Grace, Mercy and Peace to your from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
Perhaps you remember the game “Follow the Leader”. This children’s game is a timeless game, which has the leader walks around making those following him or her do some pretty ridiculous things. Those who fail to follow are out of the game until only one is left and that person then becomes the new leader. If you have ever gone to a motivational seminar on leadership, one of the mantras they will try to teach you is: Lead, Follow or get out of the way meaning if you are not part of the leadership or the rest of the team, please get out of our way so we can be all we are meant to be. In our text, we have a similar theme: Jesus says, I’ll lead, Peter and you disciples of mine, get behind me and follow and Satan, you get out of the way.
In today’s Gospel lesson which will also serve as our text, we see a disciple who strays from his position as follower to leader. It’s not that Peter wants to lead, but his passion gets the best of him and he momentarily usurps the role from Jesus in order to confront him.
Simon Peter, the disciple, who in last week’s Gospel, was given a revelation from God to which he confessed that he believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus was excited that Peter had received this revelation from his Father and told Simon so in his blessing. “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.” This whole scene might beg the question; did Peter really know what it meant to confess this man as Messiah?
Every boy in the Jewish faith was taught about the Messiah from early on in their life, and what his coming meant for God’s chosen people. They studied the Law and the Prophets being taught what kind of man was fit to be Christ, but what Peter did not understand was the kind of treatment such a Messiah might expect from the world.
With this confession now out in the open, our text says that Jesus began to teach them or show them the suffering he must go through at the hands of the Elders, Chief Priests and Scribes and then to be killed and on the third day to be raised. Surely Jesus had alluded to such things before this time, but now there was urgency in his teaching. Because Peter doesn’t understand why Messiah must be treated this way, he reacts as one would react to a parent or leader of the family who tells you that he or she is terminally ill with only months to live. Our reaction to this news would be incredulous, hard to believe. Peter’s reaction, though understandable is not right though. He goes to Jesus and his passion for his friend says,
“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
Jesus has heard this before when he was in the desert and Satan came to him with the temptation to bypass the cross and receive the glory of the world by bowing to him. His words to Satan at that time were, “depart from me Satan, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Jesus response to Peter is even more pointed, “Get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” It sounds like he is calling Simon Peter, SATAN! Actually he is, but he is also talking to both Simon and the Adversary. Peter, take your place behind me and be a follower. Satan, LEAVE for you are a hindrance. Simon Peter’s mistake here was that he cared more for Jesus comfort than for his character.
Jesus called Satan a hindrance because he thought as Man thinks, not as God thinks. Because it was Peter he was looking at, his message was Peter, you need to stop thinking as man thinks and trust me. Ever since Satan appeared to Adam and Eve as the serpent and tempted them with the idea that they could be like God by eating fruit from the forbidden tree in the middle of the Garden, Satan has been hindrance or obstacle for man. In Genesis 3:14-15, we read God’s curse of the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
This last line, “and you shall bruise his heel” is what Jesus means by a hindrance. What Simon Peter is doing with his rebuke is merely striking Jesus heel. Jesus said, “You are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” We were created by God, in his image, to have fellowship with Him. He created us with the ability to think as God thinks, but Satan’s tempted us with a lie. Satan led us to believe that by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that we would then be able to think as God thinks. However, since God created us without sin, we already had the capacity to think in a Godly, righteous manner. We lost it by believing Satan’s lie and not God’s truth.
So man bought into Satan’s lie, but Jesus did not. “But Vicar, Jesus was God, of course he didn’t fall for Satan’s lie.” Yes, Jesus is God! However, he also yielded some of his Godly power to be human like you and me. As it says in Philippians 2 verse 6-7, “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Because he was God, He knew Satan’s lie for what it was and blew him off with the word of God. But that did not mean that he wasn’t tempted by what Satan offered, but he had the power to resist the temptation. Throughout Jesus earthly ministry, Satan continually bit at his heel with temptation after temptation. The closer Jesus came to the day of his impending death, the more insidious the temptations became.
