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Genesis 32:22-32 Romans 5:1-5 St. Matthew 15:21-28 March 5, 2023 Last week in our Gospel reading, we saw Jesus as He faced three temptations from the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). But of course, Jesus remained true and steadfast through each one of these. He didn’t waver. He didn’t fall. He didn’t give into the devil’s lies. That’s what you expect to happen. God defeats the devil. Good triumphs over evil. You’ve heard the story before, so it’s no surprise that Jesus beats the devil. That’s what He’s supposed to do! This week though is a different story. For many folks, this may even be a better story than last week’s Gospel. Why? Because you know this one better. Instead of Jesus facing the demon, it’s a mere mortal, a sinner like you and me. It’s a woman, a mother with a child whom she can’t help. She doesn’t have the answers. She doesn’t have Scripture on the tip of her tongue to silence her demons or her daughter’s. She doesn’t know what to do. So what do you do when you don’t have the answers? You pray. Not just once, not just a few times. When you are facing a true and honest struggle, you pray relentlessly. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish what is a thought, a worry, and a prayer as you constantly pray to God for help and for mercy. That was her first prayer: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon” (Matt. 15:22). Mercy is an interesting word for her to use. Why did she ask God for mercy? We don’t have any of the diagnostics that she ran, but she had determined that her daughter was oppressed severely by a demon. When you’re praying against a demon, would you pray for mercy? Or perhaps, would you pray for justice: that God’s righteous wrath would roll down in justice against all your foes, both spiritual and physical? A prayer for justice is a prayer from a righteous person. Justice is something handed down in courts of law. Justice is impartial, cold, unforgiving. As so many statues of Lady Justice show, justice is blind. It offers no benefits and takes no bribes. Could the Canaanite woman ask Jesus for justice? Couldn’t she have prayed that Jesus would give justice against this demon and free her innocent daughter? Why didn’t she do this? Why did she pray for mercy? A prayer for mercy is a prayer from an unrighteous person. Mercy is the plea from a convicted criminal when his sentence is too hard to bear. Mercy appeals to the heart of a judge and the kindness of a king. Mercy is the prayer from someone who knows what is just but is afraid to hear it. The woman came to Jesus asking for mercy because she knew she was a sinner. She was a Canaanite. Her homeland, the region of Tyre and Sidon was outside the border of faithful Israel, both geographically and spiritually. To put it nicely, she didn’t grow up in a Christian home. Probably an un-Christian home, at best. But when a demon oppressed her daughter, she needed help. When she heard of Jesus, the Israelite who cast out demons, she went to Him and prayed. She prayed that Jesus would not look at her sin or deny her prayer because of them. She knew she was neither worthy of the things for which she prayed, nor did she deserve them. But she prayed that Jesus would listen to her out of His pure grace and mercy. Jesus did listen to her. But that was it. The Canaanite woman appealed to His mercy, but only received the coldness of a just God. Here’s another difference from last week’s Gospel reading. Last week, Jesus spoke. God’s will and His Word were crystal clear. But this week: silence. Like you, this Canaanite woman was faced with a serious problem, but her prayers were met with silence. What had she done wrong? Had she not prayed earnestly enough? Had she not really, truly, actually, sincerely meant it enough? Had God denied her prayer because of her sin? Silence is hard to bear, but silence is not “no.” Silence is not a rejection of prayer. Silence instead invites more prayers. The next time she opened her mouth, she did not ask for mercy. Instead, her prayer took on a more urgent tone: “Lord, help me” (Matt. 15:25). Here again, “help” is an interesting word for her to use. Why did she say ‘help’? When you ask a question and don’t get a reply immediately, do you say “help”? Or do you say, “answer me.” Maybe you’re polite and say, “Please answer me.” Why didn’t she say that? Like justice, an answer is a cold and unfeeling thing. An answer reveals what is right and what is wrong. An answer can remain uninterested in your issues. An answer can stay sterile, neat, and tidy. But “help,” that’s a different story. “Help” means that you get your hands dirty in the process. “Help” implies action. “Help” indicates that the one whom you’re asking is able to help. When you’re moving from one house to another, you ask the farmer with the truck for help, not the kid with a basket on his bicycle. Why? Because the farmer is able to help. But Jesus didn’t give the woman help, not at first. He gave her an answer: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26). What an interesting thing for Jesus to say. Who were the children? What was the bread? Who were the dogs? The woman, at least, understood Jesus’ meaning immediately. She was the dog. Israelites were the children. Jesus’ teaching – God’s Word – was the bread. It was not right to give her, a Gentile, what rightly belonged to the Israelites. But this did not slow down the woman. She heard God’s Word, she took this crumb and clung to it! “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table” (Matt. 15:27). Did you catch what she did there? Were you paying attention? She’s fine being a dog if that’s what God calls her. But as a dog, she doesn’t want the children’s bread. She wants her master’s crumbs. In our service today, we take a very similar stance as her. We don’t have our lives perfectly figured out. We don’t always have Scripture at the ready to silence Satan when he tempts us. So we must pray for mercy. We’ve already prayed for peace of our salvation, peace for the whole world, peace of a united church just like this woman: “Lord, have mercy.” We’ve prayed for mercy because we know that we are sinners – poor, miserable sinners in thought, word, and deed. We see our demons attack us, our faith, and our loved ones. Like this woman, we intercede for our families. Children you once brought to these pews no longer darken church doors. Perhaps you even see how your daughters and sons are severely oppressed by their own demons, their own sins, and their own stubbornness to repent. That’s why we pray like this woman: “Help, save, comfort, and defend us gracious Lord.” You might think your prayers are met with silence. But right after we pray for peace, mercy, and help, we hear God’s Word: the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel. We hear how Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. We hear what He has done to help Israel and even us Gentiles. We hear His answer, that God’s hands were covered in blood and nailed to the cross as He helped us against every demon and devil. In just a short while, like this woman, we will come and kneel before Jesus. As we do, though, we do not want the Israelites’ bread. We want our Master’s crumbs. We’ll eat what comes down from His table. We’ll cling to this bread and this wine, to this Body and Blood. Then what we prayed for at the very beginning will be given: “In peace, let us pray to the Lord;” “Depart in peace.” This week’s reading is different from last week. Its not the Son of God facing the devil, but a sinful woman. She’s feeling the heavy, crushing blow of demonic oppression. She’s a mom who doesn’t know how to help her child. When she doesn’t have Scripture on the tip of her tongue to silence Satan, she holds out her tongue to catch her Master’s crumbs. So also, you. When you face oppression and temptation, when you don’t know the Scriptures perfectly, seek out these crumbs that come from our Lord’s Table. When you eat this bread and drink this cup, you taste God’s help and His mercy. You taste the peace that passes all understanding. May it guard and keep you unto life everlasting. +INJ+ Amen. Pastor Schultz Trinity Lutheran Church Paola, Kansas Return to Top \| Return to Sermons \| Home \| Email Church Office

