What Great Faith Looks Like

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 15th chapter.

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Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying,

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Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

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But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us.

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He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying,

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Lord, help me. And he answered, It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

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She said, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered her,

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O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, have you all ever heard the phrase, faith is spelled

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R -I -S -K? Have you ever heard that? It's a common theme.

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It's a big theme out there in the charismatic world and the purpose -driven world. It's as if faith is this idea of, well, you've got to take everything you have and risk it all on faith to go and dig freshwater wells in Africa or find some big purpose and stuff like this.

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And people whose faith is held up as examples that you need to follow are those who've risked everything for the purpose of going and doing something spectacular.

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And then you all look at your normal lives and you sit there and go, Well, I have a job. Or I'm a stay -at -home mom, or I have grandkids, or I'm retired.

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What great thing am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to go and risk it all? Do I not have great faith?

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And I would note this to you all. Jesus never described anyone like that as having great faith.

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Instead, he described this woman, this Syrophoenician woman. Dare I say it?

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She's not a Jew. She's a Gentile. This Syrophoenician woman, she is held up by Jesus as one as having great faith.

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Maybe we ought to pay attention to what Jesus considers great faith before we go and risk everything for finding our great purpose and go and changing the world and stuff like that.

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Because you'll note, I don't think she changed the world. I legitimately don't. I'm pretty sure she was basically concerned about kind of ordinary problems that we all ordinarily have, except for her particular one was a little bit exceptional.

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And then we'll kind of work out what it means to have great faith. That's what we're going to do today. So you'll note in the book of Hebrews it says,

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Faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we cannot see. So in Hebrews' definition of faith, faith is not defined in terms of risk.

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It's defined in terms of confidence. But confidence in whom? Confidence for what?

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You see, if I had confidence in the Jesus of the Word of Faith movement that if I gave a thousand dollars to Kongsvinger that I'm going to get a

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Mercedes -Benz, that's some pretty misplaced confidence. Because, I mean, I can tell you, Don Mattson's looking at me like, that ain't going to happen.

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So that being the case, you've got to make sure that your confidence is in the right person for the right things.

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And that has to be based upon sure and certain texts. It requires you to actually know the details of Scripture.

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So let's consider our gospel text in this light, and we'll also throw Jacob into the mix to show how that actually works out for him as well.

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So Jesus went away from there, and he withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

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You're going to note Tyre and Sidon are not Israeli zip codes, okay? These are not places that you go within Israel.

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These are outside of Israel. So Jesus is outside of his own turf.

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He's on their territory. He's playing on their field. He does not have home field advantage.

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And you'd think, well, if you're there, what are you there for? Is he there at some kind of Mediterranean resort, hanging out on some chaise lounges, sucking back some pina coladas or whatever

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Mediterranean drinks that they can think of for a nice beach resort like Tyre and Sidon? It doesn't say that, okay?

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But you'll note that's where he is, and I'm assuming Jesus is going to do some kind of ministry while he's there.

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And then all of a sudden, I love the word in the Greek, behold, eru, all of a sudden, there she was, immediately, okay?

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A Canaanite woman from that region, okay? So here's where we have to do a little bit of work.

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You remember reading in the New Testament that Jews are not allowed to eat with Gentiles.

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Have you ever heard of that, okay? You'll note that when Peter went to the house of Cornelius, that Roman centurion, he was called on the carpet by the circumcision party, a party you don't want to go to, by the way.

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And he was called on the carpet and says, you ate with Gentiles, right?

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As if he'd done something horrifically wrong. Let's kind of put this out on the table here.

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The Jews of Jesus' day were engaging in a form of racism that also included segregation, okay?

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You'll note that there's nothing new under the sun. And so that being the case, well,

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Jesus' disciples are going to have to have some of that worked out of them. I think that's part of what's going on here.

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So Jesus is taking them through a Gentile region, and all of a sudden, this

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Canaanite woman, so she's a Canaanite, she's not a Jew, she's a she, which is a big problem, because women are not looked upon very well, especially

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Canaanite women. And she's crying out after Jesus, have mercy on me, oh

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Lord, son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. Now I've pointed out in the past, and I'll continue to point out, this is one whopper of a great, great prayer.

