Luke's Gospel

Turn to Matthew chapter 15 with reading verses 1 through to 28. Then some pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked. Do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat. Cheers replied, and why do you break the command of god for the sake of your tradition?

The god said, on your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father or mother is to put to death. But you say that if anyone declares that will might have been used to help their father and mother is devoted to god. They are not to honor their father and mother with it. Thus, you nullify the word of god for the sake of your tradition you hypocrites. Azai was right when he prophesized about you.

These people on me with their lips, or their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are merely human rules. She just called the crown to him and listen and understand. What goes to someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth? That is what defiles them.

Then the disciples came to him and asked, do you know if the pharisees were offended when they heard this? He replied, every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave They are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit. Peter said, explain the parable to us.

Are you still so dull? Jesus asked them. Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach? And then out of the body, but the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

These are what define a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them. Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and sidon. A canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him crying out lord son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is demon possessed and suffering terribly. Jesus did not answer a word.

So as the disciples came to him and urged him, sent her away, she keeps crying out after us. He answered, I was not sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The woman came and knelt before him. Lord helped me, she said. He replied, it is not ripe to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.

Yes, it is lord, she said. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Then Jesus said to her, woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted, and her daughter was healed at that moment. Peter's gonna come preach to us now.

Oh, welcome. My name's, Pete Woodcock, I'm the pastor of the church. If you're new here, please please make yourself known. I'll be at the door. Steve will be at a welcome table.

Steve was leading, afterwards. Please make yourself known. If you're regular here, look out for visitors, and, and, and, let's be a very welcoming church we're doing a a short sort of dipping into Matthew, before we start up in September, new series, and so that's what we're doing. Let me just pray. For the help us now to see these truths, in this passage, not just about other people, but help us to look deep within.

Well, we wouldn't be people that look in a mirror and then forget what we look like, as James says, in the Bible, but we would be people that see and act upon it. May your spirit wrestle with us and deal with us. We may be people of Jesus. We pray in his name, our man. Now I don't know whether you've noticed, but, there is a lot about xenophobia around, these days.

Lots of people are writing. Lots of people are saying xenophobia is the fear of foreigners. And many people are saying, you know, I absolutely agree that there's a rise in our country of xenophobia fear fear of foreigners. So instead of enjoying the differences, and instead of maybe even laughing together at our differences, because they are comical very and how how different we are. Xenophobia highlights the differences as dangerous.

And they cause us to separate from people that we think are dangerous, and they cause subcultures. There's a really, really good film. I know some of you have seen it, and and maybe our film club will show it at 1 time, called District 9. As many people seen that, It it it is a fantastic film about this very subject. It's really dealing with apartheid in South South Africa.

I really recommend it as a film. But basically, what they've done is they've taken aliens. So aliens have landed on this planet, and, they've landed in South Africa. And they're kept in this district district 9. Now the brilliance about the film is that when you first see these aliens, they're gusting.

They really are horrible, and we're meant to see that. So we're looking through the eyes of people that are xenophobic and The film makes us that, really. That's how good it is because they're great big prawn like things that don't live in the sea. And so we're made to look at these things. They're vile.

They're savage. They're dirty. They're disgusting big dripping prawns. That's what they are. And you really want nothing to do with it.

It really is revolting. But then this is the cleverness of the film. It starts changing the angle, and we start seeing those disgusting alien prawns in different light. And we so suddenly realize that actually they're the same as us. There is no difference They're a good and bad.

They love their children when we thought they were eating them. And, so it's a very clever film. Zenophobia is the fear, the dislike of people from other countries, from other tribes, from other traditions, the fear and dislike of foreigners, we don't like the color of their skin, or the habits that they live by, or the foods that they eat. So smelly or the clothes that they wear, and it produces an us and them situation. Where we always feel better than them, whichever side you're on.

