Roger's Postings

Friday, August 12, 2011


Matthew 15:21-28.                 Faith has no bounds!               14/8/11

 {21}  Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. {22} A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." {23} Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." {24} He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." {25} The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. {26} He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." {27} "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." {28} Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 "You are a person of great faith!" These words were not spoken to a Jew, or a good Lutheran, but to a woman from a heathen nation: A foreigner, and a person who was considered beyond hope and beyond help. [Perhaps a modern equivalent would be an Arab from a muslin nation]. It surely does put us to shame to hear this story; and do you know, that is exactly what it was meant to do. This event is intended to make us stop and think; and in fact the whole three reading make the same point. It is intended to make us who call ourselves Christians - people of God – to make us stop and listen and think.

 In these readings we are reminded that the Good News of Jesus Christ is going out, and is intended to go out, to people on the outside: people who do not deserve to hear the message are and need to; and their response of faith is to help us understand what faith really is and to grow in our reliance on Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us.

 So God is using this opportunity to challenge us to look to him for mercy and help, and to look to him to strengthen our relationship with him rather than trusting in ourselves and our knowledge, or goodness, or any of those other things that we so often place our trust in. Here he is trying to encourage, coerce and even to shame us: trying to do whatever he can to bring his own people back into a faithful and committed relationship with himself: trying to get us again to trust in him instead of all that our society and the devil is foisting on us: instead of on what our sinful human nature focuses on; which is me and myself. And to do so knowing that he is the supreme God – the only God – the only one who has the power to really be of help to us.

 Now a modern parable to bring home the point may well go like this:

A city boy – a young man and his family went out to the country and bought a farm, and arrived knowing very little about farming and the hard work involved. Now the locals laughed amongst themselves - looking down on this young upstart from the city: it would only be a matter of time and he would go broke, after all, times are really tough, even for the locals. Over recent years they'd started following all the new methods that were touted as being as being the way ahead: they were doing what they could to make life easier for themselves, trying to cut down on their costs – both financial and physical, and were out to make every post a winning post. They had become big and prosperous farmers: well that was the impression they were trying to give and live up to, even if looks belied what lay underneath. Anyway now this young city upstart appears on the scene thinking he is going to make a go of farming, when they themselves were struggling.

 Well, very quickly he got to know one of the old farmers who had been around for many, many years. This old guy was not one of the big farmers - not part of the in crowd, but he was quietly successful and contented. So this young man persistently sought out advice from him; listening intently to what he had to say, and in order to carry through on what he had learnt from old man he knew he would have to work hard. But he was committed to doing the best he possibly could, because knew his and his families survival depended on it.

 As the years went by the locals started to notice that his crops were better than theirs, and his cattle were bigger, fatter and better than theirs. This young bloke and his family were contented and happy: they were making a good fist of what had become a burdensome          task for them. Now as a result many of the locals became even more hardened in their attitude toward this young man and did what ever they could to pull him down. But the smart locals however were shamed by what they saw and so took stock of their own lives and practices, and did something about it.

 Now in many ways, such is the message of our text. So let us here heed this call of God on our own lives; allowing his mercy and help - his assurance of forgiveness and salvation, to draw us back into a totally committed relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ: Seeking to have the kind of faith that the Canaanite woman had in this reading.

You see, she knew she was a person who had no rights – she was a Gentile and a pagan. She had no right to call on Jesus and expect his help - but she did, and she did so because she believed that he alone could help her: that he alone could give her what she needed. She trusted in God's mercy despite her unworthiness, and knew that he would not let her down. And even when the going got really tough, she hung in there; she wouldn't let anyone or anything fob her off from the only source of help and hope that she had. She didn't hang back, silent and inactive. Even the attitude of Jesus’ disciples, who merely wanted to get rid of her to stop her persistent nagging, did not hold her back. Nor was she hindered by the denominational and theological objections that were put to her. Even the apparent insults didn't stand in her way.

 She continued to cry out for help. She knew she had a great need, which could not be taken care of in any other way; and her need was not for herself but for her daughter's life which was at stake. And the only one who could do anything about it was God Almighty himself. So she persisted and persisted – nagged and nagged. At the same time, she never argued; never made excuses; there was no claim that she was a good woman, a faithful wife or a loving mother, that she somehow deserved to have this help, or that it was her right to have it. She simply comes to Jesus without one plea and throws herself and her need before him, seeking what only he can give. And it is this persistent faith – this simple trust - this cry for help; that Jesus does not ignore and which she is commended for. ‘You are a person of great faith

We need to remember it is the same for us. We come here regularly, not because we are worthy or deserve to be here: not because have a right to God's forgiveness and help: We come not in order to have our wants and selfish ego's pandered to: nor in order to have some sort of standing in our society or whatever. But we come because we too have a great need which only God can fill. We come because God is who he is. We come to receive the help that only he can give, so we come to be washed clean, forgiven, and assured that there is hope and life. We come to listen and be guided by him: we come because he wants us to come.

We cannot get through life on our own. We cannot work our way into God’s presence, as we are sinful and unclean and fall a long way short of what is needed and required: no matter who we are. We all are turned in on ourselves and too often do not even consider God and his will for us. Throughout life because of the sinfulness of humanity we bring calamity and hardship on ourselves, and there is no human way out of this mess. Without God’s help we would surely end up in Hell. Nothing is surer.

 Into this situation there is only one source of help and hope, and that is in the Almighty God himself, through Jesus Christ. So we are encouraged to look to trust that he alone is our only source of help, strength, hope and forgiveness: To know that he is the only one who has those things that we really need for this life and the next. Here we are challenged to look to him in this way; to trust that he is our only source of real help, and to call on him for that help; knowing now that because of Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection, that he will heed our call and help us in whatever our situation may be: even if it is but a few leftover crumbs.

 So today, may our gracious God stir this faith up in our hearts, and give us this same trust that is mentioned here; and may that faith be with us throughout our days so that Jesus may also commend us: "you are a person of great faith". God grant this blessing to us all.   AMEN.

 Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish




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