Great Faith in the Most Unlikely Place

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

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according.

To St. Matthew chapter 15 verses 21 through 28. Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, Yes, Lord. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. In the name of Jesus. Let's do a little reminder work. Last week was an interesting gospel text with the story of Jesus walking on the water, the disciples being terrified when they saw him doing such.

And then Peter, in great doubt, wonders if it's really the Lord and kind of challenges him and says, If it is you, Lord, let me walk on the water. Let's return to last week's gospel text, Matthew 14. I'll start at verse 25.

In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It's a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take heart.

I am. Do not be afraid. Peter answered him, Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water. Note the great doubt. He said, Come. So Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me, which, by the way, is a fantastic prayer for all of us as well. Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand, took him, took hold of him, saying, O you of, watch the words, little faith, why did you doubt?

So this is what little faith looks like. This is what doubt looks like. And you'll note that the great apostle Peter, this man valiant to go and defend Jesus, this man who gave his life, eventually, for the faith, at this point is not one who is an example of great faith.

He is an example of wee little faith. Not so good faith. Lots of doubt. And this is what makes our gospel text today just so ridiculously scandalous. Because we're going to have to go outside of the circle of disciples at this point in order to get an example of what great faith looks like.

It's from the most unexpected place. In fact, I would even say it's from a place that for the ancient Jewish world is scandalous. You want to understand the scandal of it, let's do a little cross-reference work here and see if we can kind of get the scandal of our gospel text today.

Return to me to Luke, with me, to Luke 4, verse 16. I'd like to remind you of a story about when Jesus went to the synagogue and preached in his home synagogue in Nazareth. If you know the account, things didn't go so well.

But there's a particular piece of information in there that is relevant to our gospel text. And here's what it says. Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll, found the place where it was written, quote, the spirit of Yahweh is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

This is a prophecy regarding the Messiah. All those present would be aware of that. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Now a little bit of a note here. In the ancient synagogue world, they didn't have pulpits like this. So when Jesus sits down, it's not because he's joined the congregation again.

It's because he's now sitting on the Moses seat in the synagogue. He's about to preach. So think of it this way. If this were happening today, Jesus would have gotten behind the pulpit and then begin to preach.

And here's his message. Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Okay. All spoke well of him. They marveled at his gracious words. They were coming from his mouth. And they said, hey, wait a second.

Is not this Joseph's son? And then watch what happens. Jesus now turns on them regarding their complete lack of faith. He said to them, doubtless you will quote to me this proverb. Physician, heal yourself.

What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. And he said, truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land.

And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha and none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

So you're going to note here that Jesus talking about their lack of faith points out that God in the past has shown mercy to of all people, the Gentiles. Not just any Gentiles though. Syrian Gentiles.

Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon. And you're thinking, well what's so big about that? Well think back if you would to that time when God commanded He commanded that the children of Israel upon entry into the promised land, that they put to the sword the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Uptites, and the Baletites.

The Canaanites were on the list of people who were to experience God's judgment. And we learn when we read in our Old Testament that Israel, well they kind of fell short on that particular task. And what ended up happening?

What ended up happening was that the Canaanites became a snare for the Israelites. Especially when a young Jewish boy would go, wow that Canaanite chick's really hot. I want to marry her. And she wasn't a believer.

Instead she was a believer in Baal or Asherah or any of the ancient false gods of the ancient world. And so what ended up happening is that the Canaanites were a snare to Israel and hostilities between them, let's just say, were always tense.

And so much so that in the time of Jesus that the Jews of Jesus' day they engaged in a form of racism when it came to the Canaanites. Now we recognize it today because racism is one of these big sins that is before our eyes.

And believe me when I tell you that what we're seeing happening in our own country, the racism where people are saying that my race is pure, your race is evil. That is a sin. If you think for a second that God shows favoritism because you were born Norwegian or German or Polish or black or Japanese or Chinese, then you have another thing coming.

Jesus Christ has bled and died for the sins of the whole world. And racism is pure hatred towards neighbor, not love for neighbor. And there is no room for racism in biblical Christianity. If you want to harbor that type of hatred, you need to come and see me and confess the sin for what it is.

