Word of Salvation – Vol.32 No.27 – July 1987
God’s Hidden Power Breaks Through In Response To Faith
Sermon by Rev. H. DeWaard on Matthew 15:21-28
Reading: Isaiah 56: 1-8; Matthew 15:21-28
Singing: 483, Bow.S.19, BoW.H.822:1-4.
Dear congregation, beloved of Christ,
Have you ever had the painful experience of being snubbed or ignored by someone you consider your friend? It makes you cringe. It makes you withdraw into your own shell. You don’t understand. He/she is my friend. Why does he treat me like that? I thought we were mates! It is not like her! She is not herself! That’s what intrigues me about this story in Matthew 15. It is not like Jesus. He is the God-man who came to seek and save the lost. He took an interest in all kinds of people, girls, boys, men and women. He loved to be with Martha, Mary and Lazarus. People flocked to him. All were loved, attended to, healed. All… except this woman. She has no name. She crosses Jesus’ path like a ship in the night and vanishes. Yet at the end of this short meeting Jesus exclaims: Woman, you have great faith! In this moving story we see:
God’s hidden power, breaks through in response to faith.
We notice two aspects:
1. Because the power is hidden, faith is tried.
2. Through faith triumphant, the power breaks through.
- After his clash with the Pharisees, Jesus withdrew for a while. He wanted some peace and quiet for prayer.
In word and deed, Jesus had been busy demonstrating that the Kingdom of God had come. He had cast out demons and showed Himself king over the powers of sickness and Satan. But He had come up against a brick wall of unbelief. (vs.12). So he left for the area we call Lebanon today. It must have been more peaceful than it is now! But Jesus was not to be left alone. Driven on by the strength of parental love this nameless mother seeks Jesus’ help in curing her demon-possessed daughter. She had probably tried every doctor, quack and medicine man and still she would not accept her daughter’s illness as her fate. She had heard of Jesus. ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ All her grief is laid at Jesus feet. Rightly so..! He had driven out demons many a time. He had shown the power of the Kingdom and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Here is a golden opportunity to do it again! That’s what you think. Jesus did not answer a word. What’s wrong with Jesus? Why has the fountain of his love dried up? I understand why Jesus was silent before King Herod. Herod was just not serious. I understand Jesus’ silence before Pilate (27:14). Pilate was a coward. There was nothing to say to him. But this woman! She is respectful and expressed a desperate need. Yet she was met with a stony silence. Her faith was sorely tried. We understand. We believe that God delights in wholeness and salvation, but we see brokenness, suffering and death. We believe in a God of love but we see much hatred. I pray in all sincerity for the life and health of a loved one. But there is no display of God’s marvellous healing power. Young people pray for guidance to help them to choose a career or to give them a partner for life. No voice. No obvious help is given.
The history of the church is full of people who have wrestled with the fact that God’s power is not shown! e.g. Adoniram and Nancy Judson, missionaries to Burma last century. After incredible suffering, sickness and imprisonment, (for the sake of the Gospel), Judson’s wife and child died of tropical fever. It was too much. Judson went into the jungle and dug a grave for himself. Spiritual desolation came over him and he wrote later: ‘God is to me the Great Unknown. I believe in him, but I find him not…!
When we are stripped of all things on which we normally rely and are thrown back on God, we wonder: Does He care about me? Is He really there? Even the Bible texts that normally bring comfort seem more dumb words. Such as: Come to Me!, and: Fear not! Beyond personal concerns we ask: Why is God so silent about the tragedy of Ethiopia? And Lebanon? Why does God allow persecution of His people in the Soviet Union? Why is God silent in the face of human tragedy in South Africa and the Middle East? He who had displayed marvellous signs of the Kingdom – the healing of a lame man, casting out demons, stilling the storm – has put on a mask of harshness and unconcern. And the woman’s daughter continued to be plagued by the devil.
But this woman does not take Jesus words at face value. She must have detected a crack in his mask. When Jesus was not ready to show his power, she kept at it, though her faith was tried. We must not believe in appearances, but in the WORD. When God says No! or Not yet! or Wait!, we must not question the divine Majesty, for God does everything according to the purpose of his will. God keeps His own time-table. We cannot force ours on Him. God does not always step into a difficult situation to rescue us miraculously at the last moment from the fiery furnace, like some Superman. Sometimes there is no way out. Do we still believe then that His way is best?