Jesus goal, as he told the disciples was to suffer many things at the hands of the Elders, Chief Priests and Scribes and to be put to death and be raised on the third day. The Cross was where he would receive his glory when he finally proclaimed the words, “It is finished!” To bruise or better yet, CRUSH the head of that Serpent once and for all was accomplished when He walked out of the tomb on the third day.
So what does Jesus mean when he says, “If anyone would come after me. . .”
If anyone desires to come after me or follow me, must not put self above God. If anyone desires to follow me, must love his neighbor as himself. If anyone desires to follow me, must like me take up the cross and die. As sinful human beings, we do not desire God. We are constantly wishing to put ourselves above him, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden. We often despise our neighbors rather than love them. We have no desire to be punished for anyone’s sins let alone ours.
Jesus Christ never sought to save his life because if he had, we remain condemned in our sin. He gave up instant glory for the glory of the cross by giving himself over to enemy, but always trusting his Father to receive the payment he was making on our behalf. He took up the cross they made him carry and they bound him to it with nails and rope. He led the way to salvation through his death and resurrection. He gave his body for you for the forgiveness of sins. He shed his blood to put your sin in complete remission. He rose from the dead to crush the head of the serpent and restore us to our pre-sin state of life. Jesus gave to us what we could never in eternity do for ourselves.
This is what it means to follow Jesus. He came to take up the cross, a symbol of shame and torture. Anyone willing to follow Jesus must do the same. But he knows we cannot truly follow him in this way because we are not willing of our own free desires to lose our life for his sake. Jesus died for our sake, not his own. He saved us through his act of mercy to take the punishment in our place. God so loved the World that he gave his only BEGOTTEN son.
At Pentecost, which we celebrated some 16 weeks ago, the Holy Spirit descended upon those who believed Jesus as Messiah. The Holy Spirit is God living in us. We are empowered to follow Jesus, but we still fight our sinful desires. We are empowered to send Satan’s temptations out of our way in the name of Jesus. With the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to think as God thinks.
Paul reminds us of this very thing in Colossians chapter 3.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Let us pray, Lord God, from you, Peter received the information needed to make his confession of faith. We come before you now as redeemed creation with the ability afforded to us by Your Holy Spirit, we confess our faith in you, the triune God. Help us always to keep our hearts and minds on heavenly things and not on earthly things. Bless us daily with your Holy Spirit to fight those hindrances the Devil puts in our way, which attempt to compel us to give up what you did on the cross for our salvation. Strengthen us daily through your word and through your sacraments. In the name of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.
August 17, 2008
Sermon Text: Matthew 15:21-28
Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
WHAT IS GREAT FAITH? How does one measure this against other faith?
Surely in the 21st century we probably could name some people with whom we consider to have great faith. Possibly some of you might put Billy Graham on your list, or perhaps a relative like a grandmother or aunt. In the scriptures we think of Job or Abraham as men of great faith from the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, Jesus only has two people of whom he says had great faith.
The first person Jesus said had great faith, was the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8. He was exhorted by Christ as having a faith greater than all those in Israel because he believed that if Christ gave his word, it was good enough to heal his servant, who was back at the Centurion’s home.
The second person of whom Jesus said also had great faith is woman from our Gospel text, the Canaanite woman. Why is this Canaanite woman greater in faith than the disciples are? She is not a Jew, or an Israelite so how could she have possibly a greater faith than God’s chosen people? Jesus and his disciples had traveled to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. They were no longer traveling in Israel, but primarily in Gentile territory, when almost immediately upon arriving met, this most unwelcome woman. She had two strikes against her before she even approached Jesus. In verse 21, we read the word “Behold” to announce the presence of the woman who has come to Christ with her plea. “Behold” is a word, which is meant to grab our attention to something very important. It is no different here because it does indeed grab our attention. In the early parts of Matthew, it was used to announce the presence of an Angel, but here it is more like, “Ewwww Look!”
a. The sight of this Canaanite woman most likely caused red flags to go up in the disciple’s eyes. To the disciples the presence of this foreign woman was rather repulsive . Canaanites were considered unclean. They practiced pagan rituals; they were dogs. You would think the disciples would have known there might be a chance of meeting up with some of these Canaanites when they entered this region? You can’t go into a foreign land without expecting to see some of the locals, can you?
