Genesis 32:22-32; Romans 5:1-5; St Matthew 15:21-28
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen
This past Wednesday, March 8, women around the world, strengthened by UN endorsement, in sororal (as opposed to fraternal) and economic solidarity, celebrated the International Women’s Day. Women and their allies were encouraged to participate by not engaging in for profit or other work, but rather to demonstrate through protests and marches. Here in the United States the day was marked with a march on our nation’s capital known as “A Day Without a Woman.”
One would be hard-pressed to find a clearly stated purpose, theme, or unifying principal for the event, but based upon the current push for “gender justice,” it is most certain that Jesus - the one presented in this morning’s Gospel text - would not be welcome at such an event. Can one find a more devastating Scriptural example of apparently misogynistic, patriarchal, gender discriminatory, male privilege, feminine hostility so prevalent in First Century Israel than observed here in Jesus?
But such a feminist, liberation theology is an enormous misreading of Holy Scripture. Far from being biased against women, Jesus showed profound respect and honor toward the gentler sex. He submitted to His mother, the Virgin Mary, who is blessed among all women. Jesus not only regularly conversed with women, something most rabbis would dare not do, but even had female disciples, including his dear friends Mary and Martha.
Our Lord Jesus’ first resurrection appearance was not to men, but women. Something not only countercultural, but even scandalous in the First Century. Our Lord Christ throughout His lifetime showed great deference for all women as being equally created in the image of God as any man. And equally redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb. For as it concerns redemption, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave there is neither salve nor free, there is no male and female. You are all one in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as we baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:28, 27).
The body of Christ, the holy Christian Church, takes its cue from her Head, Jesus Christ, then, on how to rightly honor, respect and liberate women. Unlike all other religions, past or present, women are elevated in Christianity according to the gracious ordering of creation, first given by God in Paradise.
In the early Church, as now, woman are equal members of the Christian community, encouraged to study and learn the Holy Scriptures alongside men. Relearning, in the Gospel and through the Law, along with men, what the proper, God-given vocations of the sexes truly are. The sad irony is that the so-called “gender justice” we see today is actually a self-despising of the very God-created nature and character of women. The prophet “Daniel says that it is the characteristic of the Antichrist’s kingdom to despise women” (Ap XXIII 25, Dan 11:37).
Since all of this is meet, right, salutary, true and beautiful, what then is our Lord Jesus doing in the Gospel text? Why does He behave with such apparent distain and animosity toward this Canaanite woman? Truly - and here is what almost nobody gets - it is not because she is a woman. Her sex has nothing to do with it. Jesus’ initial snub of her plea is because she is a Canaanite.
But before you cry foul on our Lord and accuse Him of being racist in addition to being sexist, know that Jesus did not overtly disrupt all cultural and societal norms of ancient Israel. He did not come to provide economic and ethnic liberation. He came to liberate those in bondage to sin, death, and hell. He came to pronounce peace to those captive to the demands of the Law. He came to overturn the rebel forces of Satan and all his false idols. And the Canaanites were that ancient tribe of people who were at enmity with God’s people, with Joshua and the Israelites, the ones who sought to eradicate the children of Abraham from the earth. So He did not answer her a word.
But she knows Jesus to be gracious and merciful. She knows He has received the worship of dirty, pagan Magi. She has confidence that He has come to be a light for revelation to the Gentiles. She trusts the word of Isaiah that Jesus of Nazareth is the Servant of the Lord, upon whom the Lord has put His Spirit, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles (Mt 12:18). In His Name, this Canaanite woman, a Gentile, hopes. And this hope does not put her to shame, because God’s love has been poured into her heart through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to her (Rm 5:5).
So she rejoices in her sufferings and she endures. She bore the cross and followed after Him, kneeling down and worshipping before Him, pleading, Lord, help me. She lays no claim to the blood of Jacob, for she is a Canaanite. But she is as tenacious as he in wrestling with the Lord. She will not let go for the sake of her daughter. She continually keeps praying. She is a beautiful and pious woman. She is a picture of the Church.
And then our Lord says perhaps the foulest and cruelest thing to her yet, It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. Is he calling her a dog? If He is, she doesn’t even flinch, but sings to herself, “Should my heart for sorrow break, my trust in Thee can nothing shake. Thou art the portion I have sought; Thy precious blood my soul has bought. Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, my God and Lord, forsake me not! I trust Thy Word” (LSB 708:1). And that word which prays, I would rather be a doorkeep in the house of my God than dwell in the tens of wickedness (Ps 84:10). She would gladly be the family pet in the household of the Lord and eat His crumbs than feast on the lies of the world while assuming the place of honor.
