The text for our meditation this morning is our gospel reading from Matthew chapter 15. And at the beginning of this chapter, right before our reading for today, Jesus was encountering the Pharisees and rebuking them because they loved the traditions of men rather than the traditions of God. And Jesus rebuked them, quoting the prophet Isaiah. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. So when he encounters the Pharisees who should have believed because they had the word, they do not. But they reject the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. And after this Jesus enters into the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is not in the land of Israel. This is not the people of Israel. So you would expect there to be no faith in Tyre and Sidon. But Jesus finds faith. Finds it in the most unexpected place from this Canaanite woman who is calling after him. Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. And Jesus eventually commends this woman's faith as true and saving faith, not just a lie. O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you desire. So when Jesus encounters the people who had received the Old Testament, who should have known, they reject him. When Jesus encounters this Canaanite woman who should not have known when we think about it, she does believe. How can this be? This could only be because of the mighty works of God and what he has promised in the Old Testament. As he said in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 56, "His house will become a house of prayer, not just for the people of Israel only, but for all people." The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered." Salvation in Christ is for all Jew and Gentile, all people of all the world. But what saves someone? What makes someone part of the kingdom of God or not? It is what that Canaanite woman had: faith, true faith that trusts in Christ, Christ as savior, that trusts in him to have mercy on us. So that's the text that our that our reading from Matthew chapter 15 has for us today that the Lord saves all who call on him in faith. The Lord saves all who call on him in faith.
Throughout all of Jesus' ministry, he has been showing people who he is. That he is the Lord, the Son of David, the Word made flesh, who comes to take away the sin of the world. He has been met with mixed reactions. Some people have very clearly said this about him. Others have rejected. John the Baptist from the beginning of Jesus' ministry pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." And God clearly declared who Jesus is at Jesus', at Jesus' baptism: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." And Jesus shows the people who he is through his teaching with authority and through his miracles, his compassion on the people and his ability to save them. And then also showing that he has authority over our bodies and the ability to forgive our sins. And yet throughout his ministry, he is met with mixed reactions. We have the crowds who follow him to receive mercy from him. We have his disciples who follow him and sometimes get it right about who he is and sometimes don't seem to get who he is at all. And then we have the religious leaders that seem to utterly reject Jesus. But then seemingly out of nowhere, we have this Canaanite woman who has a beautiful and clear confession of faith about who Jesus is and what he has come to do. She cries out to him, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." And there's so much packed in to this statement of faith that she says when she cries out to Jesus. First, she calls him Lord, acknowledging him that he is almighty, all-powerful, that he is the Lord, the Son of God. And then she calls him the Son of David, acknowledging his kingship. He's not just an ordinary man, but he is the royal Son of David who has power and authority. And then what does she ask? Have mercy on me, for my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. And by asking him to do something about it, she proclaims in faith that he has power to do something about it. So she calls him Lord, calls him Son of David, and then asks him for a miracle, showing that she believes that he is the true Lord who has the power to do such things. What an amazing statement of faith we have from this Canaanite woman. So amazing that we ask ourselves, how did this possibly come to be? How did this random woman in Tyre and Sidon come to believe that Jesus is Lord, believe that he is Son of David and then believe that he has the power to do these things? We don't know exactly how the message of who Jesus is and what he had done got to this woman. Perhaps it was proclaimed in all the region and she heard it through the grapevine. Maybe she had at some point gone and listened to Jesus herself. We don't really know how she heard about Jesus and who he is. But we do know that her faith did come to her by hearing and that faith came to her through God. That's what we were talking about just a couple weeks ago, just last week actually in the Epistle to the Romans, that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And then in our epistle readings for today from Romans chapter 11, so too at the present time there is a remnant, that is those who believe, and it is chosen by grace. So how could this Canaanite woman believe? It's through hearing the word of Christ and it is through the Holy Spirit creating faith in her heart, a gift from God. And then we could say the same thing for every one of us as well. How is it possible that any of us believe? It's the same way. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit created in our hearts through hearing the word, the Holy Spirit acting through the word of God to create faith in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the only way that any of us here right now or the Canaanite woman then could come to faith at all.
And then we also see in this woman the fulfillment of God's desire to save all people, both Jews and Gentiles. As God said in Isaiah 56:8, our Old Testament reading, "The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, 'I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.'" And we have to emphasize that this is God's plan from the beginning. It is God's plan from the beginning that he would save all the world through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not some kind of plan B like he tried with the Jews in the Old Testament and that didn't work out so well, so then he just switched over to everybody else. No, his plan from the beginning was to save all people through the Son of David, Jesus Christ our Lord. The Jews in the Old Testament would be used and the offspring of Abraham would bring about our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, who would be for all people. That's always been God's plan, spoken in John 3:16 so clearly: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." And then 1 Timothy 2:4, God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And what is that factor that makes it so someone is saved or not? It is faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is faith that he is the Son of David, faith that he is the Son of God, our Lord who takes away the sin of the world through the shedding of his blood on the cross. It's not on account of who we are by birth. St. Paul said this very clearly in Romans 9:6-8: "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.' This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring." Someone doesn't get to just automatically be right with God because they are a Jew according to the flesh. They must believe in Christ in order to be saved. And some Jews reject Jesus just like the Pharisees did. And then in contrast, some Gentiles believe in Jesus like the Canaanite woman did. The key is faith. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And then it's also not on account of our works or that I deserve something from God: "I'm such a good person that I deserve him to save me." That's not where it comes from either. This is what St. Paul said in Romans 11:6: "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." So, what makes someone a child of God and receive the forgiveness of sins is by faith in Christ and receiving his grace, his gift, his forgiveness of sins that was won through Christ alone on the cross. And this faith, this saving faith is beautifully shown by the Canaanite woman in our gospel reading for today.