1. Upon seeing Jesus, this woman cries out, “Have mercy on me, Son of David, my daughter is being tormented by a demon. The term “Son of David” is a reference to Jesus Messiahship. Not even the disciples have confessed this about him yet and here is this “WOMAN” referring to him in this manner. Their eyes are most likely on their master at this moment to see his response to this woman’s crying out to him. However, they don’t see him retreating to get away from her at all. In fact, he is standing there silent just looking at This woman.
ii. This woman of Canaan continues crying out for mercy despite the silent treatment she receives from Jesus. Our text says the disciples went to him and asked him to send her away because she was crying after them now. The disciples are certainly not like Jesus who stood silent; they went to him hoping he had some solution to this problematic woman.
iii. How often have you or I been this way with others? Most children learn what this woman employed, at a young age. “How far can we push our parents until they either discipline us or give in to our demands?” It is a tactic usually reserved for grocery store checkout lines where all the goodies are usually kept.
iv. What Christ tells them though is not what they want to hear. His response to his disciples puzzle us because it seems cold and indifferent. We like to think of Jesus as being more compassionate and understanding of this woman’s need; of our need for mercy.
v. Yet, Jesus says to them, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” To us, it might seem like Jesus has picked an odd time to be exclusive to his own people. But is that what he is really doing, or is he testing this woman’s faith? When she first arrived, she called him “Son of David”. He certainly didn’t come into town announcing his kingship. In fact, according to gospel, chapter 7 verse 24, He and his disciples tried to hide from the crowd in a house, but to no avail.
vi. We see in this woman a desire to have her daughter freed from this torment by a demon. She is not approaching Jesus for her own personal needs, but for her daughter. She overhears Jesus words to his disciples about being sent only to those in Israel and in exasperation says, ‘Lord, Help me.’
vii. Jesus finally responds to the woman and her plea directly, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and feed it to the dogs.” With these words, Jesus puts this woman’s faith to the test. He was calling her a dog as many of the house of Israel had done. She had two options, give up and go home to her tormented daughter, or do what our text says she did. She responded to his insult with these words, “Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs of the bread which falls from the table of the Master.” She admits that she is no more than a “dog”; that she is not deserving of the same blessings, as those of the house of Israel, but she can at the very least wait for the crumbs, which fall from the table of the Master.
II. “THIS”, Jesus said is Great Faith. The first sign of great faith is humility. The realization that I am not worthy of being in the presence of the Lord, let alone ask him for anything.
III. Bo Giertz, the Late Bishop in the Gothenburg diocese in the Church of Sweden said this about great faith. One thing that marks a great faith. “Say only one word.” More than anything else, it is faith in the word of Christ. Faith needs this word and it takes a firm grip on his word and holds it tightly. By itself, faith has nothing but mistakes and failures. It is often prone to doubt that there is any faith at all. But faith is sure that the saying is “worthy of full acceptance,” that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of which I am Chief. A great faith, therefore, can reside in a person who feels nothing but weakness in himself. The great faith can say, “I believe, help my unbelief!”
a. Faith, which is great in God’s eyes, is a faith that persists in prayer regardless of one’s own unworthiness. It does not seek feelings, wait for victories or seek successes to validate it. One who has great faith recognizes their inability to do anything other than wait for Christ’s next words even if they seem harsh and cruel. We must wait patiently for the word he will give us which may also exalt us.
