Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I wonder how Dr. Jonas Salk felt in the 1950’s. Dr. Salk was credited with discovering the vaccine for polio, the great disease of the early 20th century; an epidemic that affected mostly children. Often fatal, this disease left almost every child who survived its ravages severely crippled. Dr. Salk’s face had been in probably every newspaper in America. I am certain he could not walk down any street without being recognized, and any of those people recognizing him who had a child suffering from polio would have bothered him for advice, recommendations of treatment, and possibly even for him, personally, to treat their child. I doubt that even leaving the country would have relieved this; almost the entire civilized world knew of Dr. Jonas Salk. He probably had to keep associates with him to brush-off both well-wishers and pleaders.
Jesus had become just as recognizable in the area of Capernaum as Dr. Salk would have been America in the late 1950’s. In our Gospel lesson Jesus had left that region around the Sea of Galilee, probably just to get some rest! And the disciples would have been tasked with keeping people away from Jesus, so that He could get His rest. Coming to the northwest corner of Israel, he is bothered by a woman wanting treatment for her child. Hoping to escape from the pressure of His work in Israel, here he is, being bothered by a foreign woman in a foreign land! The disciples have no luck in sending her away; she keeps on pleading, making a pest of herself. They appeal to Jesus Himself to send her away, and Jesus then attempts to simply dismiss her.
This woman persists. She knows of no other way to get help for her child. The only hope has not only come into the world, He has come to her very backyard! What an opportunity. She wasn’t about to let this chance slip away. She followed along behind the group traveling with Jesus, pleading for His help. She made a nuisance of herself!
Yet, this woman is a Gentile. She is not of the nation of Israel, and Jesus was sent first to the people of the covenant. His Earthly, personal, ministry was not to the Gentiles, but to Israel. He insults her, calling her a lap dog. Yet, she still persists, arguing that even lap dogs are worthy of what is discarded by the children of the master.
Jesus is swayed, not by her arguments, but by her faith; the faith that knows that this Jesus is God’s own son, sent to the world through the line of David. Maybe not specifically for her and her people, but still sent into the world for the salvation of mankind. Jesus tells her that through her faith, her daughter has been cured. Even though this woman “didn’t belong” to the group that Jesus was sent to, her faith has over-ridden that ‘lack.’
This woman was pleading for the earthly health of her child. Any parent would do the same. Concern about our children is one of the responsibilities of a parent. Yet how much more should we all be pleading for spiritual health. And not just for our children, but for ourselves and for all people. The faith the Canaanite woman showed in Jesus’ ability to restore her child to physical health is the same level of faith we need to have about our spiritual life. Yet, we continually show a lack of that faith.
We trust in what we can see. Modern medicine produces miraculous healings of the body. Modern science propels men around the world and into outer space. Modern technology allows us to talk to our friends and relatives in distant parts of the world, and do it right now. These are things we can feel, touch and hear. We place our trust in these, as they affect our daily life. Yet we fail to trust in what can protect our eternal life. We consistently ignore those things that help our spiritual health. And this lack of faith, this lack of trust in God, is not a modern phenomenon. Adam and Eve showed their lack in the Garden of Eden; Moses had to have Aaron as a spokesman; Jonah knew that God could not want the people of Nineveh to be saved; even with Jesus directly in front of him, Peter could not trust enough to walk on the Sea of Galilee to meet Jesus.
Our spiritual health is our own responsibility. The pastor and elders within our church are there to help us, not force-feed us. Our faith is a gift from God, to be nurtured and maintained by each of us individually. Just like our physical health, when we fail to take care of it, it deteriorates. It does not maintain a steady level without effort. Our weekly hour at church is not enough, just as our large meal on Sunday afternoon at Grandma’s is not enough to sustain us until the following Sunday. And what type of nurturing is required of us? Those things that will lead us to an increase of faith: constant prayer, daily reading of the Word of God, and daily pondering on that Word. These are the things that lead to an increase of faith.
We, too, have earthly requests, as did the Canaanite woman. And God knows and responds to those requests, in His time and in His own way. Our trust in Him, our faith, is in the knowledge that this is true. He is with us, in all things, as we travel through this world. Unfortunately sinful, fallen, man has the desire to rely only on himself. This is our daily, hourly, struggle. To rely on another is considered immature. Yet Peter, in his first epistle, tell us to be “like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk (1Pet 2:1);” to not consider ourselves so mature that reliance on another is unnecessary. Our reliance on another, on Jesus Christ our Savior, is necessary.
Dr. Salk’s vaccine generated trust in the people of America that it would halt the Polio epidemic that was running rampant. I vaguely remember the excitement that the announcement produced in 1955. One of my cousins had been stricken prior to his discovery, and she still suffers to this day. Yet Christ has given us a more important vaccine, and we take it for granted. Dr. Salk’s Polio vaccine interfered with the ability of that disease to harm our physical bodies; Jesus interferes with the sin harming us spiritually. As a vaccine stands between the disease and our bodies, so does Christ stand between our souls and eternal damnation.
And just when and where did we get this vaccine? Does anyone remember Jesus showing up and injecting him or her with anything? It was even easier than that: no physical pain involved! We received this vaccine in our baptism, when the Holy Ghost instilled us with faith. This is the same faith that we must daily nurture. And yet, this often seems insufficient. The daily nurturing falls short of what we need to sustain and strengthen our faith. We know that we continue to exhibit that lack of trust.
That is the need for our weekly services at an appointed place and time. Here we hear the Word: hear it explained and expanded. This is when we hear it applied to our daily lives. And here we receive the strength required, as we join in corporate response to God’s love, and as we receive communion. The body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: the continuing dose of that vaccine that ensures eternal life to those who truly believe and place their trust in Him.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen