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But here's kind of a little bit of a side note. In the Gospel of Matthew, the only people, and I mean this, fact check me on this, the only other people who call

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Jesus Lord are his disciples. That one kind of sits, it's like hmm, you know,

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Peter calls him Lord, John calls him Lord, the other disciples call him Lord, and all of a sudden this Canaanite woman calling him

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Lord, she knows exactly who he is. And she knows, she has some understanding that he's the son of David, and that he's the

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Messiah, and so faith is being sure of what you hope for, certain of what you cannot see, because there's

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Jesus, and she's been told all of the story about him, and she comes to believe that she can put her trust in him, and of course now she's got a problem, her daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

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Now I can't imagine how harrowing of an experience this has to be.

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I would note this, that Hollywood has a way of kind of overhyping these things, but we'll note that this mother, being a mother, is doing everything she can to help her daughter, and she's correctly identified the problem, the problem is a demon, and yes, there are such things as demons, we'll talk about that next week.

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And so she's come to the right person. And Jesus, upon hearing her crying, notice she's not just merely asking in a whisper, she's not bowing her head and closing her eyes, she's crying out to Jesus, he didn't answer her a word.

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Awkward silence. Have you ever noticed that we human beings are just not comfortable with silence? Like you ask your boss a question and your boss doesn't answer a thing, it's like, alright?

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And the silence is, we can't stand it. And so there she is, she's crying out, she fills the silence with her crying, but Jesus isn't saying a word, and note here, what happens next is really an indictment against the disciples.

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Disciples came to Jesus and begged him, saying, send her away, she is crying out after us.

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Why on earth did these men not say instead, Jesus, you're the

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Messiah, you're God in human flesh, why are you not doing something to help this woman?

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You need to help her, you are the one who can cast out demons, and she's crying out after us, she's in great need, you need to help her.

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Why didn't they say that? Goes back to my first point, there's some kind of a cultural, well, racism here.

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And so, Gentile woman, pagan, she's got everything going against her, and so they're not interested in helping her at all.

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But is Jesus the Savior of the world or not? Indeed he is. And so,

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Jesus, now at this point, doesn't seem to help the situation, rather than rebuking his disciples, which

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I wish he had done, instead he says to the woman, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

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Now, hold on a second here, okay? Before you sit there and go, is Jesus saying that he's only here for the

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Jews? No, he said lost sheep of Israel. No, everybody who believes in Christ is grafted into Israel.

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Keep that in mind. If you don't believe me, read Romans, like Romans 9, 10, 11, it makes this very clear that we

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Gentiles are all grafted into Israel. And so this woman has faith in Christ, which

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I'm gonna just say theologically makes her part of Israel because she has the same faith as Abraham, right?

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Do you think God cares what your genetic heritage is if you're not a direct descendant of Abraham when it comes to faith?

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No, everybody who has the same faith as Abraham is counted as the children of Abraham.

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So Jesus knows full well what he's saying here, but I think at this point he's doing this in order to show us what great faith looks like, okay?

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It's not R -I -S -K, it's tenacious confidence. So you think she's gonna be turned away by such a statement as this?

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So she came and she knelt before Jesus saying, Lord, help me.

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One has to wonder, was it spoken humbly or insistently? Looking him, and here's the thing, she gets to look

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Jesus straight in the eye, she gets to see her God face -to -face, and she's basically saying by her actions,

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I know who you are. You are the only one who can help me and I am not leaving until you, hmm, bless me.

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You kind of see the idea here, right? This is what great faith is. And so she is asking a huge thing of Jesus, that her demon -oppressed daughter be delivered from the demon, and she says,

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Lord, help me. And then here comes, and every year when this text comes up,

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I always like to tune into like the liberal ELCA pastoric sermons to see what they do with this, because every single one of them falls flat on their face.

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They don't know what to do with this, so they end up impugning Jesus. But here's what Jesus said, it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

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And on social media, some of the liberal channels that I follow, why do I follow them? Because of fighting for the faith, believe me, that's just not fun.

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But I've heard many, many liberal pastorics and pastors say things like this, you see, this proves that Jesus was a sinner, because Jesus was a racist, he just called that woman a dog, there you go.

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And I sit there and go, you morons, if you think that Jesus actually sinned here, then he's not the spotless lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and you're doomed.

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And so am I. I mean, what a ridiculously stupid thing to say. Yeah, I said stupid from the pulpit, because it is dumb.

