2nd Sunday in Lent February 28, 2010
Matthew 15:21-28 A Faith that Won’t Let Go
Dear fellow redeemed,
If you want a story about persistence and someone who won’t let go of her dreams, just tune into Olympic figure skating. Perhaps you heard about South Korean, Kim Yu-na, who won the gold medal Thursday night.
* Receiving a world record score, some are saying it will go down as one of the greatest performances in figure skating history.
* Have you ever wondered what it takes to win an event like this?
How is someone like Kim able to hang in there despite the pressure.
* Or maybe you’re wondering why she was awarded the highest score.
You hear her skating was flawless. She skated with such poise, such grace.
But frankly you don’t get it.
* So this gal didn’t fall. So she’s elegant, skinnier than some of the others.
So she has a pretty smile. I liked the American. She hung in there too!
* What made the Korean’s performance so great?
We may ask the same question this morning about the faith of the Canaanite woman. Jesus tells her “great is your faith!”
* Okay. I get that she was persistent. Is that what made her faith great?
She wouldn’t give up?
* Well, surely we could say that about many others. We could even say that about many who believe in other gods and want nothing to do with Christ.
* So there’s gotta be more to it. What specifically gave her the ability to hang in there and have A Faith that Won’t Let Go?
* Was it her intense emotion? Was it the fact that she was so sincere?
Was it her ability in the final round to reason with her Lord?
* To answer your question, let’s address each one of those traits.
For they do offer us some insight into the kind of faith she had.
First, there’s the deep feeling or emotion she expresses.
* For sure, many today believe their feelings will serve as the best gage as to whether they have the right kind of faith and can hold on.
* If they experiencing joy or gratitude or peace, they must be on the right track and can be confident they’re a healthy Christian.
* Well, then there’s the Canaanite woman.
As we zero in on the woman in our text, can you imagine the emotions which had taken hold? Her daughter was being oppressed by a demon.
* More common in Christ’s day than demon possession which I’m going to say occurred only among unbelievers was what we could call “demon affliction”.
And this occurred among believers as well as unbelievers.
* Demons would afflict people with various ailments, or with conditions such as deafness or blindness. On other occasions they’d torment believers trying to convince them why they could not count on God’s grace.
* So there’s no doubt this woman was emotional. She was desperate!
She had no other options. All she could do was chase after Jesus crying: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!”
But to tell you the truth, it wasn’t her pious emotions that made her faith so great and enabled her to hang in there.
* In addition to her feeling of desperation I’m sure Jesus was able to detect other emotions such as fear and maybe even a bit of anger.
* What’s more, we finally must consider Christ’s response to her emotional outburst. We’re told: “he did not answer her a word.”
* It may remind you of the recent visit to the grocery store.
You’re waiting in line and this kid in the cart in front of you decides it’s time to throw this temper tantrum in order to get their way.
* He points at the candy beside him saying, “I want that, Mommy!
Give it to me now!” Then he really pours it on giving you a show of pure
unadulterated emotion!
* Now, the mother can reinforce his behavior by either giving in or getting mad right back - which of course will give him another kind of attention.
* But she chooses to ignore his outburst. She’s not going to be blackmailed.
Is that what Jesus was doing? Why didn’t he answer this woman?
* There are times of course when it does make sense.
Remember the prophets of Baal? Elijah arranges this contest.
They can pray to Baal. Elijah will call on the name of the Lord.
“The god who answers by fire - he is god” Elijah explains.
* So the prophets of Baal go to it and get extremely emotional. In their frantic prophesying, they shout at the top of their lungs. They slash themselves with spears. But what happens when they spend the whole day calling on Baal?
* We’re told: “There was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.”
Of course, they didn’t believe in the true God!
* So why was God so quiet in the case of this Canaanite women?
Better yet: why has he been so quiet in my life?
* “Lord, you know how I feel. You see my tears of sorrow when I confess my sin. And you know grateful I am when I confess my faith.
* “But still you let my life go on as though I didn’t exist; as though you didn’t exist! Have you seen what’s been happening lately with my family, my friends, my finances, my dreams. I don’t get it!
Why are you hiding your loving kindness; your helping hand?”
* Well, maybe instead of evaluating your faithful feelings you should turn to God’s Word.
But people are reluctant to seek out God’s Word.
More often people tend to look inside themselves for A Faith that Won’t Let Go.
* Something else we may find when we do so is a heart that’s quite sincere.
* There’s no doubt the woman in our text was sincere.
She wasn’t about to leave her Lord alone. She knew Christ was her Savior and her heartfelt plea for help would remain unmatched.
* We might have expected the disciples to take note. Have some compassion!
They hear her sincere cries for help, but instead of responding, they urge Jesus to send her away. “For she is crying out after us” they complain.