A murderous hatred of your neighbor. And understand that Christ has even bled and died for this sin. But in Jesus' day there was racial hatred from Jews towards Gentiles. And in the days of Jesus, you know what the Jews would call the Canaanites?

Dogs. Now, we think that that may not be so bad. But understand this. Dogs were not domesticated at the time. It wasn't Fifi and Fido and my dog Luther or Max and how cute we got a little Westie poo and things like that.

No! Dogs were dirty, flea bitten, tick infested, scavengers who ate garbage and picked carcasses apart. And to call somebody a dog is to make them less than human. And keep that in mind. This is part of all of what's going on here.

So in our text that we're looking at right now to kind of get the context, Jesus at a synagogue in Nazareth literally is saying that God has shown mercy to the, well, the widow of Zarephath and to Naaman, the Syrian leper.

And what is their reaction to Jesus' words? It's very telling. When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. How dare you tell us that God has mercy on those dogs? That's what's going on here.

And how dare you rebuke us for our lack of faith in you? That's the subtext. It says this, when they heard these things all in the synagogue were filled with wrath, they rose up and drove Jesus out of the town, brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built so that they can throw him down the cliff.

They wanted to see if Jesus could fly. But passing through their midst, he went away. So take this wrath, put this in your understanding of our text today, but let's do a little bit more cross-reference work.

Jesus referenced the widow of Zarephath. Let's look at 1 Kings chapter 17 and note how it in some ways actually prefigures our gospel text today. It says this in 1 Kings 17 verse 1, Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead.

What a great name. Elijah the Tishbite. I don't know what a Tishbite is, but I wonder if they have something you can put on your skin when you get one. The Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead. He said to Ahab, remember the evil wicked Ahab who's married to Jezebel, as Yahweh the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except for by my word.

And the word of Yahweh came to him, depart from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh. He went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

And after a while, the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. And this is the setup for the ultimate showdown that we read about in the next chapter, the prophets of Baal versus Elijah.

And what's going on here in this setup is the way the pagan world understand the role of Baal, Baal was the deity who brought the rain. And he was the one who was responsible then for the crops growing and for them being fed.

If Baal didn't bring the rain, then the people wouldn't be fed, and Yahweh has said enough is enough. I'm going to show you that Baal doesn't bring the rain, but I do. And that Baal isn't even home. You knock on his door, hello, Baal, are you there?

No one ever answers. That's kind of the point. So what Yahweh does, he says to his prophet, the Tishbite, there's going to be no rain until you say so, and then Elijah goes on Israel's most wanted list.

That's what's going on. He's hiding out in the brook Shareth. I'm sure he's there with Jesse James and other outlaws like that. And the ravens are feeding him, which I would have a problem with. Oh, look, a sandwich from a raven.

So, the story continues, though, as when there is no rain, well, brooks dry up, rivers become really low, things of that nature. And we read then that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, arise, go to Zarephath, pagan territory, near Sidon, the place of our gospel text today.

And I want you to dwell there. And behold, I've commanded a widow there to feed you, which I'm sure she's just really excited about. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks.

And he called to her and said, bring me a little water in a vessel so that I may drink. And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. And this is where she kind of throws down.

This is the straw that breaks the camel's back. And she says, as Yahweh, your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Notice how she describes Yahweh.

She ain't my God. Yahweh ain't my God. He's your God. And so she's a little miffed here because the word of the Lord has come to her and said, I'm sending you a prophet. It's your job to feed him. And at this point, she says, I got nothing.

How am I supposed to do this? And so she has a little bit of a fit. And she says this, I now am gathering a couple of sticks so that I may go and prepare it for myself and my son so that we may eat it and die.

Now, Elijah isn't about to stop her from dying. He says, so don't fear. Go and do as you've said. If you want to die, you just go right ahead. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me.

And afterwards make some for yourself and for your son. For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, the jar of flour shall not be spent. The jug of oil shall not be empty until the day that Yahweh sends rain upon the earth.