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I would note in the Greek here, Jesus doesn't use the offensive derogatory term for dog.

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If you really wanted to make that racial slur, you would use the term for dog that is referring to those mangy, flea -bitten, garbage -eating dogs that defecate all over the place and pee on everything and all this kind of stuff right there in town.

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That's the word you would use for dog. And that's the level of word that he could have used.

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Instead, he uses the word for like those who have a pet Yorkie or something like that.

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The family pet is the term, the cute little lovable dog that people keep as a pet.

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That's the one he uses. So I would note, he doesn't use the racial slur. He uses a different word altogether.

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He says, it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. And here's where we've got a note here. This is where I want to kind of dig in a little bit here.

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Remember I said that if you have confidence that the Jesus you believe in, if you give a thousand dollars to Kongsvinger who's going to give you a

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Mercedes Benz, you are gravely mistaken because why? Because that promise has never been made in scripture, ever.

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And Jesus here by saying it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs is in fact saying, listen,

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I came to fulfill the promises that were truly written for me to fulfill and none others, none that you can invent.

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I am not beholden to any fake promises that you seem to think that I have come to fulfill.

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Right? So if you're trusting Jesus in order to get a weight loss miracle, believe me,

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I've been waiting on that one for years. Okay. You're hoping that if you can just decree and declare skinniness upon yourself, it ain't going to happen.

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Believe me, I've tried. Okay. And I've even tried with diet and exercise. It isn't that easy.

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So you're not going to wake up one day and all of a sudden 50 pounds be disappearing going, where'd they go? I don't fit into my clothes.

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That ain't happening because God hasn't promised that. Instead, what is he promised?

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The forgiveness of your sins. Okay. Have you ever stopped to think what a huge thing you're asking

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God at the beginning of every divine service to forgive you all of your sins?

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I mean, work this out every single one of them. I mean, we know that some of them are, are kind of small by the world's standards and some of them, well, you know, those are kind of sketchy, but you've asked

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Jesus to just take the whole lot and just wipe the slate clean. That's a huge thing you're asking.

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Is it not? I mean, isn't that what kind of what was in our intro it? Hmm. Good and upright is the

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Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. For your name's sake, oh Lord, pardon my guilt for it is great.

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Now that's a promise that we have that we can hang on to. You'll note that Christ promises for his sake, for his glory, based upon the merits of his righteousness, his sinless life that he laid down willingly on the cross for you.

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You can know this, your sins are forgiven and that you've been reconciled to God because he has bled and died for your sins.

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And even better than that, you know for sure that although you may struggle with your weight now, you will be raised from the dead in a glorified body upon the day that Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.

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And a body that will not break down, that will not have cancer, that I believe finally again

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I will be able to see my feet. Okay? That's a promise I can hang on to, right?

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And that all of this is given, an inheritance in the new earth is given as a gift because of the great mercy and promises of God.

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So note, we hold on to real promises and our confidence is in those promises and not others.

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God has not promised to cure you of cancer. God has not promised to make you healthy, wealthy, handsome, beautiful, influential, or anything of the sort.

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He has promised to forgive you and raise you from the dead. He has promised that he has reconciled you to God.

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So Christ is actually getting at a point here that I think we need to come to grips with. It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs as a way of saying

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I've came only to fulfill the real promises that are in scripture that I've come to fulfill. And here's where a little bit of understanding of the

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Greek language is super helpful as well. Because this woman doesn't disagree with Jesus.

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And there's an important word that doesn't get translated too greatly in the English translation that I would always encourage my

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Greek students to take a look at. In verse 27, she answers Jesus, yes

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Lord. And then in the ESV, the word yet is actually the Greek word gar, which can be translated better I think as for or because.

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Watch what she does here then. Yes Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

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What she's saying is she says, I'm not disagreeing with you Lord, I agree with you completely.

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She completely overlooks the fact that he called her a dog. That's just like not even on her radar. She tenaciously is hanging on to Christ, won't let go of him, and knows exactly who he is.

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And she agrees with him. Yes Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

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That's her way of saying, absolutely, I believe that. And I know the abundance and the bounty of what you put on the table for those whom you've come to serve.

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And even as a dog, I'm fully aware that that abundant table is providing even for me just a crumb.

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I'm not asking you to set a different table. I'm asking for the crumbs from the one that you set.

