The Second Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 15:21-28
In Christ Jesus, who promises that whoever comes to Him, He will never cast out (Joh. 6:37), dear fellow redeemed:
Jesus had not entered the Gentile district of Tyre and Sidon to interact with the locals or to gather a crowd. On the contrary, the evangelist Mark reported that “he entered a house and did not want anyone to know” (7:24). The Canaanite woman who came looking for Him would have noticed that He was not looking to be seen or talked to. So what made her pursue Him so relentlessly?
There were two reasons: her daughter was severely oppressed by a demon, and she believed that Jesus could heal her. We don’t know how long the demon had afflicted her daughter or how it affected her. But obviously no one else had been able to help. What made her think that Jesus could succeed when all others had failed?
The answer is in the way she addressed Him: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David,” she said. She was confessing that Jesus was the promised Messiah descended from David’s line. She had obviously heard about Jesus, what He had taught and the miracles He had done. On the basis of these reports, she believed that He was the true God in the flesh. That’s why she knew He could help her daughter, just as He had helped many others throughout Judea and Galilee.
When the Canaanite woman followed after Jesus crying for His mercy, at first He said nothing to her, absolutely nothing. He certainly gave the impression that He wasn’t interested in hearing her troubles. But He didn’t say “no.” The woman kept asking. She begged for His help again and again, so much so, that the disciples grew tired of her cries. Now they begged Jesus to send her away, so they could have some peace. Jesus’ reply? “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” meaning the Jews and not the Gentiles. That still wasn’t a “no.”
Now she fell down on her knees right in front of Jesus and said, “Lord, help me.” She would not be ignored, and she was not going to leave until Jesus ordered her to. He did not do this. Instead, He used an analogy for what He said before, that He was sent for the Jews: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The “children’s bread” is the salvation God had chosen His people Israel to taste and see. The Israelites had the Holy Scriptures. They knew the promise of a Savior. They had been waiting for its fulfillment. Why should the Gentiles have the same gift when they had rejected the true God for so long?
Jesus said it was neither good nor right to take bread from the children—the Jews—and throw it to the dogs—the Gentiles. It sounded kind of harsh, but even that wasn’t a hard “no.” Far from being put off by what Jesus said, the woman seized on His words as an invitation: “Yes, Lord, what You say is true. We Gentiles don’t deserve to have what the Jews have. I know I don’t deserve Your mercy, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” “I’m not asking to be treated like the children,” she said. “I’m just happy to have the crumbs that fall on the floor, because even the crumbs from You, O Lord, Son of David, are more than enough!”
What an expression of faith! What dogged confidence in Jesus! What kept her coming? Why didn’t she give up when Jesus acted so disinterested? Well if she walked away, her daughter would still be severely oppressed by a demon. Besides that, she knew who Jesus was, the promised Messiah. She wasn’t going to leave the only One who could help. This is what Peter said when other disciples of Jesus were leaving because His teaching offended them. Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” (Joh. 6:67). Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (vv. 68-69).
Those “words of eternal life” from our Lord are what strengthen our faith and give us hope in the difficult times. God also uses the trials themselves to test our faith, refine it, and exercise it, so that our focus on Him is sharpened. That’s what happened with the Canaanite woman. Her tremendous difficulties with her daughter did not crush her faith; these challenges made her faith stronger. She wouldn’t have gone looking for Jesus if everything in her life was going well. But she did when she was suffering. Then when she found Jesus, His behavior toward her might have seemed uncaring, but it caused her to be even more persistent and cling more tightly to Him.
Why does a parent take an extra step away from the wall of the pool when a little child is getting ready to jump in? It is to increase the child’s trust: “Don’t worry, I will catch you. I will keep you safe.” That’s what Jesus says to us when the distance from here to there looks too far, when we can’t imagine surviving another health setback, when giving up a particular sin requires too much sacrifice, when the consequences for saying “no” to the crowd are too painful. “Don’t worry,” says Jesus, “I will catch you. I will keep you safe.”
But is it true? Has the Lord caught you when you had to take a leap of faith? Did He bless you and keep you and give you peace in your times of greatest difficulty? Have you emerged from those trials stronger or weaker? Perhaps you’re not sure. Our perception about these things is often affected by our expectation. If our expectation is that we should never have to suffer or experience hardships, but that life should go about how we plan, then our perception will almost certainly be that God has failed us. He didn’t keep us from pain.
But if we accept what Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation” (Joh. 16:33), then we will not go looking for trials, but we also won’t be taken by surprise when they come. And when troubles do come, God promises to work through them for our good. That’s what Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” He says He will turn every trial, every heartache, pain, and sorrow into blessings for us somehow. We don’t always figure out just what those blessings are, but we trust that this is true.