She clings to Jesus in her hour of need. And she continues to cling to Jesus no matter what. Because if you caught it, from her perspective, the conversation doesn't really seem to go very well. Were you wondering when you heard that, why is Jesus acting this way? First she cries out, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And then Jesus doesn't even respond. He did not answer her a word. And then after the disciples say, "Jesus, just send this lady away," he responds, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And then finally, she keeps coming to him and says, "Lord, help me." And does that change his answer? No. He says it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Why does Jesus act this way? Why does Jesus respond this way? We can't know the infinitely beautiful reasons for why Jesus speaks and does exactly what he does. But I would like to put forward this reason: I believe that Jesus responds in this way to give that woman an opportunity to declare her beautiful faith in Christ. To cling to Christ no matter what it seems on the surface is happening. To cling to Christ and to declare her faith in him no matter what. Because she could have gotten mad and just said, "Well, Jesus, if you're going to talk to me that way, then never mind." Or she could have appealed to how much she deserved it: "Jesus, I deserve to have you do this for me, so you better listen to me." But then she doesn't respond that way. How does she respond? "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." "I do not deserve anything from you, Jesus. I do not deserve that you should do what I ask. I don't deserve that you came for me. All I'm asking is that you would have mercy on me. All I'm asking is that you would give me whatever you will." What beautiful faith this woman answered with. And that's the same thing that all who call upon Christ in faith believe. What did we say at the beginning of the service? "Jesus, I am a poor, miserable sinner. I don't deserve anything. You didn't come to earth because I'm so great. You came to earth because you loved me. You went to the cross because you loved me and wanted to have compassion and mercy on me. And I will just simply hold out my hands and receive whatever you will give me." That's faith. That's clinging to Christ no matter what.
And Jesus responds to the woman in a way that is much different than he had been responding previously. "O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed. And that is always how Jesus acts for his people. You've seen this in the last couple chapters that we've been going through in Matthew. He looked on the crowd and he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. He looked on the crowd when they were hungry and he fed them. And he didn't just give them a little bit; he gave them the overflowing baskets of the leftovers. Jesus looked at her in her need and healed her daughter—gave her exactly what she needed and asked for. And that is always the way Jesus acts when it comes to us poor, miserable sinners. He gives himself. He gives his whole life, taking on the form of a servant in coming to earth at all and then marching to the cross and giving up his whole life, shedding his lifeblood so that you could have the forgiveness of sins in him. So that your sins could be washed away in him and so that you could get the riches of his grace and the abundance of eternal life that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. And dear friends in Christ, that is what he continues to do in our church. Jesus is not stingy with you in his church, but he keeps giving you the wonderful gift of his word. He showers you with the waters of holy baptism when he joins you to himself. He gives you his own body and blood in the Lord's Supper where he abundantly pours out his forgiveness to you and gives it to you each and every day. That's what he offers to you—not because you deserve it, but because he loves you and he wants to have grace and mercy on you. And all of this is to feed our faith, so we can continue to know that he is good, so we can continue to cling to him in all circumstances and then finally attain the abundance of everlasting life in the kingdom of heaven that will have no end. So dear friends in Christ, cling to Jesus because of who he is. He is the Lord. He is the Son of David. And cling to him because of what he has done for you: that he has given up his whole life, shed his blood to forgive your sins, risen from the dead so that you can have life forever with him. When you're in times of your life where it seems like what you're seeing doesn't line up with what Jesus has promised, do not fall into the temptation of thinking that God has abandoned you. Just like when Jesus did not answer the woman a word, but she continued to cling to him in faith, kept asking. Don't get to the point where you say, "God must just be ignoring me. God just hates me." But remember what Christ has done for you. And even if he does not answer yes to something that you are particularly praying for right now, remember the abundance that he has given you through his Son. Even if he does not answer yes to something particularly that you're asking for in this life, remember that he has given you eternity. Remember that he has shed his blood for you and given his whole life so that you can have eternal life with God forever. Remember that because, like St. Paul says, nothing in this world can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Whatever is taken away from us in this life, it's not that God is ignoring you. It's not that God hates you, but it is that he will restore everything in the kingdom of heaven. That he will give you a hundredfold in the kingdom of heaven. And that he has already won that for you through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This promise is yours. This gift is yours. Cling to him in faith, for his mercies are for all who call upon him in faith. Amen. And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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