Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 25:15 mark.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

One thing that we can say for sure about the gods of the nations is that they cannot answer you. They have no ears to hear. They have no mouths to speak. They have no hands to act. They are constructed in our minds, or with our hands. They cannot answer you.

I wonder if this Canaanite woman had first consulted the gods of her people, Baal, Ashtorah. If she had, they did not answer her. Her daughter is still possessed by a demon. And now, after hearing no answer from the Canaanite gods, if she did ask for their help, she comes crying out to Jesus: Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! Surprisingly, she gets no answer from Him either. Not a word. But she keeps calling out, keeps asking, keeps praying—so much so that the disciples are practically begging Jesus to heal her daughter so that she will leave them alone. Send her away, because she keeps crying out after us. But Jesus says, to the disciples, and not to her: I have been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.

But that doesn’t stop her. She comes and kneels at His feet in the posture of worship, and she says, Lord, help me. Now, He does answer, but His answer seems dissatisfying, at best. It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. It is not right to take the promises and their fulfillment from Israel and give it to Canaanites—who, you’ll remember, have always been the enemies of Israel. The Canaanite gods were the ones to which the Israelites kept turning in idolatry, sometimes instead of, or alongside, Yahweh.

And what about us, when God does not answer, or does not answer in the way that we want? Do we reject Him? Conclude He does not exist? Do we turn to the gods of the nations, as Israel did, assuming that we can find a god who will both listen to us and do what we want? Are we offended and angry at God’s words to us or at the apparent silence with which our prayers are confronted?

Surprisingly, the Canaanite woman is not offended, or angry. She agrees with Jesus: Yes, Lord. It is true. I am a Canaanite. I have no place in Israel, at the table with the children. I know that I cannot ask anything by right. Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs wait under the table to eat the crumbs the children drop. That’s all I need, some crumbs of mercy and help. And now, finally, Jesus says, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” Notice the escalation: Jesus says nothing; then He speaks to the disciples about her; then He speaks to her, but essentially rejects her plea; then praises the faith that caused her to cry out to Jesus, though she had no place in Israel.

No matter how many times she would have cried out to the gods of the Canaanites, or any other gods; no matter how much you do, how much you pay, how much you cry out, how much you work, they will never answer you, because they are no gods at all. They are nothing, do nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. But this God in flesh does hear, even when it seems like He doesn’t. He will answer, even when it seems like He won’t. She knows it, believes it. She speaks to Him as if she were an Israelite: Lord, Son of David. There is no reason that she should know anything about Jesus, or His ancestry. That’s not something Canaanites should know or believe. But somehow she does. And it’s ironic, because some of the lost sheep of the house of Israel speak to Him as unbelievers, and not as Israelites.

This is not the first time such a thing has happened in the Gospel. Way back at the beginning, there were some other pagans, some other Gentiles, some worshipers of another god, who were looking for Jesus. Magi from the east came looking, and they did the same thing this woman does: they kneel down before Him in the posture of worship. They went away with great joy, as we can assume that this woman does, with the assurance of Jesus’ words.

It’s not even the first time that such a thing has been hinted at in the Scriptures. Thus says the Lord Yahweh, the one who gathers the outcasts, the exiles, the lost sheep of the house of Israel: I will gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered (56:8). As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “Everyone whom the Father draws to Me will come to Me, and I will never cast them out” (John 6:37). The Father brings this woman to the Son, and He does not cast her out. He commends her faith, because true faith always turns to Jesus. And He answers, because He is the only God who does. She keeps crying out to Him, because if He will not answer, there is no other who will. Either He is the God who answers, or there is no god at all. She knows that she cannot come to Him and take His answer for granted. She knows she does not deserve it. She cannot claim a place among God’s people by right. Yes, Lord, she says.

But the fact is, no one else can claim that place by right, either. Even the lost sheep of the house of Israel, whose Savior has appeared in the world, do not have that place by right. It is all grace, all gift. God chose to give them the promises, the patriarchs, the law and the prophets. And He chose them not because they were better or more numerous, or could somehow prove that they deserved it. When they cry out to God, it is not because they deserve it that He answers, but because that is the sort of God He is.

Neither can we claim a place by right. We are not here because we have deserved it, nor should we take it for granted. It is pure gift, pure grace. God has included all people, both Jews and Gentiles, within the arena of disobedience, but it is so He can have mercy on all. Where there is no deserving, there is only mercy. Have mercy on us, O Lord! Whatever crumbs may fall from the Lord’s table will be enough for us, because it’s all gift. But the most gracious thing is that the crumbs, the little pieces, have everything. A little bread and wine, and we get the entire living Body and Blood of Christ. A little water, and we get the entire death and resurrection of Jesus. A few words given to a fellow sinner to speak, and you get the entire forgiveness of Jesus—not only all the forgiveness of sins, but the forgiveness of all sins. When you cry out to God, know that He is the only God who answers. And answer He will, for Jesus’ sake. Today, your faith turns toward Jesus, and receives mercy at His feet. Today, it is done for you as you desire: you have Christ, in whom is all the healing, all the destruction of the devil’s power, all the mercy, all the eternal life.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 8/19/23