St Matthew, Chapter 15, verses: 26, The Lost Children of God: It is unfair.

Our paragraph topic is: (The Canaanite woman) Part 5.   

What are beliefs?  Are they the stuff that our dreams are made of?  Are they the desires of our hearts?  Are they the thoughts that we have about what we want, think, see, feel.  A writer I once read described a belief as a feeling of certainty about something.  The Canaanite woman had a belief.  She believed that her daughter could be cured of the demon that possessed her.  She had an idea and she became certain that she could find a way to restore her daughter to the way that she knew her before being possessed.

She followed that idea up with action for she knew that there was a way.  She consulted all the known cures of the time, met with the best physicians, doctors, healers, sorcerers of the time but found no answer.  Then she heard the word.  She heard of Christ.  She heard of his miracles, she heard how he made the lame walk, the blind see, cured the sick, and made the demons depart from the possessed.  Then the word she heard convinced her, with certainty, that her daughter would be cured.  She had no doubts, she believed with certainty.

She had to find this Christ.  She had to ask him for help.  She had to beg and plead with his disciples that she might see him, get near to him, speak with him that her daughter might be saved.  She knew that she was not a Jew.  She knew that she was a gentile.  She knew that Jews and gentiles did not associate, did not live together.  The former considered the latter less than.  The former did not associate with the latter.  The former considered the latter unclean.  But all this did not change her belief that her daughter could be saved.  All of this did not deter her purpose or change her from her goal, her desire, her belief.  She was certain that she could persuade the Christ to save her daughter.

So she came to him and falling on her knees she worshipped him and pleaded for his help.  And Christ,  he saidin answer, "It is not fair to take the
children’s bread and to cast it to the dogs."

Christ made this statement in expressing the sentiment of the times.  Food was scarce and there were many mouths to feed.  Who got to eat first?  Who would go without food?  Who would make the decision, the judgement as to who would eat and who would not?  For it had come to be, that the scales of fairness played into the decisions of men.  It was not fair, it was not right to take bread from children and give it to the animals.  But the wealthy did.  It was not right, it was not fair that the dogs of the rich eat better than the poor.  It was not right, it was not fair that the poor were taxed out of the food to feed the children and those same taxes fed the dogs of the rulers, the dogs of the wealthy, the dogs of the powerful.

Christ made this statement to the Canaanite woman because he knew that just as strong as her desire, her belief, that her daughter needed help, she had the same belief that her dogs would eat before the poor.  You see the Canaanite woman was a woman of means.  She was a woman of power and influence.  She did not know hunger.  She did not know poverty.  She did not know want.  For she was of the ruling class and was a wealthy person.  And Christ admonished her with the statement that it was not fair for her to think and believe that her dogs should eat and be fed from the wealth taken from the poor.

And where are we today?  Do we believe the same?  Are we the selfish ones who feed ourselves, our children, and our pets while those less fortunate go hungry?  Do we pass up an opportunity to help others, thinking that they are bums or beggars seeking a hand out?  We tell ourselves that they are drug addicts.  We tell ourselves that they are drunkards seeking another drink.  We look down on them from our high position without considering that they too are the children of God created in his image and likeness.  And we even get indignant and angry that they would ask us for help.

They are on every corner.  They are under every bridge.  They are without house, without clothes, without means, without hope.  And we pass them by, avoid them, and yet, feed our pets and our dogs before we would feed them.  It is not fair to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.  What do you do?  What is your excuse?  What is in your heart?  Judge not and feed the children of God. 

St Matthew, Chapter 15, verses: 25, The Lost Children of God: Their Worship of God.

Our paragraph topic is: (The Canaanite woman) Part 4.

We have to ask ourselves today, "What is it about this Canaanite woman that applies to us?"  Her daughter was beset of demons and she loved her daughter.   For she watched as her daughter did unspeakable things and she was tormented by the actions of the demon inside.  So she sought solutions.  She went to all the known scholars of the time.  She sought all the physicians.  She may have even sought the sorcerers of the time for help.  But none could help her in her quest to rid her daughter of the demon that possessed her.

Then she heard the word.  She heard about the words of Christ.  She heard of his miracles.  She heard of his preachings.  And then she knew.  She knew that he was the one.  She knew that he was the solution because his words carried the power.  His words carried in it the seed of hope.  His words carried in it the truth that filled her heart with the belief that her problem would be solved.  And she knew without a doubt that Christ would save her daughter.

So she came out of her town.  She came out of her village.  She resolved within herself that she would find Christ and she would petition him with her pleas to help her daughter.  She would not be turned, she would not be moved.  And when she found him, she cried out.  She followed him and begged to be heard.  She called to the disciples and asked for their intercession.  She cried out in a loud voice so that she would be heard and they wanted to send her away.  They wanted to turn her around because she made such a noise that no one wanted to hear. 