The woman might not have perceived a blessing in the way Jesus seemed to avoid her and put her off. But that all changed when Jesus said, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire,” and she returned home to a daughter healed. This woman is a tremendous example for us. We learn from her what to do when our suffering is intense, when the Lord seems to be ignoring us or seems to be punishing us, when we feel no better than a despised dog. She kept her eyes on Jesus. No matter how He responded (or didn’t respond) to her cries, no matter what she experienced, she kept crying out for His mercy and help. Like Jacob wrestling with God, she would not let her Lord go unless He blessed her (Gen. 32:26).
Her faith in Him was not disappointed. Faith in Jesus never is. Faith ties you to Him. It connects you to Him who is Love incarnate, who took on your flesh to redeem you from sin and death, who covers you in His righteousness. The woman was right that the crumbs of His grace are more than enough. But Jesus gives you more than crumbs. He gives His grace in abundance through His holy Word and Sacraments, so that every sin of weakness and doubt is forgiven, and you are given the strength you need to go forward and endure.
So we come here like dogs who expect good things from their good Master. We keep our eyes trained on Him, we listen to what He says, and we want to please Him by what we do. Sometimes He will make us wait for something in order to teach us patience and trust. But then He opens His hand and gives us everything we need. He feeds us with His body and blood as we kneel before Him at the Communion rail. He assures us that He forgives all of our sins, and that He is well pleased with us.
Though it didn’t seem like it at first, Jesus loved that Canaanite woman. If He wanted to get rid of her, He could have. But He wanted her to keep crying out, keep pursuing, keep begging, until the time was right to grant her request. Jesus loves you in the same way. He wants you to follow Him and not get discouraged when your troubles don’t go away as quickly as you would like. He hears all your cries, and He promises that at the right time, He will grant your request, or He will continue to strengthen you in the struggle.
The faithful woman gladly embraced Jesus’ reference to the family dog waiting at the side of the table. We can do the same. Not only are we Gentiles like she was, but we know that Jesus came to save us, too, and has abundant grace to help in our times of need. We don’t have to have all the answers. We don’t have to get ourselves out of all our troubles. Like a pet that is well-cared for by its master, we know our merciful Lord will care for us.
So we keep our eyes fixed on Him. We do not give up, even when it seems like He isn’t listening. We hold Him to His promise that He will have mercy upon us. Because He does, and He will.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from 15 century French Gothic manuscript painting)
The Second Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
In Christ Jesus, who calls us to live not for ourselves, but to live through Him and for Him, dear fellow redeemed:
When the Apostle Paul traveled through parts of Asia and Europe on his three missionary journeys, he visited cities and towns that were mostly pagan in their culture. Paul visited some Jewish synagogues in these places, but much of his work was conducted among the pagan Gentiles. These people were polytheistic—they worshiped many gods. And although they had the moral law of the true God imprinted on their hearts, they promoted and engaged in many things that God calls evil.
One of the major problems Paul encountered was a porneia problem. He found it in Rome, he found it in Corinth, he found it in Galatia, he found it in Ephesus, he found it in Colossae, he found it in Thessalonica. We know he found it in these places because he wrote letters to the Christian congregations warning them about this.
The porneia problem that Paul wrote to them about includes every kind of unchastity, prostitution, and fornication. Our word “pornography” is related to this word. In today’s reading, porneia is translated as “sexual immorality,” which encompasses any sexual activity outside the boundaries of marriage between a man and a woman.
Paul wrote that it is God’s will “that you abstain from sexual immorality.” This is a completely different message than the one we hear from society and the one our children and grandchildren are taught in public schools. We almost never hear about abstinence any more. What we hear about now is primarily two things: “always use protection” and “make sure there is consent.” These are seen as the most important standards—protection and consent.
The messaging is that protection equals safety. But what these false prophets in our society will not tell you is that sex is never “safe.” It involves the most intimate parts of a person—not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Sex always has consequences. Not all those consequences are bad, but sex is nothing to enter into lightly or casually. And if “consent” is all that is needed for sexual activity, then we are looking at a future where marriage and family as we know it will no longer exist, or it will be found only on the fringes among small groups of people.
In many respects, the permissive culture of today is a lot like the culture Paul encountered. If Paul were here today, how would he address these issues? He would say today what he said two thousand years ago, “that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” And, “that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” He would tell us to live as Jesus taught us to live, that the way we live should look different than the way non-Christians live.
