Matt. 15:21-28 Jesus Tests a Canaanite Woman’s Faith

It’s nice to know the details about the historical witness of this and every other story in the Bible, but if it doesn’t impact me and my life for the better, what value is it? How does this story impact MY life? And how does it impact YOUR life?

The Canaanite woman was considered an outcast in the eyes of the children of Israel, a Gentile. Since most Christians today are not converted Jews, she represents us. And still, most Christians think that WE are now the chosen people of God. Chosen by God in our baptism to be God’s children. We’ve effectively displaced the Jews, we Christians are the new chosen of God. Now that we are the true children who have the Bread to ourselves, the story fits us even better.

But Jesus leaves the homeland and ventures into the land of the outcasts. Why does he do that? Why does he leave the hallowed halls of our tradition to be around outcasts? I thought he said he would be with us always. Yet we find him among the outcasts.

Who are the outcasts in the eyes of Christians today?
(1) Unbelievers - who reject traditional understanding of the biblical narrative and reject blind adherence to scriptural demands. (2) The poor - if you can’t pull yourself up with self-discipline and will power, there must be something wrong with you. No free lunches are served these days. (3) Sinners – who the righteous determine are not following specific rules of the Bible. Maybe these are the outcasts today. If they don’t meet our rights of initiation, and conform to our rules, they don’t deserve our Jesus.

And yet, Jesus goes to where the outcasts live. The only advertising Jesus needs is word of mouth. People heard he was kind. He was able to help them. He was willing to help them. Imagine how churches might look on Sunday mornings today if sinners in need of healing, forgiveness, heard that the church was kind, and able to help, and willing to help…without conditions attached.

Three times the woman approached Jesus. She trusted the witness of others who had told her that Jesus was kind, and willing to help. She trusted and desired it so much that she endured his silence, his timing that wasn’t her timing, and even being told that she was not one of the chosen – not one of the original children set aside to receive God’s blessing and promise. She still trusted the testimony of others that he was good, and desired to help people in need regardless that she didn’t qualify by the religious rules. She claimed the goodness of God she heard was in him. And she was not disappointed.

Trust the witness of the New Testament that tells us God is love – kind, able, and willing to help us if we call in Jesus’ name. This changes my life. How can I not serve him? How can I live in ways that do not please him? I work harder at it if I trust the goodness of the One who loves me.

Blessings - PWM

Matthew 13:24-30 The Wheat and the Tares

After many forms of teaching and miracle stories in the first twelve chapters of Matthew, the gospel writer fills this chapter with parables. The first parable is the Sower and the Seed, after which the disciples ask Jesus why he teaches in parables. Jesus speaks, “I do it to show you that people can hear and see something without understanding it” and “it fulfills the prophecy in Isaiah.” Then Jesus explains the parable of the Sower.


The second parable is a literary duplicate of the first. Jesus tells a parable of the wheat and tares. Matthew then tells us another place in the Old Testament (Psalm 78) where the Messiah will speak in parables. Then Jesus explains the meaning of the parable to the disciples.

Why? Why would Matthew want to show us that those who met Jesus face to face, who heard his teachings and saw his miracles, didn’t understand what Jesus was trying to teach them? If people who had direct physical interaction with Jesus didn’t understand, then why do we think we can understand at all? Maybe the point is found in the follow up to each parable. Only Jesus can help us to understand his teachings.

I think this might encourage us to go away with Jesus to a quiet place. To be alone with him. To sit at his feet. To let the Word himself enter our thoughts and imagination. As we read the story in Scripture, to place ourselves within it, then he can teach us what he wants each of us to learn. That doesn’t mean we will come away with the same learning points. He will teach me something applicable to my life today, and he will teach you what you need to hear. This is the mystery and wisdom of the parables, one tree can yield many fruits.

I can give one example of hearing without hearing. For six years, in sermons and in Bible studies, I’ve been sharing my understanding of the kingdom of heaven. To make a long story short: the words ‘kingdom of heaven’ can be replaced with the words, the ‘reign of God.’ The kingdom of heaven is is a current state of being – allowing God to reign in your life today. The KOH in these parables is not teaching about where you and I are going to go when we die. I’ve been teaching these replacement words for six years, and last week, when we were analyzing this parable, the initial focus was ‘how is this like heaven?’