Now in verses 1 to 20 of this magnificent chapter in Matthew's gospel. Matthew is an, a follower of Jesus, and he wrote down these events from firsthand knowledge, And in verses 1 to 20, Jesus has this encounter with a group of people called the Pharaces, the very religious people. And they take xenophobia right up to the high levels. They're into it. They're absolutely paranoid about getting dirty by touching what they would see as a filthy foreigner.

They don't wanna touch them. They don't wanna be contaminated by by foreigners. And so they were into washing, washing big time. And, they believed that was pleasing to god. That if they could wash outwardly, they would get rid of the contamination of any foreigner or anybody like that, and they would be pleasing to god.

And they had very high standards of washing. And anyone that didn't come up to their standards, they were angry about. And in fact, that's what's going on here, and you see it in verses 1 and 2. They've traveled down these religious people from Jerusalem, and it would have taken some time right out into a country or foreigners, actually. They're in Vanessa.

And they've come to see Jesus because they hear Jesus who is supposed to be 1 of them, who's supposed to be a rabbi, doesn't seem to be keeping himself, in fact, he's in this filthy country for a start, and he's not keeping himself pure, and he's not preaching pure standards of washing. So they see god as xenophobic, and they're following in his footsteps. They think they're doing good. So look at verses 1 and 2. Then some pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

They don't wash their hands before they eat. Now, if you follow through the argument, Jesus with razor sharp logic challenges them, And what he basically says is, are you crazy? Do you think god is that small minded? It's not about outward washing. It's about inward heart.

It's not about what's going on in the outside. So much as what's the problem in the inside. You can have very clean outsides. You can be very religious and they're all the religious garb, but why your heart like. And then he says this, out of the heart come vile things, vile hateful language, sexual immorality, cheating, lying, and a hundred and 1 other wicked things are in the human heart.

What the human heart needs is a miracle is change is to be born again. All this outward washing is of no importance, if inwardly, you're filthy. That's what he's that's what he's dealing with. God looks at the heart. So here are these people, and they're saying, god, look, look at me.

I'm clean. I'm not like these dirty people. Look at me. I'm clean. I'm I'm ritually clean.

But Jesus is saying god doesn't think like that. What it should be is god If you look at me at all, you know that inside I am filthy, and I need something bigger than water to wash me. So in this whole chapter, this whole theme is about who's clean, who's not clean, who's in with god, who's right with god, in in his sight and so forth. So we've just met. Let's just get this clear.

We've just met those religious elites and, they're into keeping themselves clean outwardly washing pure ones, but now halfway through the chapter, did you notice? We meet this foreigner, a foreigner, a canaanite woman. And we'll see that she's seen to be like a filthy prawn. In fact, a dog. So you see the difference.

You've got the religious elite concerned about traditions and outward purity, And you've got the non religious woman without the law of god, who's impure, who's an unwashed dog, her prawn. Now we've gotta be honest here. Religion can can create a slippery slope to xenophobia. It's not only religion that can do that. Actually, it's any belief that starts to compare itself with others.

But here, it's religion. So look at this look at this slippery slope to xenophobia that goes on here. Just let's let's let's pretend we're, a pharisee, we're these religious pharisees, and we're into washing. So this is how it goes. This is how it goes in our mind then.

We know we become clean before god by washing and the religious rituals and the religious observances. That's our baseline. We know. That's how we become clean. That's what that's what we think.

So what do we do? We wash We make sure that we're clean outwardly. And what does that make us? Well, that makes us better than those who don't wash because they're still unclean, and they don't wash. That's what happens.

And so, therefore, we can't help but have a sense of superior superiority. Over those people, it might start with pity, but in the end, look, we do the washing, why don't they wash? We perform the truths that we think are, are bigger and important, and they don't. So, therefore, that leads to separating from those people. Because we don't want to mix with them because actually they're unwashed.

And actually, I don't want to touch them because that will make me unclean, so there's a separation. Do you see how it goes? Now because there's a separation, then I become unfamiliar with those people. I don't really know them. All I know is stereotypes and character tours and stories about those dirty people.