* Then again,
if we want to criticize the disciples, you have the words of Jesus himself. “I
was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
* What does that mean? Did she have faith or not?
* To be sure, Jesus was not making an evaluation of this woman and her faith.
His assertion that he was sent only to the Israelites is a reference only to his preaching and miracles. It was the Jews he was called to serve in this way.
* As for this Canaanite lady, Jesus had no obligation to her, whatsoever.
But the woman would not be discouraged, as she persists with her sincere plea.
Finally she kneels before Jesus saying: “Lord, help me!”
* By now Jesus could certainly see it in her eyes. She was no phony.
When she said she needed his help and no one else’s, she meant it !
* But Christ still doesn’t budge. It didn’t matter that she was so sincere.
“It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” he says.
It wasn’t proper for Jesus to withdraw his service from God’s chosen and turn to the unclean heathen.
So what about us? Are we entitled to receiving mercy from our Lord?
We certainly are no heathen!
* We’ve been church goers our whole life. We pray every day.
And Jesus knows it! He knows what’s in my heart.
* When I place myself before him confessing my sins, he knows I’m not going through the motions. Maybe I’m saying the same exact words as everyone else:
“I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto you all my sins and iniquities...
But how does the next part go? “I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them.”
* I’m not simply mimicking those around me.
I mean what I say. I’m thinking of what I’ve done, what I deserve.
And when I confess my faith I’m concentrating on what I truly believe!
* Well, surely it’s important to be sincere. We couldn’t expect our Lord to be very responsive if we didn’t mean what we said.
* But is it being sincere that gets our Lord’s attention in the end.
Is that how we’d describe A Faith that Won’t Let Go?
* Just why did the woman in our text, receive this rating of a great faith?
We read on. What the woman in today’s lesson says next is quite remarkable.
* After Jesus insinuates that she’s a despicable heathen, telling her it’s wrong “to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” she responds: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
* She accepts the words of her Lord and then uses them to make her case!
She uses her quick-witted reason to inform Jesus, you can’t disqualify me on the basis of that! In fact, if what you say is true, you can still help me!
* That’s when we realize there’s a happy ending to our story.
After commending her for her great faith, Jesus finally tells the mother: “Be it done for you as you desire.”
* His point may seem simple. He gave in because her logic was flawless.
She gave him the right answer!
* Wrong! That’s not why he responded.
Are we to think of Jesus as some type of genie? Your wish is his command!
That may be how we’re tempted to think.
* We imagine faith is how we get the Lord to pay attention. It’s our power of persuasion. We convince Jesus that we are his worthy subjects.
* Because we can reason like a Christian should, we convince our Savior that we’ve chosen him over the ways of the world, that we believe the right stuff, and that he should take us to heaven.
* But no one can persuade Jesus to do the right thing. Our faith must be connected to something with a lot more power than our human reason.
I’m sure the Canaanite Woman realized this.
* She had no grounds for making the plea she did.
Her only chance was if her faith was connected to God’s Word; if Christ’s Word was something she could use to hold on to to plead her case.
* And that’s just what she does. By talking to Jesus about crumbs that fall from the table, she was telling him: “Yes, well, I am a dog. I’m an unclean Gentile who is worthy of nothing that comes from your gracious hand.
* “But I’ve also heard of your promise to come to this world to save sinners.
And therefore if your scraps is all I get, that will be enough in my case.”
* From the woman’s perspective, it wasn’t a matter of being clever and catching the Lord with his own words. It was what Christ had promised.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
* That means you and me, and the derelict next door.
That means that sorry person who’s wronged you in some hurtful way.
That means anyone who trusts in Christ for his meager scraps; who looks to the cross on which Jesus suffered for our sins and trusts in his forgiveness.
* Whoever believes; whoever has A Faith that Won’t Let Go of the Word of God and what it says about Jesus Christ and his crumbs of grace, shall not perish but have eternal life!
We should know there are times when we don’t think we’re capable of hanging on.
* Some years ago I heard a news report about a man who was traveling in his small commuter plane at 5,000 feet. Deciding to get up from his seat and check the rear passenger door, in a single moment he was sucked out through the door but managed to grab a hold of the hand railings.
* The pilot, noticing what happened to the door, made an emergency landing at the nearest airport, having every reason to believe his friend had perished.
* But after landing, and to everyone’s amazement, this man was found still clinging to the railings for dear life. To get him free, they actually had to pry his hands loose; that’s how firm his grip was and his refusal to let go.
What is it that enables us to hold on to Christ, to hang in there, to persist in the most difficult and troublesome times and never let go?
* It’s not about our pious Christian feelings. It’s not about our sincere heart.
It’s not even about our ability to think or reason like a Christian.
* No. What makes faith great is not faith’s impressive attributes or traits. What makes our faith great is what our faith is holding on to; the Word of Christ which promises forgiveness to everyone who believes. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.