And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent. Neither did the jug of oil become empty according to the word of Yahweh that he spoke by Elijah.

Now, up to this point, we can say that this woman is eating on the good graces of God. God is the one miraculously providing for her, her household, as well as the prophet Elijah. But the last we heard from her, Yahweh is still Elijah's God.

Yahweh is not her God. And that's a bit of a problem. And so what happens next is quite fascinating. Kind of the ultimate distress, if you would, that any mother could experience. After this, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill.

His illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, what have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son.

That's the law of God working in her heart. Have any of you, when a loved one or somebody close to you has died, have you ever been poignantly reminded of your own sin and your own mortality? In this particular case, the death of her son has brought to her remembrance all of her own sin.

And she, thinking that God works this way, believes that God is punishing her and has put her son to death because of her own sinfulness. And so you'll note here that she is confessing that she is a sinner.

And see, that's exactly where God wants us all to be. So, Elijah said to her, give me your son. And he took him from her arms, carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and he laid on his own bed and he cried out to Yahweh, O Yahweh, my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourned by killing her son?

Notice it's a question, not a statement. So then he stretched himself upon the child three times. Three times. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's all there. Three times. And he cried to Yahweh, O Yahweh, my God, let this child's life come into him again.

And Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah and the life of the child came into him again. And he revived and Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother.

Elijah said, see, your son lives. And watch what happens next. The woman said to Elijah, now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth. So notice, in this event she confesses her sinfulness and God doesn't leave her there.

God miraculously works through Elijah to restore the life of her son and now Yahweh is no longer Elijah's God. Yahweh is now hers as well. She confesses and knows that the word of Yahweh in Elijah's mouth is the truth.

And so we get a picture a little bit here of penitent faith. Trust in God. The trust in God that receives not from God what we deserve, but receives from God mercy and grace and forgiveness upon our confessing of our complete need.

And so all of this then sets the stage. All of these little things running around in your mind set the stage to help us understand what is going on in our gospel text, which begins with these words. Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

It doesn't exactly say why. Maybe he decided that it was time for he and the boys to head to the coast, the Mediterranean coast, have a little bit of beach time, maybe work on their suntans, do a little surfing.

It doesn't say exactly, but Tyre and Sidon is a wonderful coastal town, a great place to get a little bit of R &R. But it's also in Canaanite pagan territory, which for the Jews is, well, an uncomfortable experience.

And it says this. Behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying. Listen to her prayer. Have mercy on me, O Lord son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. Now, think about this for a second.

Just consider what she just said. This is amazing, amazing doctrine coming from this woman's heart. Have mercy on me, O Lord son of David. She literally is, this is a prayer. Think of it in the ancient liturgy.

This is the Kyrie Eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy, right? She's saying, Lord, have mercy. And she's confessing that Jesus is both Lord, that's God, and that he's also the son of David.

She's even got the incarnation right. How on earth does this pagan Canaanite woman have such great theology? And she comes to him and petitions him, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But now we've got this problem.

One, she's a Canaanite.

She's a dog.

Two, she's a woman. Three, she's crying out to Jesus in public. Canaanite women are not supposed to be talking to Jewish men in public. She's doing everything wrong. But is she? I'm hearing an amazing confession of faith coming from her mouth.

But then what happens next is a wee bit tough for us to take in. Jesus did not answer her a word.

Total silence. What?

This woman, she's in distress. Her daughter is demonized. She's living the movie The Exorcist without the exorcist. It's a complete nightmare in her life. And she's begging Christ to have mercy on her.

And he's just going, what? Why?

Then, watch this. His disciples came and begged him. Now, you'd think the disciples would kind of get it by now. People in need. Love for a neighbor. That they would come to him and they would beg him, Jesus, please help this woman.

Her daughter is demonized. You can do something about this. But watch their response. They begged him, send her away. She's crying.

Out after us. Ah. You see, there's kind of the problem. Ouch.

So notice here by Jesus' silence, their racism, their bias, their sin, their love for their neighbor is shown to be deficient. They have come up woefully short. Send her away. She's crying out after us.