Yeah. And so I dehumanize them I make them dogs or prawns or rats or they're the outcast, and then because they're dehumanized I can oppress them or even see them die or put them in a district where we don't have any contact with them at all. All in the name of god, all in the name because I think I'm following god and loving god. See how it works. Now, let's see how it works in this scene in a little bit more detail because I want to focus in on this woman.

Actually, we leave the extremists, if you like, the pharisees. They're extremist xenophobic people. But we see traits of xenophobia still lurking around in the disciples. And I think and let me say this because before you get because we're gonna see some pretty blunt things here. Before you get so before if you're so insensitive, you know, you're you're you're so sensitive that you think Jesus is being so insensitive that you've gotta walk out and get out of this place and Just calm down, because what Jesus is doing, I think, and that here's the warning, he's teaching his disciples, he's drawing them out.

He's making them see how xenophobic they are inside and how they need cleansing. So don't just walk out halfway through. You gotta see the whole story here. But let's have a look then. We're focusing in on this woman.

Verse 21, a gentile woman. We're going into district 9. Look at verse 21. Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Sarah and andidon. District 9, Pagan Land, filthy area.

Yeah? That's how they would have thought of it. A canaanite woman, oh, goodness. Say where are we now? A canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him crying out Lord, son of David, have mercy on me.

My daughter is demon possessed, of course she is because they all are, aren't they? And suffering terribly. So let's have a look at this woman. We don't know her name. We don't know how she looks or how she dresses.

We don't know where what town she's actually from. The thing that we do know is she's a caner knight. Now you've gotta get this. For the first century followers of Jesus, those Jewish lads, a canaanite means prawn. Means dog.

Means dirty. They're the sworn enemies of god's people. If you know the history of the canaanites, they come from, Eadomites, they're come from esau, that they're the sworn enemy of god's people. They're idolatrous. They're immoral.

They're cruel. Everything about them is impure. And any sort of rabbi, any sort of serious follower of god wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere near these these horrible prawns. I mean, what's he doing going into district 9 anyway? So she's a canaanite woman.

But we know 1 other thing about her. She's desperate. She's really desperate. Look at verse 22. A canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him.

Crying out lord, son of David have mercy on me. My daughter is demon possessed and suffering terribly. So Here she is and she's acquainting her daughter's suffering with her, have mercy on me. Do you see how what a mother this woman is? Suddenly, she's a real mother.

She's treating her children sort of good. It's just surprising for prawns, isn't it? But but her her daughter's suffering is her suffering. And so she this is a helpless mother who loves her children Remember that's do you remember that song? I mean, sting had to sing a song that Russians love their children too?

Do you remember that? You participate in Russians. They can't love their children, can they? And so we had to have a song Russians love their children too. And she's loving her children.

So that's a surprise, but there we go. She loves her child, and and She's she's equating the the suffering with her child, with herself, have have mercy on me, lord, son of David. She cries out. And the Greek suggest is that she keeps on repeatedly going on and on and on prying that out. In fact, later on, the disciples wanna shut her up and say she keeps on crying out and the word cry is scream.

This is loud. This is she's not just hiding away whispering. She's crying out lord, son of David have mercy on me. Shut that woman up. Lord, son of David have mercy on me.

What's this filthy prawn saying? Lord, son of David have mercy on me. My daughter is demon possessed and suffering terribly suffering terribly. She's desperate. She's persistent.

She's noisy. Now notice she offers no money. She doesn't come with anything in her hand to try to persuade Jesus. She doesn't say, look, I'll support your ministry even though I'm from another country. She doesn't make any promises like, I'll give my life to the service of god if you do this.

There's nothing like that, isn't there? It's just simply pleading. She doesn't have any bargaining for on her side. Crying out lord, son of David have mercy on me. Now that is an amazing statement that she's making there.

