(No video is available for today’s service. Audio of the sermon is available below, or can be downloaded here.)
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Service Folder for Reminiscere
Sermon for Reminiscere – Lent 2
1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 + Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus highlights faith for us in today’s Gospel. Here’s the definition of faith I gave my students in the classroom: Faith is the sure trust and confidence in the true God, that He exists, that He is good, and that His Word is always true. Adam and Eve had such a faith in God in the beginning, until the devil convinced Eve that God is, in fact, not good, that His Word is not true, and that instead of trusting in the true God, she herself could be like God, knowing good and evil. At that point, the default state of human beings changed. They went from knowing good up close and not knowing evil at all, to knowing good from a distance, and knowing evil up close and personal. They went from trusting in God to doubting and disbelieving God. They went from knowing that everything He does is always good, to wondering if anything He does is ever good. They went from trusting that His Word is always true, to being very sure that many of the things in Scripture are simply false.
The “God is not good” temptation was part of the devil’s attacks on Jesus when He was fasting in the wilderness, as we heard last week. Jesus never wavered. But the rest of us often do, and more and more as mankind thinks more and more highly of himself, as we convince ourselves that we deserve a happy, easy, comfortable life on this earth, and anything less is just unacceptable.
But in our Gospel, we’re confronted with an anomaly, with something that’s really extraordinary. We’re confronted with a woman who grew up in a land where the true God was not worshiped, a woman who belonged to a Greek culture that proudly worshiped demons in the form of pagan gods. The woman had no reason, humanly speaking, to have a sure trust and confidence in the true God, that He exists, that He is good, and that His word is always true. And yet, somehow, she did. Somehow, word of Jesus had gone ahead of Him into that northern territory, that He was powerful over demons, that He was merciful, kind, and good to all who came to Him for help. Somehow, this woman had also heard the prophecies of Israel’s Scriptures, promising that a Savior would come to Israel—a Savior for the Jews and also for the Gentiles, the Christ, the Son of David. She had heard that Jesus was this merciful Savior, Lord, and Christ. And hearing, she believed.
She believed, even though she saw plenty of evil in her life. She saw evil up close and personal when her daughter became possessed by a demon. But instead of blaming God for it, she recognized that it was the devil who was her enemy, not God. It was her sins and the sins of the rest of mankind that brought all this evil into the world, not God. She looked to God, not as her enemy, but as her Savior from the enemy. She knew that God is always good. So when Jesus tested her faith in today’s Gospel, it didn’t harm her one bit. It simply revealed the power of God’s word to create and sustain faith.
The woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon, just north of the land of Israel, found Jesus after He had left Israel and gone to her country. She found Him and cried out to Him, O Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! Already she’s showing her faith. Already she acknowledges the demon as her enemy and the Lord Jesus as her friend and Helper.
At this point, we would expect Jesus to do what He’s already done every time someone has come to Him for help: to help them immediately. But He didn’t. He did not say a word in reply. Is He good or not?
She didn’t waver. She kept crying out. And the disciples didn’t like it. Send her away! She keeps crying out after us! Some have speculated that they meant, Grant her request and send her away so she stops crying out after us! Or it seems more to be like, If You’re not going to help her, Jesus, then send her away. Either way, the disciples wanted to be rid of her and her crying out. These are the great apostles? These are Christians? They don’t seem very nice, and yet these are the ones Jesus has chosen to follow Him. Sometimes Christians behave in such a way that they make people ask the question, Is Jesus good or not?
Jesus added another obstacle. But He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Well, Jesus had already helped Gentiles (non-Israelites) at this point, so He must not mean that in an absolute sense, and yet, it could have left the woman to wonder, Is He good or not? Or is He only good to some people but not to me?
She didn’t waver. She came and fell down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Is He good or not?
She never wavered. Yes, Lord. But the dogs do eat from the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. Yes, He is good, she knew. And I am not. I’m a sinner. And I see myself, not just as a sinner like everyone else, but as even lower than others, less important, less worthy, less deserving. And yet, still, I look for His help. I hope in His help. Faith and hope never left this woman for a moment.
And then, after that brief exchange, Jesus was done testing and exercising the woman’s faith. Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. He sets her up as a shining example of what God-given faith can be, a sure trust and confidence in the true God, in Jesus the Christ, that He is good, that He is always good, no matter what things look like in our lives, no matter what hardships or evil we have to face. God is not the enemy. He is our only true Helper.
Our enemy is the devil, who brought this ruin on our race. Our enemy is the world, the unbelievers who repeat the devil’s lies in our ears that God is not good. Our enemy is our own sinful flesh, that still has no true fear of God or love for God, that still doesn’t trust Him and never will. And because of our sins, all sorts of troubles have been unleashed in our world, whether directly, for specific sins we’ve committed, or indirectly, because trouble and disease and death are part of the curse that this world is still under.
But Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel that He is always good, even when He allows the devil to harass mankind. God is good even when He humbles us and disciplines us. God is good even when He punishes. God is good even when He doesn’t seem to be listening. God is good even when He doesn’t give the answer you had hoped for, or doesn’t give it right away.
Far from not caring about our troubles, Jesus joined us in our troubles, took on our humanity, suffered not only with us, but for us, sent by God the Father in heaven to die on the cross as the payment for our sins, so that we might believe in Him and so be forgiven by Him and live forever, so that we might know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is always good, and not just to some people, but also to you, and that whatever He does is always right.
Look at the woman Jesus holds up for us today as a model for our faith. Learn from her. Become more and more like her, never pretending that you’re entitled to His help, but humbly, boldly, persistently seeking His mercy and help, and knowing that He will give it in just the right way, at just the right time, because He loves you, as a dear father loves his dear children. Amen.
