A Mother's Great Faith

A Household of Faith: (Part II)

A MOTHER’S GREAT FAITH

Matthew 15:21-28 (NIV)
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

            When we started out our sermon series- “A Household of Faith” last Sunday, I highlighted the results of a survey done by Search Institute regarding the most significant religious influence for teens, which shows that mothers hold the number one spot.

            Late last week, as I was beginning my research work for the Mother’s Day sermon, I also stumbled across the results of a survey done by The University of Melbourne’s School of Behavioral Science, which shows that a significant number of college students consider their mothers to be the single most significant person in their lives. Out of a survey of university freshmen, 40% listed their moms as the most important and influential person they have ever known, compared with 25% for fathers, 17% for romantic partners, 12% for friends, and 6% for siblings. According to the University’s associate professor Jennifer Boldero:

“Dads are important too, but for today’s  generation of young  people their mother remains the most important person …Many parents think that once their children grow up and leave school, they do not have much of an influence.”

            This is where I want to start our Mother’s Day sermon. I wonder how many mothers here today recognize how important their influence is to their children most especially in terms of their faith in the Lord. I remember reading a Spanish Proverb that says, “An ounce of a mother is worth a ton of priest.”

            Wow, what a privilege! It is my utmost prayer that all the mothers here today will do their very best to put this great influence to good use. Now, in order to establish a link with what I spoke about last week wherein I said that the most important role of parents is to lead their kids to faith in the Lord, I would like to present a challenge to all mothers to re-examine their own faith, and see if they could be a great role model for it. In our passage, we will meet a mother whom Jesus Christ has commended for her great faith. Her great faith resulted in a great blessing to her daughter. I believe that every good mother here today would like to be a channel of God’s blessings to their children. Allow me to say on the front end that if you have the right kind of faith, your faith will naturally overflow and pass on supernatural blessings to your children, the kind of blessings that would impact the future destinies of your children. Don’t you want that?

  1.             Allow me to share to you the story of great faith from our text, and let’s discover together what it means to have a great faith especially for a mother.    

 

I           THE OBJECT OF FAITH: (vs.21-22)

            Every faith must have an object. In order for faith to be great, it must have the great God as its object.

            Our passage begins with Jesus Christ withdrawing from Jerusalem to Tyre and Sidon, which are primarily Gentile territories, after He had some sharp encounters with the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt, 15:1-14). The Gospel of Mark, however, mentioned that Jesus went to these places so He can temporarily hide from His detractors, although hiding was not really possible:

Mark 7:24 (NIV)
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.

            While in these places, He was met by this pagan Canaanite mother, who was deeply troubled because of a daughter who was possessed by an evil spirit. Perhaps she probably had heard so much about the extraordinary works of Jesus; and so, when she realized that He was accessible to her, she did not waste any time. She went and desperately sought His help.

            Mothers, time and again you would find yourself on the same situation whereby you would feel desperate. It’s possible, especially in relation to your kids that you would find yourself bearing some burdens that are too much to bear. With all these troubles we can encounter in life, where do you go to? Where do you try to find some help or solutions? Our story brings before us a woman who knew where to go. Despite being a pagan woman, having a very limited understanding about the God of the Jews, or the Promised Messiah, she was willing to throw herself at the mercy of the Savior.

            If you notice, her cry was, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” There are two truths we can say about these words:

  • “Lord, Son of David” - This address give us an idea why she was going to Him. She looked at Him not as an ordinary person, but the Messiah coming from God.
  • “Have mercy on me”     - She recognized how undeserving she was. She knew she was not demanding for help, she just begging for Christ to show favor to her. 

Who is Jesus to you? Do you see Him as someone who could be the object of your faith? You know Jesus Himself gave an invitation:

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

            Just like the Canaanite woman, it is so difficult to see our children being specifically attack by the Devil. I know Satan will constantly find ways to cause our children to rebel against God. Let’s all pray that God will put a hedge of protection over all our children. Mothers, fathers, and grandparents, never get tired in bringing your kids to Jesus Christ, so they will always be protected by Him.

 

II         THE OBSTACLE OF FAITH: (vs. 23-27)

  1.             Another amazing characteristic of her faith was her willingness to persevere despite the seeming rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ.       

            After she made her appeal, there were two obstacles she had to overcome:

  1. “Jesus did not answer a word”

Examining the passage, it seems that she did everything right – she went to the right person, she expressed her faith to Christ being God and the Messiah, and she only sought for undeserved favor, only mercy. Why would Christ keep silent? Many Bible commentators agree about two things:

  1. The silence sent the message of indifference. Literally, Christ seem to be saying that He doesn’t care about here situation.
  2. But then, knowing Jesus as loving and caring, many agree that this was just a test of her faith. God is still in the business of testing and purifying our faith.

1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Job 13:15 (NIV)
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

            Without a doubt, He takes it upon Himself to refine our faith. If we don’t just give up on Him, our faith will turn out be shining like gold for His honor and glory. Do you have requests that were uttered that did not get God’s response right away? Do you abandon them? Is it possible for God to test our faith through them? We’ll find out a little bit later. There’s one more obstacle we need to see:

  1. “So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

Aside from the silence of Jesus, the disciples also expressed their frustrations because of her. They wanted Jesus to just send her away. They seemed to be asking, “Lord, why don’t You go ahead and help this woman? She isn’t going to give up until You do.”

With this, Jesus made a strange statement - "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."  What He was simply implying was the timing was not yet right. At that point, the priority of ministry was the Jews and not the Gentiles. Such words from Jesus could have clearly sent the message to the woman that she would not get any help from Him.

This seeming lack of concern from Jesus and His friends could have easily discouraged her? Yet, despite all these obstacles, knowing the condition of her daughter, and her knowledge of Jesus, she persisted by throwing herself before Jesus and kneeling before Him begging - "Lord, help me!"

And yet again, Christ testing her responded -"It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."  This response of Christ could have been the ultimate disappointment. In a way, she was being told, she doesn’t deserve any help being a Gentile. Now all of these are just tests? Don’t make the mistake of taking it against Christ.

But, the fervency and perseverance were still there. She responded - "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."  Wow, she was willing to take whatever help Jesus can give her. She acknowledged how undeserving she was, and she was simply after the crumbs- even a smaller favor or blessing.

With this, Jesus was delighted and responded positively to her request. I believe we all should not miss this truth that persistency pays off in prayers. I even believe that God often delays the answers to our prayers, so He can develop our fervency in prayers and faith in Him. Beloved, prayer works, but be willing to wait in the Lord. Remember, a great faith includes a great deal of persistence.

III        THE OUTCOME OF FAITH: (v.28)

            The great faith of the Canaanite woman resulted into some great blessings. First, she experienced the power of God in the healing of her daughter. For a mother who was willing to do everything she could to see her child get healed, even if it would meant being embarrass in seeking for healing or even giving up her own life if this was necessary; this was really an awesome blessing. Her faith brought great deliverance for her daughter. Truly, faith can accomplish great things:

Matthew 21:22 (NIV)
22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Then, there was also the personal commendation from Jesus Himself because of her great faith. Christ was so delighted to see this kind of faith from her. Evidently, this was a much better commendation than being told:

  • Great is your beauty
  • Great is your clothes
  • Great is your talent

Don’t get me wrong, all these are admirable. But speaking of a lasting impact, a great faith can still contribute greater things into someone’s life and family. Mothers, if Jesus would examine your faith this morning, would he be delighted with the kind of faith you are living today. Can your kind of faith be a blessing to your children in their most challenging times? Mothers, your children need you, they need your faith most especially in this day and age when there are so many things that can lead them astray, away from our Lord Jesus who can give them a more meaningful life. May your faith be great, great enough to bless your families.