Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
LORD, HELP ME
Theme: Your feelings and your faith are totally incompatible.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen.
· If you have ever felt that God has ignored your most earnest
prayers—not merely saying “no” to your requests, but totally ignoring your
prayers, today’s Gospel is for you.
· If you have ever felt that God has treated you coldly or cruelly, that
He has backhanded you by allowing you to experience the things you have
experienced, today’s Gospel is for you.
· If you have ever felt that you just want God to make you feel better,
today’s Gospel is most definitely for you.
A Canaanite woman cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!”
Acting as though He was deaf, Jesus “did not answer her a word.” When He
finally does respond, He sounds cold and heartless and un-Jesus: “It is not
right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Dear Christian friends,
Today’s Gospel teaches a lesson that you and I and every Christian must learn
and re-learn continually throughout the days of our lives. We must learn and
re-learn the lesson in today’s Gospel because of the lying voices in our own
heads and hearts—voices that continually want to entice and seduce us away from
the true faith. Today’s Gospel is very important for us because this Gospel
teaches us to draw a sharp line of distinction between our emotions and our
faith. Our feelings are like a spy or a thief; our feelings are masters of
disguise, continually attempting to masquerade as faith. (Really, your feelings
will only replace your faith and actively seek to destroy your faith.) Today’s
Gospel very clearly teaches us that “feelings and faith are not compatible with
one another” (Luther). We must make every effort—on a daily basis we must make
every effort—to keep our feelings and our faith carefully separated from one
another.
JESUS-AT-THE-SERVICE-COUNTER
This woman is a very good example for you and for me because she does not allow
her feelings and emotions to bowl her over or drive her away from Jesus.
Imagine how you would feel—and how you would respond—if Jesus were the guy at
the service counter in the auto shop. What emotions would arise within you if
you were to approach the Service Guy and say, “Sir, I need your help,” but
Jesus-at-the-Service-Counter does not even seem to hear your voice. When you
finally do get Him to look in your direction, He flatly says to you, “I am not
here to help you.” How would you feel? If you are anything like me, and like
most of our fellow Americans, you would probably rise to the occasion. At the
very least, you would want to take your business elsewhere. You might even chew
on a few ears while headed toward the door. Not only do you want good, quick,
and cheap attention from Jesus-at-the-service-counter, but you also want to
leave there feeling good
about yourself, like maybe you did that guy a favor by coming to him.
Not so with this woman in today’s Gospel! If this woman were at that same auto
shop with you and also ignored by Jesus-at-the-Service-Counter, she would NOT
have taken her business elsewhere. When she heard the words, “I am not here to
help you,” this woman would have calmly replied, “What do you mean, you are not
here to help? You are sitting at the service counter, aren’t you? You have the
hat and the shirt and the paycheck sticking out of your back pocket. Of course
you are here to help me! Helping me, in fact, is why you are here! I am
completely certain that you will now get up, go get what I need, and bring it
to me. Take your time, if you wish! I am simply going to ask you again, and
keep asking you, until you do.”
Remarkably and admirably, this woman in today’s Gospel has separated her
feelings from her faith. Jesus forces her to separate her feelings from her
faith, first by ignoring her, and then speaking coldly to her. But this woman
will not take her request elsewhere. Jesus and only Jesus has what this woman
needs. She will not allow her feelings to drive her away from the one place
where her need can be met. The disciples even want you to notice this woman’s
persistence: “Send her away!” they beg. “She is crying out after us [and she
won’t quit]!”
JESUS’ PROMISES ARE FIXED AND IMMOVABLE
Learn from this woman, especially if you have ever felt that your God has
ignored your most earnest prayers, or if you have ever felt that your God has
treated you coldly or cruelly, or especially if you have ever felt that you
just want God to make you feel better. Learn from this woman that “feelings and
faith are not compatible with one another.” Join this woman every day, not
basing you faith upon how you feel, but rather, basing your faith upon who
Jesus is and upon the promises He has spoken to you.
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 woman’s confession of faith is as beneficial to you as it was to her:
“Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” With these
Words, this woman was saying to Jesus that
· She knew Jesus is the redemption of the entire world. This woman knew
that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior promised in particular to the Jews—and she
was not a Jew, but a Canaanite—but she also knew that the love of God cannot be
contained to one people; that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16); that God
“desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1
Timothy 2:4); that God—as you heard in today’s Old Testament—that God shall
gather “the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD” and that His house
shall be called a house of prayer for ALL peoples” (Isaiah 56:6, 7).
· He can sound all the mean and unkind that He wants when He speaks to
her. He is not fooling anyone! This woman knows that Jesus did not come to this
earth to make her feel good about her everyday situation. Jesus came to release
captives from their captivity—captives just like her daughter. This woman is
not concerned with how Jesus makes her feel. She is only concerned with holding
Jesus to His office and His promises. Somewhat like the conversation she might
have had with Jesus-at-the-Service-Counter, this woman was essentially saying
to Jesus in today’s Gospel, “You were not sent to help me? You are the Christ,
aren’t you? Of course you are here to help me—that is the whole purpose behind
God’s ancient promises! Helping me, in fact, is why you are here, Jesus! I am
completely certain that you will give me what I need. Take your time, if you
wish! I am simply going to ask you again, and keep asking you, until you do.”
Learn from this woman! With every sunrise and every sunset, learn and re-learn
from this woman the true foundation of your faith and life in Christ. Learn
from this Canaanite that you must base your faith, not upon how you feel about
your life or how you think Jesus might be treating you, but solely upon whom
Jesus is and what He has promised to do.
· Jesus fully and completely forgives you all your sins, even though you
might feel persistently guilty, unworthy of forgiveness, or outside the realm
of His love.
· Jesus patiently hears your prayers and grants your petitions according
to His love and mercy, even though you might feel as though He will not answer
you a Word, or if He does answer, He sounds harsh.
· Jesus loves and cares for you every day because He cannot help it.
Caring for you is built into who He is. Mercy is His office and His calling,
which He has an obligation in love faithfully to carry out.
· Jesus wants you to draw a clear and sharp distinction between your
feelings and your faith. If this woman in today’s Gospel had dealt with Jesus
according to her emotions, the story probably would not have ended well. The
same goes for you. Rather than taking your business elsewhere, persist with
this woman, dear saints! Stick by your guns and persevere with her in praying,
“Lord, help me.” Jesus shall not fail to hear and to answer—even if it should
seem as though He is not paying attention.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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