The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
August 18, 2002

Faith to Make it Through Life’s Storms
Matthew 15:21-28 

Seen any preacher’s this week? You can tell them by the dark cloud hanging over their heads. After all, Jesus comes across as quite rude in today’s Gospel. Then we preachers have to explain that Jesus is not really being rude. Jesus really sticks it to us preachers sometimes. His behavior in the Gospels does not always seem to conform to what we consider common courtesy. The preacher is then left calming the waters, making Jesus’ actions come out more seemly.  

There are some pat answers for this Gospel reading. The older way of excusing Jesus’ breach of protocols by noting that the rude one was really the Canaanite woman. After all, properly raised women did not go around shouting at male teachers as she did. In the brief encounter described in the Gospel, the woman starts shouting when she first lays eyes on Jesus and doesn’t stop until he speaks to her. Then she matches wits with him, choosing to debate Jesus’ statements, rather than simply accept them. For a woman of her time and place, she was being pushy to say the least. 

The current favorite is that Jesus gives the Canaanite woman a chance to prove her faith. In this scenario, Jesus’ brush off gives the unnamed woman an opportunity to show her tenacity, her unwavering faith in the face of unexpected opposition.  

I think debating who was being rude to whom and why can cause us to miss an important lesson in this story. Jesus’ uses this encounter with a Gentile to teach what great faith looks like. If we get too busy with matters of politeness, we can miss the faithfulness found in this passage. 

I think it helps to back up just a bit. After all, our short Sunday readings sometimes have us miss the context for what we are reading. In the case of today’s reading, I think it was last Sunday’s Gospel that gives an important point to ponder. It was last Sunday that Jesus told Peter that he had little faith. Now this Sunday, the Canaanite woman is extolled for her great faith. What is the difference between the two and what can we learn from it? 

Last Sunday we read about a time Jesus went off to be by himself after a busy day of teaching. Jesus sent the disciples ahead by boat, dismissed the crowds, and spent some alone time in prayer. With his own spiritual waters calmed, Jesus looked out and saw the disciples’ tiny boat engulfed by a great storm on the sea. Jesus walked out on the rolling waves and met the disciples in the midst of the tempest.  

When the disciples saw Jesus walking toward them over the waves, they were overcome with fear. It never entered their minds that Jesus the healer, could also walk on water. They feared that it was a ghost pursuing them on the sea.  

Jesus called out, “Take heart, It is I. Do not be afraid.” Peter, apparently unconvinced by Jesus’ words alone, called back, “If it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” 

Peter steps out of the boat and stands firm on the stormy sea. He takes tentative steps toward Jesus. Now, I don’t know about you, but at this point of the story, I’m thinking that Peter has more faith than I ever have.  

Just then, Peter notices the strong wind and he loses heart. Beginning to sink, Peter calls out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus takes Peter’s hand, pulls him up saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

If doubting means that someone has little faith, then I’m afraid I am in the little faith category. I am a notorious doubter. It’s not that I don’t have faith, but I sometimes make excuses for God in my mind up front. Maybe what I am praying for is not God’s will. Maybe there is some reason I can’t foresee why God can’t grant some prayer or another. I know that God can and has done many miraculous things, I have seen and experienced that for myself. But, I am still bad about doubting whether God will come through this next time.  

Metaphorically speaking, I get out on the water, notice the wind and then begin to sink. If that’s little faith, then what does great faith look like. This week’s Gospel reading gives the answer. 

First, we need a little information on where this story is taking place. Matthew tells us that Jesus enters the region of Tyre and Sidon. For people raised on the prophets, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Tyre and Sidon are the prototype of lands set against God. Tyre and Sidon are what Israel is called not to be. Jesus himself had already used this area as an example in Matthew’s Gospel. He said, 

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.” 

Jesus said that the people of Tyre and Sidon had never seen God’s great acts of power the way Israel had. He went on to say that if Tyre and Sidon had seen God’s power they would have responded. 

Now Jesus is venturing into those very lands. It’s hard to say why he might do this. He had told his own disciples to confine their ministry to the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 10:6) and he confined his own ministry to Israel with rare exception. Now he finds himself in Tyre and Sidon and immediately a Canaanite woman is hounding him for a miracle. It is interesting to note that from the outset, she addresses Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. She cries out to him as “Lord, Son of David.” Every time she addresses him she will continue to refer to Jesus as Lord. 

Jesus first ignores her, and then when pressed by the disciples to shut her up, he tells her that he has come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The sheep of the house of Israel are God’s children and their food should not be given to a dog, implying, of course, this woman. The woman seems completely undeterred and beats Jesus in his word game saying, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 

It is then that the unbelievably rude Messiah turns and really speaks to this woman with an amazing compliment, “Woman, Great is your faith!” Jesus’ grants her wish, at that moment, her daughter is healed. 

So, what’s the difference between this woman and Peter? One scholar I read noted, “Had the woman said something like ‘If you are the Son of David, command my daughter to be healed,’ then she would be in the same category as Peter, even if she dared to proceed homeward on the assumption that the exorcism had taken place.”[1]  

But the Canaanite woman did not say if. She never wavered in her conviction that Jesus is God’s son, the promised son of David, and that he can heal her daughter if he so desires. Nothing he said or did could shake her convictions. That is great faith. 

One thing we can take from these two stories is that our faith journeys will come with some bumps along the way. From Peter’s wind and waves to the Canaanite woman’s rude welcome, spiritual journeys are not smooth sailing. We will all have to navigate rough seas. Life presents obstacles to faith in many different forms. Great faith stands firm even in the face of obstacles. Great faith doesn’t waver when the going gets tough but waits in the assurance that God will reward that faithfulness. 

I think though that there is something more to be gained by looking at these two stories alongside one another. The Canaanite woman’s great faith was rewarded when her daughter was healed. Great faith received a just reward.  

Now look again at Peter. Sure, wave-walking Peter found first his faith and then his feet sinking when he noticed the wind. But, what did Jesus do? Jesus rescued him, even if he chastised his friend in the process. Peter had, after all, seen more of Jesus’ miracles than perhaps anyone had. Shouldn’t his faith be all the stronger for the many acts of power he had witnessed. Yet, even as he scolded Peter’s flagging faith, he pulled him from the sea and set him in the boat.  

The disciple with wavering faith received what he needed when he needed it just as the woman of great faith did. It’s then that we see that God meets each of us where we are. God reaches out to those of us with little faith, just as he reaches out to those of great faith. Each of us gets, perhaps not our every wish granted, but at least what we need.  

When adversity comes, and it will come, we are to hold fast to the faith we have. That faith, whether it is little faith or great faith will not benefit us by having God granting our wishes.  

Instead, your faith benefits you by giving you the strength you need to face the adversity knowing that somehow God is present with you in those circumstances. Whatever you are up against, know that our Lord is not standing idly by in the storms of this life. Instead, Jesus ventures out into those roughest waters where the winds and waves of life pound you the hardest. It is there that Jesus finds you, and bids us to come closer to him. 

When life sends storms, hold fast to your faith, knowing that the God in whom you put your trust is faithful, especially in the worst of circumstances. 

Amen.