CROWN OF LIFE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH
Pastor John C. Schneidervin
2nd Sunday In Lent March 16, 2003
Matthew 15:21-28
Pray For Jesusı Mercy
1. Desperately
2. Persistently
3. Boldly
Text:
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, ³Lord, Son of
David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from
demon-possession.²
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him,
³Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.²
24 He answered, ³I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.²
25 The woman came and knelt before him. ³Lord, help me!² she said.
26 He replied, ³It is not right to take the childrenıs bread and toss it to
their dogs.²
27 ³Yes, Lord,² she said, ³but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from
their mastersı table.²
28 Then Jesus answered, ³Woman, you have great faith! Your request is
granted.² And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Sermon:
About 23 years ago, while sitting in a waiting room, I heard a woman there
tell the receptionist, ³I stopped praying years ago because my prayers were
never answered anyway.²
To us an unanswered prayer can be heart rending. It is like the little girl
who had her heart set on a certain doll for Christmas but did not receive
it. Sometimes our heart is set on something but we do not receive it. We
then feel let down. We trusted in the Lord to give it to us, but he did
not.
That woman in the waiting room did not have her prayer answered for one or
more reasons. First, she may have been an idolater, perhaps a Jehovahıs
Witnesses or Mormon or Jew, who worshipped a false god. The Lord does not
answer the prayers of idolaters. Second, the woman may have been a
Christian in name only and following her own sinful ways. The Lord does not
answer the prayers of hypocrites and false Christians who pursue their
wicked ways. Third, the woman may have doubted that her prayers would be
answered. The Lord does not answer the prayers of those who doubt and do
not believe their prayers will be answered.
But why might the Lord not answer our prayer? Because he deals wisely with
us. He does not give us what he knows is not good for us in the long run.
He deals with us as a wise father deals with his child. If the child asked
if he could eat the mushrooms growing in the lawn, would the father give the
child the mushrooms? Of course not! He knows they are poisonous and will
kill his child. Our heavenly Father deals with us in the same way, denying
us what he knows is bad for us.
When our Father does not give us what we ask for, it is because he has
something better in mind than what we asked for. Perhaps our loved one
becomes sick. We pray that it would be our Lordıs will to make him well
again. But our loved one dies. Does this mean our Lord did not listen to
our prayer? No at all! He wanted our loved one home with him rather than
be in this world of sorrow and troubles. The Lord in his foreknowledge may
have seen that something would come up in our loved oneıs life which would
cause him to lose his faith and salvation. So the Lord took him while he
was still his.
Sometimes it appears that our Lord is not answering our prayer, but then he
has a reason for delaying his answer, as he did with the Canaanite woman in
our text. Jesus in his divine wisdom dealt with her request in a way that
he knew was best for her. Letıs hear what Jesus did in her case and learn
in the process from the Canaanite woman how to pray for Jesusı mercy.
Verse 21 states: ³Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre
and Sidon.² The area of Tyre and Sidon was inhabited by Canaanites, ungodly
pagan idolaters, whom the Israelites failed to drive out when they inhabited
Canaan.
This Canaanite woman, however, was different. Verse 22 tells us, ³A
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.ı ² This woman had heard of Jesusı fame as a teacher and
miracle worker. She also knew Godıs promises to the Jews about sending them
the Christ, who would be a descendant of King David. In her heart she
believed Jesus was this Christ, the Son of David, and the Lord of heaven
himself.
Having this faith in Jesus, she poured out her anguish over what was
troubling her. Her daughter was suffering terribly from demonic possession.
She pleaded desperately with Jesus to have mercy on her by casting the demon
out of her daughter.
This Canaanite woman teaches us how to pray for Jesusı mercy. First, we
must pray as a believer in Jesus, who confesses him to be the Lord of heaven
and the Christ promised in the Old Testament. Unless we believe Jesus is
Christ the Lord, he will certainly not listen to our pleas for his mercy.
Second, we should pray desperately. When we have troubles, are sorely
pressed, and up against what is beyond our control, we should plead for his
mercy to help us. He tells us in Psalm 50:15: ³Call upon me in the day of
trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.² So letıs call on him
and pray desperately as though everything depends on Jesus.
