When our kids are suffering, we want help immediately. When our child is sick, we do not want to wait in traffic, fill out multiple multipage forms, sit in a waiting room or wait for results from scans and tests; we want them to be better asap, but that is not always possible. We teach kids to wait in the doctor’s office, and we must learn to wait as adults as well.
There are many examples of people waiting for God’s help in the Bible. Abraham and Sarah waited decades for God to allow them to conceive their first child. Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, who were both widows, waited until God allowed Ruth to remarry a man named Boaz who gave Naomi a grandson and Ruth a son. Mary waited over 33 years to see the fulfillment of what her virgin birth, Son of God firstborn, Jesus, would do. The 33 years were a long wait, but the three days he was in the tomb would be the worst. Then, Jesus rose from the dead as the victorious Savior of the world. All these people were kept waiting in faith for the Lord to show them mercy and help them in their situation.
Waiting tests a person’s faith in the Lord’s merciful help. A woman who lived at the time of Jesus whose background would have made her the last person we would expect to be talking to Jesus was following him crying out for him to heal her demon-possessed and suffering daughter. In our Gospel reading from Matthew 15, we hear, 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, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” The Canaanite woman is the last person we expect to be talking to Jesus as she is from a biblically infamous heathen region. Plus, she was a woman approaching a man which was taboo at the time. And, she was not an Israelite, who were God’s chosen people waiting for the Messiah, but a Canaanite, the people God and Israel fought against after they were freed from slavery in Egypt to take ownership of the promised land. Yet, this woman came to Jesus for his mercy as her daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly. Though all of this was against her, we do see her faith as she calls Jesus, “Lord” and “Son of David”. Miraculously, this woman believed in Jesus as the promised Messiah. Yet, we hear a strange response from Jesus, 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” Jesus did not even acknowledge this woman who believed in him. And the disciples took their cue from his deafening silence and asked that he send her away. In response to the disciples, but also in ear shot of the woman, Jesus said, 24 … “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Jesus’ response seemed to indicate that he cannot have mercy on or help this woman and her demon-possessed, suffering daughter. Yet, undeterred, we read, 25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. She boldly and humbly put herself in a place that could not be ignored as she asked again, and we read, 26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Jesus’ response pictured a pet dog waiting for the scraps under the family table. His point was that putting the fresh baked bread on the ground for the dogs to eat first and letting the children go hungry would be wrong. For all the woman’s bold pleading and her faith in Jesus as the Lord, the Son of David, and promised Messiah, there seemed to be no mercy or help coming her way.
Waiting for the Lord leads us to question our worth to him. The Canaanite woman’s initial hope was for the mercy and help of the Lord Jesus, the Son of David, who could drive out the demon terrorizing her daughter. As she kept pleading, the devil would have been whispering she was not worthy to ask Jesus for anything. That same demonic whisper repeats itself in our hearts day after day. When we have asked God for something as Christians full of faith, hope and trust in God’s ability to hear and respond with love and power to help us, but we see no noticeable response, our worth to God comes into question. There are times when we doubt God, but there are other times when we doubt ourselves. Doubts about the value of our lives fill our minds wondering if because we are not the right age, in the right relationship, in the right physical shape, the right gender, the right level of education, the right race, from the right family, or committed a certain sin that we are now disqualified from God hearing our cries for mercy and from his help in our time of suffering. Waiting in silence from God tempts us to think we are no better than a household pet waiting on the floor while the family is at the table eating and enjoying God’s blessings.
God has not been silent about his merciful help to you. When it seemed Jesus would not help the Canaanite woman, she discovered the depth of Jesus’ love for her. In response to his illustration of taking bread from children to feed the dogs, we hear in Matthew 15, 27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. Jesus gave the Canaanite woman a rare compliment. She did not look at what she brought to the table when asking Jesus for his merciful help. Instead, she knew Jesus had come to show mercy and help his people, and she was one of them. The singular qualifier for someone to be one of God’s people, an Israelite in the spiritual sense sharing the faith rather than DNA of Abraham, is Jesus. In our New Testament reading from Ephesians 2, we hear how the Canaanite woman and all of us are God’s people through Jersus, 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 15 … His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. The two groups, one close and one far away, were the Jews and Gentiles, Jews being the Israelites who were given the promises of the Savior and the Gentiles who were made up of all the other nations. In Christ, both were brought together as Jesus was born, died and rose a human being like everyone from both groups. Christ was also the Son of God whose life was worth all people and in his death made peace between sinful man and the sinless, holy perfect God. All Jesus did to save the world was recorded by the apostles in the New Testament and the prophets of the Old Testament. God was not silent but spoke his timeless truth in Scripture that he showed mercy to all people through Jesus. God sent his Son, the Word made flesh, to help us from suffering eternal condemnation in hell and giving us a seat at the family table in heaven.
The Canaanite woman was not concerned with waiting. Rather than debate or demand Jesus help her. Rather than criticize Jesus or question why. Rather than give up and turn to something else, she hoped, believed, trusted and had faith that timing was not more important than her Lord, the Son of David. The reason the Canaanite woman would not give up her faith in Jesus was important to Jesus. If her daughter would have been healed immediately, she may have only seen Jesus as a quick healer and her understanding of him may have changed. The healing occurred as she had faith in Jesus for who he was, the promised Son of David who would keep the promise from our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 56, 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him … 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. 8 The Sovereign LORD declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.” Throughout the Old Testament the LORD promised his mercy went beyond physical Israel to others he would gather to be his people. This Canaanite woman had faith in the LORD and his promises; she did not create a god to suit her style or affirm her affinities. Our faith must remain in the same LORD and his promises. With our faith in the Lord Jesus, the Son of David, we will find our worth in him and remain confident in our identity as a holy precious blood bought child of God.
Jesus cares that we have faith in who he truly is. There are many false teachers, people with spiritual or religious messages, people and churches that call themselves Christians while adding or subtracting from the truth of Scripture, which is the “foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” You do not want an anemic or bloated Jesus. An anemic Jesus is too weak to help and the bloated offers too many things that are unnecessary and harmful. Like the Canaanite woman, we wait for the real, true, powerful, merciful Jesus who helps us. Like the Canaanite woman, when we are crying out to the Lord, we will keep finding the merciful words of Jesus in Scripture and he will help us.
When our kids are suffering, we want help immediately. When our child is sick, we do not want to wait for them to get better; we want the cure asap, but that is not always possible. A woman who lived at the time of Jesus whose background made her the last person we would expect to be talking to Jesus was following him crying out for him to heal her demon-possessed and suffering daughter. When it seemed like Jesus was not going to help her, she showed her great faith in Jesus’ mercy and desire to help even someone like her, and Jesus cured her daughter. Jesus has already proved his mercy and power to help us by saving us from sin, death, hell and the devil on the cross. In our time of need, we join with the Canaanite woman, and we wait for the Lord’s merciful help. Amen.
Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church
Gunnar Ledermann
I’m passionate about Rockwall’s vibrant community and actively engage with local non-profits and community organizations, including the Rockwall Chamber of Commerce, the City of Rockwall, and the Downtown Rockwall Association. My background includes a bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages and a master’s degree in divinity. Currently serving as a pastor at Divine Peace Church in Rockwall, I also enjoy spending time with my wife, Marinda, and our five children.
