Sermon for August 16, 2026
Pentecost 12 A
Matthew 15:10-28
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
I think it’s fair to say, the Jesus we hear about in today’s gospel is not quite like the Jesus we usually imagine. A woman cries to him in distress, praying for mercy for her daughter. Jesus’ first response is no answer at all. His second response is directed to the disciples, not to the woman. And his third answer is finally directed to her, but it sounds at best rude and at worst downright mean! “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” he says. It just sounds so out of place—especially since last week we heard about Jesus reaching out his hand “immediately” to save Peter when he was sinking in the sea. And two weeks ago we heard about Jesus feeding over 5,000 people with the loaves and fishes, even leaving 12 baskets of leftovers, presumable with many crumbs falling through the cracks.
What’s the deal here? Who is the message of Jesus for? At this point in his life, it seems that Jesus has a very specific answer to that question. He wants to focus his energies on reaching “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” because that’s where God’s mission to bless the whole world begins. So it’s a bit strange that he decides to travel to the district of Tyre and Sidon—this is Gentile territory. If he wants to focus on “the house of Israel” Tyre and Sidon seems to be the wrong direction—but maybe it makes sense, if he’s looking for some of the “lost sheep” in an out of the way location.
What he finds is that even in that place, far from the Jewish population centers, people had heard about him and his message. Even the Canaanites, who were one of the traditional enemies of the Israelites, had heard of him and were responding to him in faith. In this case it was a Canaanite woman, and in today’s gospel she appears to know the heart of God’s promises just as well as, if not better than, the disciples. Already, before she’s even met him in person, this woman places great faith in Jesus. Yet from the perspective of Jesus and the disciples, she is an “outsider” and they treat her as outsiders are often treated—ignored, insulted, misunderstood. How is this good news? Why would we, who are also Gentiles like the Canaanite woman, want to follow a Messiah like that? And why would the Canaanite woman? This episode from the life of Jesus shows us something about the mysterious ways of God.
First, when “the Word became flesh and dwelled among us”, Christ took on the full humanity that we all share. He took on the good and the bad of what it means to be human, so that no part of our human nature is unknown to Jesus. And because of that, the good news is that no part of our human nature is beyond redemption. Jesus, as a man of his time, was born into the same prejudices as the disciples. Yet Jesus is also a man beyond time—he is a man from God’s future—which means he does not get stuck in the prejudices of his day; he transcends and redeems them. He exhibits the ability to listen for God’s voice, even when God’s voice comes from what seems like an unlikely source.
God helps Jesus grow into understanding his full purpose by speaking to him through the Canaanite woman. Her message is that “outsiders” have just as much claim to God’s mercy and help as “insiders”. When Jesus hears this message, his heart opens to recognize that even as his mission begins with “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, it does not end there. The whole world is eligible for redemption, so that even people who once saw each other as enemies can learn to love one another as friends. And so, Jesus does not make the Canaanite woman wait any longer. Her daughter is healed in that moment; God’s future breaks into the present.
What other good news might we find in this strange encounter? I think there is another counter-intuitive answer. When the Canaanite woman prays “Have mercy on me, Lord”, we learn that Jesus “did not answer her at all”. Notice, Jesus did not answer “yes” and he did not answer “no”. He answered with silence. God speaks to us in silence—this is attested all throughout the Bible, and throughout Christian history. But we are often very uncomfortable with silence. And I don’t mean being extroverted or introverted or anything like that—I mean that we often actively seek to distract ourselves from reality. Most of us have heard of “The Algorithm”—that nebulous engine of social media, streaming services, and artificial intelligence, which has one job that never stops—to get you to put your eyeballs on its content. Sure, some of that content can be helpful or even important at times. But a lot of it is really about creating distractions.
When the Canaanite woman prayed to Jesus, he did not offer her a distraction. He offered her silence, which was the doorway to God’s greater purpose for her life—if she was willing to listen for God in the silence. And she was. Making room for some silence in our lives means making room to become more in touch with reality, because it brings us more in touch with God.
The Canaanite woman heard in Jesus’ silence the encouragement to stick with him and keep praying, and even argue with God. The only unusual thing is that she found the answer to her crisis so quickly. For most of us, we need to wrestle with God’s silence for much longer before we hear the answer—it might be days, weeks, months, or even years. The point is, when Jesus responds to your prayers with silence, this is a sign to keep on sticking with him, keep praying, keep arguing, and keep learning to listen on a deeper level.
So in our gospel today, Jesus raises up new life both through “outsiders” and through “silence”. When I was in Sweden back in May, I learned about one way God has been working through “outsiders and silence”. The Church of Sweden has been Lutheran since the time of the Reformation in the 1500s. But like most of Europe after World War 2, the number of active Christians has been in a steady decline. Even though about half of Swedes belong to the Church today, it is considered one of the most secular countries in the world, and for many people faith in Jesus is not a big part of their daily lives. This is what we might call “the silence of God”.
I was blessed to meet some of my Swedish cousins. One of these cousins, Ingela, happens to be a Deacon in the Church of Sweden! We even had the chance to worship in her congregation on Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter. After going to church, she drove us around to the small towns where our ancestors came from. I even got to see the churches and the 800-year-old baptismal fonts where my great-grandparents were baptized!
Of course we talked with Ingela about a lot of things, including church. She said that the Church of Sweden is noticing much renewed interest in Confirmation Ministry. They don’t know why—only God really knows—but she thinks a lot of it is because Sweden has accepted a large number of Syrian refugees. Most of them are Muslim, and many of them are very open about practicing their faith. This is unusual in Sweden, where most people regard faith as something private that you keep to yourself. With the influx of these “outsiders”, many young Swedes see classmates, friends, and neighbors being openly faithful people, and they start asking themselves “What is my faith?” This leads many of them to explore what Christianity and Jesus Christ is all about, and to start going to Confirmation class. It also leads many of them to be baptized, and to learn the stories of Jesus and the Bible for the first time—as faith in Christ begins to be part of their lives. Thanks be to God! Amen.