Season 4 Podcast 139 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:13-28, Pt 3, “The Chief Cornerstone.”

We know that the sermon on the mount established the doctrines of Christ. There was never a sermon before nor after that has its equal.  But it would be difficult to find a chapter more pivotal than Matthew Chapter 16. Everything is about to change dramatically. People are still uncertain of who Christ is, but here Christ definitively declares unto his apostles his true title.

13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

Notice that even with all of his miracles none outside the twelve apostles actually claimed that he was the Christ who should come. The people were not yet ready to accept him as the promised Messiah.  They flocked to him because of his miracles. Then Jesus asks his disciples.

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

It is no surprise that Peter is the first to answer, and his answer is startlingly absolute, unambiguous, and definitive.

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Christ knows that the end is near, and he must prepare his disciples to teach the people that he is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, but even with Peter’s declaration, the apostles are not ready to carry the mantle. He teaches them one of the greatest lessons they will ever learn. It is a lesson that every Christian must learn for himself or herself. 

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Peter and the other apostles are taught that even though they have been standing in the presence of the Mortal Messiah, no one can know that Jesus is the Christ without personal revelation from heaven. John the Revelator records.

Revelation 19:9-10

“And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

All who have a testimony of Christ must have the spirit of prophecy. Jesus says to Peter.

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Peter, as we know, means rock but the pronoun reference does not point to Peter. It points to revelation from heaven. The Lord does not build his church upon Peter. Peter, the chief apostle who takes on the mantle of leadership after Christ’s death, is not a substitute for Christ. Christ taught.

Matthew 21: 42-44

“Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”

Perhaps the greatest physical evidence of intelligent design is the equal and opposite struggle between creation and destruction.  It prevents both the future and the past from overlapping and locks us into an eternal present. The future exists and the past exists, but not in the world of entropy balanced by the forces of opposition.  We are frozen in the great here and now between the past and the future, between birth and death.  We are caught in a maelstrom of madness saved from despair by a thin veil of forgetfulness of our former lives and teased into sanity by the illusion of reality enhanced by the senses and held together by language.  When we wake up from the sleep of death it will all have been like a dream.

According to the law of creation, we live in two time zones, a temporal time zone and a spiritual time zone.  The temporal time zone is made up of a solar time zone (or cyclical) and a biological time zone (or linear).  The spiritual time zone is made up of infinity because the spirit never dies.  That is an incredibly complex system, each with its own independent set of laws, one complete set of laws working in harmony with the other complete set of laws.  

Everything was first spiritual or else life makes no sense. Life or intelligence cannot be created or destroyed. There is no first cause to infinity. Life exists in infinity and therefore is not subject to evolution or temporal laws. We existed as male and female as spirits before we came to the earth, and we will exist as male and female forever. In the eternity of life sexual identity is not a choice, though in this melting world we tolerate philosophical ambiguity and confusion. One purpose of coming to earth was to gain a physical body in harmony with our eternal sexual identity. The physical body gives mortal expression to our sexuality. Our spiritual identity never changes and that which we were before coming to this earth will be the same when we return to the spiritual realm where our sexual identity will be forever stamped in the resurrection.  Some things are eternal, unchanging, and unalterable.

The spirit gives the body life. The physical body does not give the spirit life. All living things have a spirit separated by intelligence. Men and women are the highest form of intelligence on earth. Intelligence can expand or diminish, but intelligence cannot be created or destroyed. God is the highest intelligence of all. God organized laws, and by obedience to those laws we may become more like him. That is what Solomon meant in Proverbs 4:18 when he said,

“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

The Beloved Apostle John said it another way as recorded in 1st John 3.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

That is the purpose of life. Anything less diminishes us. If joy is to have a fullness of truth, why would God want us who are his sons and daughters to have less than he has. 

