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As we have pointed out many times, the Gospel of Matthew is not a book of history, but a book of doctrine. Matthew puts together certain historical facts for the purpose of revealing a doctrine. If you compare the four Gospels, you will see that Matthew presents the facts of history in an order different from that found in Mark or John. Mark and John were written according to the sequence of history. The arrangement of the facts in Matthew’s record, however, is not according to history, but according to doctrine, because Matthew presents to us the doctrine concerning the kingdom. Thus, Matthew does not care for historical sequence; he cares for doctrinal sequence.
In chapter fifteen, immediately after the dispute regarding the washing of hands, there is a record of feeding on Jesus (Matt. 15:21-28). Perhaps in your reading of chapter fifteen you have not found the way to connect Matt. 15:1-20 with Matt. 15:21-28. But these two sections go together. In the original text of the Bible, there were no paragraphs or verses. Thus, the second section was the immediate continuation of the first section. Matthew had a definite reason for putting these two sections together. His purpose was to show that what the Lord wants is not the washing of hands, but the eating of Him, the taking in of Him as food. He does not want us to wash outwardly; He wants us to eat, to take Him in. No matter how many times we may wash our hands, we shall still be hungry. In 15:21-28 we do not have washing; we see a dirty dog eating. The Lord does not care about the washing of hands. Whether you are outwardly dirty or not does not mean anything to Him. What truly matters to the Lord is that your hunger is satisfied. The Lord Jesus did not say to the Canaanite woman, “Yes, you have the right to eat of Me, but you are dirty. Wash yourself first and then come back to eat.” No, the outward washing is in the foregoing section, not in this section. Here we see the matter of eating. In this chapter we see that what matters to the Lord is not outward practices, but the inward condition. We should not outwardly wash away the dirt; rather, we need to be cleansed from within.
The question is how we can be inwardly cleansed. In order to be cleansed from within, something must get into us, and the only way this can take place is by eating. As the nourishing food, the Lord Jesus is the best cleansing element. When He comes into us as food, He not only nourishes us, but also inwardly cleanses us. He does not wash our hands; He washes our system, our very being. This matter of inward cleansing through the eating of Jesus is the link that joins the first two sections of chapter fifteen.
In today’s religion what is taught is mostly like the washing of hands. On Sunday after Sunday, sermons are given mainly on the outward washing. However, what people need is not the outward washing, but the inward cleansing, the cleansing in life and nature. They need a cleansing element that can get into their system, even into their vessels. They do not need the outward washing of hands, but the inward washing that comes from the proper eating. Jesus is not only the nourishing food; He is also the cleansing element. I can testify that day by day the Lord Jesus is getting into me to cleanse me from within. He is washing my inner being. In the church life we are not being washed outwardly; on the contrary, we are being cleansed and purified inwardly.
Many of the saints are willing to be purified from within. Often they pray, “Lord Jesus, come into me. I want to be purified more and more. Lord, I hate not only sin and the world, but also myself, my natural life, and my natural disposition. O Lord, I am so contaminated by my disposition. How I long to be cleansed from this defilement!” As we pray in this way, we spontaneously eat the Lord Jesus, and He comes into us both as the nourishing food and as the cleansing element. Deep within our conscience we can testify that, as we enjoy the Lord in the church life, we are purified, even when we do not have the intention of being purified. As long as we are enjoying the Lord, we are being purified from within. Therefore, what we have is not the washing of hands, but the cleansing of our being. In these days we have been falsely accused of brainwashing. However, we do not practice brainwashing, but we do experience the washing of our disposition. Not only our mind, but our entire being, needs to be cleansed. The Lord can testify for me that very often I pray, “Lord, I am still dirty. Lord, I sense that I am still so natural and so much in my disposition. Lord, I love You and I want to live by You. But even today, Lord, I have been in my natural disposition. O Lord, because I am dispositionally dirty, I need Your cleansing.” This is the kind of cleansing we need. This is not a matter of outward washing of hands to make a display of how clean we are. It is a matter of the inward cleansing that comes from eating Jesus. We all need such an inward cleansing from the Lord.
