Reminiscere (Lent 2) – March 16, 2025Psalm 25; Genesis 32:22-32; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7St. Matthew 15:21-28
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The woman who pleads with our Lord this morning is
explicitly called a Canaanite. By blood, she is not of Israel. She was raised
in a household that worshiped false gods. She spent the majority of her life
worshiping the false gods of Canaan. Or perhaps she spent her life ignoring the
divine, focusing only on the cares and pleasures of the flesh. Whatever the
case, she was raised and spent her life contrary to the Word of God, outside of
the faith. When she looks back over her life, she has nothing but sin to
remember.
And we might spend a moment in pious speculation about the
father of the demon possessed girl. Where is he? Why isn’t he the one to
petition the Christ on the child’s behalf? He could be home, praying to false
gods that their daughter would be healed. He could be promoting his daughter as
a new oracle of one of these false gods, perhaps even seeking to turn her into
a temple prostitute as a means of financial gain. Of course, those options
assume the father is still in the picture. Perhaps this poor girl doesn’t have
a father at home. Perhaps her origin is another of the sins her mother has
committed.
Whatever the case, we have a woman approach Jesus who, in
one sense, has no right to petition the Lord’s Christ. She is coming from the
outside and making a commotion that even the disciples are bothered by. They
want Jesus to send her away. Maybe they want Him to quickly answer her prayer
so she will go away. They have no time for an outsider. They have no time for
someone to join their ranks. They can’t be bothered to make room for someone
unfamiliar in the Church. Maybe they want Christ to curse her to get rid of
her. What we know for certain is they want nothing to do with this outsider.
At first, it seems Christ is of one mind with His disciples.
He doesn’t even respond to the woman’s first cry. He seems to ignore her. He
only answers the demand of the disciples, “I was not sent except to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.”[1]
At the same time, He doesn’t rush away from the woman. He doesn’t pass through
her midst unseen. He allows her to catch up, to remain with the group. He
doesn’t respond to her, but He continues to listen.
So the woman falls on her knees before Christ in an act of worship and begs for His help. This time, He responds to her but again seems to dismiss her request. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Christ is absolutely correct. It is not good to take food away from your children to feed dogs. It is not good to take away that which rightfully belongs to someone and give it to others because your emotions tell you the dogs need it.
The Canaanite woman will not let Him go, just like Jacob
refusing to let go of Christ as they wrestled through the night.[2]
“Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their
masters’ table.” The woman is also, absolutely correct. She acknowledges what
Christ has said is true. She does not desire to take what rightfully belongs to
others. She does not want to appropriate that which has been given to the house
of Israel. What she wants is to receive what is rightfully hers according to
her station in life. She wants only the crumbs from the master’s table. She
does not ask for the children’s food, not even their crumbs. She wants the
crumbs of her Lord and Master. The smallest portion of food will suffice to
fulfill her need.
For this, Christ greatly praises her faith and grants her
request. He does not set her up in a palace nor give her the wisdom of the
ancients. He grants her the life of her daughter and blesses her faith in the
Word of God.
So what is really going on here? Much could be said but we
will focus on two aspects: 1) the person of the Canaanite woman; and 2) the
struggle of her prayer.
As I said before, the woman has a history of unbelief and
sin. What is remarkable about her is that she doesn’t deny it. In no way does
she try to justify her past nor assert her rights as a human being before
Christ. She doesn’t claim to be a good person. She doesn’t claim the suffering
of her daughter to be unjust, unfair, or greater than the suffering of anyone
else. She doesn’t even put her own needs before Christ. Remember, she is
begging the Lord to help her by healing her daughter.
In the Canaanite woman, we see a beautiful picture of a
faithful and repentant person. She is willing to be called a dog because she
knows that before the Lord Almighty, she doesn’t even deserve to be called
that. She is a worm and not a woman, a reproach of men and despised by people.[3]
Neither she nor her daughter has a right to be healed. They both deserve to
suffer. This is why she appeals to the mercy of Christ, the Son of David. She
begs that the Lord would withhold that which she truly deserves.
