The judgment of God

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

Jesus says nothing.

Here is a woman pouring her heart and soul out to Jesus, and He says nothing.

She explains her predicament. She tells Him of the devil that is torturing her daughter, tearing her life apart, causing agony to the whole family as they watch her writhe in pain and cannot help her one single bit.

And He says nothing.

In fact He tells her that He is sent to the sheep of the house of Israel. He calls them children, but He calls her a dog.

And this is the God we worship.

Are you feeling uncomfortable, yet?

[PAUSE]

This does seem to cause a problem for Christians in this day and age but the problem is an old one. What happens when God is silent or doesn't seem to care. What happens when He appears to be rude and offensive?

Some say that this woman changes Our Lord's mind by showing Him that He is being narrow-minded and actually rather racist. They say that, because Our Lord is human, He is as much a product of His culture as we are. They say that He has no knowledge of His future work and that He has to learn His vocation just as we do. They say that Our Lord is shown to be wrong by this Canaanite woman.

Can you hear what's wrong with this?

[PAUSE]

It is true that Our Lord is indeed human. It is true that he possesses in His human nature all that we know to be part of our condition. We can only do so much, think so much, know so much and love so much. We are finite, feeble and frail. We are born, we suffer and we die.

Yet, we also know that Jesus is God, and that He does not just possess human nature, but God nature too. And we know that these two natures cannot be separated from each other. In His humanity, Our Lord can only do so much: He will feel emotional and physical pain; He will laugh and cry; He will fall over and even have moments of clumsiness; He will be tempted; yet He will not sin! Sin is not part of human nature. The tendency to sin and the ability to be tempted, is.

If Jesus can know whether a woman whom He has not met before is living with a man who is not her husband, then He can know that He is called for the the whole of humanity - not just Israel.

If we think He is being racist or narrow-minded, then we have accused Our Lord of sin whether or not He is a product of His culture.

If He is a product of His time, then how can His words of hope speak to people now? How can His life, death and resurrection two thousand years ago bear the same message to us and those to come?

[PAUSE]

If Our Lord's attitude to this Canaanite Woman troubles us, then what crime do we think He has committed?

He calls this woman a dog!

Except He doesn't - at least not directly. He uses an analogy which compares Gentiles to dogs, and not to wild dogs, but rather to well-beloved pet dogs.

So He's comparing her to being something lesser. He's being offensive.

Maybe. Maybe not. Where does Jesus actually demonstrate that He does not love this woman, inside and out and more than we can know? Can we judge God so quickly?

Look what happens as a result of what He says.

This poor woman finds she can respond to His words with confidence. Our Lord has given her precisely the right cue for her to speak her mind. He has said precisely the right words which allow her to articulate her faith in Him. She has already recognised Him as God - why else does she actually worship Him when she sees Him? In speaking her faith out loud to us all, she has received so much from Him and given us all much, too!

[PAUSE]

If we are troubled by the actions of Our Lord here, then maybe we are too ready to be offended to see what's really going on. This woman could have taken offence and stormed off. She didn't. She listened respectfully, responded cleverly and gently, and received more than she desired. History will remember this woman as a woman of great faith. It's a shame we don't know her name. God does and rejoices.

Too often, people are ready to judge God by their own rules and their own morals. We forget that He knows the rules so well, that He can challenge our thinking in what He says and draw us deeper into knowing Him. We therefore have to trust Him that whatever He says and does is for our benefit even if it troubles us, taxes our mind, or even downright offends us.

Our Lord will offend us because He is not a product of our age and culture, but rather goes beyond every age and culture. We should always look to trust Him, rather than to judge Him.