Second Sunday in Lent
Readings: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 and Matthew 15:21-28
Then Jesus answered and said unto her,
O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.
And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. .
In the name of The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost
Nag, Nag, Nag!
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. [Matthew 15:21-28]
A cartoon in a magazine showed a woman preacher speaking from the pulpit. Two middle-aged portly men were seated near the front. Looking up at the preacher, one of them said, "Nag, nag, nag." It is a truism that men do not like nagging women. In his Journal John Wesley tells of some Methodists who were arrested for disturbing the peace with their prayers. They were brought to court and the judge asked what the charges against them were. One reported, "Your honor, they pretended to be better than other people; and besides, they prayed from morning to night. And what’s more, they even converted my wife. Until she started going among Methodists, she had such a tongue! And now she is quiet as a lamb." The judge shouted, "Let them go! Let them all go and convert all the nagging wives in town!"
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus and the disciples were confronted with a nagging woman. They came to Jesus with the demand, "Get that woman off our backs!" In the words of the text, they said, "Send her away, for she is crying after us." Is nagging a good thing? Should men take it up to get what they want? Nagging got results for the Canaanite woman. Her method persuaded Jesus to give what she wanted: the healing of her daughter severely possessed of demons. This is a problem for each of us. How do you get Jesus to help you and your loved ones? What can you do to get your prayers answered? Nag, nag, nag?
Some may say we have no Right to Nag.
So, we must ask, should we nag God to get help or to have our prayers answered? In the first place, we must admit that we have no right at all to nag God. We are in the same position and condition as the Canaanite woman. She had no right to nag Jesus because she was a woman. She was of the wrong sex. Being a woman today may not be a handicap, because to a large extent women are now considered equals with men. Today’s woman has come a long way. For one example there is Ann Landers who has the largest reading audience in the world; in this no man can match her. Many women are CEO’s of major corporations. Yes, the statement “You’ve come a long way baby” rings true today.
In Jesus’ day a woman had practically no standing. She was considered the property of her husband. She had not rights or privileges except these which her husband deemed to grant her as a favor. She was a non-person. This attitude prevails today in some countries. A recent visitor to India tells how a Muslim woman can be divorced by her husband for not bearing children. All he needs do is to say three times, "I divorce you." Then she must go her way and earn her own living by begging on the streets. Because she was a woman, the lady in our todays text had no right to ask Jesus for any help whatsoever. Nevertheless, Jesus treats her as a person. His love and concern go beyond sexuality. In his mind, there is something more important than a person’s sex. Paul put it this way: "In Christ there is neither male or female...."
The woman had no right to nag Jesus, because she was not only a woman but she was a Canaanite. The Canaanites were the original settlers when the Israelites came to claim the Promised Land under Joshua. For centuries the Canaanites were the hated enemies of the Jews. Because she was of the wrong race, she had no right to nag Jesus, nor to ask him for any favor. She had no claim on him as though he were her fellow-countryman. She was, in her day, a racial and national outcast undeserving of a Jew’s help.
Jesus’ treatment of the Canaanite woman helps us to see what Jesus’ attitude is toward those of a different race and nation. Jesus is open to and is willing to help anyone regardless of race, nation, or color of skin. Christianity is not an external but an internal relationship; it deals with the heart and not the body. If a person’s heart is clean and right, it does not matter what the body is like. It is hard for many of us to get it into our heads that God loves all people, that Christ died for all people, and that it is God’s will to have all men of every class and race, of every nation on earth, come to him for eternal life and peace. It may be shocking that God is not the God of white people only. Does it surprise you that God loves communists as well as capitalists? Are you a modern Jonah who became angry when God forgave the Ninevites, bitter enemies of the Jews?
The woman in our Gospel for today had no right to nag Jesus for the healing of her daughter. She had no right because she was a woman and a Canaanite. Moreover, she was a Gentile. She had the wrong religion. The disciples could say to Jesus, "Send her away, because she is not one of us." Jesus tried to get this message across to the woman when he said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This woman was a pagan, a Gentile. In Jesus’ day, a Gentile was a lower than the lowest creature. A good Jew would not enter a Gentile’s house, nor have a meal with one of them. There was no social fellowship, and conversation was kept to a minimum, just enough to transact business. Now this infidel, who is outside the household of faith, has the nerve to beg Jesus for help, for even a miracle of healing.
In Jesus’ day the Jewish religion was for Jews only. They were, they claimed, the chosen people of God. They were the people of God by virtue of the covenant which made God their God and nobody else’s. It was a shocking thing for Jews to see Jesus consorting with the "false" religion of the Gentiles. He fraternized with them, talked with them, and performed miracles to help them as in this case of the Canaanite woman. It was a revolutionary thing when Paul received the revelation that God included the Gentiles in his plan of salvation. Paul became the missionary to the Gentiles. Christ was understood to be for both Jews and Gentiles. When the Jews refused to accept Christ, the apostles gave the gospel to the Gentiles. In today’s Second Lesson, Paul expresses the hope that the Gentiles’ acceptance of the gospel would encourage the Jews also to accept Christ as Lord. When Jesus left the earth, he gave as his last command that the disciples should make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the triune God.