There are people who want to call down the judgement of God on unbelievers NOW, but the time of judgement is not yet on God’s time-table. Likewise, Jesus does not help this woman because the time is not yet. He has been sent to Israel. It was God’s purpose to display the power of the Kingdom among the Jews. Among them God looked for the fruits of faith and obedience. Yet, Jesus always looked forward to the time when Gentiles would come in, so now and then he turned to minister to Gentiles and foretold of a great ingathering (Matt.8:11) made possible by His death on the cross. (John 12:20-24). Only after Pentecost would this become reality. There is a people of God, but this woman could not yet belong.
The disciples did not understand. They wanted Jesus to act or do something. The embarrassment was killing them. Heal the daughter or send this woman away. But don’t just stand there! Typical activists, who had no idea that behind Jesus’ silence was the higher purpose of God. Nowhere is that more dramatically illustrated that in the cosmic struggle between Jesus and the power of Satan. That was the conflict of the ages battled out on Golgotha. The powers of darkness played their devilish tricks with the Son of God. In anguish he cried: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?
Silence. God hid Himself. No last-minute rescue as with Isaac. No comforting voice. Only a stark silence. Was God unconcerned? No..! God’s silence was His way of suffering with and for us according to His eternal plan which reached a new stage with the glorious resurrection!
- When the silence was broken, it was not encouraging. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” It is like slamming the door in someone’s face and nailing it shut. You do not belong – at least not yet. But the woman’s faith, though sorely tried, triumphs and Jesus demonstrates the power of the Kingdom in the healing of her daughter.
When Jesus compares the Gentiles to dogs, admittedly not filthy street dogs, but household dogs she agrees. Yes, Lord, you are right in ignoring me. I don’t belong. I have no claim on you. It is not right to give children’s bread to the dogs. But I am not asking for the children’s share. I am asking for crumbs only-leftovers. What an amazing faith! She regards the power of Jesus as being so great and His grace so rich that a few crumbs would satisfy her need.
Throughout history God had always sprinkled a taste of grace on the Gentiles (Ruth, Rahab) and this woman is claiming that sprinkling in persevering faith. No wonder Jesus praises this woman and thus underscores the failure of God’s own people, where such faith was rare (Mark 6:5 – “And he could do no mighty work there”). There are times when God keeps Himself hidden because of unbelief and lack of prayer! Perhaps you have prayed for years for someone to come to the Lord, yet she is as far from Him as ever. Do you give up? Perhaps you have sought to gain a victory over a certain sin. You failed again and again. So you give up. We must not. In God’s time/way there will be victory! Perhaps you struggle with the question: Do I really belong to God? Is there salvation for me? The only answer I can give is: Look at Christ! Look at His cross and what you see is GRACE; not crumbs of it, but lavish grace poured out. All of us-whoever we are – need this grace. Now is the time when God calls men, women, children, Jew and Gentile to believe in Him and be saved.
What does Christ mean to you in everyday living? Well you say: I go to church. I support the minister. I do my best. True, but are you trusting Christ and taking Him at His word? This heathen woman did. She found a crack in the door and pushed through it. And her daughter was delivered from the power of the devil. New Christians can put us to shame at times. With their little knowledge, they implicitly trust in God. They have assurance of sins forgiven, eternal life and they put God at the centre of life. Are YOU and I doing this? Is your life a demonstration that Christ is KING?
This miracle of healing shows us the meaning of redemption; a freeing of creation from the shackles of sin and evil and a return to living under God as our King! When God is silent, when puzzling things happen, when God chastens us, when his hand is heavy on us… we must not let go… until He blesses us even if it means going with us into the fiery furnace!
Through faith and prayer we must raise our sights and witness to God’s miraculous power in Jesus Christ. In the death and resurrection of Jesus, the power of God’s Kingdom has been revealed. That same power is at work among God’s people. We taste it, we experience it. In our bewilderment, we find light. In times of perplexity, we find solutions. In sorrowing, we find comfort. In our work we find strength, because we belong to Christ, the Victor.
We look forward to a greater measure of such power. We anticipate the Day when God will not be silent anymore, when faith shall be sight and creation restored from all its deadly diseases. That’s the kind of triumphant faith we need today. In the meantime, don’t you feel how much we ought to pray: Lord, increase my faith! He will give you faith. For He knows you and loves you. Whatever people say and think, in Jesus Christ you are loved eternally. God is pleased with you – that is grace! – that is power for living!
AMEN.