The Second Sunday in Lent| Rev. Rolf Preus| March 1, 2026| St. Matthew 15:21-28<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s Gospel Lesson tests our faith. We learn from childhood that God loves everyone. \u201cFor God so loved the world,\u201d Jesus said. He\u2019s the Savior of the world. He died for all. He wants everyone to believe in him. He promises, \u201cThe one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.\u201d John 6:37 How can anyone doubt that Jesus wants to save everyone who seeks his help? St. Paul, Christ\u2019s apostle, writes in 1 Timothy 2, \u201cFor this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.\u201d Jesus said, \u201cCome to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\u201d Matthew 11:28 God\u2019s universal grace is a matter of faith. God loves everyone. He must then love me. That\u2019s the logic of faith. Clearly that\u2019s what the woman from Canaan believed. Simeon, who held the Christ Child in his arms when Jesus was a baby, called Jesus \u201cA light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then faith comes up against a locked door that appears to be impenetrable. \u201cHave mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon possessed.\u201d Have mercy, she cries. First, it looks like he ignores her. Then, he appears to say that he was not sent to help the likes of her. Finally, he calls her a dog. So much for the universal grace of God! So much for God\u2019s desire to save all people. It looks like he\u2019s not the light to lighten this Gentile and that Simeon\u2019s song was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This text tests our faith. It appears that God\u2019s mercy is confined to a select few and that that poor woman is excluded. That\u2019s how it appears. Well, she was a Canaanite. You remember them, don\u2019t you? They were the ones that God told Israel to destroy after they entered the Promised Land. The Canaanite religion was particularly savage and cruel. God told his people Israel to wipe it out. The Canaanites worshipped false gods that required them to do horrible sins. They were required to sacrifice their own children. They would kill their children and offer them to Moloch. Sexual immorality was part of their religion. Every disgusting form of immorality was celebrated as they worshipped their false gods and goddesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s Epistle Lesson warns us Christians about sexual immorality. The apostle Paul told the Christians in Thessalonica to abstain from what the religion of the Canaanites celebrated. He wrote,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gentiles do not know God. That\u2019s why they live godless lives. The Canaanites played with the devil, adopting his ways and incorporating them into their religion. Why would Jesus want anything to do with a Canaanite woman? What kind of a woman was she? What did her daughter do to become possessed by a demon? Naturally, he\u2019s going to ignore her and refuse her request. Besides, he came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who knows what went through the mind of that desperate woman? Watching her daughter suffer and bearing the pain that a mother feels when her child is tormented and there\u2019s nothing she can do to alleviate the misery. What a pathetic sight! Who could not have pity on her? How hard-hearted Jesus appeared to be. It looked like Jesus just didn\u2019t care. Like he dismissed her as someone not worth helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It looked like it, but what it looked like wasn\u2019t what it was. This woman from Canaan, who sought help from Jesus, got from Jesus what she sought. Jesus never intended to deny her prayer. He intended to give her what she asked for. This teaches the church of all ages a very important lesson. Looks are deceiving. We Christians don\u2019t go by what we see. We go by what God says. What God says matters more than what we see, feel, experience, or think. This woman teaches us that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A striking feature of this exchange is that while it appears that Jesus repeatedly rejects her and dismisses her as of no concern to him, he never actually does so. It\u2019s as if he wants us to know that we mustn\u2019t go by appearances. When he answered her not a word, was he rejecting her? Was he denying her request? No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though you deem He hears you not,
Still your wants are ne’er forgot;
Cry to Him when storms assail you,
Let your courage never fail you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he said that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, was he saying that he was not sent to her? Listen to the words of Christ\u2019s apostle, Paul,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ\u2019s, then you are Abraham\u2019s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29-29<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If she was an heir of Abraham through faith in Christ, surely, she was of the house of Israel. And when Jesus said, \u201cIt is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,\u201d did he call her a dog? The Apostle Paul writes, \u201cFor you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.\u201d She believed in Jesus. That made her a child of God. A dog was a heathen. She was not a dog. She was a believer. Still, she was willing to become a dog if that were necessary to receive help from Jesus. She said, \u201cYes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.\u201d Faith relies on God\u2019s mercy. Faith refuses to deny God\u2019s mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God tests our faith. He does so, not to drive us away from him, but to draw us closer to him. Think of Abraham. How long he and Sarah had prayed for a son who would be the heir of God\u2019s promises to Abraham. When Isaac was still a boy, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice him on Mt. Moriah. How could God make such a demand? But Abraham did as God told him to do. God did not make Abraham go through with it. God was testing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think of Jacob who wrestled with God all night long, refusing to let go, until God blessed him. Afterward, God changed his name from Jacob to Israel. Israel means one who struggles with God. God let him win. He blessed him. Why did Jacob have to wrestle with God? Did God not want to bless him? No, God wanted to bless him. And he wanted Jacob to wrestle with him for the blessing. Faith is not an intellectual assent to a theological proposition. Faith is not a decision to invite Jesus into one\u2019s heart to make him Lord of one\u2019s life. Faith is trust. It is confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faith doesn\u2019t give up. It listens to the word of God and refuses to be deterred. It persists in the face of apparent denial. It is stubborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learn to mark God’s wondrous dealing
With the people that He loves;
When His chast’ning hand they’re feeling,
Then their faith the strongest proves.
