1 Thessalonians 4:1-7 & Matthew 15:21-28
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus travels outside the boarders of ancient Israel to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is Canaanite country. While Tyre was an ally of king David and Solomon, the most infamous Sidonian in the Old Testament is the woman is Jezebel, daughter of the Sidonian king, wife of king Ahab, and the one who brought Baal worship into Israel. Recently in our study of Ezekiel we’ve hear how Tyre would be giddy with glee in Jerusalem’s fall and say, “Aha! She is broken who was the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste” (Ezek 26:2). Tyre and Sidon were types of the wicked world in the prophets on more than one occasion, whom the Lord would destroy on account of their pride. The region of Tyre and Sidon was definitely not the house of Israel.
Yet, Jesus’ fame had spread to that region. In Mark 3, “a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him” (3:7-8). In Mark’s account of today’s gospel, he tells us that when Jesus came to the region, “He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden” (7:24). When a certain who’s daughter is demon possessed hears that Jesus is in the area, she won’t miss her opportunity. She cries out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” Here in the region of Tyre and Sidon, Canaanite country, a woman believes in Jesus. She’s heard the report about Jesus, how He can cast demons out of people. She’s heard the report about Jesus, that He is merciful to those who come to Him in humble faith. But she’s heard and believes a bit more. She’s heard—and she believes—that Jesus is the Son of David, the long-promised Messiah. Even though she’s of Canaanite descent, not part of the house of Israel to whom the Messiah was promised, she believes Jesus to be the Messiah and comes to Him in her hour of utmost need.
“But He answered her not a word” Matthew writes. He flat out ignores the poor woman. The disciples come to Him and urge Him to send her away. What is interesting at this point is that Jesus does not send her away. He says—to the disicples, but within this woman’s hearing— “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This is similar to what He told the twelve when He sent them out in Matthew 10[:5-8], “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Israel had been the incubator of the Messiah for centuries. It was only right that Israel have opportunity to receive the Messiah first. Paul says in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. This isn’t racist. It’s not xenophobic. It’s the order God had prescribed. Christ comes first to Israel, then the gentiles.
The woman persists. “Lord, help me,” she says as she falls down before Him. Then He speaks more difficult words. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” He has ignored her. He has said that He hasn’t come to help people like her. Now He calls her a dog. How many of us would have given up after being ignored? How many of us would still be there when He said, “I didn’t come for people like you?” How many of us wouldn’t have sighed in frustration and hurt, turned from Jesus, and left? Why doesn’t this woman do that? Faith. She believes the reports about Jesus, that He is merciful and compassionate, even at the moment when Christ sounds as if He were the exact opposite. She believes that He is the Son of David—the Messiah—and that He not cast out anyone who comes to Him in faith. So she says, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She says to Jesus, “I may not be a child of Abraham, with a seat at Your table of blessings. But I’ll settle for being a dog who can snatch up the crumbs.” This woman may not be a biologically descendent of Jacob, but she’s more like Jacob than most Israelites. so much that she grabs hold of Jesus by faith, and like Jacob wrestling with God, says, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” (Gen 32:26).
Jesus had said that He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Here in the region of Tyre and Sidon, He found one. She wasn’t a child of Israel by blood, but she was by faith. And that’s far better than being an Israelite by blood who does not have faith in Christ. Paul, who was a child of Israel by blood and faith says it this way in Romans 9[:6-8], “For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” Faith in God’s promise is what makes a person a member of Israel, just as God gave that name to Jacob after a night of wrestling Him, refusing to let God go until He had been blessed. This is what Jesus sees in this Canaanite woman, and why He answers her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
God often does this very thing to those who come to Him in need. He does not often answer our prayers immediately, but is silent, answering us not a word. He does this to test our faith, that is, to exercise it and strengthen it. Remember, Jesus did not send the Canaanite woman away. He did not cast her out. He exercised her faith to show her, His disciples, and you, what faith does. Faith believes the word of Jesus, applies it to oneself, and clings to His word regardless of what it looks like externally, no matter how long it takes for Him to answer. David demonstrates this faith in Psalm 130[:5-6] when he prays, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning — Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.” Luther paraphrases David’s words: “And though it tarries till the night and till the morning waken, My heart shall never doubt His might, Nor count itself forsaken. Do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed, Ye of the Spirit born indeed; Wait for your God’s appearing” (TLH 329:4). Being a member of Israel by faith, this is how we always ought to pray and not lose heart (Lk 18:1). And when the Lord answers, then we have a double blessing. We have that which we asked, as well as a faith that is stronger than it was when we first believed, so that we abound more and more as St. Paul says at the beginning of today’s epistle.
It is God’s will that we abound more and more in faith towards God—trusting His promises, clinging to His Word, submitting to Him in the midst of afflictions. This is why He exercises His saints through hardships, afflictions, and crosses. It is also includes our sanctification. He gives us His Holy Spirit so that as we use His promises more and more each day, we also abound more and more in holiness. The example Paul gives in the epistle is the holiness of body that avoids sexual immorality of every kind. Living by faith in God’s promise and desiring to walk in His will, we possess our vessels—our bodies—in holiness and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God. This is for our benefit and the benefit of our neighbor, whether that neighbor be our spouse or someone else’s. Since we are children of Israel by faith, we do not live as the gentiles, by which Paul means unbelievers. Since we are children at the table, which Christ has set with His blessings and benefits—forgiveness and salvation, peace and joy in the heart, the Holy Spirit and new life—we do not live as those outside the house live. But as obedient children we want to live as God has called us, and God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Many Christians have forgotten this, imagining that holiness is a gift only instantaneously given upon entering paradise. But not only Christ gave Himself into death the forgiveness of our sins; He gave His Holy Spirit for the abolition and purging of our sins, so that might cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor 7:1).
This is God’s will for us: that as His people—His Israel who trusts His promises—we abound more and more in faith and in holiness, both of which He exercises us in daily. May God grant this to us all. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