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Boom. And there it is. That is what great faith looks like.

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Not arguing with Jesus, not saying, yeah, but Jesus, not believing Jesus for things he hasn't promised, but affirming that what he is sent to do is true and also believing that it is for you.

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She sees herself as included in this table, even if it's at the bottom of the table.

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And that's how the gospel works. And so Jesus then says, oh woman, great is your faith.

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Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. Here's my question.

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Why? Why is this woman not held up in more churches as the quintessential example of what it looks like to have great faith?

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Why instead are we looking to these people who are out there on the vision quest, claiming they've got a vision from God and going and trying to change the world and all this nonsense.

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And then when you hear the stories of their exploits, you have to sit there and scratch your head and go, is he telling the truth or is he lying?

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Because it sounds like he's stretching the truth to me. But you'll note, great faith is pointed out to us in this woman as being the woman who is certain and sure of what it is who

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Christ is and what he's come to do. And knowing that he was the only one who can help her and wouldn't be turned away by her.

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Great faith, instead of going out and decreeing and declaring, conquering and taking territory, instead is humbly begging in supplication.

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I would note when you take a look in scripture, you'll note that sometimes you read in the epistles that we are to engage in prayers and supplications.

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And every one of us go right on. And we know what prayer is, but we have no clue what a supplication is.

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Well, let me help you out. A supplication is an emergency prayer. It's an urgent request brought to God with an urgent need that has to be met soon, quick.

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Like if one of you were in a car accident, I assure you everybody at Kongsvinger would be offering not prayers for you, but supplications, asking that God would be merciful, that the doctors would be able to find the problems, that they would be able to heal you and that you would be all right.

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Those are supplications. This woman came to Christ not in prayer, but in true supplication.

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Her daughter is demon possessed and she'll do anything to help her. And so she comes and she will not be turned away.

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And so you sit and you go, well, if what you're saying is right, that she's an example of great faith, the only thing that she really did was beg really good.

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Right, exactly. She didn't conquer anything except for maybe

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Jesus, right? And that's where our

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Old Testament text comes in. Because over and again, I am stunned by this passage.

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I'm stunned by it because I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, this is a wrestling match that's not only weird and bizarre and comes out of nowhere, it's kind of like from the movie

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The Princess Bride, all of a sudden there's Andre the Giant who wants to wrestle with you, right? But the other thing here is that we all know how this is supposed to go.

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God is supposed to win. Great faith conquers

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God with his own words, with his promises. Great faith trusts in him and won't let him go, even when our circumstances seem to be running the exact opposite of what it is that should be going on here.

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Great faith basically says this, even though he slay me, yet shall

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I live. That's great faith. Great faith is suffering on your deathbed, knowing that your doom is just around the corner and saying,

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I know that I'm going to see my savior with my own eyes. That's great faith.

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And so in the story that takes place in our Old Testament text, the backstory is important because Jacob, if you remember the story,

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Jacob the mama's boy, yes, he was a mama's boy, he liked hanging out in the tents. His brother Esau was a man of the field and a hunter and things like this.

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And so Jacob the mama's boy, he stole his brother's blessing by pretending to be his brother and of course his blind father didn't get, didn't understand what was going on and blessed him and surely he was blessed.

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And then when Esau heard what had transpired, he was now nursing murderous thoughts towards his brother and mommy was afraid he was going to follow through on his murder threats.

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And so she sent her little baby boy to her uncle. And while he's with him, he gets two wives instead of one.

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It was a twofer. He only wanted one. He ended up with a twofer. And then along the way, he got two concubines too and 11 sons and daughter.

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And he has been told by God to go back home. And God is the one who's told him to go back home.

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And Jacob has gotten word that as he's traveling back home, as he's nearing home,

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Esau has heard that he's on his way and is coming with 400 armed men.

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And Jacob's fear at this point is that Esau is going to finally get his revenge.

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And who on earth can blame Esau for wanting to do such a thing, right?

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This is how so many stories go. And so you'll note then the important part is missed in our context.

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As they get to the Jabbok River, which is really not that far from Israeli territory,

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Jacob divides up his family into two camps, sends them across the Jabbok, thinking that if Esau attacks one, at least the other will survive.

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He won't lose everything. And so Jacob then prays. While his family's across the river, he's by himself and he prays.