Christ heard but did not answer.  He understood her need but did not respond.  He listened to her pleas but did not say a word.  He listened to her faith.  He listened to her hope.  He listened for her belief in him as the solution to her problems but did not respond.  And then she was allowed to come before him and she worshipped him.   But she came and worshipped him, saying! "Lord, help me!"

What does this Canaanite woman have to do with us today?  She came to Christ and she pleaded for her daughter.  She would not be moved and she would not be deterred.  She knew that he was the answer.  She knew that her solution was with Christ.  And she believed that he would heal her daughter.  She had resolution.  She had determination.  She had faith.  She had hope that was solid as a rock and would not be changed, for she knew.  Do we know today?  Do we believe today that Christ is our answer?  Do we have the faith that will not be moved?  The Canaanite woman had no answers.  She had no proof.  She had no evidence that would convince her that he would be the one.  After trying all other solutions she heard his words.  And the word filled her with hope.  The word filled her with faith.  The word filled her heart with the truth that Christ was the answer and she came in search of that answer.

The world puts answers before us.  The world tells us that it has the solution to all our problems.  All we have to do is believe that the solution is in the world.  All we have to do is resign ourselves to the world and go to sleep in its solutions.  It tells us that our problems will be solved.  Resolve yourself to the world and you will find the peace of the world.  But you will not find the eternal peace of Christ.  You will not find eternal solutions.  You will not find the faith that tells you of the eternal joy and the eternal peace that comes from Christ.  The Canaanite woman knew.  The Canaanite woman believed.  The Canaanite woman took action and sought him out.  Will you do the same today?  Will you seek him out?  Will you know that he is the solution?  Will you believe?

St Matthew, Chapter 15, verses: 24, The Lost Children of God: He was not sent.

Our paragraph topic is: (The Canaanite woman) Part 3.

The Canaanite woman came out of the country.  She came to plead for her daughter.  She came because she knew that he was the answer.  She came because she believed that he could save her daughter from the demons.  She came because she had faith in the word that she heard about him.  She came because nothing or no one else could help and she had tried them all. 

She cried out to him.  She pleaded with his disciples.  She wept for her daughter that she may know peace.  And Christ answered her not.  But she would not be turned.  She would not be moved.  She would not relent.  She had heard the word and she believed that he could.  She had heard the word of what he had done for others and she knew that he would save her daughter.  She knew that he would help her if only she could plead with him for her daughter.  So she came out of her country and cried out to him to save her daughter.  Christ answered her not.  But he answered and said,  "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Christ was not sent.  He came of his own.  He came to save.  He came to free.  He came to sanctify.  He came to justify.  He came that mankind would be restored to their rightful place before God our Father.  But he was sent by God to lost sheep of the house of Israel.  He was sent by God to bring back the lost.  He was sent by God to restore to the house of Israel, those that had gone astray and were lost.  And to the rest he came. 

The Canaanite woman came.  She came for her daughter.  She came because of the word.  She came because she knew that he would save.  Why do we come?  Why do we seek him out?  Why do we pray?  Why do we plead to him for mercy?  Do you know that he is the one?  Do we believe that he can save?  Do we know in our hearts that Christ is the Son of God and can provide for us?  Do we believe that Christ is the Son of God and he can protect us from harm, can heal our wounds, can bring us joy and peace and happiness?   Or do we seek him that we may know worldly goods?  Do we seek him that we may live prosperously in this world?  Do we seek him that he may provide for us in this world.  For the world is corrupt.  The world is evil.  The world is on the path of destruction.  Do we know this and accept it or do we believe that having Christ with us in this world will redeem us?

Christ died that we may have spiritual life with the father.  For God said that if you eat of the forbidden tree then you must die.  And the spirit of man died on that day that he eat of the forbidden fruit.  But Christ came and restored what was lost.  Christ came and gave mankind new life that we may know spiritual life in him.  He did not come that we would know worldly life.  He came that the life that is within us, the spiritual life, would be restored, the spiritual life would be given back to mankind, if they chose to believe.  For it is through belief that we are restored.  It is through belief that we have eternal life in him.  It is through belief that we are baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  And new life is restored and given.  Christ came of his own to save all mankind.  But he was sent by God to the lost house of Israel that they may be given new life in him. 

Do you believe?  Do you know?  Do you seek because you seek worldly relief?  Or do you seek because you believe that he is the one, that he is the truth, that he is the way to eternal life?  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that we may have life everlasting.  The Canaanite woman believed.  What do you believe?