How Great is your Faith

Sermon: “How Great is your Faith”

August 16, 2026

Scripture Matthew 15: 21-28

Reverend Betty Jo Sims

Do you have a dog? What do you feed your dog? Canned dog food? Dry dog food? Do you ever feed him scraps from the table? Most veterinarians say that you should not feed your dog table scraps. Why? They say that table scraps are not intended for dogs and may not provide the nutrition a dog needs.

That may be true, but just try to convince your dog of that as he sits by the table watching you enjoy a juicy steak. Maybe the meal was not intended for him, but that doesn't keep him from sitting by the table, begging for a little scrap, hoping that just one small bite might fall on the floor for him.

Keep that picture in your mind as you listen to our Bible lesson today.

Americans are not considered to be very good listeners mostly because we are too busy talking ourselves. We want to make sure the other person hears our point, understands what we are saying sometimes it takes something really dramatic to get our attention.

This morning’s story is of the Canaanite woman and her demon possessed daughter is dramatic and it gets our attention - but at first glance we are left wondering is this the Jesus I know, the Jesus of love and compassion. "It is difficult to find a harsher and more unfeeling reply in the four Gospels than that which our Lord made to the Canaanite woman. In our present climate, if someone just overheard the first part of this Gospel reading, Jesus would be finished.

But if we will listen to the story we might just learn a few things about God and ourselves.

It begins: Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus had been a very busy man. He had fed 5000 men and who knows how many women and children, he had healed the lame, the sick and the afflicted, he tried to rest but got little time alone, and he had rescued his disciples from a storm.

Tyre and Sidon are 50 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It is a long walk and we are not sure why he goes there. It is the farthest north that he will travel and the only time in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus goes outside of Jewish/Samaritan territory except to escape Herod as a baby and to visit Gadara. Perhaps God leads him there just so we might enjoy the story of this remarkable, faith filled Canaanite woman.

Canaanites were bitter enemies of the Jews. They were a loose company of tribes with a checkered history with the Jews. And now we find Jesus in the middle of these pagans, choosing to go to them, and this woman, this Canaanite is shouting at Jesus.

This woman was demanding Jesus attention by the sheer volume and audacity of the words she yelled.

“Have mercy on me Lord Son of David” – She addresses Jesus as both Lord and the Son of David, words a Jew might use for the Messiah. Here was a Canaanite woman, an outsider, a non-Jew, acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah.

Her words contrast those of the Pharisees and scribes – the Jews to whom Jesus was sent. She understood what they were to blind to see. The clarity of her vision contrasts with the disciples’ lack of vision to see Jesus as the Son of God. Her words and demeanor are ones of reverence and faith.

So Jesus did not answer her at all. It doesn’t make sense to us as we have just had this tremendous expression of Jesus as the Messiah and Jesus just sits there, refusing to answer the woman.

Throughout the new testament we see Jesus always responding to cries for mercy, salvation and healing. His silence here is stunning, awkward, disturbing. The disciples beg Jesus, to send her away. It is not clear whether they just wanted him to get rid of her or give her what she wanted. Either way they probably would have been happy as long as she stopped bothering them.

But notice In his silence, though Jesus does not walk away from her, he does not turn his back on her, does not desert her; instead he speaks to the disciples and offers her an invitation of hope.

Have you ever notice how silence is motivating, that it causes you to react, to move. I mean if you are in the back room and all of sudden your house is silent – you can bet you will be moving, hustling your way right back up front as fast as you can to find out exactly what is going on.

If you are in a group and all of a sudden things become quite, silent – people began to look around looking for someone to speak up to break the awkwardness of the silence and then all of sudden everybody speaks at the same time.

And In Jesus’ silence, the Canaanite woman is motivated. She goes to her knees before Jesus. Jesus just called this woman a dog – did you hear that “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

At this point if it were you or I, we would be all over Jesus, we’d be in his face.

“Who do you think you are calling a dog – I am no less than anyone else. I have as much right to be treated right and blessed as anyone else. I have as much right to have my prayers answered as the anyone else. The Canaanite woman though, does not get upset. In fact, in Jesus words, she hears the hope of an invitation.

We do not control the events of life, but we have a choice: we can react or we can respond. Jesus helps us endure hardship with patience, reminding us that God sees us and is with us along the way. You see - the Jews would referred to the Canaanites as dogs, it was meant as an insult – You wild savage, undiscipline, unlovable beasts.

But the word Jesus uses here is not the word for a vicious street dog but the word for a pet, a house dog. Pets are not outsiders but insiders. They not only belong to the family but are part of the family.

To this woman it was an invitation for her to come into the house, to become part of the family to be loved and cared for, to sit under the table and be feed by hand.

It was Jesus’ way of testing her, inviting her to come in if she would only listen, if she really believed, if she really understood. He knew she would hear his invitation. The woman heard it alright and she turned it right back around on Jesus.

We can almost see the gleam in her eyes, the smile on her lips as she turns the play on words back to Jesus – saying yes Lord, I am a dog compared to you and your glory.

She humbly comes to him acknowledging his Lordship, acknowledging him as the Messiah. I am not worthy to be your pet, your house dog, your child, but you are so rich in blessing and goodness that even a crumb will be enough to heal my daughter.

