Him for this miracle for her daughter as
she says, ‘but even the dogs [little household dogs] feed on the crumbs which
fall from their master’s table’
3.2.2.
When we pray to the Lord and seek Him out we always find in the end that
it was really Him who was working in our hearts to lead us to Him, and that we
have not just in and of ourselves sought Him out
3.3.
The Lord tells this woman now that her faith is great, but in what way is
it great?
3.3.1.
Even though a Canaanite woman, not of Jewish descent
or religion, this woman’s faith was great because she continued steadfastly to
believe that when Jesus was confronted with real human need that He could not
but respond and help
3.3.2.
This woman did not ask Jesus to come to where her
daughter was at, for by faith she knew that any time Jesus could just ‘will’
this miracle to be so
3.3.2.1.Oh, how we Christians need
to learn the lesson taught by this woman and steadfastly hold on to believing
that the Lord desires to do good things in our lives and that He must because
of His good nature do the good things for us that we bring to Him in prayer,
that is, all of the ones that are according to His perfect will.
3.3.2.2.We must also hold onto the
truth that His will is what we should always desire for we know that He will
always do only what is the very best in each and every situation, for His will
cannot be outdone, as it is perfect
3.4.
Matthew records that this woman’s daughter was healed from this demon
possession at that very hour
3.5.
Before we leave this story, note that the woman had true humility, the
kind that is necessary before a person can ever come to salvation, the humility
as of a little child, for she admits that she is truly not worthy for Jesus to
answer this request, she admits that she is a dog
3.5.1.
If we Christians are to be able to grow in our faith, we must come to the
place in our walk where we really do understand our unworthiness for anything
that the Lord might do for us, we must come to the place of understanding that
we are as an unclean dog because of our sinfulness before God
3.5.2.
However, like this Canaanite woman we must also not let our realization
of our unworthiness keep us from persevering in going to the Lord and receiving
from Him the fullness of all of the blessings that He wants to pour out within
our lives
4.
VS 15:29-31 - “29 And departing from
there, Jesus went along by the
4.1.
Jesus had earlier spent a good deal of time in this general area of
Galilee, so it is not surprising here that the word got out quickly that Jesus
was again in the area, and thus the people began to bring to him all who were
‘lame, crippled, blind, dumb’ and suffering from a myriad of other ailments
4.2.
Even though Jesus had gone up on the mountain to be alone and to rest, He
was not bothered that the multitudes came to seek His help and healing touch,
for it was for this purpose that He came
4.3.
As with all of the miracles which Jesus had performed up to this point,
all of those upon whom Jesus performed His healing touched were completely and
gloriously healed of their various maladies
4.4.
The multitude was so impressed with what Jesus had done in these healings
that they ‘marveled’ about Him and ‘glorified the God of Israel’
5.
VS 15:32-39 - “32 And Jesus called His
disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the multitude, because they
have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish
to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” 33 And the disciples
*said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in a desolate place to satisfy
such a great multitude?” 34 And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you
have?”And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 And He directed the
multitude to sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the
fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the
disciples, and the disciples in turn, to the multitudes. 37 And they all ate,
and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces,
seven large baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides
women and children. 39 And sending away the multitudes, He got into the boat,
and came to the region of Magadan” -
Jesus feeds the 4,000
5.1.
Though some liberal theologians, by pointing out similarities between
both accounts, have suggested that this miraculous incident is the same account
as the gospel’s record of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000, there is more than ample
evidence that this miracle before is indeed a separate and subsequent story
altogether
5.1.1.
Many details are different
5.1.1.1.different number of
people: 4,000 not 5,000
5.1.1.2.different number of loaves
and fish that were given to Jesus
5.1.1.3.different number of baskets
of leftovers after each meal
5.1.1.4.different size of basket
5.1.1.5.Jesus told the disciples to
feed the multitude before He fed the 5,000
5.1.1.6.etc, etc.
5.1.2.
The disciples react differently in this account than in the feeding of
the 5,000, for here they seem to expect Jesus to feed the multitude, and in
that account they cannot conceive that He could do so
5.2.
Notice that in this account of the feeding of the 4,000 (as with the
5,000) that it was Jesus who first recognized the need of the multitude, and
had the idea to act on their behalf
5.2.1.
Jesus already told us that our heavenly knows what we have need of before
we even ask Him, now He proves His deity in that He does in fact know our needs
before we ask
5.3.
Here yet again is that word ‘compassion’ which we saw earlier was
invented by the gospel writers in order to express the great empathy and care
that Jesus had for each and every person
5.3.1.
It is Jesus’ compassion which motivates Him to feed the 4,000 here
5.4.
As I look at this account of this miraculous feeding of the 4,000 it
appears to me that the disciples are acting much differently than with the
previous feeding of the 5,000, for the seem to be thinking that Jesus is now going
to feed the 4,000, where before they had no clue Jesus might feed the 5,000
5.4.1.
I may be
wrong, but I imagine that when Jesus first fed the 5,000 (the first miraculous
feeding) that as the disciples were handing out the food that they at first
were probably being stingy and handing out to the people just enough so that
they knew that a person would have enough energy so that he could walk a couple
of miles or so. Then, maybe as they
continued to see the fish and bread mulitiply I think they may have suddenly
gotten the idea that when the Lord gives you a meal He fills you up to
overflowing, and then they began to hand out the food more generously. Again I may be wrong, but I'll bet that when
now they feed the 4,000 that they immediately handed out the food in generous
portions.
5.5.
Interestingly,
what was left over after this miracle was much greater, enough to fill 7 of the
type of baskets which a man could fit inside, the kind that Paul was in when
they lowered him down the wall in the book of Acts. The first miracle only had 12 small
handbaskets of leftovers remaining afterwards.
I'll bet seeing those 7 huge basketfulls made the disciples become
confirmed in their belief that when God blesses His children He does so
generously.
5.6.
Maybe the
Lord was then trying to teach the disciples through this story was that you
cannot out-give God. You see, I believe
that they had begun to give out to the multitude generous portions since they
knew that Jesus would just multiply more, but afterwards the amount of left
overs was immense, and I believe that this was the lesson.
5.7.
It is
interesting to me how this miracle occurred, for the Lord did not immediately
just multiply those seven fish and loaves, rather each time that the Lord
reached for another fish one would appear
5.7.1.
In our lives,
the Lord always answers our prayers when we call out to Him from our need,
however He usually doesn’t just immediately multiply our money or bank account
(though certainly He could) in order to meet this year’s needs, rather He
usually just gives us what we happen to need at that moment in order to live
just for that one day
5.7.1.1.When He answers our prayers in this way for us it
causes us to come to the Him to meet all of our needs
5.7.2.
Notice that
this miracle occurred immediately after He blessed the fish and loaves, and
this teaches us that we also must pray for God’s blessing to be on our food
whenever we eat