What does this mean then to us today? Are we to let all religions go their own way without disturbing them with the Christian faith? Shall we ignore other religions? Shall we accept other religions as being equal to our own? As Jesus helped a woman of another religion, we who are modern disciples need to help people of other religions by acquainting them with the gospel of Jesus. At the heart of Christianity is a missionary zeal. No real Christian can truly say that he does not believe in missions. We have a story to tell and good news to share, news that no other religion has. It can mean redemption and release.
Though we, like the Canaanite woman, do not have a right to nag God for help, we do have a reason for nagging God. Our reason for nagging God is our love for people who need help and healing. You will note that the Canaanite woman was unselfish. She did not want anything for herself. If it were for herself, she would, perhaps, be out of order in nagging Jesus. She was begging in behalf of her daughter. Our text explains, "My daughter is severely possessed by a demon." Can there be anything worse than that? This mother was concerned about her child. She was compassionate. Love compelled her to nag Jesus for aid.
If we have the compassion of the Canaanite woman, we would have reason to nag Jesus for help. Out of compassion we would use intercessory prayer to get God’s blessing upon all unfortunate people. Babies need to be wanted, but many are not. In a poll taken by Ann Landers, seventy percent of the parents replied "No" to the question, "If you had to do it over again, would you have children?" Contrast this with the birth announcement that came to a pastors house recently. It was in the form of a doughnut with the caption, "Another sweet thing." It was their sixth child! And they still wanted him!
Is there compassion in our hearts to make us cry out to Jesus in behalf of the sick, the aged, and the dying! Love will make us pray for them. We will visit them, and we will listen to them. One of today’s greatest needs is to have someone who will take time to listen. The need for listening is so desperate that in Los Angeles there is a business firm which has trained people to serve patients in hospitals by listening to them at the rate of $7.50 per hour.
When it comes to the sinner, is there compassion in the church or just judgment? Do we look down upon those who made a mistake? Are we understanding and do we offer acceptance? How does the church treat the divorced person? How do church members feel about the unwed girl who has a baby? Do we shun those who are homosexuals? If we hold true to our Christian faith, we deplore the sin yet love the sinner. A woman in the dock district of a city had an illegitimate child. She later went to a women’s meeting in the church. She liked it and went back, but the women did not like her. The minister came to her and told her not to come back. He explained that the other women knew about her and said that if she came, they would not come. With deep sorrow in her face, she asked, "Sir, I know I’m a sinner, but isn’t there anywhere a sinner can go?" Well, what do you say: Is there a place where a sinner can go if not to church?
Humility is another reason for nagging God for help. We dare not be too proud to ask, to beg incessantly for divine mercy. The Canaanite woman could not be stopped begging by insults. To test her faith, Jesus referred to her as a "dog" and said it was not fair to throw the children’s food to the dogs. This did not stop her from asking for help. She absorbed the insult and said she would, like a dog, be willing to take only crumbs. No one can be insulted when he is humble enough to consider himself nothing. You cannot say anything that is downgrading about a humble person, because he already feels he is that.
Our appeal to Christ is based upon our need of him, not on our praise. We are humble enough to admit we are in need and that we are not self-sufficient to take care of our problems and needs. Like the woman in the text we willingly get down on our knees in humility and simply plead, "Lord, help me." Who could say "No" to that?
Humility will not only lead you to asking for help but will encourage you to do simple, menial tasks. A customer once wrote to Stanley Marcus of the Neiman-Marcus store in Dallas, "There’s a very nice-looking woman whom I frequently see in your store picking dead leaves from plants. Surely you can find a better position for a person of such obvious quality." In his reply he pointed out that the only higher position he could give the lady was his own position, because she was his mother, a member of the board of directors. It was not beneath Jesus to take a towel and basin and wash the feet of his disciples in the Upper Room. Is there anything "beneath" you because of your pride? It is the humble who ask, plead, and beg for God’s favor.
Also, it is faith that makes you persist in your nagging Jesus for help. It was the Canaanite woman’s faith that at last brought success. Jesus marvelled at her faith and exclaimed, "O woman, great is your faith!" She firmly believed that Jesus could and would heal her daughter. She believed Jesus was the Messiah, "the Son of David." She believed he had the power to make her daughter well again. She believed he was a man of such compassion that he would not refuse her. Her faith was proved by her persistence. She would not stop asking. She would not take "No" for an answer. In spite of silence, in spite of insults, in spite of arguments, this woman believed Jesus would help her.
It is persistence in prayer that brings results. The Canaanite woman was doing the very thing Jesus taught his disciples to do. He told them a story about a woman who nagged a judge for justice and kept nagging until finally the judge gave her what she wanted just to get rid of her. Jesus said if a judge will do this, how much more God will answer the prayers that keep coming to him. He would not answer the request to get rid of you but because he loved you, and wanted to help you. The lesson is that we should never give up asking for divine assistance. The one who gives up is the loser. A father was trying to encourage his son by saying, "Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!" The boy replied, "But, I can’t solve my problem." His Dad continued, "Remember, son, the people who are remembered are those who didn’t give up - Robert Fulton didn’t give up, Thomas Edison never gave up, Eli Whitney never gave up, and look at Isadore McPringle." "Who is Isadore McPringle?" asked the boy. "See," said the father, "you never heard of him - he gave up!"
To "nag, nag, nag" to get what you want is not appreciated by most people. It is a way of getting you to do something you do not want to do. And you resent it. It is not that way with God. Christ taught and encouraged us to nag God until we get what we need. Persistence in asking is evidence of faith. And faith in Christ is what truly brings results.