Season 4 Podcast 137 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 7 Pt I Episode 17 “The Giant Orgoglio

 In last week’s episode, Una was led out of the forest by Satyrane. When confronted by Sansloy who sought the destruction of Una, Satyrane attacks him. As the battle rages, Una flees only to fall into the grasp of a greater enemy, Archimago, who lies to Una and says her Redcross Knight is dead. We leave Una for a while in mortal danger. 

In this the beginning of Canto VII, we again meet the Redcross Knight who with the dwarf fled the House of Pride. He is pursued by the evil Duessa who is still seeking revenge for the death of her lover Sansfoy. The Redcross Knight encounters a giant.     

CANTO VII

 The Redcrosse knight is captive made

by Gyaunt proud opprest,

Prince Arthur meets with Una great-

ly with those newes distrest.

Spencer contemplates the difficulty of discerning between good and evil in a world where evil can disguise itself as truth. In Isaiah 5 One is reminded of Isaiah’ prophetic words, “

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

One’s mind is also drawn back to the Redcross Knight’s first adventure where, ignoring the warning of Una, he gets too close to the dragon’s lair. As he is wrapped in the long tail of the dragon, Spencer, said, “God help the man so wrapt in Errours endlesse traine.”

WHAT man so wise, what earthly wit so ware,

As to discry the crafty cunning traine,

By which deceipt doth maske in visour faire,

And cast her colours dyed deepe in graine,

To seeme like Truth, whose shape she well can faine,

And fitting gestures to her purpose frame;

The guiltlesse man with guile to entertaine?

Great maistresse of her art was that false Dame,

The false Duessa, cloked with Fidessaes name.

When Duessa discovered that the Redcross Knight had fled the House of Pride, she immediately searches for him for she has not yet exacted her revenge. She finds the Redcross Knight, his protective armor removed, resting by a fountain. The armor, remember symbolizes the full armor of God spoken of by Paul: the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, the sword of the word of God, the feet shod with the gospel of peace. Without his armor, the Redcross Knight is vulnerable to the wily temptations of Duessa. She discovered that she could not destroy him by force; now she tries seduction.

Who when returning from the dreary Night,

She found not in that perilous house of Pride,

Where she had left, the noble Redcrosse knight,

Her hoped pray; she would no longer bide,

But forth she went, to seek him far and wide.

Ere long she found, whereas he wearie sate

To rest him self, foreby a fountain side,

Disarmed all of iron-coated Plate,

And by his side his steed the grassy forage ate.

Season 4 Podcast 136 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:5-12, Pt 2, “The Language of the Heart.”

We know that Christ often spoke in parables, using extended analogy, requiring us to look at one thing and see another. In Matthew 16: 5-12, Christ teaches his disciples and us how to read and interpret scriptures through simile and metaphor.  Simile says one thing is like another Metaphor says one thing is another. For example, in verses 1-4, Christ compares his death and resurrection to the story of Jonah. In other words, he uses simile. He said to the Pharisees and Sadducees,

“A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.”

In other words Christ is saying that the story of Jonah, who was in the belly of the whale for three days, is like Christ who will be in the tomb for three days. It is a simile or extended analogy. The stories are similar up to a point. The word “like” that sets a simile apart is implied. 

In Matthew 13:33, speaking of leaven, Christ uses simile.

“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”

A simile uses like or as in the comparison. Metaphor says that one thing is another. Using the same image of leaven. In Matthew Chapter 16: 5-6, Christ uses metaphor. 

5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, leaven is 

“An agent added to dough to produce fermentation, a raising agent, e.g. yeast; spec. a quantity of fermenting dough reserved from a previous batch to be used for this purpose.” 

The dictionary also describes its metaphorical usage as referred to in Matthew 16 with an emphasis on “old leaven.” 

6 LINDA

“An agency that produces profound change by progressive inward operation; a pervasive influence that transforms something; = old leaven; a tempering or modifying element; a tinge or a mixture of some quality.”

