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[Text] [Sunday] [] [Date] Matthew 15:21-28 Pentecost 11 a P15 8-16-20 The Mask of Jesus Our text today is Jesus' conversation with a gentile Canaanite woman from "the district of Tyre and Sidon." This is a hard Gospel, not an easy one. This is a hard and difficult Gospel because it paints a picture of our Lord Jesus that most people would rather not see. Our mental pictures of Jesus involve Him not pushing people aside but welcoming them with opened arms. We’ve seen the paintings of Jesus holding a lamb, welcoming a child; in our minds we like to think of a gentle Jesus who always has compassion on the crowds and heals them; the Jesus who always grants the most desperate requests; the Jesus who always stoops to the lowly and the oppressed. The Jesus we see in today's hard Gospel simply does not fit the tender, loving, heroic Jesus whom our mental pictures love and adore. Today Jesus is cold, deaf, aloof, unwilling even to acknowledge a desperate woman for whom there is no other help. In this Gospel, Jesus acts like He is totally disinterested in hearing this woman's prayer. "He did not answer her a word." When Jesus finally does speak, it is only to His friends, as if this woman was invisible and unworthy to receive even the simple decency of direct speech. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." When she finally throws herself into His path so that Jesus can no longer ignore her, this woman hears words from her God that would likely crush and drive away (folks like us). "It is not right," says Jesus, "to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." And only after Jesus gets cornered by the “dog”, as it were-does He finally grant this woman's request. This is a hard Gospel because it paints a rather brutal picture of Jesus, a picture that stands in glaring contrast to the ways we would prefer to think of Him. -- Or maybe this is a hard Gospel for a deeper reason than that. Maybe this is a hard Gospel because it hits too close to home; because it reminds us of times we may have received treatment from our God similar to the treatment He gives to this woman in our text. How many requests have you presented to your God, earnestly and wholeheartedly, even desperately-only to have it seem like Jesus is not listening to you, much less aware of your presence? Like you, this woman cried out to Jesus in simple obedience and wholehearted faith. "He did not answer her a word." Why do other Christians seem to have a better time of things than you do? They do not struggle. They are not endlessly afflicted by one torment after another. They do not move from bad news to more bad news. They get the breaks while you do not- 1 as if God prefers them to you. Like you, this woman asked only for something that Jesus had already given to countless others. But Jesus said to her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." You try to console yourself by saying, "Well, there are always others worse off than me." That is true, but is God's grace limited? Is there not enough for everyone? Like you, this woman's request is really something very small, requiring only a Word from her God. But Jesus makes it sound as though there is not enough Word-of-God for everyone. He makes it sound like some people should be given priority over others. Maybe you and this lady are not high priorities: "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." If this woman had been a bit like the Pharisees or the chief priests or the unbelieving thief on the cross, we could chalk off Jesus' backhandedness to her own sin. That is to say, it is easy for us to picture Jesus speaking evasively to the Pharisees or ignoring the insults of the unbelieving thief or driving moneychangers out of the temple. It is easy to picture Jesus doing such harsh things because these people all have it coming. Maybe today's Gospel and its dark picture of our Lord would be much easier if this woman would have come to Him with a selfish or loveless request. But she doesn't. This woman's motivations are truly loving: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." In the same way, you must not go around thinking that Jesus is ignoring your prayers because you are a sinner. Of course you are – a poor miserable sinner with a nature within you that can do nothing but despise God, but that is not why He seems to turn His back on you. Your Lord Jesus Christ has fully and freely forgiven you all your sins. He has washed you clean in His own blood, mingling that sin-cleansing blood together with the water of your Baptism, and you are now "a lamb without any blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:19, NIV). You are clean in Christ! Because you are now fully clean, fully holy, fully forgiven, God hears in your prayers only the purest motives and the most Christian desires (for He sees Christ and His prayers when He looks at you). Every selfishness you possess has been crucified with Christ. Because of your Lord's death and resurrection for you, as far as your all-knowing God is concerned, your motivations for prayer are now truly Christian, truly pure and white. You are not a Pharisee, you are not an unbelieving thief, and your sin is NOT the reason for Jesus' backhandedness to you any more than this woman's sin was. This is a hard Gospel because this Gospel forces us to look beyond the way Jesus is acting here, just as this woman must 2 look beyond Jesus' outward actions toward her. This Gospel requires us to believe that our God will sometimes wear a mask, so to speak. That is to say, Jesus only appears cold, deaf, and aloof, but this woman presses beyond His appearances and she pleads with Him on the basis of His nature. That is to say, this woman knows that Jesus is by nature kind, merciful, forbearing, and totally committed to doing only the best thing for her and she will not be slowed down by the mere impression or appearance of His neglect. This woman knows that her God cannot and will not neglect her, even when it seems to her eyes that He is. God cannot neglect her because He cannot prevent Himself from being her God. Jesus cannot deny her because He cannot deny Himself, who He is and what He is born to do for you. So, does it seem like your God might not be listening to you, perhaps even giving you the cold shoulder? If it is any consolation, you are not alone in this feeling. But more so, one of the sweetest and wonderful blessings of this text is the promise and assurance that yes, indeed, YOUR GOD HEARS AND ANSWERS YOUR PRAYERS EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS THAT HE IS NOT! (And it will be answered always for your eternal welfare and good – the answer may not be in the way or time you expect it, but it will be for your eternal well-being). At times you might also think you are getting a bit of a raw deal. That God loves others, prefers others over you. Hogwash. Look to the Cross and behold the extent of His love for you! That which He gave you in your baptism. Today's Gospel demands that we not allow our impressions to fool us. Today's Gospel requires us to take our God at His Word and promises and to hold fast to His Word and promises even when it seems like He is uninterested in fulfilling them for us. Children of God in Christ, use this Gospel as a way of understanding your own daily life: no matter what the outcome of your prayers, cling to this Gospel and do not allow the mere appearance of things to shake you or to knock you down. Your God unfailingly hears you, even though He might not answer you a word. Your God unfailingly focuses His attention upon you and provides for you, even though it may seem He is more interested in others. Your God shall not fail to give you your fill, even though it may seem to you that He has provided nothing more than crumbs. Indeed, crumbs of the Bread of Life will always be filling for eternity! Amen 3 .
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