But why focus on this porneia problem in particular? What about the people who lie and cheat, what about murderers and thieves, what about the rich and the greedy who care nothing for the poor? Paul wrote plenty about these sins too. But to think that sexual sin between consenting individuals is not as bad as sins that cause harm to others is not right. In fact, the Bible describes sexual sin as causing the deepest kind of harm. 1 Corinthians 6 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (v. 18).
These are hard words. It is hard for me to say them, and it may be hard for you to hear them. We think of friends who are living in sin, or siblings or children or grandchildren. What can we say to them? We don’t want to offend them! But where will your closest loved ones hear the truth if they don’t hear it from you? You can send them to the pastor and pray that the meeting goes well. What happens if they don’t like what they hear? Then things may be peaceful with you, but not so peaceful with the church.
Sometimes we feel like we can’t speak up about these things because of the stains on our own past. If we warn others about sins that we freely pursued ourselves, doesn’t that make us hypocrites? The reality is this: not one of us here is unstained by sin. That puts us all in the same boat. Maybe we have not acted on all our sinful desires, but we have had the sinful desires. Jesus says that looking at someone with lustful intent is committing adultery in the heart (Mat. 5:28).
Every single one of us has sinned. Every single one of us deserves to feel the wrath of God for our sin. Every single one of us deserves to suffer in hell eternally. None of us should think we are better because we have not committed the outward sins that others have. Just as dangerous as pursuing unrighteous activities, is taking pride in our self-righteousness.
The right approach is illustrated for us by the Gentile woman in today’s Gospel reading (Mat. 15:21-28). She was not “like the Gentiles who do not know God,” who are called out in today’s Epistle lesson. It is clear that this woman had a firm faith in God the Father and in Jesus as His Son in the flesh. She came to Jesus with a problem—her daughter was severely oppressed by a demon. But she did not come with reasons why Jesus should help her. She did not say, “I am a good woman,” or “I do nice things for my neighbors,” or “everyone agrees that I don’t deserve this trouble.”
She simply said this, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.” Receiving mercy has nothing to do with having the right qualities or being deserving. Mercy has to come from outside us, from someone who is not obligated to do what we want. And for a while, it seemed like Jesus did not want to help the woman. First He ignored her. Then He told His disciples that He was sent “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then when the woman knelt down right in front of Him begging for mercy, He said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Maybe that is how you feel when thinking about your sins, as no better than a mangy dog. You might feel a lot of guilt for what you have done in your past, things you would be ashamed for others to know. How can you expect mercy and forgiveness from God, when you have broken His Law?
Listen again to the woman, “Yes, Lord. As You say, it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. I don’t deserve the children’s bread. I am a Gentile, not an Israelite. I don’t deserve anything good from You. But I trust in You. I trust that You are good and faithful and true. I will gladly be called a dog, if only You will give me some crumbs of Your grace. For dogs are always happy to “eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
This is what Jesus calls a great faith. It was not that the woman was better than others, or that she had sinned less. It was that she put all her confidence and trust in the mercy and grace of God. That is what we do with our own guilty conscience. We bring our sins before God in repentance and leave it to Him to wash us clean.
He promises to do this. Jesus went to the cross with all our sins, including our sins of living contrary to His will, and our sins of failing to warn others of the same temptations. Jesus died for these sins. He did have mercy upon us. Because of what Jesus has done, God the Father forgives us every stain and blemish on our record, and He sees us as though we have never done, said, or thought anything wrong.
To confirm us and strengthen us in this forgiveness and righteousness of His Son, He invites us to partake of the holy means of grace. Through the Word and Sacraments, Jesus comes to us to cleanse us from our sin and apply His holiness to us. He takes from us what is ours—our sin and guilt—and He gives us what is His.
This is how we are sanctified. We are drawn closer to our holy Savior Jesus by the power and work of the Holy Spirit and are strengthened in the faith to both say and do what is right. But the less we prioritize our Lord’s Word and Sacraments, the more we are drawn to the ways of the world, and the harder it is to see our own sin.
We must never forget how weak we are. Whatever immorality and impurity we see around us is rooted in our own heart. Jesus makes this clear. He says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Mat. 15:19-20). And His holy blood and righteousness applied through the Word, these are what sanctify a person.
Jesus suffered and died for you to make you His own. He is not ashamed to know your past. He forgives all this sin, and He calls you to join Him in His kingdom of holiness when your short time on this earth comes to an end. Whatever may be said about who you were, through Jesus you are God’s holy and beloved child. As St. Paul wrote in another letter, though you may have once engaged in many unrighteous things, “you were washed [baptized], you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co. 6:11).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from 15 century French Gothic manuscript painting)