From Matthew 15:29-31 / Something’s Missing

Note first: The way Matthew records this account seems strange compared to his other reporting. It is rather stark. Just matter of fact. And this feature ought to pique our interest. Such shifts in style are not mere accidents. We need to pay attention.

Note second: There are a number of things missing in this account. There are no interpersonal engagements. In the previous account, Jesus deals with the Canaanite woman quite personally, and with His disciples. Here, nothing. He came, He sat, He healed. Yes, the crowd wondered – ooh-ed and ah-ed. They praised God. But beyond that, we get nothing.

Note third: The greatest thing missing, is that Jesus is not recorded as having preached or taught anything. He just healed. The lame walked. The blind saw. The mute spoke. But no one sought Him for who and what He was. They just wanted relief from their temporal miseries.

Note fourth: How bountiful and even miraculous His common grace can be. In Jesus’ work of destroying the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) – that is, countering the effects of the Fall – He is pleased to relieve the suffering sin brought into the world and that still plagues us. He is so gracious, so merciful, so touched by the feelings of our infirmities, that it almost defies our imaginations.

Note fifth: That we can be touched by the miraculous hand of God, and our souls still be left untouched. When we seek Him only for what He can do for our present felt needs, without considering the deepest need of reconciliation to the Father – we may indeed go away happy for the moment – but what then? What of the judgment to come? What of eternity?

Note sixth: While the worship of the crowd and those healed was appropriate, by itself, it meant nothing regarding the state of their souls. Lost men and women can “worship” in the barest sense of the word. And it is only right that God be worshiped on every level. But we must not confuse that with the worship of the Redeemed. Gratitude for His goodness is only right from every creature. But the presence of even genuine and rightful worship is no proof of regeneration. How many thousands or even tens of thousands enter into some form of worship each week – who in the final analysis will prove to have never been transformed in the inner man by the new birth?

Perhaps some “worship” because they enjoy the experience of the music and the sense of community. In the process, they express genuine gratitude for the blessings of this life that He so freely gives. But again, this is not salvation. And we dare not mistake for such.

Note in summary the most important point: That we can genuinely meet God, be touched by God, be blessed in miraculous ways, and then worship God, and go our way rejoicing – and still be dead in our trespasses and sins.

Dear Reader, let this not be you. Search your heart. Better yet, ask Christ to search your heart by His Spirit. If your relationship to Him is not centered in the Cross, in regeneration, in repentance from sin and faith in Jesus’ substitutionary atonement on Calvary – dying the death you deserved so that you might be reconciled to the Father – you are not saved. Healed maybe. Prayers answered, perhaps. The recipient of miracles even. Filled with genuine gratitude. And still abiding under the wrath of God for your sins.

Flee to Him today. For apart from the cleansing from sin found only in His blood – for all the above, you are still His enemy.

But He bids you come today.

He will not refuse you.