It's culturally amazing. That she's making this statement. I mean, she's not xenophobic. She's not saying why should I talk to a Jew? Why should I come to a Jew?

Why should I talk to him about son of David? You see? She's just humble. She she she just comes and she says, son of David. She's using Jewish terms here.

She understands the Old Testament part of the Bible, that god would send a king of the Jews. Anointed 1, David's greater son, the rescuer of the world. She's understood that. She's understood that. Now, we've just seen that Jesus was battling with the pharisees that claimed to know their bibles.

They they claimed to know their bibles inside out. But they did not recognize Jesus as King David's son. The son of David, the king of the Jews. They couldn't with all their knowledge of their Old Testament scriptures, They were too busy looking at themselves and what they were doing for god and how different they were and better they were than other people. They're too busy looking at themselves and applying the word of god to their own hearts.

But she, She understands. I mean, the very term is underlining that she's a foreigner, son of David, And yet, she's not xenophobic about the whole thing. She's very, very different. To the flourishes she believes that god has revealed himself that way, and whether she likes it or not, or whether it's culturally insensitive or not, That's the way god's revealed himself, and that's who she had come to on her knees in a minute as you'll see. So there's the woman, the gentile woman.

Here's the second thing. A really strange, if not disappointing response from Jesus. Look at worst 22. Look, get it. Get this scene.

Caine and I woman from the vicinity came to him crying out law, son of David have mercy on me. My daughter is demon possessed suffering terribly. Jesus did not answer a word. He totally ignored her. Jesus ignored her.

Here is this woman coming to him, understanding who he is, son of David, lord, asking for help. And Jesus doesn't say a word. He doesn't even say, look, I'll see you later. He doesn't say, well, you get an appointment from the disciples, they're opening up my diary. 1 of my secretaries, Judith.

He's a good secretary. He'll put you he'll he'll put you in. He doesn't he doesn't even go, It doesn't acknowledge her in any way. She's speaking to him loudly, crying out about her daughter, and he ignores her. Not a word.

Nothing. Now can you imagine how a mother feels on that? I'm losing my baby girl. I'm losing my daughter and Jesus does the opposite to what you would imagine. He doesn't go home with her, he doesn't give her a word of encouragement.

He says nothing, not a word. So is Jesus xenophobic? Now if you've read the gospels up to this point, you you it's difficult to know what's going on here because he doesn't seem xenophobic. He really doesn't. I mean, he taught us to love our enemies.

And these were enemies. Well, this doesn't seem to be love here. He taught the parable as we were seeing the other night in in our evenings service. Of of of the parable of the good Samaritan and how to be a good neighbor. He taught.

You know, he and he was deliberately using a samaritan because they're like prawns as well. He he gave water of life to a woman at the well who was, and again, another Samaritan. In this very gospel, He actually goes to the outcasts and the smelly people and the people that no 1 like. He goes to them. He's already healed a Roman soldiers, servant.

Now a Roman was a pawn as well. So you know, what's going on with this woman? Is he xenophobic? Why the silence? Well, the strangest thing is it doesn't shut the woman up.

It just makes her go on even more. Whether you noticed that. So even though he's silent, she just rants on even more. Look at verse 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. They're irritated by this prawn. They wanna get rid of this dog. You know, it's not that, I mean, they might be saying, why don't you just heal the woman and get rid of her? It's a bit like, why don't you chucks some money at this flipping, beggar because he's annoying me and you'll get rid of him if you give him a fiver.

It's only a fiver. Get rid of the person. Why don't you just heal her? Just get rid of her. There's not there's no concern.

They don't love her or anything, but, you know, send her away. Why don't you send her away or go and do the miracle or something, but we're fed up with this horrible trying out irritating woman. So does Jesus listen to his disciples? Look at verse 23. It gets worse.

I'm afraid. 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. He answered, I was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel. She's a canaanite.

Now who's he speaking to? Well, it doesn't even look like he's even addressing her. I mean, we're not sure who is he speaking to. It's just like he's just saying it. You know, it's like almost like he's mumbling to himself.