She knows her place. Not as a woman, not even as a Canaanite, but as a child of faith. She will joyfully receive what the Lord has to give, for it comes from His loving hand. She knows He is not a misogynist. She knows He is not a bigot. She knows He loves her and cares for her and is tender toward her. She lays hold of Him in faith and would not let go until He blessed her. And blessed her He did! Her daughter is healed and Jesus, this apparent sexist bigot, praises the faith of the Canaanite woman! O woman, great is your faith!
Jesus praises her faith not because she is a strong, independent woman, standing up to social stereotypes. She doesn’t march to Jesus demanding equality or recognition. She doesn’t rely on herself. Faith never does. She truly loves her daughter and she relies upon Jesus’ and His Word. Faith object. And for this reason her faith is great, for her Jesus is great. Her confidence was entirely in Jesus, the Son of David, that He was, in fact, merciful and kind and loving. That He cares for desperate woman and children. That He has pity on the outcast and compassion for the oppressed.
For her Jesus, the great object of her great faith, abases Himself for her and for all. He serves as a true Man ought, in gracious and generous lordship, giving of Himself for His beloved bride. He honors this woman, He honors all women, as He is born of His Virgin Mother. He marches to Jerusalem on behalf of her and all humanity, to overturn the reign and rule of the devil, his dread oppression upon the hearts and minds of men and women in this Fallen creation. Christ Jesus does what the first Adam did not do: He defends and speaks well of His Eve, His Bride the Church. He serves her in gracious lordship, giving Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleaned her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-27).
And she, the Church - of which this Canaanite woman is a beautiful picture - lives by faith in the Word and promise of her Lord Jesus. For your faith, dear Christian, is entirely in the one thing the woman asked for today: Mercy. The mercy of God in Christ Jesus. This is the ground of faith. It is not in you; not in your gender or sex, not in some attempt to change the system or the culture, but your faith, dear ones, is in your great and merciful Lord Jesus Christ who bled and died for you that you might be set free from the demons that would have you, from the lies of the devil and the world, and live under Him in His kingdom in joyful submission, within the vocations in which He has placed you as men and women.
You have been justified by faith. You have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He stood in solidarity with you so that you now stand in His grace. You wear the robe of His righteousness washed in the red blood of the Lamb. Come and sit at the Table of the Lord and receive the children’s bread, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all of your sins. For you are not cast off nor forgotten. You are not relegated to second-class citizens nor undervalued. You are beloved in the Lord Jesus, remembered by Him and served in mercy unto the ages of ages.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen
This past Wednesday, March 8, women around the world, strengthened by UN endorsement, in sororal (as opposed to fraternal) and economic solidarity, celebrated the International Women’s Day. Women and their allies were encouraged to participate by not engaging in for profit or other work, but rather to demonstrate through protests and marches. Here in the United States the day was marked with a march on our nation’s capital known as “A Day Without a Woman.”
One would be hard-pressed to find a clearly stated purpose, theme, or unifying principal for the event, but based upon the current push for “gender justice,” it is most certain that Jesus - the one presented in this morning’s Gospel text - would not be welcome at such an event. Can one find a more devastating Scriptural example of apparently misogynistic, patriarchal, gender discriminatory, male privilege, feminine hostility so prevalent in First Century Israel than observed here in Jesus?
But such a feminist, liberation theology is an enormous misreading of Holy Scripture. Far from being biased against women, Jesus showed profound respect and honor toward the gentler sex. He submitted to His mother, the Virgin Mary, who is blessed among all women. Jesus not only regularly conversed with women, something most rabbis would dare not do, but even had female disciples, including his dear friends Mary and Martha.
Our Lord Jesus’ first resurrection appearance was not to men, but women. Something not only countercultural, but even scandalous in the First Century. Our Lord Christ throughout His lifetime showed great deference for all women as being equally created in the image of God as any man. And equally redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb. For as it concerns redemption, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave there is neither salve nor free, there is no male and female. You are all one in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as we baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:28, 27).
The body of Christ, the holy Christian Church, takes its cue from her Head, Jesus Christ, then, on how to rightly honor, respect and liberate women. Unlike all other religions, past or present, women are elevated in Christianity according to the gracious ordering of creation, first given by God in Paradise.
In the early Church, as now, woman are equal members of the Christian community, encouraged to study and learn the Holy Scriptures alongside men. Relearning, in the Gospel and through the Law, along with men, what the proper, God-given vocations of the sexes truly are. The sad irony is that the so-called “gender justice” we see today is actually a self-despising of the very God-created nature and character of women. The prophet “Daniel says that it is the characteristic of the Antichrist’s kingdom to despise women” (Ap XXIII 25, Dan 11:37).