So what is the reign of God in the current day like? The seeds of trust in God are sown by Jesus himself. When they are placed in fertile ground, trust grows well. Yet, life is not all roses. There will be weeds and obstacles that get in the way of growing trust. There will be people and teachings (or fear and distrust) that interfere with the ability for trust to grow. Not to worry. Let it all develop together. Who are we to be able to separate out the good from the bad (people, teachings, feelings) when they all look alike. Leave it up to God to sort things out at the end. Just do your best to continue growing in trust for God, and the kingdom, the reign of God in you, will grow.

And get into the habit of going away with Jesus to be alone. Let him teach you.

Blessings - PWM

Matt. 11:2-11 Evidence that Jesus is the Messiah

I’m going to change the way in which I blog these gospel texts. In the past, I’ve been more academic, more religious, more exegetical about the text, letting Martin Luther contribute to the discussion. I’m feeling a little blogged down by this format. Rather than cover a whole text, or be limited by one text a week, I plan to blog about a text from Luther's Church Postil that we are studying for the week, and a possibly another text from the lectionary for Sunday. I might focus on the entire text or just one thought. My primary goal is to identify what each text might be able to teach us for the present day rather than simply analyze what happened in the past.

This text in Matthew 11 shows Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist’s question (from prison) as to whether or not Jesus is the promised messiah, or should they expect someone else. Jesus said, “Look at what I do – that should tell you who I am.” Can our denominations say the same thing? If people want to know if we are the Body of Christ in the world today, can they look at what we do and determine if we are like Jesus? The same applies to me as an individual. If people want to know if I am a follower of Jesus Christ, can they look at what I do and be convinced?

Is my religious work focused on protecting the word of God, or the dogma and doctrines of my particular church theologians? Or are we clinging to our denominational loyalties (Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, Aquinas, etc.) today like Luther said the church of his day clung to their saints and popes?

What did Jesus do to show he was the Christ? He said, “Report what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Where there are good works, there is Christ. Where there is good news, there is Christ. The odd phrase Jesus added was this: “Blessed are those who do not fall away on account of me.” Why would Christians today fall away from Jesus who was a healer, a forgiver, a servant, a witness to the goodness of God? Maybe because Jesus wasn’t a condemner or a punisher. Maybe because Jesus did not match the tradition's image of God from the Old Testament…a God of law rather than a God of love. Many people desire a God who will make bad people (which never includes them) pay for their sins for eternity, rather than accept that the Son received the punishment to himself.

The Christian life consists of placing one’s complete trust in God as revealed in Jesus, and acting in love toward our neighbors in need. I am the blind, the lame, the leprous, the deaf, the poor person who is totally dependent upon Jesus Christ to make me whole; I cannot do this on my own effort. Christ alone heals my spirit, and frees me to experience peace, joy, love, and hope as I live to please Him.

Blessings - PWM 

Matthew 9:18-26 Two Healings and No Payment

In both healing stories, people come to Jesus because of something they have been told about Jesus that makes them believe he can help them. Jesus doesn’t push himself on them. He waits for them to come to him. They must have heard something good about Jesus, not a message of obedience to law, but a message of comfort and healing. The church seems to do a bait and switch, by pointing to Jesus as good and kind, but once they are in, it becomes ‘you really can’t have him unless you obey the law.’ Luther points out quite distinctly – pay attention to any other healing story – that Jesus does not demand anything after he heals. Christ gives without expecting payment from us.

The first healing story as Jesus is finishing his statement that you can’t pour new wine into old wineskins. Is this first healing an example of pouring new wine into old wineskins? It is the first example of Jesus raising a person from the dead in Matthew. How would the ruler ever think Jesus had that kind of power? How can a person have so much trust in Jesus that they have no question Jesus can do something no one has ever seen a person do? He even allows Jesus the time to be diverted and heal someone else along the way. If you were trying to get a physician to heal your daughter that you believed was dead, would you let him/her stop to help someone else along the way? That’s a lot of faith.