You know, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. So she's been ridiculed, she's been not spoken to, and now it sounds like Jesus is saying not even directly to her, but because he wouldn't speak to her at sort of job. That's what it looks like. He's just saying it out. I have nothing to do with these prawns.

I have nothing to do with these people. I'm sent to the lost sheep of Israel. So did you get the story? I'm trying to get you to get the story here. Here's the canaanite woman.

Sounds like here, she comes, and she's totally desperate needs Jesus help. Jesus could help her, of course, but he seems not to want to help. He doesn't even speak to her. He doesn't address to her. He only wants to help Israel, a certain group of people.

And this woman is an outsider. Now do you see the horror of this? You've got to get the horror of this. If we stopped here, it would be horrible. You're in A and E.

You're up at Kingston, A and E. And a mother is brought in. You're in a queue. You've been there for 15 hours. And, and then someone is rushed in and you were next, but they're put in front of you, but you don't mind because it's a mother with a little daughter, and the mother is weeping and crying and yelling and saying, help her.

Help her. Help her. And the little daughter that brought brought before the doctor who comes out. What's going on? What's going on?

You were next, weren't you? Yeah. But it's alright. You see her. You see the mother in this child.

There's something terribly wrong here. That child's gonna die. And the doctor puts his stethoscope up and does his buttons up says, no. No. No.

She's not British. I only see British people. I see people have paid their taxes. She's probably an illegal immigrant on not seeing them. What would you say?

Well, what did she say? Because this is my third point. You really see trust in Jesus. You really see faith. It seems to produce in her trust in Jesus rather than not trusting him.

I mean, she could have said You. Oh, xenophobic. You. She could've spat at him? I knew that you lot were horrible and I spit at you.

She could have done that, but she didn't do any of that. She doesn't walk away offended. She's not a snowflake. Is she? Oh, I'm offended.

She doesn't sue Jesus. Look at verse 26. The woman came and knelt before him. Lord helped me, she said. Now why did she do that?

Because she knows that she's in need. And he's the only 1 that can help. There may be 3 things that encouraged her. Jesus had come to her country. He had come into district 9, so that's quite encouraging.

Why was he there? And he didn't say no, and he didn't send her away, like the disciples said. So there's 3 little sort of hints of encouragement, but her understanding of who Jesus is just grows. It really grows. She sees that she's not coming to just a foreign god.

Someone else is god. She has her gods in the canaanite faith, and they have She sees that he is in fact the only hope and that he is the lord of the world. She's not coming to another foreign god to try for another foreign god out because hers haven't worked. She's coming to god there is only 1 god. She doesn't start saying, well, I'm not coming to god if it's on those terms What about my background?

What about the canaanite's background? Can't he come as a canaanite god? What? Come here, love. Let's get out of here.

Now there is only 1 god and she knows it. And so there's only 1 hope. And so she asked for mercy. Again, you see? She doesn't say she deserves it back to the A and E illustration.

There you are in accident and emergencies, and you see the bloke come out and say, I only treat British people. Who are you? How would we argue? We would say, how dare you? She has paid her a tax she's got a job.

She deserves she's a human. How dare you? How dare you speak like that? We would start demanding human rights. Anyway, she's a human.

And she has rights as a human, and you're a doctor, and you have put yourself under promises, the Hippocratic oath, and you should help her And so what we would do is demand rights, but she doesn't do that. She doesn't say how dare you and demand her rights. She just simply says you're the lord. And on the basis that you're the sovereign lord, and you're the son of David, I am asking for nothing else, but mercy. And then what you have here And I think it's instigated by Jesus.

It's not that he loses, but what you have here is a battle of wits. It's like a growing of faith. It's extraordinary. This encounter, this argument that goes on. Because she's basically saying this.

You are a doctor and doctors like you, and in fact, you've already said, come not for the healthy, but for the sick, and all I am is sick. And you're the great lord doctor. Look at Jesus' comeback though, because it gets worse. Look at verse 20, 26. The woman came and knelt before him lord helped me.

No demanding, no rights. Lord helped me. She said. He replied, it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. I mean, has anyone taught this plot out of due evangelism?

I mean, goodness me. What? Now, I'm sure he said it with a twinkle in his eye, but Even with a twinkle in your eye, that's not politically correct, is it? First of all, silence from him Then what sounds like a racist put down? I'm only here for Israel, then this outright insult by calling her a dog.

He's called her a dog. Now, it's true he doesn't use the word for wild dog, He uses the word for domesticated dog, for puppy, for house dog, but it's still quite strong language, isn't it? She could easily get it got wrong and go off in a half, couldn't she? Listen to her response. Here's the Battle of Wits.

This is what Luther said. Martin Luther was a reformer, German reformer, and he said, she catches Christ at his own words. Now he's let it happen, but it is brilliant. Normally, Jesus, when you're arguing with Jesus, you don't argue with Jesus. Normally, you never win when you are arguing with Jesus.

He's clever. He twists it around. He gets it. He shows truth. Here, it almost he almost loses, but he's doing it on purpose.

Listen to what she says. Verse 27. Yes, it is lord, she said. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. She doesn't go off and say how dare he talk to people to me like that.

She says, well, fine. I'm a dog. If you call me a dog, you're the lord of heaven and earth. I am a dog. But, hey, if I'm a dog, they get the crumbs at the bottom of the table, don't they?

If I'm a dog, I'm in the house. If I'm a dog, She's not claiming to have any merit. How dare you call me a dog? I knew you were horrible xenophobic people. She says, okay.

I'm a dog. And that is real trust, isn't it? Not offended, but this is the only place to go. And so here's my fourth point she becomes a real child of Israel. She really is 1.

Look at verse 28. See Jesus. Now he never messes around with his words, Jesus. He don't he he's he's not, you know, he's not ever sort of saying everything's awesome or everything's great, you know, you know, do you remember do you remember that phrase there was a few years ago where everything is awesome. Awesome.

Look, awesome watch. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome lectern. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome fingernails. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

You know, what are you eating? I'm eating awesome fish and chips. Well, they're not just ordinary, if it's not awesome. Yeah. Everything is all he's not he doesn't do that Jesus.

Look what he says then Jesus answered woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed at that moment at that moment. You have great faith or great trust. The word is just trust.

Now, Jesus, as I say, he doesn't muck about with his words. He only ever said that twice of people in the gospels that their faith, their trust, was great, and they're both gentiles. He's always saying you have little faith to everybody else, or no faith. You don't believe. You don't trust.

But here, you have great faith. And she has great faith because she didn't stop believing who he was. Even when he said nothing to her, Even when she had the response of the disciples, get rid of the thing, even with the doctrine of being chosen, people being chosen, even with a massive sense of our unworth. Faith trust argues the promises of God. You're right.

I'm a dog. I don't deserve anything. Except maybe the crumb. And that's what I need, a crumb of mercy from you. Now this is altogether different from the people at the beginning of the chapter.

When Jesus encountered them, He said they nullify the word of god for their own traditions. He says they were hypocrites. He says that they are people that honor outwardly with their lips. But inside, they're far away from god. With the canaanite woman, the canaanite woman was not honoring Jesus with her lips.

She was on her face saying lord help me. The pharisees are too busy looking at themselves. And how washed they are and feeling superior to both god actually and people. And She is broken and humble and not good and nothing but a dog at the very best. And Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and she was blessed because she saw she deserved nothing. And the lord gives everything. And so she had the finest of food her daughters healed In Matthew 8, before this event, Jesus said this, I say to you that many will come from the east. And the west, and will take their place at the feast of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. There will be many of the lost tribe of Israel.

