Great Faith in the Most Unlikely Place

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

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,

00:18

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

00:24

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseburg the Holy Gospel according to st

00:30

Matthew chapter 15 verses 21 through 28 Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon Behold a

00:38

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

00:47

But he did not answer her a word His disciples came and begged him saying send her away for she's crying out after us

00:57

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

01:04

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

01:11

She said yes, Lord Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table

01:17

Then Jesus answered her old 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

01:36

The disciples being terrified when they saw him doing such and then

01:41

Peter in great doubt Wonders if it's really the Lord and kind of challenges him and says if it is you

01:49

Lord, let me walk on the water Let's return to last week's gospel text Matthew 14

01:54

I'll start at verse 25 in the fourth watch of the night. Jesus came to them walking on the sea

02:01

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said it's a ghost

02:06

And they cried out in fear, but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart. I am

02:11

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.

02:20

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

02:29

Lord Save me which by the way is a fantastic prayer for all of us as well

02:36

Lord save me Jesus immediately reached out his hand took him took hold of him saying

02:41

Oh you of watch the words little faith Why did you doubt?

02:47

So this is what little faith looks like This is what doubt looks like and you'll note that the great

02:55

Apostle Peter This man valiant to go and defend Jesus this man who gave his life

03:02

Eventually for the faith at this point is not one who is an example of great faith

03:09

He is an example of we little faith Not so good faith lots of doubt and this is what makes our gospel text today.

03:18

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 Great faith looks like it's from the most unexpected place in fact,

03:34

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?

03:42

Let's do a little cross -reference work here and see if we can kind of get the scandal of our gospel text today

03:47

Return to me to Luke with me to Luke 4 Verse 16. I'd like to remind you of a story about when

03:55

Jesus Went to the synagogue and preached in his home synagogue in Nazareth If you know the account things didn't go so well

04:04

But there's a particular piece of information in there that is relevant to our gospel text and here's what it says

04:10

Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom

04:16

He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day He stood up to read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him

04:21

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

04:31

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

04:39

Recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the

04:45

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

04:53

Synagogue world, they didn't have pulpits like this. So when Jesus sits down, it's not because he's joined the congregation again

05:01

It's because he's now sitting on the Moses seat in the synagogue. He's about to preach

05:07

So you 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

05:15

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing Okay All spoke well of him

05:24

They marveled at his gracious words. They were coming from his mouth and they said hey, wait a second

05:30

Is not this Joseph's son and then watch what happens Jesus now?

05:37

Turns on them regarding their complete lack of faith He said to them doubtless.

05:43

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

05:53

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

06:26

Prophet Elisha and none of them were cleansed But only Naaman the

06:31

Syrian So you're going to note here that Jesus talking about their lack of faith

06:37

Points out that God in the past has shown mercy to of all people

06:42

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?

06:55

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

07:09

Canaanites the Hittites the Perizzites the Hivites the uptights and the ballet tights

07:16

The Canaanites were on the list of people who were to experience God's judgment and we learn when we read in our

07:23

Old Testament that Israel Well, they kind of fell short on that particular task

07:30

And what ended up happening? What ended up happening was that the Canaanites became a snare for the

07:37

Israelites? Especially when a young Jewish boy would go. Wow that Canaanite chicks really hot

07:44

I want to marry her and she wasn't a believing a believer Instead she was a believer in Baal or a

07:52

Shearer Or any of the ancient false gods of the ancient world and so what ended up happening is is that Canaan the

08:00

Canaanites were a snare to Israel and hostilities between them let's just say we're always tense and So much so that in the time of Jesus that the

08:13

Jews of Jesus's day They engaged in a form of racism when it came to the

08:18

Canaanites now we recognize it today because racism is one of these big sins that is before our eyes and Believe me when

08:26

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?

08:41

favoritism because you were born Norwegian or German or Polish or Black or Japanese or Chinese?

08:50

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

09:05

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

09:19

But in Jesus's day there was racial hatred from Jews Towards Gentiles and in the days of Jesus, you know what the

09:29

Jews would call the Canaanites dogs Now we think that that may not be so bad

09:36

But understand this dogs were not domesticated at the time It wasn't Fifi and Fido and my dog

09:43

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

10:02

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

10:10

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

10:23

Syrian leper and What is their reaction to Jesus's words?

10:30

It's very telling when they heard these things all in the synagogue were filled with wrath how dare you

10:41

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?