Christ is referring specifically to the old leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, how it taints the teachings of the ancient prophets. There had been no prophets on the earth since Malachi, 400 years earlier, and false doctrines had crept into the Mosaic Law. It is those doctrines that the Pharisees and Sadducees used to justify the crucifixion of Christ. 

It is not just a problem of ancient times. It is human nature to interject opinion into the teaches of the Holy Bible, thus changing its meaning. We are taught by tradition rather than by the literal word of God. That is why there are so many Christian denominations on earth today, which has caused enormous contention. It is the same principle. Christ is warning Christians about borrowed interpretations of the scriptures. He is telling his disciples to stick not only with his words but also with the words of the holy prophets. There is safety only in the word. It is a message for today as much as ancient times. Christ knows that even the words that he will reveal to his twelve apostles will become subject to the leaven of modern Pharisees and Sadducees. 

The disciples did not understand his allusion.

Season 4 Podcast 135, In Defense of Christianity, “The Sabbath Day, Part VIII, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 4, The Sacrament or The Lord’s Supper.” 

One symbol that should be of primary importance in Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy is the Holy Sacrament or The Lord’s Supper. The sacrament is among the holiest ordinances of the church.

During Passover, the night before he was betrayed, Christ instituted the Sacrament or the Lord’s supper. In commemoration of that event, each Sabbath, Christians take the sacrament.  The bread is in remembrance of the body of Christ who died for us; the wine is in remembrance of the blood of Christ which was shed for us.  In Hebrews 10 Paul tells us that 

“We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.” 

To be sanctified means to be cleansed, purified, or made holy through forgiveness of sins.  And that is the purpose of the sacrament, isn’t it, that we may be sanctified through the offering of the body and blood of Jesus Christ by remembering his atoning sacrifice. The purpose of the sacrament is to renew that covenant and to receive that sanctification.  To Paul, the sacrament was serious business.  In 1st Corinthians 11, The Apostle recounts the experience the original Twelve had in the Upper Room:

“And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”

If we analyze each assertion from the above scripture, we learn the following ten things:

1.     And when he had given thanks

First the Lord gave thanks to his heavenly Father. Christ obviously is giving thanks to God in his name, but since he is speaking, that is strongly implied. We are told to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Everything must be done by the authority of Christ. At this moment the bread becomes blessed and sanctified. It is set apart for a very special purpose as defined by Paul in the following assertion.

2.     He brake the bread.

5 RON

Christ blessed and sanctified the bread as a whole; therefore, its parts contain the same. He breaks the bread and symbolically gives a token of his body that was broken and sacrificed for us to his twelve apostles. When we partake of the sacrament, we do the same thing as the apostles. The token of his body came with the following commandment.

3.     He said Take, eat this is my body.

The bread symbolizes the body of Christ that was broken for us. Jesus adds.

4.     Which is broken for you.

Therefore, when we take the bread of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper we are commanded to remember that his body was broken for us, that he died on the cross for us, and that he was resurrected for us. The word broken is a painful reminder of the persecution he patiently endured, the whipping, the crown of thorns, the sword thrust into his side, the nails in his hands and his feet, the carrying of the cross after he had been badly whipped, and finally his death on the cross.  Christ adds.

5.     This do in remembrance of me.

Season 4 Podcast 134 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 6 Pt II Episode 16 “The Perils of Una

In last week’s episode, Una was saved from the evil Sansloy by the Woodgods which consisted of Fauns and Satyrs. They think she is a God. She orders them not to worship her and tries to teach them truth and light. They become her great friends. In this podcast we continue with Una’s trials.   In this the second half of Canto 6, we are introduced to a new hero, a very strange hero, a rather uncouth and fearless and famous knight known as Satyrane. He delights in being a knight in shining armor. He came to the woodland to find his father and mother who deserted him. When he sees Una’s plight, he immediately sets out to rescue her.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

It fortuned a noble warlike knight

By just occasion to that forrest came,

To seeke his kindred, and the linage right,

From whence he took his well deserved name:

He had in arms abroad wonne muchell fame,

And fild far lands with glory of his might,

Plaine, faithfull, true, and enemy of shame,

And ever loved to fight for Ladies right:

But in vaine glorious frays he little did delight.