She's a lost tribe of Israel. And what Jesus is doing is teaching. Do you see? Do you see outwardly religion They've got their birth rights, they're claiming their sons of Abraham, they're claiming they know the scriptures, and they won't listen because god opposes the proud, but the humble, they're the real sheep of Israel. Who come undeserving, nothing in their hands they bring simply to the cross they cling.

Rock of ages. They come to him. Now what are the lessons here? Well, I've told you some. Let's just whack them home a bit.

Here are some of the lessons. How are we to come to god? Well, come to god like this woman. She's not offended. When she's called a dog, it's extraordinary, though, today.

People are so sensitive you can hardly say anything to them. I didn't realize that adult fiction now and adult sorry, young adult books. I was reading this yesterday, have sensitive editors in all of the publishers. I hope hope not good book. Where where editors are only editing to see whether it might upset a young adult.

They might be a little bit upset, so we've gotta gut it out. Because it might upset the what's the point of literature? Isn't it meant to make you upset and angry and or, no, no, no 1 must be like that. If we're in an age where we are just so up ourselves, so convinced that we're right on everything that we can't take someone speaking to us about what we're really like in our heart. Then we'll never be humble and we'll never come to Christ.

She came with deep humility. All she asked for was mercy. She did not come with any demands, really, other than mercy, other than what is what you are Nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I clean. We hate being excluded, don't we? But she understood being excluded and that's why she was asking for mercy.

When you realize you should be excluded, then you ask for mercy. If you think you should be included, you won't ask for mercy. We've got it all a long way around, haven't we? So how do we come to god humbly? As a dog, have mercy on me.

Second thing, do you feel that god is xenophobic towards you or anybody? Does he like some races better than others? Well, if you think you're not the sort of person god would like, you're probably the very sort of person that god does want. In 1 sense, you gotta stop thinking about yourself. Just stop it.

Just claim mercy. See who he is. She's not banging on about herself all the time. She everybody else is, but she's not. She's just looking at him.

She's focused on him. And the more she looks at him, even though it seems like she's he's resisting her, all it is is what you're the lord, but you're the lord. You're the 1 that can have mercy. You're the only 1 that can have mercy. But you're the lord.

She's not thinking about herself. She's thinking about who he is. In 1 sense, and she claims mercy. The lovely thing is the next story that Matthew puts down, true story that Matthew puts down, is the feeding of the 4000. And when you read that, you think, oh, dear, I've read this before, because just before that was the feeding of the 5000.

It's just the same thing, and of course you get liberal Christians that say, oh, it's all muddled up. It was all the same thing. No. It's not. 1 is 5001 is 4000.

So there's a difference. But they're in different territories. And the feeding of the 5000 was, look, Jesus is the new Moses. Jesus is god that gives the manor to the Jews to feed them in the wilderness and all of the history that goes with that. But he does the same in the vicinity of the district 9.

He feeds the 4000, and it's the same miracle over again. In other words, he's teaching his Cyples that the gospel goes to the Jew and the Gentle, to the Jew first and now to the gentle, and into the whole world. That he feeds the world, and what he does here, he does there because he's the same lord. The only lord, the exclusive lord, so much so that when you come to Christ, there is barriers of of culture and stuff start to break down so that Paul can write to Galatians which were largely non Jews He can write to the Galatians and says, we're all the Israel of God. We are the lost sheep.

That's the beauty, isn't it of the Bible? And when you get to the end of the Bible, there are people from every tribe and every nation. And every language. God chooses and saves and brings in sinners. But nothing to do with what color skin you've got or what food you eat.

It's got to do whether you're humble and you're broken and you say, but mercy on me on the basis of what you are and what you've done. Third thing. Are Christians claiming to be superior then? That's what people seem to say about us all the time. Aren't you superior?

The very opposite. Because it's not a performance based religion. If performance based, then I am superior if I'm doing the performance well. If I wash my hands and it's about washing the hands, and you don't wash your hands. And obviously I'm more better than you, but it's not about performance.