She is a quick thinker and it almost seems as if she is playing a word game with Jesus and getting the better of him, that in her persistence and begging she got what she wanted. But that is not the case. The woman had a tremendous faith that led her to worship God. She came and knelt before him and asked the lord to help her.

She came with a sense of reverence, not as equal but as a wretched human before a great and holy God. And God rewarded her for her faith. (Verse 28)

When Jesus came to earth, he came to preach and teach first to the Jews. That does not mean that He did not love the other people of the world, but the first priority in his ministry on earth was to bring God's chosen ones to repentance.

When other people saw Jesus healing the sick and lame, they followed him wherever he went.

One day there was a woman from Canaan who came to Jesus and asked him to heal her daughter. Jesus explained to the woman that his first mission on earth was to preach to the people of Israel.

The woman refused to give up. She came closer, knelt down, and begged, "Please help me, Lord!"

Jesus replied, "It is not right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs." The woman answered Jesus and said, "Lord, that's true, but even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their owner's table."

Jesus was so touched by the faith of that woman that he told her that because of her faith, her daughter would be healed.

Even though Jesus came first to the Jew, he loved us so much that he shared his love with all of us. I guess we are a little bit like the dog -- even though the meal was not prepared especially for us, it does not keep us from enjoying it. We gladly sit at our Master's feet and thankfully receive whatever crumbs might fall from the table.

For God loves us so much that He shared Jesus with the whole world, so that through him we could be saved.

The woman’s humble response is intriguing as she replies, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

This is a striking admission. Here is one way to interpret it:

“Children” = Israel, the people to whom Messiah was first sent.

“Bread” = the blessings of the kingdom — healing, deliverance, salvation.

“Dogs” = Gentiles, outsiders, often despised in first-century Jewish culture.

“Under the table” = Gentiles who are not at the main table but still part of the household.

“Crumbs” = even the smallest overflow of Jesus’ power is enough.

In first-century Judaism, “dogs” was a derogatory term for Gentiles, though the Greek word suggests “little dogs” or “household pets,” softening the insult.

The woman’s willingness to accept this position while still trusting Jesus shows humility and faith. She acknowledges the priority of His mission to Israel but appeals to His mercy, believing even a small portion of His grace is sufficient.

The woman acknowledges the priority of Jesus’ mission to Israel but appeals to His mercy, believing that even a small portion of His power and compassion is enough to bring healing. Jesus is moved by her faith and grants her request, healing her daughter instantly.

There are lessons here for us:

1. Grace overflows beyond its initial target — Jesus’ ministry began with Israel but expanded to all nations, as prophesied in Isaiah 49:6 and Romans 11:17.

2. Grace is undeserved — She does not argue merit; she trusts mercy, echoing Ephesians 2:8-9.

3. Grace responds to humble, persistent faith — James 4:6 calls God “the giver of grace to the humble.”

4. Grace is abundant — Crumbs heal a child; how much more the full loaf could heal people!

5. Grace magnifies Christ’s glory — By healing her daughter, Jesus shows His authority reaches all peoples.

So why does this passage matter to us today? It tells us that:

• No one is too far from God— all Gentiles, foreigners, or those considered “unclean” are welcome at God’s table.

• We approach God the same way — empty-handed, trusting His character.

• We extend this grace — welcoming outsiders, remembering we were once “dogs” made family.

• We celebrate it — we worship the One whose crumbs are enough and whose table is open.

In short, the “dogs under the table” story is a powerful reminder that God’s mercy is not limited by ethnicity or background, and that even the smallest measure of His grace can transform lives..

Have you ever felt God was silent? That God was not answering your prayers, that he was not even listening to you? That you were alone in the wilderness of darkness and silence. Well, You are not alone! In fact throughout the Bible we find stories, instances of when people felt God was ignoring them, silent, unresponsive to their pleas for help and mercy.

I have seen a lot of people in the midst of silence beat themselves up, feeling like God rejected them, because they had sinned, because they were not good enough for God. But know this - GOD HAS NOT TURNED HIS BACK ON YOUR PRAYERS, HE IS NOT IGNORING YOU. John 9:31 says that “he is ready to listen to those worship him and do his will.”

Some people claim and argue that unanswered prayer is a because of person’s a lack of faith, because of sin in their life. How sad they do not understand this principle of faith.

FAITH IS NOT PROVEN TRUE BY ANSWERED PRAYER BUT BY UNANSWERED PRAYER THAT DOES NOT MAKE US WAVER OR GIVE UP ON GOD. In God’s silence he is not rejecting you or me. He is calling us to listen because an open ear is the only believable sign of an open heart.

The Canaanite woman heard Jesus’ invitation and accepted it humbly because she believed in who he was. She demonstrated the depth of her faith even in the midst of the silence and the sufferings of her child.

Take some time for silence this week. may you hear, read and know his Word. May you hear his invitation to you. To be baptized, to join this fellowship of this church, to share your faith, to sit at his feet or simply to humbly worship him. Whatever you need.

And may you hear God’s words praising you, saying …”Great is your faith.” I pray that in those moments in your life when God seems so silent, when the silence seems deafening and painful, that you will go to him, worship at his feet, hear his invitation to you and respond in such a way that God proclaims “Great is your faith.”

May God find us faithful until the end.

In the name of the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen