Matthew 15:21-28
Listen here.
Last week, Satan was the enemy with his temptations. This week, Jesus Himself seems to be the enemy.
There’s a fictional story about a man who lived out in the country. On his property was a huge rock sticking out of the ground—about ten feet tall and twenty feet around. God came to this man in a dream and said, “Go out every day and push as hard as you can on that rock.” The man, always glad to know and do God’s will, did as the Lord said. Every day he went out and pushed on that rock with all of his might. After pushing on that rock for a couple of weeks the man prayed, “Lord, I don’t understand why You want me to do this, but I’ll keep pushing.” Another couple of weeks goes by. He keeps pushing on that rock with all his might. Now the man is getting frustrated. Finally, he prays with exasperation: “Lord! I can’t budge this rock! It’s just too big, too heavy, and sunk too deep in the ground! I can’t do this anymore! Why?”
What was God’s purpose for this fictional man? What was Jesus’ purpose for giving the silent treatment to the Canaanite woman, or for wrestling with Jacob? What is God’s purpose when He seems to ignore you?
God has a history of “ignoring” even His faithful people. Consider Abraham. When he was about 75 years old, God called him and promised that he would become a great nation. Just one problem: Abraham had no children and his wife Sarah was barren. Years later Abraham wanted to make the servant of Eliezer his heir. Then he tried having a child by Sarah’s servant Hagar. Each time, God ignored Abraham’s efforts and said, “No! Not that way.” Then, when Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90, they finally had a son: Isaac. Then, of all things, a few years later, God told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son. And so Abraham learned that God builds the nation in His own way and provides the Lamb!
Or consider Jacob. He wrestled with a Man through the night. That Man dislocated Jacob’s hip, and Jacob pinned Him to the ground until he was blessed by Him. And Jacob received a new name: “He Who Wrestles with God.”
Or consider Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. He was sold into slavery in Egypt at just 17 years old, then was unjustly accused of “sexual harassment” and wrongfully imprisoned. Sure seemed God was ignoring his plight. Then, several years later, Joseph was elevated to Pharaoh’s service after interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams about the long famine, but still in Egypt. All of this so that God would deliver His people centuries later.
Or consider David. Saul was Israel’s king, but God decided to anoint David as the next king. So jealous Saul set out to take David out, literally hunting him down to kill him. David expressed his angst in Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” Sounds like words we might cry when God is ignoring us. Yet David learned to rely on God and His deliverance even while being ignored.
And what of our Lord Jesus? Did God ignore Him? Absolutely! In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed about His coming torture and death: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt. 26:42). The Father answered with silence that spoke volumes: “Yes, My Son, You must bear it!” And hanging on the cross, Jesus prayed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46). Was God the Father ignoring His only-begotten Son? Yes, but ponder the wonderful deliverance that came by it!
So what do you do when God ignores you? You follow the lead of the Canaanite woman. She gladly receives the crumbs that fall from the Master’s Table. And so do we.
The God who ignores is also the Lord who loves. When we see Jesus acting the way He does with the Canaanite woman, either He’s being mean and cruel, or He has a greater purpose for treating the woman as He does. Is He trying to lead her to realize that she is not an Israelite and therefore has no claim on Him? Is He giving her opportunity to put her faith on display as an example for all of us? Is He endeavoring to strengthen her faith in Him? How about, “Yes, all of the above!”
You see, faith in Christ receives His gifts as a little dog receives scraps from the master’s table. The Canaanite woman was doggedly determined. Silent treatment from Jesus? No problem. Rudeness from His disciples? Just side-step it. Oh, He says He didn’t come for my kind? I’m not giving up! And now He’s comparing me to a little dog who shouldn’t receive the children’s bread? “Yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” This needy, pious woman looked beyond the harsh circumstances of the moment to the boundless mercy and love of Jesus Christ.
What does “God ignoring you” look like for you? Prayers unanswered? Difficult circumstances that won’t go away? Whatever it is, the challenge is to keep calling on the Son of David and keep begging for His mercy even though life is rough. One Bible commentator said it this way: “Faith believes Jesus is good even when reason is not so sure” (Bruner, 552). Luther’s comment is even better: “You say, the woman responds, that I am a dog. Let it be, I will gladly be a dog; now give me the consideration that you give a dog. Thus she catches Christ with his own words, and he is happy to be caught” (HP 1:325).
And how does your crucified and risen Savior give you the consideration that He would a dog? Look to His “table scraps.” A small amount of water combined with His Word washes away all your sins, makes you His dear child, and gives eternal life even now. A few small words—“I forgive you all your sins”—spoken into your ears are “just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.” And a bit of bread and small sip of wine—carrying Jesus’ very Body and Blood themselves—is your medicine of immortality and source of Divine nourishment. Jesus is not ignoring you, even when it seems He is. No, you have His full attention and His full mercy won on the cross and delivered by means of His Word and Sacraments.
And with those “table scraps” of Jesus’ mercy, faith in Him receives all things—including the bitter crumbs of life—from our Lord’s loving hands. Is it the personal trials? Is it the news of this new virus or a recent tornado? Keep catching Christ in His own words! Keep receiving His “table scraps.”
St. Paul says it well in Romans 5(:1-5): “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” You have access by faith into His grace, dear saints. You may rejoice in the hope of God’s glory, even when He seems to ignore you, your needs, and your prayers. Then St. Paul adds this: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” How can that be? “Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
So when God (seemingly) ignores you, remember that He loves to be wrestled in faith and caught in His own words to forgive and heal.
Let’s return to that man frustrated at pushing the huge rock with no visible results. “Lord! I can’t budge this rock! It’s just too big, too heavy, and sunk too deep in the ground! Why?” God might just respond with this: “Who said I wanted you to move the rock? My goal was to make you stronger.”
What do you do when God seems to ignore you? He may have a purpose different from what you assume. That would be to lead you to repentance and strengthen your faith in Christ. After all, He is your ultimate healing through His cross-won forgiveness and resurrection life. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Amen.
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