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28 February 2021
Text: Matt 15:21-28 (Gen 32:22-32,
1 Thess 4:1-7)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
In our Old Testament reading, Jacob and his large family were fleeing from Jacob’s father-in-law Laban. Jacob was also headed back home to where his twin brother Esau had threatened to kill him. There are many expressions to describe Jacob’s situation: “between the devil and the deep blue sea”, “on the horns of a dilemma,” or just plain “up the creek.” He was following God’s instruction to leave – but it was scary and dangerous.
In the middle of this, a mysterious stranger shows up in the desert at night and attacks him. They wrestle until morning. But this isn’t a robber or a common thug. The man disables Jacob by merely touching his hip. But Jacob continues to grapple with him, and refuses to let go without the stranger’s blessing. The stranger renames Jacob as “Israel” – a name which means “he who has wrestled with God.”
Jacob’s strange encounter with this God-Man gave him courage and bolstered his faith to meet his estranged family. If you want to find out what happens next, it’s in Genesis 33. And it is remarkable.
Faith is sometimes like wrestling with God. And like a father grappling with his little boy, or like a coach instructing his team – sometimes the stronger one lets the weaker one win. This is not done in a deceptive way, but rather to allow the weaker to become stronger by testing his own limits.
For God certainly could have pulverized Jacob at any time. He is not wrestling with Jacob to win, but rather so that Jacob’s faith may be fortified for a coming time of trial.
This is a fitting lesson to be paired with our Gospel: the account of the Canaanite woman. For she too wrestled with God, and God also allowed her to win. As a result, this woman – who was not descended from Israel – became a sort-of Israel herself – one who wrestled with God” and who prevailed.
Jesus came initially to the descendants of Jacob – the Israelites. But He didn’t only come to the descendants of the man who wrestled with God. He also came for the Gentiles as well. And when they heard about His miracles, they sought out Jesus in faith that He would hear their prayers and heal them.
The Canaanites were hated by the Jews. But this woman was so bold as to track down Jesus and pray to Him: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is oppressed by a demon.”
She, like Jacob, was in a fix. Her daughter was suffering, and no doctor could help. No pagan priest could help. Nobody but God could help. And in spite of the fact that she was not an Israelite, she knows who Jesus is. She calls Him “Lord.” She calls Him “Son of David.” This is a confession that He is the Messiah. And she is outrageously bold – as a woman and as a Canaanite – to force her way to Jesus to ask for help. And like Jacob in the wilderness, she is also persistent! She will not say “Uncle.” She continues to make an annoyance of herself, to where the disciples beg Jesus to get rid of her.
But He doesn’t. Instead, He tests her – like He did when He wrestled with Jacob so long ago. And perhaps even recalling that incident, said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And still, she fought on. She knelt before Him, an act of humility and of worship, “Lord, help me!” she cries out.
Jesus continues to test her: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” And here, the Canaanite woman goes for the takedown: “Yes, Lord,” she says, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table.” This is the equivalent of Jacob refusing to let the God-Man go until He blessed him.
Our Lord taps out. The woman has indeed wrestled with God and with men and has prevailed. Her faith held firm. She held God to His promise. She refused to let go against every discouragement and against every temptation to lash out in anger or to slink away in despair. Our Lord does for her what He did for Jacob: he blesses her: “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And St. Matthew tells us what happened: “Her daughter was healed instantly.”
The Holy Spirit has caused us to hear this Word of God, dear friends, as an encouragement to hold God to His promises, to pray to Jesus: “Lord, have mercy!” and to refuse to be discouraged. He hears our prayers. He tests us, but He loves us and answers our prayers. He may not answer them as we wish, but He answers them as is best according to His will. We may never know the reasons why He allows things to happen, but don’t interpret your wrestling with Him as a lack of faith, dear friends. For He is strengthening your faith. And like the Canaanite woman, your faith has the power to receive His gifts.
We may wrestle with the idea that Jesus is God, that He could have appeared as a man nearly two thousand years before His own birth, or that He comes to us in Word and Sacrament nearly two thousand years after His birth, death, resurrection, and ascension. We may wrestle with the idea that bread is His body, or that wine is His blood, or that He will raise us from the dead on the Last Day because He loves us and by means of the blood He shed on the cross to redeem us.
This is why we receive this Word of God based on faith. Faith itself is like a wrestling match. But God doesn’t just leave us without training and without guidance. Our struggles with Him make us stronger. Our encounters with Him build up our faith, like the muscles of an athlete. And when we come to Him like the Canaanite woman, crying out, “Lord, have mercy,” He does indeed hear us – even when it seems like He is ignoring us or discouraging us. That is the time to double down, to pray all the more incessantly, and to demand that He bless you.
God will reward you for grappling with Him and His promises, when you demand that He hear you and keep His Word. We see this again and again in the Scriptures. And we see it again and again in the Christian life.
And though it may not be obvious to you, your faith is strengthened by being here, by hearing the Word read and preached, by partaking of the Lord’s body and blood, by gathering with other believers and singing the magnificent confessions of the church that we call hymns, by confessing your sins and receiving absolution, by remembering your baptism, by praying with your brothers and sisters, and by calling out to Him at home, by reading His Word, by wrestling also against your old sinful nature and against the devil, to remain faithful in your life as a Christian. Sometimes, like Jacob, whose hip remained sore his whole life long, you will limp in your Christian walk, and sometimes you may run. But all the while, our blessed Lord is with you. He will not abandon you.
This is what we mean by grace, by salvation, by the fact that by His death and resurrection, we have eternal life as a gift. He hears your cry for mercy, and He will bear you up in your desperation, even when you are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
For as St. Paul preached to the Thessalonian Christians in His first letter to that church, “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” So if you are striving to be what God has called you to be, if you are coming to Him in desperation, if you hold Him to His promises – our Lord will bless you. And you will not have to ask His name, as did Jacob. For you already know His name: Jesus Christ our Lord!
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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