The woman with the twelve year bleeding problem is an interesting story. Blood was considered ‘life’ itself. To be drained of blood for twelve years is like being drained of life for a long time. Luther thought blood loss is connected to feeling our sin. That’s a theological approach, but I think a death, a divorce, a traumatic and devastating event, an unfair job loss – how many things can drain life from us for a long period of time! When she finally, on her own – not with any church or small group to assist her – reaches for and tries to get close to Jesus, he heals her. To touch his cloak might be to mimic his life, as outer wear can often be understood as the actions one wears on the outside. He rewards her efforts to be like him, and life improves.

Another point to consider might be the fact that the woman, with her bleeding condition, was considered unclean. She wasn’t supposed to be in public, and as a woman even, to approach a man. Maybe that’s why she snuck up to him. In her shame, she only wanted his help, not his condemnation. I supposed that’s what most people expect from a God who expects you to do everything right. How could this rabbi grant her wish, and not expect her to follow the law as some form of payment? Did Jesus forget to tell her that’s what he expected?

Here’s a few comments from Luther on this text: (1 - #6) If we receive Christ without becoming like him in his giving without receiving payment, we are name-only Christians. Christ does the works that come from us. (1 - #8) They are deceivers in the church who preach or teach, occupied with commandments, works, and statutes which accomplish nothing. These pretend Christians burden and torment us with their commands and works. (2 - #18) In spite of what the law and all people said (about the woman considered unclean by the law and rejected), she reached out to lay hold of Christ for herself. #21 – Though she feared condemnation for her illegal actions under the law, Christ began to confirm her faith, to say she had done well in disregarding Moses and the law, that is, her unworthiness as judged by others. We should learn from this interpretation today.


Blessings - PWM

Matthew 9:1-8 Your Sins Are Forgiven

Martin Luther’s first sermon on this text would cause a few Lutheran legalists to close the book quickly on him. He makes many powerful statements and I will highlight them rather than on the text that speaks to him and brings out these ideas.


“The kingdom of Christ is the words: ‘your sins are forgiven.’ "(1 - #2) For Brother Martin, these four words are the heart of the gospel, and he points out that they come without works, without commands, without law.


As long as I’ve been a Lutheran, I’ve never heard the following words attributed to Luther: “If the kingdom of Christ is to grow, we must keep out of it with the law…it is out of the sphere of the kingdom of Christ to urge people with the law.” (1 - #4) Other sermons of his remind us that after Christ has healed anyone of their maladies, he does not ask them to do anything in return. He doesn’t hold his grace over sinners’ heads as in, “Now that I’ve done this for you, you must follow with obedience to God’s commands or I’ll take it back.”


Luther points out that the gospel and the true word of God are blasphemed on many sides, getting from St. Paul that all false spirits are bold and proud in contrast to true spirits that are bashful. This reminds me of all the places in the NT where it says revilers, extortioners, theives, and coveters are in the same category as pedophiles and sodomites. The Greek concordance says 'thieves' is a metaphor for false teachers. Revilers are those who subject others to verbal abuse, and scold in harsh or abusive language. Extortioners are those who obtain what they want by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power. 1 Cor. 6:10 says they will not inherit the kingdom of God either. This sounds like the pot calling the kettle black in the church today.


The story in Matthew itself shows that you and I, and the church, can bring others to Christ because of our faith, as in the baptism of children, but then Christ gives faith to them so they can believe for themselves. Yet there are so many questions about why some accept the gift and others don’t. Another one of the mysteries.