IV. We, like this woman, are unworthy by ourselves to come to Jesus. We have troubles in our lives much like she does. We are perhaps struggling with our children’s problems, or perhaps we are struggling with problems regarding our elderly parents, such as going into a long-term care facility. Maybe you’re struggling in your relationship with your spouse or maybe you are single and wanting God to bring that significant person into your life. Whatever your problem is, know that you can bring it to the Lord and ask for mercy. Because we often feel unworthy to bring our requests to him, we may think that our Lord doesn’t hear us or is ignoring us, but we must keep on trying. The Lord may choose to test in our faith in some way, which may cause us to doubt our faith, but because of what He did for you and me on the Cross at Calvary and three days later leaving the tomb alive again, we are given the assurance he hears our prayers and does answer them. We have to also be prepared to hear the word “No.” and know that his mercy is still there for us.
V. The bottom line in all this is that Jesus died for you, for me, for this Canaanite woman for the Roman Centurion, for his disciples and for all mankind. His death was a victory for us over sin, and the devil. His resurrection was the victory over death and the grave. He has taken away our unworthiness and replaced it with his worthiness. When God looks at us, he sees His Son in us. We may be tested in our faith from time to time, but know that his tests only seek to strengthen your faith in what you know to be true. That Jesus Christ is Lord of All. Amen!
Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
WHAT IS GREAT FAITH? How does one measure this against other faith?
Surely in the 21st century we probably could name some people with whom we consider to have great faith. Possibly some of you might put Billy Graham on your list, or perhaps a relative like a grandmother or aunt. In the scriptures we think of Job or Abraham as men of great faith from the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, Jesus only has two people of whom he says had great faith.
The first person Jesus said had great faith, was the Roman Centurion in Matthew 8. He was exhorted by Christ as having a faith greater than all those in Israel because he believed that if Christ gave his word, it was good enough to heal his servant, who was back at the Centurion’s home.
The second person of whom Jesus said also had great faith is woman from our Gospel text, the Canaanite woman. Why is this Canaanite woman greater in faith than the disciples are? She is not a Jew, or an Israelite so how could she have possibly a greater faith than God’s chosen people? Jesus and his disciples had traveled to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. They were no longer traveling in Israel, but primarily in Gentile territory, when almost immediately upon arriving met, this most unwelcome woman. She had two strikes against her before she even approached Jesus. In verse 21, we read the word “Behold” to announce the presence of the woman who has come to Christ with her plea. “Behold” is a word, which is meant to grab our attention to something very important. It is no different here because it does indeed grab our attention. In the early parts of Matthew, it was used to announce the presence of an Angel, but here it is more like, “Ewwww Look!”
a. The sight of this Canaanite woman most likely caused red flags to go up in the disciple’s eyes. To the disciples the presence of this foreign woman was rather repulsive . Canaanites were considered unclean. They practiced pagan rituals; they were dogs. You would think the disciples would have known there might be a chance of meeting up with some of these Canaanites when they entered this region? You can’t go into a foreign land without expecting to see some of the locals, can you?
1. Upon seeing Jesus, this woman cries out, “Have mercy on me, Son of David, my daughter is being tormented by a demon. The term “Son of David” is a reference to Jesus Messiahship. Not even the disciples have confessed this about him yet and here is this “WOMAN” referring to him in this manner. Their eyes are most likely on their master at this moment to see his response to this woman’s crying out to him. However, they don’t see him retreating to get away from her at all. In fact, he is standing there silent just looking at This woman.
ii. This woman of Canaan continues crying out for mercy despite the silent treatment she receives from Jesus. Our text says the disciples went to him and asked him to send her away because she was crying after them now. The disciples are certainly not like Jesus who stood silent; they went to him hoping he had some solution to this problematic woman.
