Matthew 18:23-35
'Catching Christ, or A True Israelite'
Matins
Reminiscere, The 2nd Sunday in Lent | February 28th, 2010
Dear Saints,
In the Gospel text from Matthew 15 we travel with Jesus to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is a bit out of the way for Jesus; He leaves the confines of Galilee and travels north-west over toward the sea. And as He and the disciples are going along a Canaanite woman comes up and prays to Jesus, begging for His mercy and kindness, that He would heal her daughter from a demon.
All we know of this woman is that she is a Canaanite, the peoples that the Lord has commanded to be exterminated from the land. This woman, we learn from Luke, was a Syrophonecian, of Greek decent, so she must have resettled with her family to this place. It is astonishing that this foreigner had heard the Lord's word and believed it, that she knew who Jesus was, the promised Son of David, the Jewish Messiah, and she comes to Him for help in her hour of need.
Now what unfolds between our Lord Jesus and this woman, His dear Christian, is astonishing. Jesus, it seems, mistreats her and turns her away; after all, she is not a daughter of Israel, but in this conversation with Jesus she proves the opposite; she shows that she is a true Israelite.
Remember, dear friends, what the word “Israel” means. In Genesis we hear the story of Abraham's family. Abraham's son Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the firstborn, a mighty man, a great hunter. Jacob was not. When they were young Esau was out hunting and came home starving, and Jacob sold him a bowl of soup for his birth rite, his honored status as the first-born.
Now fast-forward to the death bed of Isaac. He is going to give out blessings, and the great blessing will go to the first-born. This should be Jacob (because Esau sold this blessing to him), but Isaac is still going to give this blessing to Esau. So Jacob and Rebecca plot so that Jacob will get the blessing, they disguise Jacob in Esau's clothes and put hair on his hands so Isaac, whose eyes are failing, will mistake Jacob for Esau. And the plot works; Jacob gets the blessing, and when Esau finally arrives from the fields with some food for his father, he learns of the deception and is mad. The test says that Esau hated Jacob and he plotted to kill him when the appointed time of mourning for Isaac was finished.
So Jacob flees. He heads north to Haran, a town on the upper reaches of the Euphrates River, to the house of his uncle Laban, and Jacob stays there for twenty years. He marries Leah and Rachael and has eleven children (so far). A dispute breaks out between Jacob and Laban, so Jacob gathers his household and heads south, back home, back to the land that is his by Isaac's blessing. But Jacob is still afraid, still worried that Esau is coming to kill him, so he sends two large groups of servants and sheep ahead as gifts for Esau to appease his wrath.
Now after they pass to the east of the Sea of Galilee, and all of the household, the shepherd and servants and flocks, and Jacob's wives and children pass over the fords of the Jabbok River, Jacob stays on the north shore of the river, and there, all night, Jacob wrestles with God. This is an astonishing text:
Genesis 32:22-31 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
Jacob wrestles with God, and so God gives him a new name: Israel. That, in fact, is what Israel means: wrestles with God, grabbing a hold of Him and refusing to let go until He gives a blessing. Now we know that the Lord who created the heavens and the earth, could have wiped out Jacob, but He didn't, He wrestled with him, struggled with him, fought with him and gave him a blessing.
This, dear saints, is exactly what unfolds in the Gospel text with the Canaanite woman, she is wrestling with Jesus with her words, and refuses to let go of Him until He gives her a blessing. Jesus delivers three blows to this woman, but she endures them all and, at last, has the Lord's favor and smile. And by this she proves that she is a true daughter of Israel.
To the text, Matthew 15.
21And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." 23But he did not answer her a word.
This is the first blow, Jesus ignores her, He doesn't say a word. Do you know this? When it seems like the Lord has stopped up His ears to our prayers, like there is a glass ceiling and all of our cries to heaven can't get through. Jesus hears her, but doesn't acknowledge her. Now most people would say, “What I head about this man was wrong. He is not kind and good, but arrogant and rude. He doesn't want to help me.” But look, Jesus did not say He wouldn't help, He didn't say anything, and as long as He is silent she continues to cry to Him for help. She can't be turned away.
But this troubles the disciples, so they come and intercede on her behalf. Not, it seems, out of love, but out of annoyance.
And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
This is the second blow that Jesus deals out. He answers the disciples so this woman can hear, “I came for Israel.” Now look at this, “This promise is not for you.” But this woman, by faith, sees though the Lord's words. First, He still hasn't said no, and, second, now I know that He can help me and deliver me. “If He want's Israel,” she seems to say, “I'll show Him Israel!”
25But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
This is the third and final blow that Jesus gives this woman, calling her a dog. But she'll take it, that's all she was looking for, for the Lord to speak with her and give her a word. She'll take that word and run with it. Martin Luther says it like this, “She catches Christ with His own words, and He is happy to be caught.” (House Postil)
27She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
So this Canaanite woman perseveres in the wrestling match with Jesus, and now He has blessings for her.
28Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.
Now, dear saints, this is our same Jesus. He has for us mercy and peace, blessing and comfort, all in spite of our sins. He has His love and His cross, His ears are open to our prayers. But this comfort and peace often comes after suffering and struggle. Our Lord Jesus is pleased to wrestle with us, to struggle with us, and by this He makes us His true Israel. And this is your comfort and peace, the they Lord who seems to struggle against you is doing all of this for your good and for your blessing. And, when this struggle is over, He will bring you to eternal blessings, even the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
So, true Israel, you who are wrestling with God, hear His blessing:
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO
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