Sermon: August 20, 2023

“Putting Jesus In His Place”

Matthew 15:21-28

It seems a man was headed up to bed one night, when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in their shed. She told him she could see it from the bedroom window. He told her he hadn’t been in the shed that day. When he looked out the window, he saw that there were people in the shed, stealing things.

So, he phoned the police. The police told him that there was no one in his area and consequently, there was no one available to catch the thieves. He said “OK,” hung up, counted to 30 and called the police again.

And he said, “Hello. I just called a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now. I’ve just shot them all.”
Within five minutes there were a half a dozen police cars in the area and an armed response unit. They caught the burglars red-handed. One of the policemen said to the man, “I thought you said you’d shot them?” And he replied, “I thought you said there was no one available.”

Sometimes you just feel like you need to get somebody’s attention any way you can—which is happening in our Scripture reading for this morning. There are times when you feel like you want to grab somebody by the collar and shake them until they wake up and notice what’s really happening.

This morning, Jesus is met by a Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter (getting the attention of Jesus). The Canaanite’s were the first to inhabit Palestine and it is thought that several tribes went and settled in the north and founded what was known as the Phoenician nation.

It is obvious that this woman knows who Jesus is greeting Him as “Lord, son of David.” Obviously by living among a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles she had heard this title applied to Jesus; she knew something of the hopes of the Hebrew nation who were expecting a Messiah, son of the great King David, who would preach to the poor and heal the sick, as she probably had heard about what Jesus had done. She clearly had faith that Jesus could heal her daughter of whatever demon it was that possessed her.

Faith is often seen as a passive action, one that comes in difficult times when the acceptance of “the way things are” like terminal illness or a death in the family
is called for. And there are valid times for such faith. However, this kind of passive acceptive faith can also be an excuse for not doing anything, especially in the face of great social injustice. In situations like this, the claim of passive accepting faith is bad faith if it’s any faith at all.

The Canaanite woman in our story for today demonstrates a “proactive” type faith. She throws herself at the feet of Jesus, pleading for His help (travailing prayer), and verse 23 tells us: “Jesus did not answer a word” The silent treatment. My Mama taught me growing up that I’m not allowed to say “hate,” so I’ll say, I dislike the silent treatment. There is no reaction harder to bear than silence. And this was very uncharacteristic of Jesus. Thankfully, the silence of God does not mean the indifference of God.

And when she goes to the disciples with her request, they urge Jesus to send her away—which was pretty typical of the disciples. They said the very same thing a couple of weeks ago about the crowd of 5000 looking for something to eat. And there were other times as well.

Jesus responded by saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel;” but she continues. And then Jesus says something that we would consider out of character, saying “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

Did I hear Him right? Did He call this poor woman with the demon-possessed child a dog? Christ’s answer seems strange, but the woman’s reply shows that she took it in stride: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” And because of her persistence, because of her faith, her daughter was healed from that very hour.

I don’t know about any of you but if I would have said something like this to a woman, or anyone else for that matter, and my Mama would have been in earshot we would have been taking a time-out—she would have taken time out of her busy schedule to tan my tail; and if it wouldn’t have been that she would have at least threatened to wash my mouth out with soap. Anyone here ever had your mouth washed out with soap? Now I don’t want any calls to DEFAC’s but there were times in my childhood where I had the cleanest mouth in my neighborhood if not the entire town where I grew up!

Scripture wasn’t something that was quoted often in our household but if it would have been the text most often used would have been from 1 Peter 2:17: “Respect everyone.” That word respect could just as easily be honor, we should honor everyone that God loves, and that would have been my mother’s point; any time that my pride got in the way, or I thought I was better than someone else it was time for one of those good old attitude adjustments. (Too bit for my britches)

Why would Jesus say what He said to this woman? John 1:11 says, “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.” But Isaiah 49:6 says: “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the end of the earth.” Jesus, of course, would have known this scripture; the disciples probably wouldn’t have or at least wouldn’t have understood or recognized it.

I believe Jesus said these things to this woman with a wink of an eye. The Jews considered all the Gentiles to be dogs. But Jesus used a word that means “little dogs” or “puppies”—the pet dogs found in a home. I believe Jesus said these
things to this woman for the benefit of the disciples, to adjust their attitudes for their resentment of this foreign woman.

They, the disciples, along with most of the other Jews seemed to think they were better than everyone else, that being “God’s chosen people” they deserved better than everyone else—their pride was getting in their way! In this scripture where it sounds as if this Gentile woman was putting Jesus in His place, it is actually Jesus, with the help of this woman, who was putting the disciples in their place!

In verses 7-9 here in the 15th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel we read how Jesus addressed the Pharisees and teachers of the law: “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”

In our Gospel Lesson this morning we have met a person who Jesus described with four immortal words: “Great is your faith.” She was a Canaanite woman who came from the country north of Palestine, a country hostile to the Jews. She was presumably married, she had at least one child; but that’s all we know about her. We don’t know if she was a good woman or a bad woman. We don’t know her name. All we know about her is that in this single encounter with Jesus He spoke to her those four immortal words: “Great is your faith.”

Only four words but they are enough to make her immortal. We can trust these four words as being true because the expert on faith spoke them. Jesus searched for faith, as a gem collector would fine pearls. He didn’t always find it in His disciples. On no occasion that we know of did He ever say of Peter, James, and John (the inner three): “Great is your faith.” More often than not the words He spoke to them were: “You of little faith.” On only one other occasion did Jesus praise a person for their great faith, another outsider, the Roman soldier stationed in Capernaum seeking healing for one of his servants. Jesus said of him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith” (Matthew 8:10 NIV).

Today, we regard this Canaanite woman with more than just an academic interest. She awakens in us a feeling of admiration, perhaps even envy, because she stands where most of us would like to stand. Don’t you want to hear Jesus say to you: “Great is your faith?”

We are learning this morning that desperation doesn’t disqualify you from having great faith. Neither does your gender or social status. All that’s required is the willingness to bring your desperate need to Jesus.

Matthew’s Gospel, and all of the Gospels for that matter, reflect a world that was changing. Boundaries were shifting and people were afraid. Rules were changing as well—this is a story about how difficult it is to reach across deeply ingrained differences. Polarization is built into us; good and bad, us and them.

We find ourselves today in a similar situation—the world we live in is changing. We have political uncertainty and political insanity in the world and right here in our own country.

I’m afraid that some of us have forgotten who we are and whose we are. We have turned our backs on God Almighty—giving him the leftovers of our time and our energy. Because of our self-centered lifestyles and our prideful attitude and arrogance we are in danger of losing our Christian core values.

“Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and your neighbor as yourself”— The two greatest commandments. Notice the word all, not part, but all!

I don’t know what the future of our country is. I don’t pretend to have the answers and I’m not sure any of our leaders do either. Jesus warned us not to worry about tomorrow—about what we would eat or what we would wear. He said that we shouldn’t store up treasures here on earth where moth and rust destroy. Maybe it’s time, as it was for the disciples, for a good old-fashioned attitude adjustment.

Maybe it’s time, instead of turning away from God; that we swallow some of our pride and we turn toward God—that we cry out in desperation like this Canaanite woman did to Jesus—“Lord, help us!” She didn’t give up or give in until Jesus responded to her—through prayer and fasting—through not giving up and giving in—may we return to God; as a country and as a church—may we seek his face and be healed! And may He say of us: “Great is your faith!”

Thanks be to God!