Having heard her plea for mercy, verse 23 tells us: ³Jesus did not answer a
word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, Send her away, for she
keeps crying out after us.ı ² Jesus said nothing, as if he was ignoring
her. But he was not ignoring her. In his divine wisdom he was beginning to
test the faith she confessed in him.
She responded to Jesusı testing her faith by persisting in crying out for
his mercy. Her cries for mercy caused such a commotion that the disciples
became annoyed with her shouting after Jesus and them. They wanted Jesus to
send her away to be rid of her.
Jesus did not want to be rid of her. He wanted to test and challenge her
faith. So Jesus again appeared to put the woman off. Verse 24 informs us
Jesus answered, ³I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.² Jesus was
sent to be the Savior of the world, but he was sent to minister particularly
to the Jews of Isreal.
To the woman Jesus probably seemed like he was turning his back on her,
because she was not a Jew but a Canaanite. Thus he did not seem to be
concerned about her or her plea for his mercy.
The womanıs faith in him would not be put off so easily. Verse 25 states:
³The woman came and knelt before him. Lord, help me!ı she said.² The words
³knelt before² literally mean that she bowed down and worshipped him. From
that position of worship she persisted in her plea for his mercy, again
confessing him to be the Lord of heaven.
Jesus appeared to be hard, uncompassionate, uncaring. But he was merely
testing her faith. Would she renounce her faith in him? Would she give up
pleading with him and believing he would grant her request? Or, would her
faith hang in there and her pleas persist. This is what he wanted her to
do. He had not said he would not give her what she asked for. He was
merely acting aloof to challenge her faith in prayer.
Though ignored, then slighted for being a Canaanite instead of a Jew, her
faith in him and her pleas persisted. She would not give up.
When we plead for Jesusı mercy to help us, he may put our faith to the test.
He may challenge us to persist in our prayer even though he has not answered
us a word and is apparently ignoring us. He does this at times to the
believers he loves. When Jesus seems to be aloof, unconcerned about us and
our pleas, that is when we should persist. When he seems farthest away is
when he is close to answering us. For then he has tested our faith in him.
This was the approach he took with the Canaanite woman. Still appearing to
stand aloof from the woman, verse 26 tells us that Jesus replied, ³It is not
right to take the childrenıs bread and toss it to their dogs.² Ough! Ouch!
How this must have hurt. Jesus acted like he was rebuking the woman for
bringing her request to him. Being a Canaanite, she had no business asking
for his mercy to help, which was a privilege reserved for the Jews. She had
no right to expect him to take what was his childrenıs and give it to dogs
like herself.
This stern rebuff did not deter the woman either. With boldness she
presented an argument for his giving her what she asked that he could not
argue with. Verse 27 states: ³Yes, Lord,² she said, ³but even the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from their mastersı table.² In the household the
master did not deny the familyıs pet dogs to eat the crumbs that fell from
the table. Maybe she wasnıt a Jew and only a Canaanite, but through faith
in him she was part of his household. All she was asking for was a crumb of
his mercy and help. As her master he certainly could not deny even such a
crumb to her. He ought to allow her to have it.
In verse 28 we hear, ³Then Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith!
Your request is granted.ı And her daughter was healed from that very hour.²
Having tested and challenged her faith, and seeing how she hung in there
ever so persistently with a boldness that he could not argue with, Jesus
granted her request.
Let us learn to pray boldly. Quote the Lordıs own words from Scripture that
promise to hear and answer our prayers. We might boldly pray, ³Lord, you
told me to call upon you in the day of trouble and that you would deliver
me. So I am calling on you, for I believe your words. So please deliver
me.² Quoting the Lordıs own promises, letıs rattle the gates of heaven with
our pleas of faith until he answers us.
We have learned to pray for Jesusı mercy desperately, persistently, and
boldly. Sometimes he may give us what we ask right away. Sometimes he may
delay answering us to test our faith. At all times he hears our prayers and
answers them as he knows is best for us.
Jesus taught us to pray desperately, persistently, and boldly when he was in
Gethsemane in great agony over his coming suffering and death on the cross.
He prayed, ³Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.
Yet not what I will, but what you will.² This is how to pray in the day of
our trouble. We pray believing our Lord can do all things, even what we
ask. Yet we are willing to accept what is his will for us. Sometimes his
will is not to give us what we ask, but that is because he knows what is
best for us in the long run. Amen.