It's about someone who has performed it for you. It's about Jesus. It's not about you. It's about him. Do you see that?

If it gets down to religion or doing stuff, then if I do the stuff, then I'm better than you if you don't do the stuff. I'm superior, I'm self righteous. Of course I am, and then I can oppress you and look down upon you and separate from you and call you a prawn. But the gospel says that I am not saved because I'm wiser than you, I'm probably not. The gospel says I'm not saved because I'm better than you, I'm probably not.

The gospel says I'm not saved because I have noble birth, I'm not saved because I've performed various things. I'm saved because Jesus by his grace has done everything for me. It's because of Jesus I'm saved. Every other system of thought leads to people believing they're better than others, except this 1, which says I'm probably a, you know, a damn sight worse than most people, but I'm not saved by my performance. I'm saved by what he's done for me.

You say the difference. That leads me to my fourth point. Jesus is lord. And he's the god of Kaina and Israel and England and Scotland and wherever. He's the god of the world.

He's not some local little god. It's an exclusive claim. Jesus is lord. Therefore, the others are not lord. An exclusive claim, but It's because of that exclusive claim that Jesus is lord, that he's inclusive, or or his followers are inclusive.

Because when I look at the exclusive claim of the lord, what does the lord do? He includes canaanite women like this? What does the lord, who is the lord of the universe do? He gives his life for people. He sacrificially loves and gives and calls the outcasts in.

The lord, the exclusive only lord, of the universe includes outsiders by his grace. So therefore, when you follow the lord, you're inclusive. The people of god are inclusive. Do you see that? If it's just a god of Israel or a god of the canaanites, then I follow that god and I exclude you, If it's about what I do, then if you don't do what I do, I exclude you, but if it's about the lord who is the creator of the universe, it's all about him.

So what about him? Do you see that? He includes canaanite women. Into the family of god. Not not a sub you know, not not as dogs.

Into the family, and your daughter. Keller, is a American preacher, Tim Keller, he says this, because he he applies it not just to religion. I think this is important. Have a listen. Take moralistic religion into the center of your life and you will feel superior to the secularists.

Take secularism into your life, and you will feel superior to all those religious people. Take Jesus into the center of your life, and you will be humbled before people that don't believe what you believe. You will seek to serve the people who don't believe what you believe, and you will know that a man who loves people that doesn't love him is a man that doesn't follow Jesus. Last bit's a bit confusing, but what he what he's saying is that secularists it's it's all the same, isn't it? There are there are there are people that are shouting out.

If you don't believe what I believe, I mean, if you If you have any sort of doubt about climate change or what it what the you're an You're an idiot. The secularists, you know, Brian Cox in that law. He says, I will not have a Christian on my program because I have no desire to argue with that stupidity. He's a complete isolationist. If you don't believe what Brian Cox believes, Then out you go, I won't even talk to you on my programs.

He excludes, you see? Brian, you can come here anytime you like. I've written and asked you. You told me to wipe off. I didn't tell you to f off.

I invited you. I was on a tweet with him. He told me to f off except he didn't just say f. He carried on. Who's the who's the exclusive 1 there?

Who excludes, not Jesus. Jesus says come. Stop bringing your intellect. Stop bringing your cleverness and your pauncey smiles. Stop coming you come down and you bow your knee to the only lord, and you're in.

You're in. It teaches us a lot of other things, but it teaches us as Christians, we cannot be xenophobes. We cannot be It's lovely having different cultures. We might be insensitive and make massive mistakes, but that's a laugh, isn't it? We might point and laugh at you, but you can point and laugh at me.

That's the joy of being different, isn't it? We might say, oh, I don't like that kimchi stuff. Yeah. But we do say, I love that chicken. Yeah.

That's the joy of differences. We're not to be xenophobes, and Jesus is out to get his disciples see that our hearts need changing because we're here by grace and grace alone. Why not bow your heads and search your hearts and kick out any xenophobic attitudes.