The Lord is Near

Sermon Notes 16th August
Matthew 15:21-28 by Geoff Vidal 

“The Lord is near”

Let me begin today by reassuring you that you won’t be asked to take your shoes off today. But if you think that your feet are really beautiful, and you wish to show them off - then feel free. Actually, the idea of showing off beautiful feet was a very good idea by Mark last week to help us to remember the message that we are to be bearers of Good News in this world where there is so much need to hear it. 

I think that we are really fortunate in this Parish to have our Sunday messages given by such a variety of people. Desiree regularly shares with us surprising new and important ways of thinking about what Scripture is telling us. She has often taught me a different way of seeing something that I had held in my mind for decades. And Doug also helps our understanding with his carefully researched sermons. 

Likewise, Chris makes very good use of his photos to help us remember things. And, if it’s not photos, Chris has shared stories of his life and ministry experience to help us remember. I will not forget Chris’ recent “Love is never wasted” message. 

It’s been a while since Kamitra Walker gave us the message. However, her precisely seven-minute-long sermon was perhaps the shortest one we have ever heard here at St Barts. 

Recently, we had Archbishop Geoff Smith address us and I know that he succeeded in inspiring quite a few people to begin using the Lectio 365 app for daily devotions. 

Occasionally, the responsibility for bringing something helpful from our Bible readings even falls with me. 

So, what a variety of sermonizers we are blessed to have. There are not just different styles of presenting, but inevitably there are some different theologies shared.  

When I was Rector of Macksville Parish, a significant discovery was that a dear lady named Mary had faithfully been active in that Parish experiencing a great variety of rectors over more than eighty years. And this is just in the Anglican part of our Creator God’s church. There are many different ways of doing things and understanding things in the other parts of the Christian Church too. 

It’s in our nature to think that our way of doing things is “normal”. But there are so many validly different ways of being “normal”. Fear of differences is real. Our reluctance to accept differences can result in us becoming unwelcoming (sometimes unintentionally). 

In 1977, the Australian Navy sent me to fly for the United Nations in Egypt and the Sinai desert. Over one weekend, an Australian army officer and I made a journey in a UN car from Egypt alongside the Sea of Galilee, through lots of military checkpoints and over the Golan Heights to Damascus. It wouldn’t be possible to do that now. At the present time, with Hezbollah and IDF fighting and serious mistrust between everyone, the journey from northern Israel to Sidon and Tyre on the Syrian coast simply cannot take place. 

However, Matthew tells us in our Gospel reading today that Jesus made that journey from northern Galilee to the district of Tyre and Sidon (on foot ... not in an air-conditioned car). There was no fighting when Jesus made that journey but there was a huge amount of mistrust and dislike. 

Jesus and his followers made the trip into this area of Sidon and Tyre where they were not trusted (and people were different) in an effort to have a bit of a break. Jesus’ time off was interrupted by a woman with a daughter suffering mental illness. This mother loudly shouts out to Jesus for mercy for her daughter. 

We are told that the woman is a Canaanite. That is, she is a descendant of the Canaanites who were ancient enemies of the Israelites. Jesus disciples wanted Jesus to send her away so that they could have some peace. (Bible scholars think that the disciples were actually suggesting to Jesus that he should provide the healing that this loud woman wants for her daughter so that she would go away and stop being a bother). 

Initially, it seems that Jesus is rejecting her. But the woman is very persistent. Eventually, she actually knelt down before Jesus and said “Lord, help me”. She is not concerned that her Canaanite community sees Jesus as an outsider. The fact that Jesus was “different” was not a problem for her. 

Perhaps the important message for us is that there are no “insiders” or “outsiders” for God. 

That’s a wonderfully good message for some people on the fringes of Christianity to hear. Those who are not obviously well connected to church things are encouraged when they find God doesn’t recognize “insiders” and “outsiders”. However, people who are very involved with Church things don’t accept this so easily. 

This Canaanite woman is prepared to argue with Jesus and she does. The woman’s interaction with Jesus shows that she understands her situation completely. She is aware that she is considered to be just a nobody. The woman brazenly steps up when her society says that she should stay out of the way in the corner: not really seen and certainly not heard. She is aware that she has no right to make a claim on God's goodness and mercy as offered by Jesus.  

This Canaanite woman accepts the role of simply being a little 'housedog'. She knows that, like a dog, all she can do is to wait for any good things which might fall from the Master's table. Her argument has given us the prayer often prayed in our Holy Communion service: “we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table”.  

Jesus acknowledges what is going on in the mind of this woman and eventually he says to her, “Great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” And her daughter was healed instantly. 

So, perhaps there is something we can learn about faith from this Canaanite woman. We worry a great deal about our faith. Sometimes we go down the track of thinking that we don’t have much faith at all. 

In the fourth century, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria said, “The very fact that the powerful King is in the city brings benefits to everyone: the rich and the poor, those who know that the King is in town and those who don’t even know. Everyone benefits from the king regardless of whether they know or don’t know that the King is in their city.”  

In the same way of thinking, I firmly believe that our faith is intimately known to God. It makes no difference whether we think we have faith or we worry that our faith is too small. Our faith is known to God. 

This Canaanite woman with a sick daughter was probably surprised by Jesus telling her, “great is your faith”. She simply knew that Jesus was present in her town.  

The key to everything is knowing the presence of the Lord. It was in the recognition of the presence of Jesus that this woman’s daughter was healed.

The remedy for all our problems is to know that everything is OK because Jesus is near. 

There is great comfort in the blessing we often hear at the end of our services: “the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.  That blessing comes from Philippians chapter 4 verse 4 and there are some conditions attached to it. In the same way that a mathematical equation says, “this plus this plus this equals that”, the full message of this verse is “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer let your requests be made known to God. THEN, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  

Very clearly, one of the essential factors that bring us peace is to know (like the Canaanite woman) that the Lord is near. 

May we today be assured that our Creator God knows our Faith. May we rest in the peace which knowing the close presence of the Lord brings.