God is nigh, and notes their tears,
Though He answers not, He hears;
Pray with faith, for though He try you,
No good thing can God deny you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus commended the woman from Canaan. \u201cO woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.\u201d Her daughter was instantly healed. The demon left her. Christ publicly displayed his power over the devil and his demons. And Jesus is the same today as he was then. He will most certainly deliver us from the power of the evil one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last Sunday we saw how Jesus drove the devil away from him with the power of God\u2019s Word. Today we see Jesus delivering a young girl from a demon that had possessed her. Next week\u2019s Gospel reading is about Jesus expelling a demon from a man who was mute. Lent is about Jesus battling against the devil and the devil\u2019s demons, leading up to the final battle on the cross where Jesus destroyed Satan\u2019s power by his perfect obedience to his Father all the way to his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God tests us to strengthen our faith and ready us for battle against the devil. The devil and his demons attack our faith. As he did with Adam and Eve, he distracts us from the Word of God. For if we lose the Word, we lose God. The Canaanite woman knew this. She clung to God\u2019s Word throughout and her faith was vindicated. And we must do the same when it appears to us that God doesn\u2019t listen, doesn\u2019t hear, and isn\u2019t going to come to our help. We seek God where God has revealed himself. Then our faith rests secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are three things that our text teaches us about God\u2019s mercy. First, he shows his mercy to everyone who calls upon him for mercy. He shows no favoritism. He doesn\u2019t care if you are rich or poor, black or white, male or female, young or old, he cares about you. Period. St. Peter writes, \u201cTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.\u201d 1 Peter 5:6-7
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Second, God\u2019s mercy is found in Christ. \u201cHave mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.\u201d That\u2019s more than mercy. It is grace. There is no generic God out there who can be found in every religion. There is only one religion that reveals God truly as he really is, and that is the Christian religion. Jesus Christ is the revelation of the Father. To know how God sees you, you must look to what Jesus did for you. We read in the Gospels about how he healed the sick, drove out demons, and even raised the dead. During this holy season of the church year, we focus our faith on where God\u2019s grace for us is revealed. Jesus went to the cross. On Calvary, he answered all our prayers. There it was, as he was dying for the sins of the world, bearing the guilt and punishment for all the sins of everyone everywhere, there it was that God\u2019s grace answered every single need we have. For in confronting our sins, our death, and the power of the devil on Calvary and utterly defeating them, he delivered us from their power. Our faith doesn\u2019t come by an act of our will. It\u2019s the most wonderful gift from God. It is focused on the cross. God\u2019s Word coming from the cross announces to us forgiveness of all our sins, peace with God, freedom from the judgment of God\u2019s law, victory over the devil and his demons, and the new life of faith that leads to eternal life in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third, while God\u2019s grace is given freely, the faith that receives it must contend with apparent contradictions to God\u2019s grace. Apparent has to do with appearances, not reality. This is what we find so difficult. We want to see it, feel it, experience it, and even show it off. But God withholds it. Oh, he\u2019ll give it. He\u2019s not playing games. But he\u2019s teaching us to rely solely on his Word and not on what we feel, experience, or see. God is on our side! No good thing will God deny us! How do we know? Look what Jesus did for that woman from Canaan. He will hear us and answer us and satisfy our needs. And he\u2019ll sharpen our faith, even if it hurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing is more precious than our faith. That\u2019s why God tries it, tests it, and purifies it. In facing the daily trials of our life and when we must face death, our gracious God will sustain us in the faith. St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:12, \u201cFor this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.\u201d Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Second Sunday in Lent| Rev. Rolf Preus| March 1, 2026| St. Matthew 15:21-28 Today\u2019s Gospel Lesson tests our faith. We learn from childhood that God loves everyone. \u201cFor God so loved the world,\u201d Jesus said. He\u2019s the Savior of the world. He died for all. He wants everyone to believe in him. He…<\/p>\n