The latest issue of Reader’s Digest tells the story of a girl named Piper Breinholt, who was born with cerebro-costo-mandibular syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the ribs and jaw and other parts of the body. It was a miracle that Piper survived birth. She is now four years old, and she has never spent a day at home, and probably never will. As you can imagine, financial concerns loom large with this family, and yet in reading their story, it is clear that Piper’s parents will do whatever is necessary to provide the best care for their daughter.
We meet a mom like that in today’s Gospel reading. Her daughter has a horrible affliction as well. I think many of us can identify with a parent who is willing to do whatever it takes to get help for their child. And this mom has an excellent idea. She is going to turn to Jesus for help.
Now, a couple details about this mom. She is a Canaanite, and the Canaanites were ancient enemies of the Israelites. She is as far from being part of the “in” crowd as you can get. And yet somewhere along the way she has heard about this Jesus, and she’s heard enough to believe that He can help her daughter. What’s more, she’s heard enough that when she finally comes face to face with Jesus, she addresses Him as “Lord, Son of David.” That means she is linking Jesus to the prophecies about the coming Messiah. In other words, she gets it. She “gets” who Jesus is, and she believes that He has the power to help her. She believes that Jesus is for everyone, even Canaanite women. But is He?
At first, quite frankly, it’s hard to tell. His disciples try to get rid of her. Her persistence is causing a commotion and is making them feel uncomfortable; besides, she is not part of their race or religion, so they plead with Jesus to make her go away. But this mom keeps it up. She follows them around. She’s making a scene, and she’s making it for the sake of her daughter, and she’s not letting go of this because she knows who Jesus is and what He can do. What she has heard about Jesus and what she knows deep down is that He is for everyone, even Cannanite women and their children. But is He really?
The disciples wish she would just go away. And after Jesus seems to ignore her for a while, this is what he says: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” This is a decisive moment, a moment at which some might’ve given up hope. But there is something propelling this mom forward. Abandoning all pride, she throws herself to the ground and kneels before Jesus, pleading, “Lord, help me.” And if I were a screenwriter, this is the point where the music would swell, and a ray of light would break through the clouds, and Jesus would take this woman by the hand and make everything better.
But instead, Jesus says something shocking. He says that it is not right to take the food meant for the children and throw it to the dogs. Now if Jesus was a pastor and he said this to a parishioner, His name would be on a bunch of call lists the next day. If the Canaanite woman was the easily offended type, she would have all the ammunition she needed right here to go into a full-scale rant. But here’s the thing; and this is what I hope you walk away with today having met this woman in Matthew’s gospel: She knows it’s not about her. She’s not coming to Jesus with the attitude that He owes her something. Look at what she says! She says to Jesus, “I would be happy with your scraps. Jesus, the crumbs from your table would be enough for me.”
It’s at this point that Jesus releases the tension. It’s the disciples’ turn to be shocked, as their Teacher praises the woman for her great faith and grants her request, healing her daughter at once. This whole exchange between the Canaanite woman and Jesus actually boomerangs back on His disciples. Without having to say anything to them directly, the message was sent: “I am for everyone, even Canaanite women. I am for everyone who believes in Me and what I can do. It’s not about gender, it’s not about race, it’s not about class or social status, it’s about faith in Me. Do you have it? It’s the only thing that matters.” I wonder if we have really taken this element of Jesus’ kingdom message to heart.
But back to this Canaanite mom; there’s two things that we can learn from her that I don’t want you to miss. The first, and I touched on this before, is that when she came to Jesus, she based her appeal not on who she was but on who Jesus was. Again, she didn’t come to Jesus with the attitude that He owed her something. She took a worshipper’s posture, and that’s saying it the nice way. The better way to say it is that she took a beggar’s posture. She came to Jesus with the attitude that He didn’t owe her a thing, but she knew who He was and what He could do and He didn’t have to do anything…but even just a crumb from Him would be enough to change her daughter’s life. She put all her eggs in one basket, marked “Jesus, the Son of David.” That’s what faith does.
Faith like this is a gift, and it is possible for you to have it, but there is a lot of repenting and un-learning that we need to do. Too often, we approach Jesus not on the basis of who he is but who we are. Too often, we harbor the attitude that God does owe us something, and this attitude has roots that run deep. It’s the idea that “I try to be good and do good; I go to church; I put my offering in the basket; therefore I deserve…” But do you see the foolishness in that way of thinking? Do you see the self-deception there? If we’re being honest, we’ll admit that sin still spills out of our hearts and minds and mouths. We still ruin things. We hide hateful, lustful, greedy thoughts inside and try not to let them surface, but they do. Worse yet, we rebel against God’s claim on our lives, sometimes actively, sometimes passively, but always with the core value of “I want to call the shots. I’m the captain of the ship. I want to do what I want to do.” The Bible says: That deserves serious punishment. The sobering reality is that God doesn’t owe you or me anything, and He ought to make me pay for my sins. But—but—He is merciful, and He’s not going to do that, because He did it already to Jesus on the cross. Not only is he merciful, but He is gracious, giving us good, wonderful, priceless gifts, for no other reason than He wants to. He loves us.
When Martin Luther died, it is reported that the last thing he scribbled down on a piece of paper was the sentence, “Wir sind alle pettler.” We are all beggars. I used to think that was kind of a downer, kind of a bleak outlook for the great reformer’s last words. But I have come to see that they are true. We are all beggars. God doesn’t owe us a thing. Being able to call yourself a child of God depends one hundred percent on the fact that He is merciful. When this is the foundation of your life with God, then you’ll be able to appreciate the depth of God’s generosity. You will also begin to see your relationships in a different light. Understanding and patience can develop as you move away from a “you owe me” mentality. Imagine what your most important relationships would be like if you stopped “keeping score.” I know what some of you are thinking: “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. I’d get walked all over and taken advantage of and so on.” Well, I beg to differ. Let go of that “you owe me” mentality and you’ll finally be free: Free to forgive; free of the burden you have to lug around—that scorebook gets pretty heavy. Drop it. Be merciful.
In making her request, the Canaanite woman focused on Jesus, not herself. Now here’s the second thing I want you notice. Because she focused on Jesus, she remained persistent in her plea for help, because she believed that Jesus had the ability and power to change things. She remained persistent, she kept on coming, even when it seemed to be getting her nowhere. As we saw, Jesus did not respond to her cries immediately. Then, when He did respond, it was discouraging—at first.
If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time at all, then you know how it feels to pray and sense no immediate change. You know what it’s like to pray for God’s help and then to have even more discouraging news come your way. When that happens, people give up or get mad, but the Canaanite mother shows us another option. Simply put, that other option is to be faithfully stubborn.
Do you understand what I mean when I say, “faithfully stubborn?” Look at that mom one more time. She’s heard what Jesus can do. She’s heard what He is like. She’d be happy with any leftover help He could provide because it came from Him. No disciple is going to get in her way. And when Jesus tests her faith with these little verbal jabs, she passes, because she is faithfully stubborn. She won’t let go of Jesus. Nothing turns her away from the thought that He is for her. In response, Jesus brings great blessing into her life. He gives what she asks; and she already has everything she needs: great faith in a great God.
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