10:54

That's the subtext Says this when they heard these things all in the synagogue were filled with wrath

11:00

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

11:11

They wanted to see if Jesus could fly But passing through their midst he went away

11:20

So take this wrath put this in your understanding of our text today

11:27

But let's do a little bit more cross -reference work Jesus referenced the widow of Zarephath Let's look at 1st

11:36

Kings chapter 17 and note how it in some ways actually Prefigures our gospel text today.

11:42

It says this in 1st Kings 17 verse 1 Elijah the tishbite of tishbi in Gilead What a great name

11:51

Elijah the tishbite. I don't know what a tishbite is But I wonder if they have something to you can put on your skin when you get one

12:00

The Tishbite of tishbi in Gilead he said to Ahab remember the evil wicked

12:06

Ahab who's married to Jezebel as Yahweh the God of Israel lives before whom

12:12

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

12:22

By the brook Harry's which is east of the Jordan You shall drink from the brook and I have commanded the

12:29

Ravens to feed you there So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh he went and lived by the brook

12:36

Harry's 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

12:49

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

13:09

Responsible then for the crops growing and for them being fed if Baal didn't bring the rain

13:15

Then the people wouldn't be fed and Yahweh has said enough is enough I'm gonna show you that but all doesn't bring the rain

13:23

But I do and that but all isn't even home you knock on his door Hello, but all are you there?

13:30

No one ever answers. That's kind of the point. So What Yahweh does he says to his prophet the tishbite?

13:40

There's gonna be no rain until you say so and then Elijah goes on Israel's most wanted list

13:49

That's what's going on. He's hiding out in the brook Sharif. I'm sure he's there with Jesse James and other outlaws like that And the

13:57

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

14:19

Lord came to Elijah saying arise go to Zarephath Zarephath pagan territory near Sidon Place of our gospel text today and I want you to dwell there and behold.

14:30

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

14:42

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.

14:58

This is the straw that breaks the camel's back and she says as Yahweh your

15:03

God lives I have nothing baked only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug

15:10

Notice how she describes Yahweh. She ain't my God that new Yahweh ain't my God He's your

15:16

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.

15:22

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

15:30

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

15:41

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

15:47

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

15:54

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

16:11

The jar of flour was not spent neither the did the jug of oil become empty

16:17

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

16:32

Prophet Elijah, but the last we heard from her Yahweh is still Elijah's God Elijah Yahweh is not her

16:40

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

16:51

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?

17:04

Oh man of God you have come to me to bring my sin to Remembrance and to cause the death of my son

17:14

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?

17:23

Have you ever been poignantly reminded of your own sin and your own mortality?

17:31

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

18:02

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.

18:11

Oh Yahweh my God Have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom

18:19

I sojourned by killing her son? Notice, it's a question not a statement

18:25

So then he stretched himself upon the child three times three times

18:30

Father son Holy Spirit It's all there three times and he cried to Yahweh.

18:38

Oh Yahweh my God let this child's life come in to him again and Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah and the life of the child came in to him again, and he revived and Elijah took the child brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and Delivered to him to his mother

19:02

Elijah said see your son lives and watch what happens next the woman said to Elijah now,

19:11

I Know that you are a man of God and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth

19:20

So notice in this event she confesses her sinfulness and God doesn't leave her there

19:30

God miraculously works through Elijah to restore the life of her son and now

19:37

Yahweh is no longer Elijah's God Yahweh is now hers as well

19:43

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

19:55

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

20:09

Complete need and so all of this then sets the stage So all of these little things running around in your mind set the stage to help us understand

20:18

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?

20:28

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

20:35

Time maybe work on their suntans do a little surfing It doesn't say exactly

20:41

But Tyre and Sidon is a wonderful coastal town a great place to get a little bit of our and our but it's also in Canaanite pagan territory, which for the

20:51

Jews is well an Uncomfortable experience and it says this behold a

20:57

Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying Listen to her prayer have mercy on me.

21:06

Oh Lord son of David My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon Now I think about this for a second.

21:14

Just consider what she just said. This is Amazing Amazing doctrine coming from this woman's heart have mercy on me.

21:25

Oh Lord son of David She literally is this is a prayer if this is you think of it in the in the ancient liturgy

21:33

This is the Kyrie Laison Lord. Have mercy Christ. Have mercy Lord. Have mercy, right?

21:39

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?

21:49

How on earth does this pagan Canaanite woman have such great theology and she comes to him and petitions him?

21:56

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon, but now we've got this problem one.

22:01

She's a Canaanite She's a dog two, she's a woman

22:09

Three she's crying out to Jesus in public Canaanite women are not supposed to be talking to Jewish men in public.