As the name suggests, Satyrane is the son of a Satyr, but he rises above his heritage though he has come to the forest to seek out his kinfolk. He is unique, however. Satyrane rescues fair ladies. His father exploited them.  Spencer calls his father, Therion, “a loose unruly swane.”  His mother, “Fair Thyamus” also a woodland creature was a mild lady, born of Labryde, a rather lustful mother. 

A Satyres sonne yborne in forrest wyld,

By strange adventure as it did betide,

And there begotten of a Lady myld,

Faire Thyamis the daughter of Labryde,

 That was in sacred bands of wedlock tied

To Therion, a loose unruly swayne;

Who had more joy to range the forest wide,

And chase the salvage beast with busie payne,

Then serve his Ladies love, and wast in pleasures vayne.

Thyamis, pregnant with her son, Satyrane, comes to the woods to find her wandering husband who seeks other lovers. She falls under the power of another satyr who imprisons her. 

The forlorne mayd did with loves longing burne

And could not lacke her lovers company,

But to the wood she goes, to serve her turne,

And seeke her spouse that from her still does fly,

And followes other game and venery:

 A Satyre chaunst her wandring for to finde,

And made her person thrall unto his beastly kind.

He holds her captive in a secret cabin. When the child is born, the Satre allows Thyamis to return home but keeps her son for ransom. Rather than his real father and mother, Satyrane is raised by the wild Satyr, teaching him the life and manners of wild beasts and woods, exiled from the laws of men. Satyrane has a mixture of uncouth knightly chivalry and woodland savagery. 

Season 4 Podcast 133 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:1-4, Pt 1, “The Sign of Jonah.”

The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I think one could spend a lifetime and never come to the bottom of faith. Perhaps most of us are familiar with the following scriptures and have even been envious of the faith of others,

·      Not found so great faith … in Israel, Matt. 8:10 

·      Thy faith hath made thee whole, Matt. 9:22

·      According to your faith be it unto you, Matt. 9:29.

·      Faith as a grain of mustard seed, Matt. 17:20 

·      If ye have faith, and doubt not, Matt. 21:21.

I have always puzzled over Peter’s statement, “trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold” (1 Pet. 1:7). I am struck with the oxymoron, “precious trial.” Few people when in the hurricanes of life consider a trial to be precious.  But it is a law of nature that without opposition nothing can be strengthened. And that is why it is such a great sin to seek for a sign. It bypasses the trial of our faith. Matthew 16 opens with the verse.

“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.”

The Lord condemns those who seek a sign.

·      evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, Matt. 12:39 

·      tempting him, sought of him a sign, Luke 11:16.

·      Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe, John 4:48.

Signs become a stumbling block to faith. There is an old saying, “seeing is believing” but that is not necessarily true. The problem with signs is that even though they may seem spectacular at first, they can soon be rationalized away through logic or through science or through opposing testimony or through doubt or prejudice or counter arguments. As the memory fades the miracle becomes clouded. If the sign continues people become less and less surprised and begin to accept it as ordinary. The technological advances we have today would astonish those of the distant past, but to the modern mind they are expected. In fact, Science has become a stumbling block to religion. People use science to prove that God does not exist. It is ironic but we use the laws of God to disprove the existence of God. We use the creation to disprove the creator.  

A classic example is found in the last book of the great scientist Stephen Hawking entitled, “Brief Answers to the Big Questions.” Published posthumously the book includes the following by Mr. Hawking, which echoes the view of scientific atheism.

“There is no God. No one directs the universe.” 

Of course, it is a direct denial of intelligent design, the primary argument for the existence of God. He added, 

“For centuries, it was believed that disabled people like me were living under a curse that was inflicted by God. I prefer to think that everything can be explained another way, by the laws of nature.” 