And then Jesus doesn't even answer her. She says to them, well, I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Man, I'm telling you, if this, if Jesus were alive today, and this were filmed by CNN, oh my word, this would light the whole world on fire.

This would make Charlottesville look like a drop in a bucket. You cannot believe what's going to happen next. Then it says this. She came and she knelt before him. Let me clean this up a little bit. The Greek here for knelt doesn't mean that she's on her knees.

She's not on her knees. This Greek word actually means that she comes, no joke, in the dust, throws herself at Jesus' feet, spread eagle, face down, forehead on the dirt. It doesn't get any lower than this.

This woman is in total need and she has humbled herself as much as it is humanly possible to not humble yourself before the son of David. So she knelt before him saying, Lord, help me. And what he says next is so awful.

It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Twitter blew up. Facebook went crazy. There were calls for Jesus to be defrocked as a rabbi. He was burned in effigy in France and in Washington, D .C. and Los Angeles.

That's how utterly ugly this is. But see, the thing is that listen to what her response is and you'll get it. She's not offended. And in his no, she actually hears a yes. And it's very fascinating. It's not right to throw it to the dogs.

And so she said,.

Yes, Lord. Yeah. I'm a dog. And there's the confession of her.

Sin. Her confessing that she's not worthy. She knows that according to God's law, she does not deserve anything from Christ. And so rather than be offended and say, how dare you call me a dog? She says, Yeah, I'm a dog.

And this is where faith comes in. Because if she heard in Jesus' no, she didn't hear a no, she heard a yes. Yes, Lord. But even the dogs, they eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. If I'm a dog, then I want the full rights of a dog.

I have the right as a dog to sit at the table and wait for the crumbs to come from the table. Treat me as that. If I'm a dog, then let me at least have a dog's right. And unlike Peter, Jesus then says this, O woman, great is your faith.

And now He honors her. He calls her the same term, woman, as He called His mother in John 2. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed.

Instantly. Holy smokes.

This Canaanite woman is held up in Scripture as an example to us of great faith. Peter walking on the water and then ultimately sinking is held up for us, not as an example of great faith, but of little faith and doubt.

How can this be? This doesn't seem right. But yet, it is. The widow of Zarephath confessed her sins and learned that the Word of God in the mouth of Elijah was the truth. Here, this Canaanite woman, whose daughter was demonized, acknowledges that she is not worthy to receive anything from Christ.

And through that acknowledgement, she continues to persist, insisting that only Jesus can help her. And great is her faith. So what does God's Word say about us? Scripture is so clear that we're all born dead in trespasses and sins.

That none is righteous. Not even one. That all have sinned. All have fallen short. None is righteous. Everybody's mouth is an open grave. The venom of asps is on the lips of all of us. That we are full of deceit and malice and idolatry and hatred towards each other.

Hatred towards God doing the work of the devil in each and every one of us has earned from God an eternity in hell. A fate that is even worse than any dog will experience. Because as the movie says, all dogs go to heaven.

It is only in confessing our great need and our unworthiness that we are then able to receive from Christ grace. Grace that may look like crumbs at the moment. Like when we have the Lord's Supper, the body and blood of Christ, the crumbs falling from the table of the great wedding feast of the Lamb.

There's a day coming when we will not be sitting there eating the crumbs, but we'll be feasting like children at the table with our Father and our brother Jesus. But now this woman's faith is held up as great faith.

We would be wise to pay attention. Peter has fallen woefully short and is a doubter. This woman is a believer. Lord Jesus, this text challenges us and forces us to acknowledge that we have fallen so far short.

Lord, we confess with this woman that we too are dogs. We ask, Lord, that you would let your grace fall to us in the crumbs that you give us, in the absolution, in our baptism, in the Lord's Supper, in the word that you feed us with, in the hope that someday in your great mercy and grace that you would have mercy on us and save us and help us and ultimately bring us to sit at the table with you in the great wedding feast of the Lamb, in a world without end, in a world without sin.

We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

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