Dear Friends in Christ,
In our text for today we find Jesus in the region of Tyre and Sidon, today known as the country of Lebanon. It was a planned retreat. If we could label the first year of Jesus’ ministry as the year of inauguration and the second as the year of popularity, the third and final year was one of opposition. And Jesus was in His third year…
So, he needed a break outside of Jewish territory. Things were starting to heat up back home. The religious leaders of the day were growing in their dislike – actually, hatred would be a better word – of Jesus and the message of salvation through Him alone that He preached. They were feeling more and more threatened by Jesus and His rising popularity among the masses, and were in turn becoming more and more vocal and calculating in how to bring Jesus down…
In addition to this, even many of His own followers still misunderstood what Jesus was all about. Instead of being awed by the spiritual message of salvation that He preached, they focused on the fact that He could do miracles (most recently, the feeding 5000+ people). Because of this they wanted to make Jesus their earthly king and saw Him in terms of a perpetual meal ticket, rather than the heaven-sent Savior from the damning consequences of their sin…
So for these reasons, as well as to spend time instructing His disciples, Jesus headed out for Lebanon. But, as our text tells us, it was not a trip without incident. And it was an incident (like all of which God the Holy Spirit has preserved for us in Scripture) that was not without lessons. Let’s turn to them now as we consider three distinct
LESSONS FROM LEBANON
The first lesson is one we can indeed rejoice in. It has to do with the fact that the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, has great COMPASSION for all people…
We can certainly speak of Christ’s compassion toward the Canaanite (non-Jewish or foreign) woman in our text because we know how this event turns out in the end. The beginning, however, seemingly casts Jesus in a different light…
When He is first presented with the agonizing cry of this woman to help her demon possessed daughter (a problem which Scripture leads us to believe was not all that uncommon during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry), our text says: "He did not answer a word." In other words, He ignored her. And this despite the fact that she referred to Him as "Lord" and "Son of David," thus indicating – if not a fully developed faith – at the very least a recognition of who Jesus was according to the Old Testament Scriptures…
Then, when He finally does speak to her after her persistent pleading, and after explaining to His disciples (no doubt within hearing range of the desperate woman) that He "was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel," Christ appears to be rather harsh with her. His reply, "It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs," didn’t take a Bible scholar to figure out that she as a foreigner fell under the category of dogs…
So what’s going on here? Is this the dark side of Jesus coming out? Why would Jesus compound the obvious heartache this woman felt about her daughter’s condition with the verbal equivalent of a cold rejection notice? Why would He toy with someone’s emotions in this way? Was Jesus being heartless?
As we know, He wasn’t. What, then, was He doing? We can’t say for sure because neither Jesus nor the inspired Gospel writer discloses for us the motives behind the Lord’s action. We can, however, venture a couple of guesses…
Knowing that she was a true believer, perhaps Jesus was testing the depth of her faith in Him, just as He had on occasion tested His disciples’ faith. Or perhaps He was using this encounter to show His disciples – who so often exhibited a weak and incomplete faith in Him – a concrete example of what a deep faith looked like...
Again, what exactly was behind this exchange we don’t know. But this we do know: It did not proceed from a lack of compassion. Because this woman went home to a daughter who had been delivered from her affliction. Completely. Immediately. Miraculously. Healed by the hand of a compassionate Savior.
I believe all of us can identify with the situation here. God in His Word tells us that He may choose – for His own wise reasons and always with our best in mind – to test us. Some-times these trials may be very specifically and purposely sent by God into our lives. Think, for example, of the Old Testament figures of Abraham and Joseph and Job. Other times, we may have to deal with the trials and tests that come into our lives simply because we live in a fallen, sinful world…
No doubt many, if not all, of us can think of times that have come into our lives that we would rather not have gone through, or, if they exist in the present, would rather not go through. Whether it be family matters or employment matters or health matters or financial matters or some other kind of matter, we can all think of examples…
Maybe we can also identify with bringing these concerns to God in prayer and being met with what seems to be a stony silence, just like the woman in our text experienced at first. Perhaps you have heard more than once (as I have) the despondent voice of a Christian who has said, "I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed about this situation, but nothing is happening. Why doesn’t God answer me?"
Those thoughts are not new, nor are today’s believers the only ones who express them. Did you know that there are any number of Psalms that echo that same sentiment? Psalm 13, for example, which was written by great King David, begins: "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" David is reacting to the "silence of God." Perhaps you’ve gone through the same experience. And the very real temptation at times when God seems to be silent is to misinterpret that silence as a lack of caring, or love, or compassion…
But, as the prophet Jeremiah tells us in the Book of Lamentations, "His compassions never fail us." In His great compassion Jesus heard the Canaanite woman’s prayer and healed her daughter. In His great compassion Jesus did many other miracles of healing that literally dot the pages of the Gospels.
