Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent - Reminiscere - Mt 15:21-28

 

Lent 2

                                                                                      Mt 15:21-28

                                                                                      3/5/23

 

          When you become a parent, you soon realize that an incredible change has occurred. This little life has been placed in your care, and there is the recognition that you will do anything for him or her. The needs of the child are always going to come before your own.  This is part of the blessing of having children. They are a means that God uses to turn us away from ourselves and toward service for others.  He places us the in the vocation of parents for in this way he cares for the child through us, and at the same time he is also at work in our lives too.

          The needs of the child come before our own.  And nothing draws this out more than illness.  If our child is sick we are driven to do everything in our power to help.  And in the case of serious illness, parents find themselves motivated to go to the greatest lengths possible to seek assistance.

          We see an example of this in our Gospel lesson this morning.  A mother’s daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.  There doesn’t seem to be any hope.  Yet then, she learns that Jesus has come into her area.  She goes to him and begs for his help.  In her interaction with Jesus we hear very surprising things.  Yet ultimately, our text teaches us an important lesson about how God deals with us.

          Our text begins by saying, “And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.”  This is not where we would normally expect to find our Lord.  Tyre and Sidon were located north of Galilee along the Mediterranean coast.  This was Gentile territory – pagan territory. It had been the home of the wicked Baal worshipper Jezebel.

          Jesus is there because he has just been in conflict with the Pharisees. Christ is following the plan set forth by the Father. There is a time for him to die in Jerusalem, and that time has not yet arrived. So as he does on a number of occasions, our Lord withdraws after the conflict to another area.

          Jesus may have been in pagan territory. But the reports about him had spread far and wide.  And in our text we encounter a woman who has heard about Jesus – who has learned things about him that show remarkable knowledge.

          Matthew tells us, “And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” Now when Matthew says “and behold,” he is signaling the reader that what he is about to describe is surprising or remarkable.

          We learn that a woman from that area came to Jesus.  Matthew emphasizes the unexpected character of this event by calling her a “Canaanite” woman.  This was an anachronistic term – nobody called residents of that area with that ancient name. However, he uses it to emphasize the pagan character of the woman – or at least, the expected pagan character of anyone who lived there.

The woman approached Jesus and was crying out repeatedly, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”  There are two things that are surprising here.  First, she calls Jesus “Lord,” and in Matthew’s Gospel people who address Jesus in this way speak from the attitude of faith. 

And second, she calls him “Son of David.”  This address identified Jesus as Israel’s Messiah.  Matthew had emphasized this at the beginning of the Gospel when he wrote “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Somehow the woman had learned this about Jesus, and she as a Gentile called upon him the Messiah of Israel.

However, the surprises in our text are just getting started. For after the woman calls Jesus “Lord,” addresses him as “Son of David,” and begs him to help her daughter, Jesus did not answer her a word. He ignored her.  We expect our Lord to act in compassion as he so often does.  Yet in this case, he does seem to care at all.

Jesus’ lack of response did not stop the woman.  It is apparent that that she kept crying out, because the disciples said to the Lord, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” They wanted Jesus to heal her daughter and get rid of her.

But Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In this statement we hear something that is just as true about most of us.  Jesus came first as Israel’s Messiah.  He was the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel – those God had taken into the covenant with himself.  The woman was not included in that group.  Most of us were not included either.

Yet there were two things driving the woman. She was there to get help for her daughter. And she believed in Jesus as the One who could do this. So she came and humbly knelt before him as she begged, “Lord, help me.”  Once again, she spoke in faith as she asked for help.

Surely, Jesus would now help the woman’s daughter!  But instead, our Lord answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”  Jesus called her a dog.  And unlike our world where dogs are beloved creatures who even sleep on our beds, in Jesus’ day to call someone a dog was tremendous insult.  Beyond this, Jesus said that his help simply wasn’t meant for her.  He had come for the children of Israel.

While our text is filled with shocking features, it is also not hard to relate to the experience of the woman.  There are many times when we approach God and ask for help.  Perhaps it is for ourselves.  Perhaps it is for others whom we love or care about.  We pray and we pray. Yet nothing happens.  Or things even get worse. 

When we experience this, the temptation is to give up.  We may think, “If God is ignoring me, he must not love me. Or maybe he just isn’t there at all.”  We face the crisis of faith in the temptation to turn away from God.

The woman certainly faced this.  Jesus had ignored her. Jesus had called her a dog and said that what he had to offer wasn’t for her.  But the woman did not turn away. Instead, she pressed into him even more. She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

The woman didn’t dispute what Jesus had to say. She was a Gentile.  Jesus was Israel’s Messiah and not hers.  But in faith she asserted that Jesus’ grace and power were so great that even the crumbs of his work were more than sufficient to heal her daughter. She clung tenaciously to Jesus and would not let go of him.

 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”  Our Lord praised the woman for her great faith.  Then we are told, “And her daughter was healed instantly.”  Jesus answered the woman’s plea for help – a plea that arose from deep faith in Jesus.

When Martin Luther preached on this text he said, “But see how Christ drives and pursues faith in his people so that it becomes strong and firm.”  Jesus does not give the woman the answer she wants.  He rebuffs her.  He rejects her.

What is it that kept the woman coming to him asking for help?  She had heard the word about Jesus.  She had heard the word that Jesus was the Son of David – Israel’s Messiah – who healed the sick and cast out demons.  She had heard the word of the kingdom of God – that God’s reign was present in Jesus to deliver relief. She had hear the word, and she believed it. She took hold of this word and clung to it in faith no matter what Jesus seemed to be saying or doing.

Like the woman, you have heard the word.  But the word you have heard goes beyond anything she knew.  You have heard the word that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  You know that he is Immanuel – God with us – because he is true God and true man.

You know that Jesus was baptized in order to take our place. He identified himself with sinners, even though he had no sin. He did this so that he could offer himself in our place.  Jesus said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  By his death on the cross, our Lord redeemed us from sin. He freed us the damnation it would bring.

You know that word.  But you also know the word does not end there – and that makes all the difference.  Jesus was buried in a sealed tomb. But on the morning of Easter, when the women went to the tomb, they found the tomb opened and the angel told them, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”

God raised Jesus from the dead.  And then he exalted him as Christ ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of God. The exalted Lord has poured out the Spirit to give us faith.  And he has promised that he will return in glory on the Last Day to raise us from the dead and renew his creation.  You know the word that because of Jesus you are forgiven and that death has been defeated.  Through baptism the Spirit has given you new life, and God has made you his own.  He has put his name upon you.

This Gospel Word is the word about Jesus to which we cling, not matter what appearances may be like.  There are times when it seems like God is treating us the way that Jesus treated the woman in our text.  But as Luther preached, “This was written for all our comfort and instruction, so that we may know how deeply God hides his grace from us, so that we would not consider him according to our perception and thinking but strictly according to his Word.”

          God allows us to experience times like this so that we grow in faith and trust. He forces us to ignore what we see, and instead look in faith to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us. Is this pleasant? No.  Do we want it? No. But our heavenly Father wants to draw us closer to himself, and for this to happen the old Adam in us must be crucified.  We must be stripped away of our pride, self-sufficiency, and apathy toward God.

          Yet the God who does this is the God who gave his Son into death for us.  As Paul told the Romans, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” 

          Not only did he give him into death, but he raised him up on Easter.  In the resurrection of Jesus we have seen the great “Yes!” of God’s victory for us.  It is to this we turn in faith, no matter what circumstances look like.  We do this because in Christ God has given us his love that will carry us through every challenge to the day of glory when we will live with our Lord forever.