Verse 21 says, “And Jesus went from there and departed into the districts of Tyre and Sidon.” The unbelief of the Galileans caused the Lord Jesus not to do many works of power among them (13:58), and the rejection of Herod caused Him to depart to the desert (14:13). In 15:1 the religionists came down from Jerusalem to spy on the Lord Jesus and to find fault with Him. The further opposition of the rejecting religionists caused the heavenly King to depart farther from them, even into the districts of Tyre and Sidon, Gentile country. The Galilean rejection caused the Lord not to do many works of power among them. Herod’s rejection caused Him to depart from the civilized cities to the desert. Now the opposition by the religionists caused the Lord to go even farther away, to the Gentile world.
Verse 22 says, “And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those regions and cried out, saying, Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is badly demon-possessed!” Due to the rejection of the religious Jews, the opportunity to contact the heavenly King came to the Gentiles, even to a weak Gentile woman. The Canaanite woman addressed the Lord Jesus as the Lord, the Son of David. The title Lord implies Christ’s divinity, and the title, Son of David, His humanity. As a Gentile woman, it was proper for her to address Christ as the Lord. However, she had no right to call Him Son of David; only the children of Israel were privileged to do so.
The disciples were troubled by the crying out of the Canaanite woman, and they asked the Lord to send her away. This indicates that once again they were instructing the Lord, telling Him to do something. This also was the principle of the law. The disciples seemed to be saying, “Lord, she is crying out and troubling us. Can’t you do something, Lord? Please send her away.” At this point the Lord said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v. 24). If you read the Gospels carefully, you will see that the Lord Jesus never took a word from His disciples. When they made a proposal, the Lord always refused to consider it. But whenever the disciples did not want to do a particular thing, the Lord would tell them to do it. Likewise, when we want to do something, the Lord says no. But when we do not want to do anything, the Lord says go. The purpose of this is to train us not to live and act according to the self or our natural concept. Peter could have said to the Lord, “Lord, if You have come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, what are You doing here in Tyre and Sidon? Why have You come here?” But if Peter had said this to the Lord, the Lord still would have had a way to subdue him. No one can defeat the Lord Jesus. The disciples lost the case, and their mouths were shut.
Although the Lord was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, at the time of 15:21-28 He was in a Gentile region. This afforded the Gentiles an opportunity to participate in His grace. This bears dispensational significance, showing that Christ came to the Jews first, but due to their unbelief, His salvation turned to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46; Rom. 11:11).
In verse 25 the Gentile woman rightly called Jesus the Lord and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” This second time she called Christ only Lord, not the Son of David, because she realized that she was not a child of Israel, but a heathen.
In verse 26 the Lord answered the Canaanite woman: “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The heavenly King’s ministry in all His visits created opportunities for Him to reveal Himself further. In the situations created in chapters nine and twelve, He had opportunities to reveal Himself as the Physician, the Bridegroom, the new cloth, the new wine, the Shepherd, the real David, the greater temple, the Lord of the harvest, the greater Jonah, and the greater Solomon. Here another opportunity was created for Him to reveal Himself as the children’s bread. The Canaanite woman considered Him the Lord, a divine Person, and the Son of David, a royal descendant, great and high to reign. But He unveiled Himself to her as small pieces of bread, good for food. This implies that, as the heavenly King, He rules over His people by feeding them with Himself as bread. We can be the proper people in His kingdom only by being nourished with Him as our food. To eat Christ as our supply is the way to be the kingdom people in the reality of the kingdom.
The Lord said that the children’s bread should not be thrown to the dogs. This indicates that in the eyes of the Lord all the heathen are dogs, which are unclean in the eyes of God (Lev. 11:26).
Do you not believe that when the Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples regarding this Canaanite woman He already had the intention to feed her? Certainly the Lord foreknew that He had to feed this woman. Why then did He not do it immediately? Although the woman came and cried to Him, He remained silent at first, saying nothing. It almost appeared as if He were dumb. His dumbness caused the disciples to implore Him to do something for her and to send her away. The reason the Lord Jesus did not do something right away was that He wanted to take this opportunity to teach His disciples. When the disciples came to Him, He said that He had come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When the woman came to Him, He indicated to her that He had come as bread for the children and that it was not lawful to cast the children’s bread to the dogs.