But the best news is that the compassion of Christ was not limited to a three-year period on a small patch on the globe some 2000 years ago. No; in His great compassion Jesus met our and all of mankind’s greatest need – the forgiveness of our sins – when He willingly, sacrificially gave up His life as our substitute on Calvary’s cross so we might never die…
Of this there can be no doubt: He is a compassionate God, a loving Savior. Consequently, if He does not answer our prayers right away or deliver us from our troubles as we envision He should, let us remember that there is a reason, a loving reason – and not a lack of compassion. Let us remember that behind what we may not always understand is a profoundly compassionate God who orchestrates everything with His blood bought children in mind.
And when we remember, we can then go forward in confidence and strength. Do you recall that Psalm from King David I mentioned just a moment ago? David remembered the nature of God, and this is how that Psalm concludes: "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me…"
The second lesson we can learn from our text revolves around the disciples and has to do with DULLNESS – spiritual dullness.
To put the best construction on everything, the disciples may have been trying to protect their Master’s privacy by telling Jesus to get rid of the woman because of her crying out. On the other hand, they may have simply wanted Jesus to send her away because she irritated them. Or they may have become callused to all the people who, with their various needs, wanted an audience with Jesus. Whatever their reasoning, they get low marks.
Whereas Jesus showed compassion, the disciples showed a lack of it. Instead of saying, "This woman seems to be in some sort of distress; let’s at the very least check out her story," they said: "Send her away for she keeps crying out after us." These were disciples of Christ. As such, we might expect them to model their Master. But they didn’t. And the conclusion we are left to draw is that they were too busy being loyal disciples of Christ to be Christ-like…
The warning for us is to be on our guard against the same kind of double standard which, on the one hand, takes pride in our standing as Christians, while, on the other hand doesn’t really wished to be bothered by putting our Christianity into practice.
Jesus made the same point in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember the first two people who passed the injured Jew? Two church workers; one a priest, the other a Levite. Apparently they were too busy engaged in the Lord’s work to help a man in need. And although in their own mind they no doubt felt they were being "good Christians" by hurrying up and getting to the work of the church, Jesus implies that they failed to be good people…
And so a warning and encouragement is in order. We are to reflect Jesus Christ in this world. The call to be a Christian disciple is the call to be distinct. It is the call to integrate our Christian faith into every area of life. The dullness of the disciples and their unwillingness to let their faith shine forth provides us with an example not to imitate…
Our third and final lesson is on FAITH itself and it comes to us from the foreigner. We talked about the Canaanite woman earlier. What we learn from her is the nature of true faith. Only twice in the entire New Testament does Jesus commend someone for the greatness of their faith. This is one of those times. What was it that made this woman’s faith so exemplary? Two things: trust and persistence.
Simply put, she trusted that Jesus had both the power and the will to do what she was asking Him to do. She recognized Him as the Lord and the Son of David (promised Savior) who was mighty in word and deed. She recognized that she was in the presence of God, and that with God nothing is impossible; that the very crumbs of His power and love would be more than she needed. She trusted Jesus. And she stands before us as an example and encouragement to do the same.
The story is told about an elderly lady who was greatly disturbed by her many troubles – both real and imaginary. Finally someone in her family firmly but tactfully told her, "Grandma, we’ve done all we can do for you. You’ll just have to trust God for the rest." A look of absolute despair spread over her face as she replied, "Oh, dear, has it come to that?"
Too often trusting God becomes nothing more than a cliché. For the Canaanite woman, it was a reality. And so it is for us. As she looked to the Lord with absolute confidence, not necessarily knowing whether He would answer her prayer the way she wanted but firmly trusting He could if it was in accordance with His loving will… let us do likewise.
And then let us also imitate her persistence. She doggedly persisted in her faith despite Christ’s initial silence and then through what appeared to be outright rejection of her request. The hymnist speaks of the Canaanite woman and, God willing, for all of us when he asks: "Oh for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by many a foe, that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or woe. And with that example of unshrinking, persistent faith from a foreigner, we conclude our lessons from Lebanon.
What have we learned? May it be that the lesson on compassion from Christ uplifts us in the knowledge that we have a loving Savior, who cares for us and meets all our needs, both spiritual and physical…
May it be that the lesson on dullness from the disciples moves us to live our faith in both words and deeds…
And may it be that the lesson on faith from the foreign woman encourage us to trust God completely and persist in our faith. God grant it. Amen.