On the one hand Mr. Hawking is certainly correct in debunking the false idea that “disabled people are living under a curse that was inflicted by God.” Only Satan would perpetuate such a lie relating to the Savior who devoted his ministry to healing people.  

Also Mr. Hawking is correct in saying that disease can be explained by the laws of nature.  What is missing, however, is that the laws of nature were organized by God. 

Season 4 Podcast 132, In Defense of Christianity, “The Sabbath Day, Part VII, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 3.” 

The final proposition is like the previous one presented in Podcast 129, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 2.

Proposition 13: The Lord hallowed the sabbath day. 

The words blessed and hallowed clearly overlap, but there are distinctions. 

Synonyms for blessed are—

1.     consecrated, 

2.     divine, 

3.     exalted, 

4.     glorified, 

5.     holy,

Synonyms for Hallowed are—

1.     absolved, 

2.     adored, 

3.     anointed, 

4.     blessed, 

5.     celestial, 

Those are the same synonyms that Christ uses when describing his children. Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is a symbol of that blessed and hallowed state. There are two words in logic that are essential in determining a cause: necessary and sufficient. To be necessary means that the effect cannot occur without it. To be sufficient means that all necessary conditions are accounted for without any superfluous assertions. Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is necessary to reach a sanctified state, but it is not sufficient. As Christ said, 

Matthew 4:4

“But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  

Because of its importance much is said in holy writ concerning the Sabbath day. When the Children of Israel enter the Promised Land, they are commanded to keep the Sabbath which is The Law of Liberty:

And the Lord spake 

unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying

Speak unto the children of Israel, 

and say unto them 

When ye come into the land which I give you 

then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord 

Six years 

thou shalt sow thy field 

and six years 

thou shalt prune thy vineyard 

and gather in the fruit thereof 

But in the seventh year 

shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land

 a sabbath for the Lord 

thou shalt neither sow thy field

nor prune thy vineyard 

That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest 

thou shalt not reap 

neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed 

for it is a year of rest unto the land 

And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you 

for thee 

and for thy servant 

and for thy maid 

and for thy hired servant 

and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee 

And for thy cattle 

and for the beast that are in thy land 

shall all the increase thereof be meat 

And thou shalt number 

seven sabbaths of years unto thee seven times seven years 

and the space of the seven sabbaths of years 

shall be unto thee forty and nine years 

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound 

on the tenth day

of the seventh month 

in the day of atonement 

shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land 

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty 

throughout all the land 

unto all the inhabitants thereof 

it shall be a jubilee unto you; 

and ye shall return every man unto his possession, 

and ye shall return every man unto his family 

Season 4 Podcast 131 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 6 Pt I Episode 15 “The Perils of Una."

 In last week’s episode, Sansjoy is healed by Aesculapius, but he must remain in hell. When Duessa returns to the House of Pride, she discovers that the Redcross Knight has fled.  She pursues him. Canto 6, however, picks up the story of Una from Canto III who has been kidnapped by the lawless Sansloy. Though threatened by beastly man, she is saved by a savage nation of superstitious woodgods called Fauns and Satyres. They symbolize those who have not been taught the truths of the gospel. Una means truth. The savage race is moved by her plight and accept her immediately, allowing her to teach them the Gospel of Christ though they continued to worship idols. Spenser is teaching how truth can be recognized even by the most barbaric and how the gospel changes behavior. 

From lawless lust by wondrous grace

fayre Una is releast:

Whom salvage nation does adore,

and learns her wise behest.

In a previous episode Una escaped the wicked Archimago. only to be kidnapped by the lawless Sansloy who intends to make her his sex slave. To describe her unfortunate fate, Spenser uses the image of a ship that flies free only to run upon rocks and is shipwrecked. One peril is passed for Una by escaping Archimago while another greater peril occurs by being kidnapped by Sansloy.