Genesis 32:22-32

Romans 5:1-5
St. Matthew 15:21-28

March 5, 2023

Last week in our Gospel reading, we saw Jesus as He faced three temptations from the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). But of course, Jesus remained true and steadfast through each one of these. He didn’t waver. He didn’t fall. He didn’t give into the devil’s lies. That’s what you expect to happen. God defeats the devil. Good triumphs over evil. You’ve heard the story before, so it’s no surprise that Jesus beats the devil. That’s what He’s supposed to do!

This week though is a different story. For many folks, this may even be a better story than last week’s Gospel. Why? Because you know this one better. Instead of Jesus facing the demon, it’s a mere mortal, a sinner like you and me. It’s a woman, a mother with a child whom she can’t help. She doesn’t have the answers. She doesn’t have Scripture on the tip of her tongue to silence her demons or her daughter’s. She doesn’t know what to do.

So what do you do when you don’t have the answers? You pray. Not just once, not just a few times. When you are facing a true and honest struggle, you pray relentlessly. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish what is a thought, a worry, and a prayer as you constantly pray to God for help and for mercy.

That was her first prayer: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon” (Matt. 15:22). Mercy is an interesting word for her to use. Why did she ask God for mercy? We don’t have any of the diagnostics that she ran, but she had determined that her daughter was oppressed severely by a demon. When you’re praying against a demon, would you pray for mercy? Or perhaps, would you pray for justice: that God’s righteous wrath would roll down in justice against all your foes, both spiritual and physical?

A prayer for justice is a prayer from a righteous person. Justice is something handed down in courts of law. Justice is impartial, cold, unforgiving. As so many statues of Lady Justice show, justice is blind. It offers no benefits and takes no bribes.

Could the Canaanite woman ask Jesus for justice? Couldn’t she have prayed that Jesus would give justice against this demon and free her innocent daughter? Why didn’t she do this? Why did she pray for mercy?

A prayer for mercy is a prayer from an unrighteous person. Mercy is the plea from a convicted criminal when his sentence is too hard to bear. Mercy appeals to the heart of a judge and the kindness of a king. Mercy is the prayer from someone who knows what is just but is afraid to hear it. The woman came to Jesus asking for mercy because she knew she was a sinner. She was a Canaanite. Her homeland, the region of Tyre and Sidon was outside the border of faithful Israel, both geographically and spiritually. To put it nicely, she didn’t grow up in a Christian home. Probably an un-Christian home, at best. But when a demon oppressed her daughter, she needed help. When she heard of Jesus, the Israelite who cast out demons, she went to Him and prayed. She prayed that Jesus would not look at her sin or deny her prayer because of them. She knew she was neither worthy of the things for which she prayed, nor did she deserve them. But she prayed that Jesus would listen to her out of His pure grace and mercy.