iii. How often have you or I been this way with others? Most children learn what this woman employed, at a young age. “How far can we push our parents until they either discipline us or give in to our demands?” It is a tactic usually reserved for grocery store checkout lines where all the goodies are usually kept.
iv. What Christ tells them though is not what they want to hear. His response to his disciples puzzle us because it seems cold and indifferent. We like to think of Jesus as being more compassionate and understanding of this woman’s need; of our need for mercy.
v. Yet, Jesus says to them, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” To us, it might seem like Jesus has picked an odd time to be exclusive to his own people. But is that what he is really doing, or is he testing this woman’s faith? When she first arrived, she called him “Son of David”. He certainly didn’t come into town announcing his kingship. In fact, according to gospel, chapter 7 verse 24, He and his disciples tried to hide from the crowd in a house, but to no avail.
vi. We see in this woman a desire to have her daughter freed from this torment by a demon. She is not approaching Jesus for her own personal needs, but for her daughter. She overhears Jesus words to his disciples about being sent only to those in Israel and in exasperation says, ‘Lord, Help me.’
vii. Jesus finally responds to the woman and her plea directly, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and feed it to the dogs.” With these words, Jesus puts this woman’s faith to the test. He was calling her a dog as many of the house of Israel had done. She had two options, give up and go home to her tormented daughter, or do what our text says she did. She responded to his insult with these words, “Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs of the bread which falls from the table of the Master.” She admits that she is no more than a “dog”; that she is not deserving of the same blessings, as those of the house of Israel, but she can at the very least wait for the crumbs, which fall from the table of the Master.
II. “THIS”, Jesus said is Great Faith. The first sign of great faith is humility. The realization that I am not worthy of being in the presence of the Lord, let alone ask him for anything.
III. Bo Giertz, the Late Bishop in the Gothenburg diocese in the Church of Sweden said this about great faith. One thing that marks a great faith. “Say only one word.” More than anything else, it is faith in the word of Christ. Faith needs this word and it takes a firm grip on his word and holds it tightly. By itself, faith has nothing but mistakes and failures. It is often prone to doubt that there is any faith at all. But faith is sure that the saying is “worthy of full acceptance,” that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of which I am Chief. A great faith, therefore, can reside in a person who feels nothing but weakness in himself. The great faith can say, “I believe, help my unbelief!”
a. Faith, which is great in God’s eyes, is a faith that persists in prayer regardless of one’s own unworthiness. It does not seek feelings, wait for victories or seek successes to validate it. One who has great faith recognizes their inability to do anything other than wait for Christ’s next words even if they seem harsh and cruel. We must wait patiently for the word he will give us which may also exalt us.
IV. We, like this woman, are unworthy by ourselves to come to Jesus. We have troubles in our lives much like she does. We are perhaps struggling with our children’s problems, or perhaps we are struggling with problems regarding our elderly parents, such as going into a long-term care facility. Maybe you’re struggling in your relationship with your spouse or maybe you are single and wanting God to bring that significant person into your life. Whatever your problem is, know that you can bring it to the Lord and ask for mercy. Because we often feel unworthy to bring our requests to him, we may think that our Lord doesn’t hear us or is ignoring us, but we must keep on trying. The Lord may choose to test in our faith in some way, which may cause us to doubt our faith, but because of what He did for you and me on the Cross at Calvary and three days later leaving the tomb alive again, we are given the assurance he hears our prayers and does answer them. We have to also be prepared to hear the word “No.” and know that his mercy is still there for us.
V. The bottom line in all this is that Jesus died for you, for me, for this Canaanite woman for the Roman Centurion, for his disciples and for all mankind. His death was a victory for us over sin, and the devil. His resurrection was the victory over death and the grave. He has taken away our unworthiness and replaced it with his worthiness. When God looks at us, he sees His Son in us. We may be tested in our faith from time to time, but know that his tests only seek to strengthen your faith in what you know to be true. That Jesus Christ is Lord of All. Amen!
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