Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. Today's Gospel is Jesus' conversation with a Canaanite woman from "the
district of Tyre and Sidon." This is a hard Gospel, not an easy one. Yet the
difficulty of this Gospel is also the very thing that makes it so closely
related-and so very beneficial-to our everyday lives.
Jesus. withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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." But he did not
answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her
away, for she is crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him,
saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not right to take the
children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even
the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
This is a hard and difficult Gospel because it paints a picture of our Lord
Jesus that most people would rather not see. Our mental pictures of dear
Jesus involve Him, not pushing people aside, but welcoming them with opened
arms. In the happier places of our minds, ours is the gentle Jesus who
always has compassion on the crowds and heals them (Matthew 14:14); the
Jesus who always grants the most desperate requests (Mark 9:17-25); the
Jesus who always stoops to the lowly and the oppressed (John 8:1-11).
The Jesus we see in today's hard Gospel simply does not fit the tender,
loving, heroic Jesus whom our mental pictures love and adore. Today Jesus is
cold, deaf, aloof, unwilling even to acknowledge a desperate woman for whom
there is no other help. In this Gospel, Jesus acts like He totally
disinterested in hearing this woman's prayer. "He did not answer her a
word." When Jesus finally does speak, it is with averted eyes. He speaks
only to His friends, as if this woman was invisible and unworthy to receive
even the simple decency of direct speech. "I was sent only to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel." When she finally throws herself into His path so
that Jesus can no longer ignore her, this woman hears words from her God
that would likely crush and drive away the likes of you and me. "It is not
right," says Jesus, "to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Only after Jesus gets His arm twisted-only after He gets cornered by the
dog, as it were-does He finally grant this woman's request.
This is a hard Gospel because it paints a rather brutal picture of Jesus, a
picture that stands in glaring contrast to the ways we would prefer to think
of Him. Or maybe this is a hard Gospel for a deeper reason than that. Maybe
this is a hard Gospel is because it hits too close to home; because it
forces us to think about other pictures of Jesus-pictures we see in our
everyday lives. Stated another way, you also may have received treatment
from your God that closely compares to the treatment He gives to this woman
in today's Gospel. Answer the question why Jesus stomps on this woman, and
you will know why Jesus likewise stomps on you-because He does, and some of
you know all too well that He does.
· How many requests have you presented to your God, earnestly and
wholeheartedly and even desperately-only to have it seem like Jesus is not
listening to you, much less aware of your presence? Like you, this woman
cried out to Jesus in simple obedience and wholehearted faith. "He did not
answer her a word."
· Why do other Christians seem to have a better time of things than
you do? They do not struggle. They are not endlessly afflicted by one
torment after another. They do not move from bad news to more bad news. They
get the breaks while you do not-as if God prefers them to you. Like you,
this woman asked only for something that Jesus had already given to
countless others. But Jesus said to her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel."
· You try to console yourself by saying, "Well, there are always
others worse off than me." That is true, but are any limits to God's grace?
Is there not enough for everyone? Like you, this woman's request is really
something very small, requiring only a Word from her God. But Jesus makes it
sound as though there is not enough Word-of-God for everyone. He makes it
sound like some people should be given priority over others. Maybe you and
this lady are not high priorities: "It is not right to take the children's
bread and throw it to the dogs."
If this woman had been a bit like the Pharisees or the chief priests or the
unbelieving thief on the cross, we could chalk off Jesus' backhandedness to
her own sin. That is to say, it is easy for us to picture Jesus speaking
evasively to the Pharisees or ignoring the insults of the unbelieving thief
or driving moneychangers out of the temple. It is easy to picture Jesus
doing such harsh things because these people all have it coming. Maybe today's
Gospel and its dark picture of our Lord would be much more enjoyable if this
woman would have come to Him with a selfish or loveless request. But she
doesn't. This woman's motivations are truly Christian; her motivations are
pure and white like freshly drifted snow: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of
David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
In the same way, you must not go around thinking that Jesus is
ignoring your prayers because you are a sinner. (Undoubtedly you realize
that you are a sinner, but that is not why seems to turn His back on you.)
Your Lord Jesus Christ has fully and freely forgiven you all your sins. He
has washed you clean in His own blood, mingling that sin-cleansing blood
together with the water of your Baptism, and you are now "a lamb without any
blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:19, NIV). "You were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). Because you are now fully
clean, fully holy, fully forgiven, God hears in your prayers only the purest
motives and the most Christian desires. Every selfishness you possess has
been crucified with Christ. Because of your Lord's death and resurrection
for you, as far as your all-knowing God is concerned, your motivations for
prayer are now truly Christian, truly pure and white, truly without guile.
You are not a Pharisee, you are not an unbelieving thief, and your sin is
NOT the reason for Jesus' backhandedness to you any more than this woman's
sin was.
This is a hard Gospel because this Gospel forces us to look beyond
the way Jesus is acting here, just as this woman must look beyond Jesus'
outward actions toward her. This Gospel requires us to believe that our God
will sometimes wear a mask, so to speak. That is to say, Jesus only appears
cold, deaf, and aloof, but this woman presses beyond His appearances and she
pleads with Him on the basis of His nature. That is to say, this woman knows
that Jesus is by nature kind, merciful, forbearing, and totally committed to
doing only the best thing for her and she will not slowed down by the mere
impression or appearance of His neglect. That is to say, this woman knows
that her God cannot and will not neglect her, even when it seems to her eyes
that He is. God cannot neglect her because He cannot prevent Himself from
being her God. Jesus cannot deny her because He cannot deny Himself, who He
is and what He is born to do for you.
So it seems like your God might not be listening to you, perhaps
even giving you the cold shoulder. If it is any consolation, you are not
alone in this feeling. I also often wonder whether God is to me and I wonder
if He is listening to you. One of the sweetest and wonderful blessings of
today's Gospel is the promise and assurance that yes, indeed, YOUR GOD HEARS
AND ANSWERS YOUR PRAYERS EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS THAT HE IS NOT! You might also
think you are getting a bit of a raw deal. Like you, I also find myself
wondering how it shall be possible for any of us-our families or our
congregation-to survive on what looks like so few crumbs and tiny morsels
that often seem too little and too late. "Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their masters' table."
Today's Gospel demands that we not allow our impressions to fool
us. Today's Gospel requires us to take our God at His Word and promises and
to hold fast to His Word and promises even when it seems like He is
uninterested in fulfilling them for us.
In closing, I must admit something to you: I almost regret that
this woman's daughter was healed instantly. The reason I almost regret it is
because Jesus would still be this woman's faithful and loving God, even if
her daughter had died. Jesus would still be the merciful dispenser of all
mercy, even if this woman's prayer was not answered in the way she desired.
As for you, use this Gospel as a way of understanding your own daily life:
no matter what the outcome of your prayers, cling to this Gospel and do not
allow the mere appearance of things to shake you or to knock you down. Your
God unfailingly hears you, even though He might not answer you a word. Your
God unfailingly focuses His attention upon you and provides for you, even
though it may seem He is more interested in others. Your God shall not fail
to give you your fill, even though it may seem to you that He has provided
nothing more than crumbs.
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