When the Lord Jesus referred to the Canaanite woman as a dog, she said, “Yes, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (v. 27). The Canaanite woman, not offended by the Lord’s word, but rather admitting that she was a heathen dog, considered that at that time Christ, after being rejected by the children, the Jews, became crumbs under the table as a portion to the Gentiles. The holy land of Israel was the table on which Christ, the heavenly bread, came as a portion to the children of Israel. But they threw Him off the table to the ground, the Gentile country, so that He became broken crumbs as a portion to the Gentiles. What a realization this Gentile woman had at that time! No wonder the heavenly King admired her faith (v. 28).
The Gentile woman seemed to be saying, “Yes, Lord, I am a dirty, pagan dog. But don’t forget, Lord, that even dogs have their portion. The dog’s portion is not on the table like the children’s portion. The children’s portion is on the table, but the dog’s portion is under the table. Now, Lord, You are not on the table, in the land of Israel. You are under the table, in the Gentile world. You are in the very place where I am. You are not on the table where the children are. You are now under the table where the dogs are. Lord, the dogs may eat the crumbs that are under the table.” The Canaanite woman was keen, and the Lord Jesus was caught by her.
Verse 28 says, “Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, your faith is great; let it be done to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that hour.” This word indicates that the Canaanite woman’s dealings with the Lord were by faith, and her faith was great, overcoming the apparent situation.
Because I am very careful in doctrinal matters, I have wondered why the Lord Jesus did not tell the Canaanite woman to wash herself and then come back and eat. If I had been the Lord, I would have said, “Yes, as a dog, you have your portion. But don’t you realize how dirty you are? If you would eat Me as the crumbs, you need to wash yourself.” According to doctrine, this woman definitely needed to be washed. But why did the Lord Jesus not ask her to wash herself before eating of Him? If the Lord had done this, He would have been acting contrary to what He had said in the foregoing verses when He belittled the matter of outward washing. Here the Lord is emphasizing the matter of eating. But this does not mean that we do not need to be washed. The blood is available. We may strike the blood and eat the Lamb. But in order not to confuse matters, in this section on eating, the Lord Jesus said nothing about washing. I believe that the Lord Jesus did this purposely to show His disciples that they needed only one thing — the eating. Even if we are as dirty as pagan dogs, we still have the right and the position to eat Jesus. Oh, we need to be uninhibited eaters! Do not wait until you have washed. Come to the Lord just as you are and eat of Him. As the words of a hymn say, “Just as I am, I come.” We need to say, “Lord, I come just as I am. I don’t need to change or to be cleansed. Lord, I need You, and I come to You to eat. Even if I am a dirty dog, I come to You just as I am.” Eating is primary, and eating is everything.
The Canaanite woman did not come to the Lord because she was hungry; she came because her daughter was sick. But the Lord turned the situation to the matter of eating. The Lord did not say, “I came as a Physician to the children of Israel, and I cannot heal any heathen. I cannot cure dogs.” Rather, the Lord seemed to be saying, “I came as bread to the children. It is not right to throw the children’s bread to the dogs.” Although the woman’s request had nothing to do with eating, the Lord purposely related her case to the matter of eating to show us that what we need is not outward washing, but eating for the inward nourishing. In his doctrinal arrangement Matthew put these matters together that we might understand that for the kingdom of the heavens we do not need outward cleansing, but what we need is for Christ to get into us. Are you sick or weak? Do you have certain problems? Do not try to deal with these things in an outward way. Instead, deal with them in an inward way by eating Jesus. In fact, you should forget about all those things. What you need is not outward washing, but Christ coming into you. The Lord seemed to be saying to the Canaanite woman, “You don’t need healing. You need Me! And you do not need Me outwardly; you need Me inwardly. You need to eat Me. I came as bread for people to eat, to digest, and to assimilate. I would like to get into your being, into your system, vessels, and fibers. I would like to get into your very constituent and become you. Thus, you need to eat Me. Don’t deal with things in an outward way. Rather, deal with everything in an inward way by taking Me into you. As long as I can get into you to nourish you, every problem will be solved.”
We do not need outward rituals or practices. In today’s religion people are following outward practices. But God’s economy is not a matter of outward things; it is a matter of Christ coming into us inwardly. For this, we need to take Christ in by eating Him.