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And listen to this prayer, O God of my father Abraham, this is from chapter 32 verse 9. O God of my father

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Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred so that I may do you good.

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He's praying back what God told him. He had a sure and certain promise. I want you to return for the purpose that I might do you good.

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I am not worthy of the least of all of the deeds of steadfast love, of all of the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.

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For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother.

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You'll note that he's offering a supplication here. Another great example of faith, and he's hanging on to those promises that God had given him regarding his return.

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Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. I fear him.

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Notice what Jacob didn't do. He didn't do this. Lord, I consider myself royalty now that I'm a son of God.

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And so I am going to take control and I rebuke the demon of murder in my brother

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Esau. Okay, nothing like this at all, right? Just nonsense. And you'll notice that the

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Syrophoenician woman, she didn't even dare to rebuke the demon that possessed her daughter.

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She went to the true exorcist, who is Christ, and she trusted him. So here,

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Jacob is offering a urgent, heartfelt, fearful petition, a supplication.

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I fear my brother, that he may come and attack me and the mothers with the children.

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But you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

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You said that, God. And here, I would remind you the advice of Martin Luther.

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I know, Martin Luther, yeah, that guy. Martin Luther had some pretty strange advice from time to time, but this is some advice that I think is actually pretty good.

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If you find yourself standing before Jesus on the day of judgment, and Jesus kind of is dismissive towards you the way he was originally dismissive towards that Syrophoenician woman, and he says, off to hell with you.

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You know what Luther said to do? He says, if Jesus were to say that to you, you stand your ground, and you look him dead in the eye, and you say, if you send me to hell, you're a liar.

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Think it through. You told me, through that miserable, old, decrepit pastor

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Roseborough, right? Who doesn't even have enough faith to get 50 pounds off his body miraculously, right?

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You said through that guy, my sins were forgiven. And it wasn't him who said it, it was you.

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You said that in your words. You said in your word, the sins you forgive will have already been forgiven.

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The sins you retained are retained. I confessed my sins. I did not hold back my iniquity.

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I confessed that I was by nature sinful and unclean. And your servant told me

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I was forgiven, and he was basing that on your words. You send me to hell, you're a liar, and God cannot lie.

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You think that'll work? Absolutely. Absolutely.

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That's what great faith looks like. And here, Jacob has the same great faith.

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Although he is fearful of his brother, you said I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude.

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And so Jacob stayed there that night. And from what he had with him, he took a present to his brother

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Esau. But then we get to our text today. So that same night, Jacob arose, took his two wives, his two female servants, his 11 children, crossed the fort of the

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Jabbok. He took them, sent them across the stream, everything else that he had. Jacob was left alone, and then

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Jesus shows up in bizarre fashion. Again, this just doesn't make any sense, but this is how this goes.

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A man wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, and we know from the end of the story who this is, this is a theophany.

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This is an appearance of the pre -incarnate Christ. Jesus is the one who's wrestling with Jacob. He wrestles with him all night and couldn't get the upper hand.

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And so that's what the text says, he could not prevail against him. Jesus then cheats, low blow.

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He touched Jacob's hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.

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Now, sort this out with me here. Have any of you all had a grandma or a mother who fell and got her hip out of joint?

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Okay, anybody who's had this happen will tell you, this is searing pain. This is agony kind of stuff.

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And even after they put your hip back in its socket, it still hurts for a long time.

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So there's Jacob. Jesus cheats, touches his hip, knocks it out of socket, and in the midst of the searing pain, you would have thunk that Jacob would have let go.

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And said, uncle, I give, you win. He didn't, he didn't.

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So Jesus says, let me go, the day is broken. Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.

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That's what great faith looks like. Is that not what the Syrophoenician woman did as well? I will not let you go unless you bless me.

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Jacob said, and so he said to him, what is your name? Yaakov. And you're gonna note, throughout the scriptures, there's just a few notable name changes.

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Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Yaakov to Israel, Simon to Petras, to Peter, right, big name changes.

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So this is kind of a seminal moment, not one that happens often in the scripture. So what is your name?

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Yaakov, the heel grabber, the deceiver is what that means. And so he said, all right, your name will no longer be called

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Yaakov, but Israel. For you have striven with God and with men, and you have prevailed.

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Great faith is that faith that prevails over God. That's what great faith is.

