Matthew 15:22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord… Have mercy on me. The woman was wiser than she knew. She could bring no claim; as a foreigner she had no sort of right to our Lord's help. She made no pretence of having any claim, save the claim which every sufferer and every sinner may have on God's mercy. But that is the best of all claims; the one to which response is always assured. The sufferer and the sinner may fully hope in God's mercy. I. THE CLAIM OF THE SUFFERER ON GOD'S MERCY. Mercy includes interest, pity, sympathy, consideration, and desire to help. The good man feels merciful toward the suffering creature; the father is merciful to the suffering children. God is merciful to the suffering being he has made. But God's mercy is assured because, to him, all suffering is the fruitage of sin; and God knows how the suffering has to fall on those who have not committed the sin. If God saw only sin, he would respond with judgment. He sees so much suffering following on sin, to which he can only respond with mercy. The child pleaded for was not suffering directly for sin. The mother's suffering was part of the race burden, and not distinctively her own. So, here, suffering claimed mercy. We might be led on to indicate that God's mercy can be shown to sufferers by prolonging the suffering as truly as by removing it. Mercy in its operation is ever guided by an infinite wisdom. II. THE CLAIM OF THE SINNER ON GOD'S MERCY. Not a natural claim. There is no reason why God should bear with sinners in the nature of things. Every notion of government shows demand for justice. Officially God must deal justly. Mercy brings in the qualification that belongs to God's character. We see this in the case of a human magistrate. As a magistrate he has no mercy; he is strictly to apply the law. As a man, and as a character, he can bring mercy in to qualify the strict applications of law. It is well to remember that God never deals with men simply as an official. He is always a character, a noble character, and therefore "merciful and gracious." Lead on to show that the supreme interest of the manifestation of Christ, the supreme interest of such a scene as is now before us, lies in its revelation of the character of God, and especially its disclosure of the fact that God's having a character gives both sufferers and sinners a claim upon his mercy. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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