22:19

She's doing everything wrong But is she

22:24

I'm hearing an amazing confession of faith coming from her mouth

22:31

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

22:42

Total silence what This woman has she's in distress.

22:50

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

23:02

Christ to have mercy on her and he's just gone What?

23:10

Why? Then watch this his disciples came and begged him now

23:17

You'd think the disciples would kind of get it by now People in need love for neighbor that they would come to him and they would bake him

23:26

Jesus Please help this woman. Her daughter is demonized. You can do something about this, but watch their response

23:34

They begged him send her away She's crying out after us

23:41

Huh, you see there's kind of the problem ouch

23:48

So notice here by Jesus the silence their racism their bias their sin their love for their neighbor is shown to be deficient

24:02

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.

24:12

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.

24:25

Oh My word This would light the whole world on fire.

24:31

This would make Charlottesville look like a drop in a bucket You cannot believe what's gonna happen next

24:38

Then it says this She came and she knelt before him. Let me clean this up a little bit the

24:44

Greek here for knelt Doesn't mean that she's on her knees She's not on her knees.

24:49

This Greek word actually means that she comes no joke in the dust Throws herself at Jesus's feet

24:57

Spread eagle face down forehead on the dirt. It doesn't get any lower than this

25:05

This woman is in total need and she is humbled herself as Much as it is humanly possible to not humble yourself before the

25:13

Son of David So she knelt before him saying Lord help me and What he says next is so awful

25:25

It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs Twitter blew up Facebook went crazy

25:37

There were calls for Jesus to be defrocked as a rabbi he was burned in effigy in France and In Washington DC in Los Angeles.

25:51

That's how utterly ugly this is But see the thing is that Listen to what her response is and you'll get it.

26:06

She's not offended And in his know

26:13

She actually hears a yes And it's very fascinating It's not right to throw it to the dogs.

26:21

And so she said Yes, Lord Yeah I'm a dog and there's the confession of her sin

26:35

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

26:51

Dare you call me a dog? She says yeah

26:57

I'm a dog and This is where faith comes in Because if she heard in Jesus's no, she didn't hear a no she heard a yes

27:06

Yes, Lord, but even the dogs they eat the crumbs that fall

27:13

From their master's table if I'm a dog

27:19

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 And unlike Peter Jesus then says this

27:42

Oh woman great is your faith and now he honors her He calls her the same term woman as he called his mother in John chapter 2

27:57

Be it done for you as you desire And her daughter was healed instantly, holy smokes this

28:09

Canaanite Woman is held up in Scripture as an example to us of great faith

28:20

Peter walking on the water and then ultimately sinking is held up for us not as an example of great faith

28:27

But of little faith and doubt How can this be

28:33

This doesn't seem right But yet it is the widow of Zarephath confessed her sins and Learned that the

28:47

Word of God in the mouth of Elijah was the truth here this Canaanite woman

28:53

Whose daughter was demonized? Acknowledges that she is not worthy to receive anything from Christ and through that acknowledgement

29:02

She continues to persist Insisting that only Jesus can help her and great is her faith.

29:11

So what does God's Word say about us? Scripture so clear that we're all born dead in trespasses and sins

29:20

That none is righteous not even one that all have sinned all have fallen short

29:27

None is righteous Everybody's mouth is an open grave

29:32

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 and each and every one of us has earned from God an

29:50

Eternity in hell a fate that is even worse than any dogs

29:56

Will experience because as the movie says all dogs go to heaven It is only in confessing our great need and our unworthiness

30:06

That we are then able to receive from Christ grace

30:14

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

30:22

Falling from the table of the great wedding feast of the Lamb there's a day coming when we

30:30

Will not be sitting there eating the crumbs But we'll be feasting

30:36

Like children at the table with our father and our brother Jesus But now

30:44

This woman's faith is held up as great faith. We would be wise to pay attention

30:51

Peter has fallen woefully short and is a doubter. This woman is a believer

30:58

Lord Jesus This text challenges us and forces us to acknowledge that we've fallen so far short

31:07

Lord we confess with this woman that we too are dogs

31:13

We asked Lord that she would let your grace fall to us And the crumbs that you give us in the absolution and our baptism in the

31:22

Lord's Supper and 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 and the great wedding feast of the

31:37

Lamb in a world without end in a world without sin We ask in Jesus name

31:51

If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church You can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 159 50 470th

32:04

Avenue, Northwest Oslo, Minnesota 567 4 4 and again that address is

32:12

Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 159 5 0 470th