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And the great faith that we have been given that prevails over God is that God has decreed and declared that everybody who has sinned has deserved and earned the fires of hell.

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The soul that sins will perish, the scripture says. And yet we say, you promised us forgiveness, mercy, life, and salvation because of Christ, and God relents of the disaster.

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You see what great faith is then. So you have striven with God and with men, and you have prevailed.

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And so Jacob asked him, please tell me your name. And here you'll note, God doesn't tell him his name, doesn't say it at all.

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And I would remind you here of the text that I preached on this past Wednesday, one that just continues to stick in my mind.

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Something amazing really took place in the Gospel of John. When Jesus was first arrested, listen to how this story goes from John 18.

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Jesus had spoken these words. He went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, and he and his disciples entered.

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Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the

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Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. And then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, whom do you seek?

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Jesus' passion is just about to kick off at this point. He's already had the

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Lord's Supper and instituted it with his disciples. He's already outed Judas as the betrayer. He's already sweat drops of blood in the

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Garden of Gethsemane. And now, it's go time. The whole reason he has been sent to earth is about to come to its conclusion.

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Whom do you seek, he says to the mob, come to arrest him. They answered,

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Jesus of Nazareth. And he said to them, ego eimi, I am.

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Where Jacob didn't get the answer, Jesus here gives his name. He gives it.

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And there's a little bit of a wrestling match, there's kind of a view. If you read some of the scholars as it relates to our

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Old Testament text, that the one who gives the name is the one who's the loser.

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And in the wrestling match, the idea that Jacob was asking God for his name, it was his attempt to kind of get that final, decisive victory over Jesus.

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But here, when Judas and the mob shows up, and the soldiers, and the chief, and the officers from the chief priests to arrest

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Jesus. Jesus gives them his real name. He speaks the divine name of himself.

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I am, ego eimi. Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

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And when Jesus said ego eimi, they drew back and they fell to the ground. Jesus bowled a strike, if you would, and knocked them all to the ground.

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And this was to show us who he is. Note that God here willingly laid down his life.

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The Son of God came to Earth, and it was his will to lay down his life. It was God the

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Father's will to crush him. And Jesus didn't lay down his life. It wasn't taken from him.

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He laid it down of his own accord for the joy set before him. And so here, Jesus allows himself to be defeated, and he speaks his name,

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I am. Because that's in Exodus 3, God says, that is my name forever, by which

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I will be remembered, I am. And Jesus speaks his own name, and then they are bowled to the ground.

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And so they got up, dusted themselves off, and Jesus asked them again, whom do you seek? And they said,

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Jesus of Nazareth. I told you, ego eimi, but this time, they weren't bowled to the ground.

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This time, Jesus willingly yielded himself, allowed himself to be arrested.

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He chose to lose, because by losing, he won. He won our salvation.

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He won our reconciliation with God. He had the ultimate victory through his loss.

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And so, so many things to think about here. But let me wrap it up with this idea.

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Part of Lent, the big purpose of it is our own repentance. Let us repent of our nonsensical definitions of what we think great faith looks like.

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And somehow, we attribute it to somebody out there decreeing, and declaring, commanding, and controlling, and taking risk.

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Faith is not spelled R -I -S -K. And we need to repent of that notion. And we need to embrace, humbly, the fact that Christ pointed out the

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Syrophoenician woman and said, her faith was great. And we need to consider that then.

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Because I would note, many of you would not consider yourselves as those who have great faith. But may

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I beg to differ? We've all gathered together on a Sunday morning in the middle of the sugar beet fields of Oslo, Minnesota.

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For what reason? Why are we here? We're here to hear the words of Jesus.

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We dare to believe that our sins are forgiven. We are here to worship the one who laid down his life for our sins.

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And we have confidence that when we die, we will see him face to face.

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We are the congregation of those who have great faith.

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And we need to repent of not seeing it for what it is, of not seeing the greatness that is here, hidden in these humble means, in this small place, with this motley crew of a bunch of god -awful sinners.

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We believe great things of our God. And by doing so, we have defeated him.

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And he is blessing us today with his body and his blood, with the forgiveness of our sins and the confidence that we have of eternal life.

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Y 'all have great, great faith. Repent of not believing otherwise.

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In the name of Jesus, amen. Thank you for your support.

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