Since all of this is meet, right, salutary, true and beautiful, what then is our Lord Jesus doing in the Gospel text? Why does He behave with such apparent distain and animosity toward this Canaanite woman? Truly - and here is what almost nobody gets - it is not because she is a woman. Her sex has nothing to do with it. Jesus’ initial snub of her plea is because she is a Canaanite.
But before you cry foul on our Lord and accuse Him of being racist in addition to being sexist, know that Jesus did not overtly disrupt all cultural and societal norms of ancient Israel. He did not come to provide economic and ethnic liberation. He came to liberate those in bondage to sin, death, and hell. He came to pronounce peace to those captive to the demands of the Law. He came to overturn the rebel forces of Satan and all his false idols. And the Canaanites were that ancient tribe of people who were at enmity with God’s people, with Joshua and the Israelites, the ones who sought to eradicate the children of Abraham from the earth. So He did not answer her a word.
But she knows Jesus to be gracious and merciful. She knows He has received the worship of dirty, pagan Magi. She has confidence that He has come to be a light for revelation to the Gentiles. She trusts the word of Isaiah that Jesus of Nazareth is the Servant of the Lord, upon whom the Lord has put His Spirit, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles (Mt 12:18). In His Name, this Canaanite woman, a Gentile, hopes. And this hope does not put her to shame, because God’s love has been poured into her heart through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to her (Rm 5:5).
So she rejoices in her sufferings and she endures. She bore the cross and followed after Him, kneeling down and worshipping before Him, pleading, Lord, help me. She lays no claim to the blood of Jacob, for she is a Canaanite. But she is as tenacious as he in wrestling with the Lord. She will not let go for the sake of her daughter. She continually keeps praying. She is a beautiful and pious woman. She is a picture of the Church.
And then our Lord says perhaps the foulest and cruelest thing to her yet, It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. Is he calling her a dog? If He is, she doesn’t even flinch, but sings to herself, “Should my heart for sorrow break, my trust in Thee can nothing shake. Thou art the portion I have sought; Thy precious blood my soul has bought. Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, my God and Lord, forsake me not! I trust Thy Word” (LSB 708:1). And that word which prays, I would rather be a doorkeep in the house of my God than dwell in the tens of wickedness (Ps 84:10). She would gladly be the family pet in the household of the Lord and eat His crumbs than feast on the lies of the world while assuming the place of honor.
She knows her place. Not as a woman, not even as a Canaanite, but as a child of faith. She will joyfully receive what the Lord has to give, for it comes from His loving hand. She knows He is not a misogynist. She knows He is not a bigot. She knows He loves her and cares for her and is tender toward her. She lays hold of Him in faith and would not let go until He blessed her. And blessed her He did! Her daughter is healed and Jesus, this apparent sexist bigot, praises the faith of the Canaanite woman! O woman, great is your faith!
Jesus praises her faith not because she is a strong, independent woman, standing up to social stereotypes. She doesn’t march to Jesus demanding equality or recognition. She doesn’t rely on herself. Faith never does. She truly loves her daughter and she relies upon Jesus’ and His Word. Faith object. And for this reason her faith is great, for her Jesus is great. Her confidence was entirely in Jesus, the Son of David, that He was, in fact, merciful and kind and loving. That He cares for desperate woman and children. That He has pity on the outcast and compassion for the oppressed.
For her Jesus, the great object of her great faith, abases Himself for her and for all. He serves as a true Man ought, in gracious and generous lordship, giving of Himself for His beloved bride. He honors this woman, He honors all women, as He is born of His Virgin Mother. He marches to Jerusalem on behalf of her and all humanity, to overturn the reign and rule of the devil, his dread oppression upon the hearts and minds of men and women in this Fallen creation. Christ Jesus does what the first Adam did not do: He defends and speaks well of His Eve, His Bride the Church. He serves her in gracious lordship, giving Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleaned her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-27).
And she, the Church - of which this Canaanite woman is a beautiful picture - lives by faith in the Word and promise of her Lord Jesus. For your faith, dear Christian, is entirely in the one thing the woman asked for today: Mercy. The mercy of God in Christ Jesus. This is the ground of faith. It is not in you; not in your gender or sex, not in some attempt to change the system or the culture, but your faith, dear ones, is in your great and merciful Lord Jesus Christ who bled and died for you that you might be set free from the demons that would have you, from the lies of the devil and the world, and live under Him in His kingdom in joyful submission, within the vocations in which He has placed you as men and women.
You have been justified by faith. You have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He stood in solidarity with you so that you now stand in His grace. You wear the robe of His righteousness washed in the red blood of the Lamb. Come and sit at the Table of the Lord and receive the children’s bread, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all of your sins. For you are not cast off nor forgotten. You are not relegated to second-class citizens nor undervalued. You are beloved in the Lord Jesus, remembered by Him and served in mercy unto the ages of ages.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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