AS when a ship, that flies faire under sail,

An hidden rocke escaped hath unawares,

That lay in wait her wrack for to bewail,

The Mariner yet half amazed stares

At peril past, and yet in doubt ne dares

To joy at his foole-happie oversight:

So doubly is distrest twixt joy and cares

The dreadless courage of this Elfin knight,

Having escapt so sad ensamples in his sight.

Una is true to the Redcross Knight, though the Redcross Knight is tricked into betraying her. Leaving the chaste Una, the Redcross Knight was tricked by Duessa into going with her to the House of Pride. No crime is found in Una and for the love of her knight she continues to search for him. However unaware of the evil around her, she is overtaken by the lustful Sansloy. 

Yet sad he was that his too hasty speed

The faire Duess' had forst him leave behind;

And yet more sad, that Una his dear dreed

Her truth had stained with treason so unkind;

Yet crime in her could never creature find,

But for his love, and for her own self sake,

She wandered had from one to other Ynd, 

Him for to seek, ne ever would forsake,

Till her unawares the fiers Sansloy did overtake.

Thinking he has killed Archimago who was dressed as the Redcross Knight, Sansloy leads Una into the forest where he intends to rape her. Before, Una had been protected by the Redcross Knight and when he deserted her, she was protected by a lion. However, Sansloy killed the lion and she was left helpless under the power of Sansloy, brother to Sansfoy and Sansjoy.

Who, after Archimagoes fowle defeat,

Led her away into a forest wilde,

And turning wrathful fire to lustful heat,

With beastly sin thought her to have defiled,

And made the vassal of his pleasures wilde.

Yet first he cast by treaty, and by traynes,

Her to persuade that stubborn fort to yield:

For greater conquest of hard love he gaynes,

That works it to his will, then he that it constraines.

Season 4 Podcast 130 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 15, 21-39, Pt 2, “Miracles.”

In Matthew Chapter 15 Part 1, verses 1-20, we examined False Traditions. In this the second half of Matthew 15 we shall address miracles.

Matthew 15: 21-26

21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.

27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

If the words of the Savior appear harsh, we must remember that Christ can do no miracle except by the faith of the people who receive the miracle. He was testing her faith. Now if you put yourself in the woman of Canaan’s shoes, see if it doesn’t appear very familiar.

There are three levels of faith tested here:

First Level. Christ ignores the woman: “He answered her not a word.” How many of you have felt ignored when you asked for a miracle. A long period of time may happen, and heaven appears completely silent. Many quit. Some get angry and turn against God. Some lose their faith. The woman of Canaan persisted. How long the silence lasts varies for everyone. Persistence is critical.

Second Level. Christ appears to insult the woman of Canaan. Christ said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” How many of us have felt insulted, as if we were inferior, unworthy, looked down upon, invisible to God. It is a temptation to either get angry and quit or batter ourselves into believing we are unworthy. 

Third Level. The woman of Canaan looks beyond the apparent affront. Her answer is the right answer. We are all beggars before God. We all, no matter who we are, eat the crumbs which fall from the master’s table. Humility is primary. Christ does not see anyone as a dog. He died for everyone equally. This Canaanite woman represents every one of us. She rose to heroic stature, and therefore her miracle is publicized for the entire world to see and learn from.  More of us identify with the woman of Canaan than we do with Peter walking on water. It is because of the woman of Canaan that all of us can expect miracles from God.

The Savior, of course, already knew the power of the woman’s faith. He already knew that he would heal her daughter, and he knew her answer. Christ is the great teacher. He is teaching his disciples one of the greatest lessons they can learn. They too, when he is gone, will have to go among the gentiles and teach the gospel and perform miracles. Christ is also flying in the face of the Sadducees and Pharisees who see all non-Jews as unworthy and unclean. He puts them in their place by healing the Canaanite’s daughter. Christ is also teaching the gentiles that like the Jews they must humble themselves and come unto him to be saved.