Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - Sermon Text
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15, 28-32
Matthew 15:21-20
O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.
In Genesis 32, the Patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham, son of Isaac, is in the process of leaving Laban and returning home. He will shortly confront the reality of his broken relationship with his twin brother Esau. Jacob is afraid. He sends his family ahead of him bearing gifts for Esau. He hopes that Esau will have mercy upon him for his family’s sake. He is alone. In the dark of night, a stranger comes. Jacob and the stranger get into an hours long wrestling match. The fight is a draw. No one is a clear winner, except that Jacob had a hold on the stranger and will not let go. As daylight breaks, the stranger demands, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob says, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Jacob was true to his word. He did not let go until he received his blessing. At some point in the struggle, Jacob discerned that he was wrestling with God. He called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
I recalled Jacob’s mysterious encounter with the divine when I read the Gospel. There, in modern day Lebanon, Jesus is locked into a confrontation that he did not seek. He is outside of Israel. He is in a land that is supposedly full of spiritual darkness, yet, a Gentile woman, sees Jesus for who he is and for what he can do. She has a hold on him. It may not be a physical hold, but she is not going to be shaken off. She does not fight for herself. She fights for her daughter. She will not let him go until she receives the blessing that she seeks. He can ignore her. He can declare his mission as being sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel all he wants. Speaking proverbially, he can come dangerously close to calling this desperate mother an insulting name. But she will not be put off. She is holding on. She meets his silence with even more persistent confession that Jesus is the Lord, the long-awaited Son of David, the Messiah. She meets his mission clarification with begging and confession. She meets his proverbial saying with the commonsense insight that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
She will not let go. Her daughter needs help. She has faith in Jesus. She has faith that Jesus is the only one who can heal her. Her faith demands his blessing.
This un-named Gentile woman fulfills the prophecy of God in Isaiah 56. She is outside the lost house of Israel. She is a foreigner. Yet, by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit, she joins herself spiritually to the LORD Jesus. She is holding fast to the living embodiment the fulfillment of God’s covenant to the world. Jesus’ blood is spilled as a sacrifice upon the cross. He takes up the cross, he dies for all people, Jew and Gentile. He is the hope of all the world to dwell for eternity with God. He desires to have mercy upon all.
Jesus, seeing her faith, gives her the blessing she seeks. “O Woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”
When we were baptized, the Holy Spirit created faith within us. Our faith holds on to Jesus. He has what we need. We need His forgiveness. We need His peace. We need His healing. Let us ever return to Jesus, hold on to Him in faith, confess Him as Lord, and receive grace. We are blessed this day to receive the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar. We are grateful that He sees us, remembers us, and loves us.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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