LESSON: ROMANS 9:14-24

She came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” Matthew 15:25

The Canaanite woman came to Jesus in a house, as Mark tells us, “and fell down at his feet,” Mark 7:25, and made her plea; “Lord, help me!”

It was now that she received the mortal blow. Before all present, she was told in so many words that she was a dog, not worthy to partake of the children’s bread. What will she say to this? Here she has heard the very worst. She is one of the lost who have been damned, who are not to be reckoned with the elect.

This is a final, irrevocable reply, and no one can debate it. But she does not desist. She concurs with Christ’s judgement and agrees with it. She is a dog, and she wants no more than a dog, namely, to eat the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.

Is this not a master-touch? She takes Christ captive with His own words. He compares her with a dog. She accepts the comparison and asks for no more than permission to be such a dog, as He Himself has judged her to be. Where was He to turn? He was caught. One lets a dog have the crumbs under the table; these are his right.

He now opens up to the woman and grants her what she wishes. She is now not a dog but also a child of Israel.

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PRAYER: Thanks and praise be to you, our loving heavenly Father, for the mercy and grace which brought us to faith in you and your promises and which has kept us in this faith, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: PSALM 33:13-22

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. Psalm 55:22

That God nourishes the whole world by means of bread, and not only through the Word without bread, has its special reason. God is concealing His work under this procedure in order to exercise our faith.

In the case of the children of Israel also, He issued orders for them to arm themselves and fight, but He did not want them to gain the victory through their sword and their own deeds. He Himself wanted to defeat their enemies and gain the victory under their sword and through their deeds. Here He could also have said, “The warrior does not gain the victory through his own sword alone, but through every word which proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

David also says, “Not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me” (Psalm 44:6). “His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man” (Psalm 147:10).

He still makes use of man and horse, sword and bow, but He fights and He accomplishes everything without the power and might of the man and the horse. The latter are merely curtains and coverings for His might and power. This is proved by the fact that He has often acted, and still often acts daily, without man and horse where necessity demands it and where there is no possibility of a temptation of Himself being involved.

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PRAYER: Lord God, heavenly Father, our stay and support in all our needs, grant us such an understanding of your Word and trust in its teachings that we always accept all its consolations in firm assurance, in and through Christ our Lord. Amen.

LESSON: LUKE 11:5-13

We share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. Hebrews 3:14

When we hear how Christ answered the Canaanite woman in the Gospel (Matthew 15:21-26), we are in a way reminded of quite a number of remarkable statements that He made to His disciples on various occasions. He said to them, “If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). In Mark we read, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will” (Mark 11:24). There are also many other passages of this kind.

What has come of all these promises here? He soon answers and says, “It is true that I hear all prayers; but such promises I have made only to the house of Israel.”

Is this not a real thunderclap which shatters both heart and faith into a thousand pieces? The Word of God, on which the woman has built her faith, is not spoken to her; it concerns others. Here all saints and all intercession must become silent; here the heart must let the Word go, if it is to allow the feelings to decide the matter.

But what does the woman do? She does not give up. She still clings to the Word, even though it seems that an attempt is being made to force her to give it up. She does not heed the stern words of Christ. She still has the firm conviction that somehow or other Christ’s goodness is still concealed under all this. She is still not prepared to form the judgement that Christ is ungracious or that He can be ungracious. This is what it means to hold fast!

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PRAYER: Grant us a full measure of your grace, heavenly Father, so that, despite all the obstacles our faith meets in a world where there is much sin and opposition to your holy will, we may still maintain a firm and unwavering faith in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

LESSON: COLOSSIANS 1:21-23

His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:23,24

When the cries and faith of the Canaanite woman prove fruitless, the disciples of Christ lodge an appeal on her behalf in the belief that they will certainly be heard. But when they suggest that Christ should become more lenient, He actually becomes harder and renders the faith and prayer of both parties ineffective—as it seems to their feelings. For he does not remain silent here and leave them in doubt; He declines their plea and declares, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

This rebuff is even more severe, for not only are our own persons rejected, but the only consolation still available to us is also cut off, namely, the consolation and intercession of godly and holy people on our behalf. For when we feel that God is no longer gracious to us, and we find ourselves entangled in a very distressing situation, it is our last resort to turn for counsel and help to godly men who are led by the Spirit of God. If these men are willing to do for us what love demands of them, but nothing comes of all their efforts, and they have not even been given a hearing, we really find ourselves in a worse plight than before their intervention on our behalf.

Even this rebuff did not weaken the faith of this Canaanite woman. She still believed and trusted in the good report she had heard of Christ.

