Jesus speaks today, saying:
“O woman, great is your faith.”
Consider this Canaanite woman. She neither reaps nor sows.
She has not been apart of God’s chosen people. She has not planted her own
faith, neither has she built it up, yet she possesses it and it really shows up
today.
She is on fire. First off, it takes a lot of courage to
speak to a public figure in public. And it takes even more to admit a personal
problem in front of everyone, not even mentioning the extremely embarrassing
fact that it is demon possession. How would you feel?
But, she does it. She gathers everything she has and shouts
at Jesus. Then she tries again. Possibly Jesus didn’t hear over the nasty
grumblings of the disciples. Undeterred, she lets loose another round of
prayer.
Maybe she will get what she wants this time. She knows what
to say and when to say it, if she just hangs in there. She knows she has to be
humble and sincere and really mean it. Once Jesus sees her courage,
persistence, and abject humility, He must give in. If Jesus wants to save face
in the public eye, He can’t refuse such a display, can He?!
Because, to the public and to you, she is a hero. She is
battling female oppression. She is standing up for what she believes in. She is
demanding justice and she is doing it all while being clever and humble.
This interaction seems to be a very unflattering point in
Jesus’ ministry. He tries to save things by making things right in the end, but
the damage to His kindly image is done. Not only did He initially refuse to
answer this woman, but He also refused to help her.
You have no answer to this. You want to be on Jesus’ side,
here and make some excuse for Him like, “its all for the best”, but Jesus may
have stuck to His guns and completely refused her. Are you less inclined to
fear love and trust Him now? Will you not have His back unless He has yours?
Repent. You believe that there is no justice unless God
heals this woman’s daughter. You believe that she has shown herself to be
deeply committed and deeply devoted. And yet, it is exactly these things that
Jesus rejects.
It wasn’t that long ago that the tables were reversed. God
had created the universe in six days and begged Adam for an answer. God also
saw the complete corruption of Noah, saved him, and wondered why that family
did not remain faithful. God shouted at the whole world through Moses, the
psalms, and all the prophets and the world did not answer Him a word.
The devil oppresses your ears and tells Jesus that He can go
save some other people. Your sinful nature agrees and rejects Jesus at His word
and says He is too harsh, too intolerant, and too unloving. He demands too much
and requires the impossible. There is no way to please Him.
But that is just the point. Jesus demands perfection because
anything less is worthless. Jesus requires the impossible, because anything
less is not worth the effort. Jesus rejects the most holiest deeds, not because
they are bad, but because they are not His.
The only reason this section of holy Scripture seems
unflattering is because you read it backwards. You read it as you playing the
part of the Canaanite woman and it reveals how hard your life is and how hard
you work at being a good person.
How you need to read this is with the Canaanite woman
playing the part of Jesus. As we have already said, In all of history it has
been God who has been the beggar, been the pleader, and has been rejected. And
in Jesus this all comes to a head.
Jesus, is the final plea of the Lord. Jesus is God, kneeling
before His fallen creation, begging for you to turn back to Him through Word
and Sacrament. But, unlike Jesus, we do not give God what He desires, even
after a lifetime of burying His face in the dust.
What’s missing is a final step. What the Canaanite woman
does not do, or more to the point, is prevented from doing, is offering the
final sacrifice in what it takes to get a god to do your will. That final step
is blood. That final step to show your god how committed you are and that you
really mean business, is to offer your own life as payment.
Jesus stops the woman at that point, because He will be the
only one to take that final step. Being completely rejected by His own
creation, even His own people, Jesus having even bowed to their every request,
Jesus is sacrificed. In your sin, you do not show God mercy, but Jesus shows
mercy to the woman and to you, without your sacrifice and good works.
Jesus shows mercy, not just by healing this daughter, but by
dying for her. She did not deserve it. She did not even come herself to ask for
help. Yet the gift remains the same.
You also did not ask God to send His only Son. You did not
ask God to beg you for anything. You did not ask God for handouts and you
certainly did not ask Him to give up His prized possession. Far be it from you
to demand such a thing.
But this is what He gives you. He is not waiting for your
life to turn around. He is not waiting for you to learn how to pray or how to
evangelize or how to get Him to do something. He takes the initiative and gives
everything He has to you. He rejects what you offer and gives you what He
offers.
That is: eternal life, light, and forgiveness of sins. For, in
the great faith that the cross of Christ wins for you, you stand, then in the
place of Jesus. You then have these great works of faith, similar to the
Canaanite woman. Not that they make God love you, but that they show how much
God already loves you.
In this backwards way, Jesus destroys your sinful actions
and thoughts, taking them to the cross. He does not allow anything to get in
the way of this forgiveness of sins He is giving to you. He will not allow
anything less than perfection and the entire kingdom of God
Jesus takes your sins, your works, and your devotion and is
crucified, in order that He have the glory. The same great faith that begs of
God; the same great faith that keeps Jesus on the cross, is the same great
faith you need and have as a free gift of God.
Your blessedness is given to you without works. Your
salvation and righteousness comes at the same time that God justifies you by
faith. If you wish to be sure of your salvation, do not look the secret counsel
of God, but hear Christ.
Hear Christ Jesus, Who is the Book of Life, say that it is
God’s will that all men should come to Him who labor and are heavy laden with
sin, in order that Jesus give them rest from ALL their work. Even bowing down
like a dog, work.
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