When I came to this country, I came with a commission and a burden, with something that I had received from the heavens. Before you came into the church, you never heard a word about eating Jesus, for all the teachings in religion are concerned with the outward washing of hands, not with presenting the edible Jesus to people. But this ministry has come here with the commission to minister the edible Jesus to His believers. I do not care for the opposition and the attack. I know what I am doing. Thinking that I am too bold, some may say, “Why is this man so bold? Don’t we have many scholars in this country, men with doctoral degrees from the best seminaries?” I do not care about those degrees. I care only for my burden. I have the strong assurance that I have something of the Lord from the heavens that is not found in today’s religion. I am not here teaching or preaching — I am ministering the edible Christ. This is what the Lord’s people need today. You do not need religious washings. Forget about such things! As dirty dogs, we need the eating of Jesus. We need to take Jesus in. Hallelujah, today Jesus is not on the table! He is under the table. He has been cast off the table by the Israelites, and now He is in the Gentile world. All of us, including me, are dirty, pagan dogs. Nevertheless, we can praise the Lord that we are dogs, because the very bread of life from the heavens is now where the dogs are. If the bread were on the table, it would not be available to us. But today the bread is under the table where the dogs are. We need the edible Christ who is now so near to us.
How I appreciate this section of the book of Matthew! This section reveals that we must forget about outward washing and eat the Lord Jesus. Do not try to change yourself, to correct yourself, or to improve yourself. What we need is the eating of Jesus.
In 15:29-31 we have a record of healing for the glorification of God. Due to the rejection of the Jewish religion, the Lord remained in Galilee of the nations as the healing light. He would not go to Jerusalem, the religious center of the Jews, for them to be healed (13:15). According to the doctrinal arrangement of the record of chapter fifteen, healing comes after eating. In other words, the proper healing comes from inward eating. Dieticians say that if one eats properly, he will not have illness. Illness comes from improper eating, but healing comes from adequate, proper eating. This is the doctrinal point regarding healing in this portion of the Word.
In 15:32-39 we have the miracle of the feeding of the four thousand. Because the Lord had compassion on the multitude in the wilderness, He would not send them away fasting (v. 32). Christ will not allow His followers to hunger and faint in the way while following Him.
When the disciples learned that the Lord intended to provide food for the people, they said to Him, “Where in a desert are there so many loaves for us as to satisfy so great a crowd?” (v. 33). Even in the barren desert the Lord was able to feed His followers and satisfy them, no matter how many there were. The disciples experienced this before, in 14:15-21; however, it seems that they had not learned the lesson of faith. They set their eyes on the environment instead of on the Lord. Yet the Lord’s presence was better than a rich store.
The Lord asked the disciples, “How many loaves do you have?” This indicates that the Lord always wants to use what we have to bless others. Verse 36 says, “He took the seven loaves and the fishes, and giving thanks, He broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.” If we offer all we have to the Lord, He will take it, break it, and give it back to us for distribution to others, to whom it will become the satisfying and overflowing blessing (v. 37). Whatever we offer to the Lord, however little it is, will be multiplied by His blessing hand to meet the need of a great multitude (v. 38).
In 15:32-39 we see the corporate eating. When I was young, I was bothered by the fact that Matthew gives us two accounts that are almost the same (14:14-21; 15:32-39). However, if you read these two sections carefully, you will see that the purpose of each is different. The purpose of the section about the feeding of the five thousand is to show us that as we are following our rejected King on the pathway to glory, He is able to take care of us. But the purpose of the record of the feeding of the four thousand is to show that we should not simply eat Jesus as crumbs individually as dirty dogs. We also need to eat Him in a corporate way together with many others. Let us all eat Him together. In this corporate eating we do not eat the crumbs, but the whole bread, and a surplus remains. Today in the church life we are no longer dirty dogs eating. Rather, we are proper men eating Him in a corporate way. Every church meeting is a time of corporate eating. When we first came into the church life, we came as dirty dogs, and we ate under the table. But now we are no longer under the table; we are sitting at the table. Although we are in the desert, we are nevertheless at the table. This is the corporate eating, an eating that is complete. The full bread is on the table of the saved ones.