Blessings - PWM

Matthew 8:23-27 Faith in the midst of storms

It’s so easy to have faith when the seas are calm, and the wind is peaceful and pleasant. These are the wonderful times of life. No problems. Or at least most are pretty manageable and in our control. But when we lose control of life circumstances, the storms blow our faith away like feathers in a hurricane. On the contrary, if we have trust in Jesus, this trust can blow the wind and the waves from our mind as we focus on the grace and power of God. After all, faith sees what cannot be seen. Something Luther pointed out was how Jesus helped calm the storm, but then what did he ask of us? Did he command obedience to his teachings? Did he command that we ‘go and sin no more?’ Did he expect anything in return? No. He helps, not because he wants more from us, but because love helps without expectation of reward. He helps so that his heavenly Father will be praised and glorified. Luther also connected the storm to the world that opposes Christendom. By world, Luther included certain people within the church. He said the world tolerates all kinds of preaching except the preaching of Christ as the way of salvation. People add requirements to salvation that go above Christ. When Christ alone is preached, he said it should be a consolation to preachers if they suffer persecution. It’s even a good sign if the persecution comes from the great, saintly, the learned, and the wise. At least the disciples believed in Jesus enough to run to him for help, even though they didn’t have a clue how he would be able to help them. They’d never seen him calm a storm before. They wouldn’t have woken him if they didn’t think he could help in some way. Luther thinks that God/Jesus appears to sleep so we can learn how to trust, not in handling the situation ourself, but in God. Faith grows through struggle. A final point here, and I’m not sure how Luther tied it in with this story, but he said “The Word has no master or judge or protector besides God, the author. God doesn’t ask the counsel of men to administer and defend his Word. He will defend/protect it himself.” Maybe this is part of the storm we face today in the church. So many men, defending God’s Word. Like they think God can’t do it for himself. O ye of little faith. Blessings - PWM

Matt. 8:1-13 True Faith

Both stories of healing come as a result of people coming to Jesus. The leper was breaking both religious (ceremonial uncleanness) and moral (potential to hurt someone else) law. The Roman centurion was going against his own culture, possibly defying his own worship of Caesar or other gods. They both had heard the good news – that Jesus was kind and receptive to all, capable of helping them, and most of all, willing to help them. Is this a picture of the body of Christ? Are we drawing people to the Christian religion because we appear so kind, accepting, our power to help, our willingness to help instead of to condemn? Contraire, my friends. Christians today wield judgment, condemnation, righteous anger, and earn your way into our good prayers and graces. Will the Temple need to be destroyed, again? All this points to Luther’s claim that [1 - #2] “this is true faith: a living confidence in the goodness of God…[#4]…The Gospel is a good report, saying, or fame of Christ, how he is all goodness, love, and grace…” The reason Jesus tells the leper not to tell others is because this is the example of love. Love is not shown by a person in order to receive credit or attention for its actions. Jesus wasn’t expecting anything in return, and neither should we when we help another person. He only wanted the Father to be glorified. Leprosy is a disease of the skin, our outer covering. It’s a metaphor for our external actions that are sinful. Unfortunately, our actions are contagious, and others can be infected by them. Leprosy also is a disease in which the skin loses its ability to feel. Maybe like alcoholism or drug addiction. Addictions make people numb to the pain of the world, and they can’t tell that they are being destroyed because they’ve lost the ability to feel what is hurting them and others. Only Jesus can touch us and make our actions pure. But they have to hear that Jesus (the body of Christ) will not cast them out because of their disease. When the leper prayed, this showed that true prayer is one in which we submit to the will of God, not necessarily anticipating our proposed answer is the best answer. Trust in God’s wisdom and that whatever happens can be used to glorify God. An example was given of one of the speakers at the Youth Quake in New Orleans who lost his legs to a rare disease. I’m sure he prayed for his legs to be spared. Though they were not, he was speaking to 37,000 youth and adults to glorify what God had done through him in sharing the good news with people in Africa. Having half the body we have, God is using him in a powerful way to motivate others to seek Him. Luther says the centurion, a heathen, was exalted by Christ because he had a faith greater than any person of the chosen nation of Israel. What does this say to us today? We are the ‘chosen’ people of Christ – called Christians. Are there heathens who trust in Jesus and his healing power more than we do? Maybe so. And are we cast into outer darkness (unbelief, lack of understanding) where we struggle and wail and gnash our teeth? Maybe so. Especially if we are requiring more (religion, adherence to law) than trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation. Faith is not about what we think. Faith is about WHO we trust. That’s why little children inherit the kingdom of God. They do not use logic or reason. They trust in the goodness of God through Jesus. Luther identifies reason as a stumbling block to faith. Reason and right thinking are not just stumbling blocks for us today, they are a mountain. Keep the faith - PWM