Jesus did listen to her. But that was it. The Canaanite woman appealed to His mercy, but only received the coldness of a just God. Here’s another difference from last week’s Gospel reading. Last week, Jesus spoke. God’s will and His Word were crystal clear. But this week: silence. Like you, this Canaanite woman was faced with a serious problem, but her prayers were met with silence. What had she done wrong? Had she not prayed earnestly enough? Had she not really, truly, actually, sincerely meant it enough? Had God denied her prayer because of her sin? Silence is hard to bear, but silence is not “no.” Silence is not a rejection of prayer. Silence instead invites more prayers.

The next time she opened her mouth, she did not ask for mercy. Instead, her prayer took on a more urgent tone: “Lord, help me” (Matt. 15:25). Here again, “help” is an interesting word for her to use. Why did she say ‘help’? When you ask a question and don’t get a reply immediately, do you say “help”? Or do you say, “answer me.” Maybe you’re polite and say, “Please answer me.” Why didn’t she say that?

Like justice, an answer is a cold and unfeeling thing. An answer reveals what is right and what is wrong. An answer can remain uninterested in your issues. An answer can stay sterile, neat, and tidy.

But “help,” that’s a different story. “Help” means that you get your hands dirty in the process. “Help” implies action. “Help” indicates that the one whom you’re asking is able to help. When you’re moving from one house to another, you ask the farmer with the truck for help, not the kid with a basket on his bicycle. Why? Because the farmer is able to help.

But Jesus didn’t give the woman help, not at first. He gave her an answer: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26). What an interesting thing for Jesus to say. Who were the children? What was the bread? Who were the dogs?

The woman, at least, understood Jesus’ meaning immediately. She was the dog. Israelites were the children. Jesus’ teaching – God’s Word – was the bread. It was not right to give her, a Gentile, what rightly belonged to the Israelites. But this did not slow down the woman. She heard God’s Word, she took this crumb and clung to it! “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table” (Matt. 15:27). Did you catch what she did there? Were you paying attention? She’s fine being a dog if that’s what God calls her. But as a dog, she doesn’t want the children’s bread. She wants her master’s crumbs.

In our service today, we take a very similar stance as her. We don’t have our lives perfectly figured out. We don’t always have Scripture at the ready to silence Satan when he tempts us. So we must pray for mercy. We’ve already prayed for peace of our salvation, peace for the whole world, peace of a united church just like this woman: “Lord, have mercy.” We’ve prayed for mercy because we know that we are sinners – poor, miserable sinners in thought, word, and deed. We see our demons attack us, our faith, and our loved ones. Like this woman, we intercede for our families. Children you once brought to these pews no longer darken church doors. Perhaps you even see how your daughters and sons are severely oppressed by their own demons, their own sins, and their own stubbornness to repent. That’s why we pray like this woman: “Help, save, comfort, and defend us gracious Lord.”

You might think your prayers are met with silence. But right after we pray for peace, mercy, and help, we hear God’s Word: the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel. We hear how Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. We hear what He has done to help Israel and even us Gentiles. We hear His answer, that God’s hands were covered in blood and nailed to the cross as He helped us against every demon and devil. In just a short while, like this woman, we will come and kneel before Jesus. As we do, though, we do not want the Israelites’ bread. We want our Master’s crumbs. We’ll eat what comes down from His table. We’ll cling to this bread and this wine, to this Body and Blood. Then what we prayed for at the very beginning will be given: “In peace, let us pray to the Lord;” “Depart in peace.”

This week’s reading is different from last week. Its not the Son of God facing the devil, but a sinful woman. She’s feeling the heavy, crushing blow of demonic oppression. She’s a mom who doesn’t know how to help her child. When she doesn’t have Scripture on the tip of her tongue to silence Satan, she holds out her tongue to catch her Master’s crumbs. So also, you. When you face oppression and temptation, when you don’t know the Scriptures perfectly, seek out these crumbs that come from our Lord’s Table. When you eat this bread and drink this cup, you taste God’s help and His mercy. You taste the peace that passes all understanding. May it guard and keep you unto life everlasting.

+INJ+

Amen.

Pastor Schultz
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office

Pastor Schultz Trinity Lutheran Church Paola, Kansas

Pastor Schultz
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas