SIDE A SIDE B: Saved Souls & Crazy Faith

Notes and reflections on the second talk of the “Side A Side B” preaching series at the Feast Valle Verde May 9, 2021

Let us reminisce celebrating Mother’s Day last Sunday by honoring a woman of faith who was honored by Jesus. We’ll be encountering this woman in detail later on.

Matthew 15:28

28 Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” Then her daughter was instantly healed on that hour.

This woman, a mother, interceded for her daughter. It is an awe that the power of intercession takes God’s Word into flesh in our lives. It is not about us praying, but the people we’re praying about. The power of her persistence resulted in an answered prayer, more than what she asked for.

One Big Message: Multiply your blessings for others 😊

Last August 2020 in Lebanon explosion, 200+ people were killed and 6,000+ people were wounded. It destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. The governor of Beirut said that the explosion ruined half of the nation’s capital city. What was the cause? It was discovered that the unused chemicals for fertilizer had been kept in a warehouse for the past six years. What could be a blessing to a lot of farmers, vegetations and crops turned out into destruction, and worst, affected people’s lives.

What are these “fertilizers” that we have been keeping within us? Hidden talents? Unconfessed sins? Secret admirations? Fertilizers, if dispersed in the field, will not cause destruction and death. There will be a flourishing and fruitful harvest for everyone. The same is true for blessings. Blessings are not designed to be kept but to be scattered, so that they multiply and bless the world.

Selfishness is dangerous. Sooner or later, it will explode, causing harm not only to ourselves but also to people around us. In addition, everything that is good but not able to give to the world and to the Lord, might be lost forever.

Will you persist when it’s difficult to understand God’s will? How we wish all things are okay and go well into our lives. However, there are times when circumstances negateus, when seemingly, God opposes on what we’re doing. In the following gospel, we’ll see a different kind of Jesus, and without knowing its context, might give us an impression of Him being rude and racist.

Matthew 15: 21-23

21 Then Jesus went from Galilee and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and pleading, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked Him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

Based on these verses, Jesus appears to be silent, snobbish, spurning, and sarcastic.

SILENT

What if Jesus is giving us a silent treatment? We intercede, just like the Gentile woman,but no response received. We’re about to make an important task or a critical decision in our lives but He seems to be silent. However, what looks to be a silent treatment here is euphemism.

SNOBBISH

When disciples send people away, it is as if Jesus, their leader, directed His disciples to send them away. But remember, Jesus was initially silent. The disciples might be thinking that Jesus was already exhausted, but still, here comes a woman endlessly asking Him for a miracle. The disciples acted to be like Jesus’ bodyguards, protected Him by shooing them away.

Matthew 15:24

24 Then Jesus said to the woman “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.

SPURNING

Jesus seems to be racist here in a way that He’s biased to the Jews, and not from Gentiles, like the Canaanite woman. We also feel this way at times - that others are being blessed by God but not on us. This is not true. Remember from Matthew’s gospel seven chapters ago?

Matthew 8:11-12

11 I say to you, many Gentiles will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the Feast in the Kingdom of Heaven, 12 but many Israelites – those for whom the Kingdom is prepared – will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus had already said that He’s not only for the Israelites but to the Gentiles as well. Comparing these verses 8:11-12 from 15:24 looked contradicting. However, the Gentile woman did not stop.

Matthew 15: 25-26

25 But she came and did Him homage, pleading again, “Lord, help me.” 26 Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

SARCASTIC

The Gentile woman was persistent. However, Jesus, not only rejected her, He called them dogs. One must know that in the Jewish context in Jesus’ time, religious Jews really called Gentiles as dogs. But still, the Gentile woman did not give up. For the third time,

Matthew 15:27-28

27 She replied, “That’s true, but please Lord, for even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their master’s table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” Then her daughter was instantly healed on that hour.

Will we serve him when He’s silent?

Will we persevere when He’s snobbish?

Will we push through when He’s spurning?

Will we worship Him when He’s sarcastic?

There will be times in our lives when God seems to be silent, snobbish, sarcastic andspurning. But, persist all the more even when it’s difficult to understand His will! When logic ends, faith begins!

The Gentile woman swallowed the insult and pride and used these to get what she needed from Jesus, to the point she’ll be happy to accept the scraps. Finally, the real loving Jesus that we know of, at last, gave her His blessings.

This is prophetic theatre. Each set up is a preparation for God’s comeback. This is Jesus’ preaching technique to drive a very important message:

Jesus was playing hard-to-get to spotlight this beautiful unstoppable Gentile girl who wanted to grab God’s blessings for Israel for herself – even if she wasn’t a Jew.

This is a design pattern that Matthew planted in the genealogy of Jesus.

Matthew already introduced to us this crazy idea of unstoppable Gentile woman who ran after God’s blessings in the first chapter of his gospel – a controversial genealogy. Ancient genealogies are patriarchal in nature. If it is a Jewish genealogy, there should be no Gentile woman in the genealogy. However, Jesus’ genealogy contains four Gentile women namely, Rahab, Ruth, Tamar and Bathsheeba – all had scandalous and sinful backgrounds.

Going back to the Gentile woman, she knew that she was not a part of Israel as a chosen race, but just the same, she just wanted to be a receiver of Jesus’ blessing.

In the end, this woman was able to get more than the scraps. She got 7 large baskets full of bread, not just for herself but for all the Gentile people. Right after the story, Jesus healed hundreds and then multiplied bread for 4000 men, not counting women and children. After the multiplication, the Bible says,

Matthew 15:37

37 Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.

Matthew’s gospel contains two multiplication stories. Just a chapter ago, Jesus fed 5000 Jews with 12 baskets of leftover bread symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel (so that Jews can understand that Jesus is for the Jews). The second multiplication story was that Jesus fed 4000 men, all of them were Gentiles, with 7 baskets of leftover bread representing 7 Gentile areas around Israel. What is Matthew trying to point out?

Jesus is bread for both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is for everyone. Jesus loves us just the same. Jesus is what we all need. Jesus is for you.

Jesus is fulfilling God’s original idea when He called Israel.

Genesis 12:2-3

2 “I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others… 3 All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” That was God’s original idea. When God blessed Israel, he blessed even His enemies. Jesus modus operandi from the very beginning.

He blesses one person so that this person can bless the world.

This is the purpose of blessing. Our problem is that we like to keep those blessings, but God’s word for us: Multiply your blessings for others.

Are you fighting for others? Are you living with something bigger than your own wants?

Are you dreaming, struggling, working to serve others? We are not made for ourselves;we are made for others.

We’ve got to be like that Gentile woman, who was unstoppable and pursued the blessing of God. Nevertheless, she did not receive scraps. She received so much more that the multitudes where fed. That’s God wants us to do. We’ve got to pursue the blessings of God not for ourselves, but to bless the multitudes.