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PRAYER: Your promises and assurance to us, O Lord, are true and steadfast. Grant us at all times such confidence in the declarations of your Gospel that we never waver in faith but ever stand fast in your grace, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

LESSON: 1 PETER 1:16-21

Behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. Matthew 15:22,23

Note how Christ hammers and drives faith into His believers so that it becomes strong and firm! First, when the Canaanite woman follows the good report she has heard about Christ and cries to Him in the sure confidence that, in accordance with this report, He will also treat her graciously, Christ presents a completely different picture to the woman.

She soon had grounds for believing that her faith and good confidence in Him were quite misplaced. She had every reason to ask: “Is this the good, friendly man?” or “Are these the good words I heard reported of Him and on which I relied? It cannot be true. He is your foe. He does not want to have anything to do with you. He might as well tell me outright: I don’t want to have anything to do with you! But now He is as silent as a stone.”

This is a heavy rebuff when God presents such a stern and angry face and completely hides His grace, as those well know who feel and experience in their hearts the thought that God will not keep what He has spoken and will allow His Word to prove itself false. This happened to the children of Israel at the Red Sea. In other ways, it has been the experience of many other saints.

What does this woman do in such a situation? She simply disregards the unfriendly countenance of Christ and does not let any of this lead her astray. She does not take it all according to the letter. She remains absolutely firm in her reliance on the good report she has received and will not be removed from it.

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PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for the certainty of truth and salvation which you have revealed to us in your Gospel of salvation. We pray for the grace to keep us ever firmly fixed in our faith in you and your Gospel, in and through Jesus our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: MATTHEW 15:21-28

Immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Mark 7:25

In this Canaanite woman, we see that true faith is confidence of the heart in the grace and goodness of God, revealed and experienced through God’s Word. St. Mark tells us that she had “heard” of Jesus: a report about Jesus had, somehow or other, reached her. What kind of report? Without a doubt, it was a good report that was being noised about: that Christ was a godly man who readily helped everyone. Such a report about God is real gospel and a word of grace. It awakened faith in this woman, for if she had not believed, she would not have followed after Jesus.

How does it come to pass that many more heard this good report about Christ, who did not follow after Him and paid no attention to this good report? The answer is that the physician is useful and welcome to the sick, but those who are well pay no attention to Him. The Canaanite woman, however, felt her need, and so she followed this sweet report.

Moses must also precede here and teach men to recognize their sins so that grace may become sweet and welcome. It is labor lost to portray Christ in the most friendly and lovable manner, unless men have been humbled previously by self-knowledge and hunger for Christ, as the Magnificat also declares, “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:53).

This is all said and written for those who are distressed, poor, needy, sinful, and despised, so that in all their needs they may know to whom they should flee to seek consolation and help.

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PRAYER: We know full well, O Lord, that of ourselves and by our merits we are poor, lost, and condemned sinners. Eternal thanks and praise be to you for the sweet news of salvation which you have revealed to us in your Gospel of salvation, in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

LESSON: PSALM 34:1-10

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. Matthew 4:11

Finally, the angels came to Him and ministered to Him. This must have taken place in a bodily manner. They appeared as bodily ministrants and brought Him food and drink and ministered to His needs at the table and in all other ways. They rendered external services to His body.

The devil, His tempter, without a doubt also appeared in a bodily form, perhaps also as an angel. For he must have been something higher than a human being to place Him on a pinnacle of the temple and to show Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment. That the devil was something higher than a man is also apparent in his offer of all the kingdoms of the world and the suggestion that Christ should worship him. He certainly did not appear here in his true colors, for when he wants to lie and deceive, he tries to look beautiful. St. Paul says that he “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

What we read in the Gospel is for our comfort. We should learn that, where one devil assails us, many angels can minister to us. If we fight manfully and resist the devil, God will not let us suffer want. He will send His angels to minister to us, and at times they can even serve us as our bakers, butlers, and cooks and help us in our every need. This was not written for Christ’s sake; He did not need this. If the angels ministered to Him, they can also minister to us.

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PRAYER: Lord God, our heavenly Father, send your holy angels to us that, by their ministrations, we may be protected from all harm and danger and ever rest in your grace, in and through our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

LESSON: JAMES 4:5-10

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8,9

The third temptation is concerned with temporal honor and power.

Those who fall away from the faith for the sake of honor and power are victims of this temptation. They want to enjoy nothing but good days here on earth and believe only as far as honor and glory will permit. To this class belong also the heretics, who cause sects and factions among Christians so that they may go their way before the world and float about in honor.

You can place this third temptation on the right-hand side and the first one on the left-hand side. The first temptation concerns misfortune, which stirs up anger, impatience, and unbelief in us; the third and last is a temptation of good fortune, in which one is urged to seek pleasure, honor, joy, and everything exalted.

The second, middle temptation is altogether spiritual and concerns itself with freakish pranks and error to mislead us in our understanding and to draw us away from faith.

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PRAYER: Lord, preserve us by the power of your Word against all the ragings and ravings of our old evil foe, Satan, and all his machinations, in the name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.