Reminiscere (Lent 2), 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Matthew 15:21-28
Reminiscere
February 25, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The account of the Canaanite woman’s terrible battle with our Lord over her demon-possessed daughter immediately follows the account of Jesus, once again, dealing with the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees had asked Jesus why His disciples don’t observe various regulations, which aren’t commanded in the Levitical Law. Jesus then calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites saying, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man.
Confession is the audible evidence of faith. If someone confesses Jesus as the Son of David, that is, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, he has not defiled himself. If, however, a man were to speak blasphemies against God, teach as doctrines the commandments of men, and reject Jesus as the Messiah and the true Son of David, then such a man has defiled himself. So it is that the scribes and Pharisees, Jews, those to whom Jesus has come, have defiled themselves because they have rejected Him.
Jesus then departs from them for a time and comes into the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is north of the Kingdom of Israel. The people who live here are pagans. They’re gentiles, Canaanites. They’re Baal-worshipers. Baal was the Canaanite god of lightning, wind, rain, and fertility. Worship of Baal included offing him licentious acts, which would rouse him to fertilize the ground with wind and rain, causing crops to grow. God commanded the Israelites, long ago, to drive out all Canaanites and all Baal-worshipers from the Promised Land because He, unlike Baal, is the one true God. Most likely, many of them ended up settling in the region of Tyre and Sidon.
Immediately, after Jesus comes into that region, a Canaanite woman came to Him and cried out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” Now what did she expect? She did not worship Yahweh, the true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Baal, who himself is no God. In fact, what she was really worshipping was a demon. If you play around long enough with demons, you may find yourself afflicted by them. This is why Ouija boards are dangerous. Demons are real. If you play around with witchcraft, who knows, the demonic spirit may go and bring seven more spirits, more wicked than himself, so that they may enter and dwell among you.
This is what happened to the woman of Canaan. She had long contended with the demon, who was possessing her daughter because of her false worship of a pagan deity and now she realizes that this type of false worship did not and could not give her what she wanted. Baal could not provide for her. Baal is not the true God or even a god himself. And so realizing this, she comes to Jesus, the true God, and cries out to Him, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
But He answered her not a word.
It’s not surprising. He held His peace and acted as though He did not see or hear her. After all, it was her fault. She had invited these demons to afflict her daughter through her sin of false worship. Our Lord was testing her. The woman’s faith was not displeasing to Him. He was testing her faith as gold is tried by fire and is made pure. So He answered her not a word.
Even the disciples desire to get rid of her, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” Jesus then seemingly agrees with them! “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” What He’s saying here is, “Why should I help you? Go ask for relief from Baal. You are no Israelite. You are not of the house and lineage of Abraham. You are a foreigner, a gentile, a pagan. Do you really believe that I have power to free your daughter?”
Upon hearing what sounds like a rejection from Jesus, all she can say is, “Lord, help me.” You’d think that He would! After all, He healed many people of their afflictions in Matthew’s Gospel. In chapter 8 alone, Jesus cleanses a leper; He heals the Centurion’s servant; He heals Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever; He cast out many demons from those who were demon-possessed; and when He was in the country of the Gerasens, he healed two more demon-possessed men. In chapter 9 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus heals a paralytic; He raises a girl from the dead; He gives two blind men their sight; and He gives a mute man his ability to speak.
So why wouldn’t Jesus help this Canaanite woman? Again, He was testing her faith. Her faith was being refined as fire refines and purifies gold. Thus, He says to her, after her short and simple plea for help, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” That is, “You are a dog, unworthy of the bread. You are not from the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and therefore not worthy of the heavenly bread of God’s grace. You are not numbered among the children of God, and so you have no right to hope for any help.”
And what the woman says in response is truly amazing, “Yes, Lord,” she says, “yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” In a sense, she catches Jesus in His own words. She confesses that she is, in fact, a dog. She knows she isn’t worthy to ask anything and neither are we. Neither are we worthy of anything for which we ask. But the woman begged to be left with a dog’s righteousness, and so to be sustained. She wished that even she, a foreigner, might gather the crumbs of divine grace from the Lord’s table.
And so it is, that the Lord cannot contain Himself. Now He must help her. She has faith. She wrestled with the Lord, just as Jacob had done, and prevailed. “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
What do we learn from this interaction?
As the Canaanite woman suffered great blows and tribulations in her faith, so do we and so will we. Sometimes, it may seem as though God is not listening, that God is not caring, that God does not hear our prayers. And yet, at the same time, our faith is being tried and refined, like gold in fire. We are sinners, even dogs. But Jesus came not for the righteous, but for sinners. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. So Jesus comes for us, to heal us, to restore us, to die a sinner’s death instead of us, and to give us a place at His table.
We come to the Lord in prayer and are often told no. Even though He tells us “No,” He is teaching us to be patient. He is teaching us how to speak with Him, even argue with Him in prayer. This is why the Psalms are so beautiful in this sense. Often times, the Psalms are complaints, even against God. A lot of the time, when we pray the Psalms, we notice that we’re calling upon the Lord to remember His mercy and His kindness, just as the Canaanite woman did when she argued with the Lord and won.
The Latin name for this Sunday is Reminiscere, which means “Remember.” It comes from the Introit, which is from Psalm 25. But we didn’t have the Introit today because we prayed the Litany. But here is the Introit. Imagine the Canaanite woman speaking this to Jesus because it fits quite well. Think on these words and make them your own:
“Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkingnesses; for they have been ever of old. Let not mine enemies triumph over me. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”
Surely our sins and our iniquity is great. But if we come to the Lord in faith, He who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness. For He says to those who come to Him in faith, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened.”
Jesus sees that of ourselves we have no strength. But by His mighty power, He defends us, who are dogs, from all adversities that may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul. If we are dogs, let us be dogs. But dogs that live and dwell in the Master’s house.
In +Jesus’ name.