This is faith. Repentance consists of two parts – that we
acknowledge our sins (contrition) and that we believe the Lord forgives them
(faith). She does not come into the conversation with Christ with a specific
promise that He will forgive her daughter, yet she trusts that whatever Christ
does will be for her good.
At some point prior to our reading, this woman has heard the Word of God, maybe even heard Christ preach or seen Him perform miracles. At some point, she has been confronted by her sins and the effects of those sins on her beloved daughter. At some point, faith, the Holy Spirit, has entered into her heart and led her not only to repent but to seek the love of Christ. She sought the Lord and begs Him not just to be God, but to be God for her; to hear her prayers and answer them.
This woman is a beautiful example for all Christians to
follow, for all mankind to follow. The sin that clings to our flesh is strong.
We all have a history of sin, a rap sheet against the Law of God. You can try
to hide it, but the Lord sees all and knows all. Your sin cannot be hidden from
God. So like the Canaanite woman, you shouldn’t try to hide your sin. You
should acknowledge before the Lord your God that you are a sinner, little more
than the dogs fighting over scraps. You are right to be ashamed of your sin. It
is a filthy thing. But it is for this filth that the Son of God became man. It
is for this filth that He died and rose again. He wants to feed the dogs with
the scraps from His table. He is good and His steadfast love endures forever![4]
When speaking of the person of the Canaanite woman, we must
also address our Lord’s words to His disciples, “I was not sent except to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Christ is not speaking of the blood
descendants of Abraham. He is not saying that He was sent only to save the
repentant sinners who were circumcised and traced their heritage through
Israel. The Shepherd of the entire world is Christ. His lost sheep are those
lost in their sins. The house of Israel is the house of God, the Church. The lost
sheep of the house of Israel are all those sinners who believe in Christ. He is
saying that He has been sent only to the repentant faithful, who look to Christ
for salvation. In a sense, He is telling His disciples to be patient because He
was sent for this Canaanite woman, too.
The promise of salvation was never limited to the blood
descendants of Abraham. The promise of bearing the seed of the woman, of the
descendant who would die for the sins of the world, that promise was limited to
the offspring of Abraham. The promise of salvation was always for all who would
believe, be they Hebrew, Arabic, Indian, or European, descendants of Shem,
Japheth, or even Ham. For evidence of this, look to Ruth, Balaam, Job, or
Namaan. That means the promise of salvation is for you, too, not because you
happened to be born after the resurrection of Christ but because the Holy
Spirit has kindled the flame of faith in you by the Word of God.
We must also consider the struggle of this woman’s prayer. At
first, the Lord seems to ignore her. Then He seems to dismiss her. Yet she
persists in prayer. God will often seem to ignore your prayers. He will allow
you to suffer the consequences of sin – both your own and simply the
consequences of a sinful world. Does that make Him unjust, unrighteous, or
unfair? Of course not. While it seems He is ignoring your prayer, He is
actually listening very intently. He allows for the suffering of the faithful that
our faith would be strengthened.
And don’t hear that as though God delights in testing your faith as though you need to believe harder. He puts your faith to the test that you would trust in Him. Jacob is not stronger than the Angel of the Lord. Christ could have broken every bone in Jacob’s body if what He wanted was to be rid of Jacob. But that is not the case. God delights in being “caught.” He delights in being caught in His own words and promises. He will test your faith to the point where you have nothing left but to say, “I may lose everything I have, my children, my wife, and even my life, but I will not let You go, Lord of my salvation.”
While many of our prayers focus on the needs of this body
and life, we shouldn’t forget to pray that the Lord would keep us in the true
faith. You cannot by reason or strength come to faith nor keep yourself in the
faith. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to sustain your faith. It is good to
pray that the Holy Spirit would restrain your sinful thoughts and deeds from
ever driving you away from the faith.
“When in the hour of deepest need, we know not where to look
for aid…Then is our comfort this alone, that we may meet before Your throne; To
You, O faithful God, we cry for rescue in our misery. O from our sins, Lord,
turn Your face; absolve us through Your boundless grace. Be with us in our
anguish still; Free us at last from ev’ry ill. So we with all our hearts each
day to You our glad thanksgiving pay, then walk obedient to Your Word, and now
and ever praise You, Lord.”[5]
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
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