Matthew 15:21-28

            {Prayer}

            A rope being pulled in opposite directions hard enough and for an extended period of time will eventually start to fray. More times than you and I are probably willing to admit … we feel like this rope. Tugged this way, pulled that way. Stretched out between two, three, or four different things. It’s possible to bear the stretching and pulling for a little while … but as the strands slowly become more and more frayed … this rope which is holding us together will one day all of a sudden snap. And when it snaps … everything beings to fall apart. The world around us falls in, burying us. Under this buried rubble, if we could, we would throw in the towel saying, “I’m done.”

            God knowing His children very well works in wonderful ways because our reading from Matthew’s gospel this morning seems to be coming at an opportune time. I say this because the words of the Canaanite woman to Jesus are the same words which I have been praying over and over and over again over the course of the last couple of years. Between still recouping from some of the consequences of Covid on the church at large, trying to keep up with shut-in visits, trying to keep up with those in the hospital, trying to stay connected to our youth, preparing services and sermons each week, preparing for Bible studies, Confirmation classes, National Youth Gathering, trying to call an Associate Pastor amongst all the other administrative stuff which needs to be done and making sure I still spend adequate time with my wife and family … I feel like my severely stretched rope could snap at any time. My prayer has literally been that of the Canaanite woman … “Lord, help me!”

            And I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. For the parents who are working two or three jobs to provide the best possible life they can for their children … they cry out the cry of the Canaanite woman. For those who are mourning the loss of loved ones … their cry is the cry of the Canaanite woman. For those among us who are pulled this way and that way on a daily basis because of our kid’s activities, because of sicknesses spreading through the family, because of loved ones’ need helping, because of bills piling up, because of …. For anyone who feels stretched to the limit, for anyone who feels like their rope is stretched out and is on their last thread … their cry is the cry of the Canaanite woman. “Lord, help me!”

            The rope of the Canaanite woman was severely stretched. We don’t know anything about this woman accept for what Matthew tells us. We know that Jesus and the disciples are in the gentile area of Tyre and Sidon. This Canaanite, this Gentile woman has a daughter who is suffering terribly from demon-possession. She comes up to Jesus searching for help. But due to her Gentile status, Jesus doesn’t respond to her. While that may seem strange to us, we need to remember that Jews and Gentiles don’t get along. We can also see this in how the disciples urge Jesus to send her away.

            But she is at her rope’s end. Her daughter is possessed by a demon and she is worried sick about her. She wants her daughter to be free of this demon. So she cries out to Jesus, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (15:22). Now this is not just a one and done kind of crying out. Even though Jesus isn’t responding, she repeatedly cries out for Jesus to help her.

            Jesus, looking at his disciples, says to the them, in the presence of this woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (15:24). OUCH! The woman is right there, at her rope’s end, and Jesus says not to her, but to His disciples that He came to not help her, but the Jews. You’d think that this would be it for her, that she would go away defeated and hopeless. But instead, “the woman came and knelt before Him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said” (15:25).

            “Lord, help me!” The cry of the Canaanite woman is the cry of those whose rope is stretched to the max. It is the cry of those who are on their last strand. It’s the cry of those who if one more thing happens their rope will snap. It’s sometimes your cry. It’s most definitely my cry. In these moments when we want to cry out … the last thing we want is a Jesus who ignores us. The last thing we want is a Jesus who says that He doesn’t come for you or me. We want a Jesus who, when we are stretched to the max, hears our prayers. We want a Jesus who when we come to this solemn place will hear our cry of “Lord, help me!” That is what I want when I come in here and pray. That is what I want when I open God’s Word and when I read a devotion. I want Jesus to hear me, to help me, and to give me strength.

            The response of Jesus to the Canaanite woman after praying, “Lord, help me!” is not a response of comfort. Jesus’ response is not one which strengthens a stretched out rope. Jesus again reiterates that He is there to save God’s lost sheep. He is there to feed the people of Israel. He is there to give life to the people of Israel, to save His people from their sins. Jesus says that it is not right to take the bread away from the children and give it to the dogs. It’s not right to take what belongs to the children of God and give it to those who have been known for worshipping false gods.

            But look at what the woman says. She recognizes that she is not part of God’s chosen people. She recognizes that she is not one of the children of Israel. She also doesn’t expect Jesus to take away the bread of life from the children of Israel. This woman is not expecting her frayed rope to be healed completely … she just wants a little relief, relief for her daughter. She says to Jesus, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” (15:27). This woman, who is stretched to her max, would be satisfied with even a little morsel of God’s grace. To her, those little morsels of God’s grace are enough to help give relief to her frayed rope.

            When asking for a morsel, when asking for just a little bit of God’s grace to be shown to her and her daughter … this stretched out Canaanite woman received everything. By her amazing faith in Jesus, her daughter received the healing she was asking for.

            When your rope, when my rope is stretched out, frayed, and ready to snap, when we cry out “Lord, help me!” … Christ is there listening to that cry. And when we come to Jesus begging Him to help to make me whole, when we come to Jesus begging Him to give me the strength to make it through the day … the prayer falls on the listening ears of Him who gives us more than a small morsel of God’s grace. Your and my prayer of “Lord, help me” is heard by the One who gave all of Himself for you.

            And just as Jesus did not turn away this Canaanite woman … Jesus will not turn you away. Instead, Jesus does the exact opposite. Jesus calls you to Himself so that you may be with Him. Jesus invites you to come up to this altar not to receive just a morsel of His grace but to receive all of Him. To receive all of His body and blood which was shed for you on the cross. You are invited to receive Christ’s body and blood which was shed for you for the forgiveness of all of your sins and for the strengthening of your faith, for the mending of your stretched and frayed rope.

            You and I, we aren’t the only ones who have had our rope stretched and frayed. As we look to Jesus, we see a time where He too had His rope stretched. As we look to His brutal suffering and death, we see Christ’s rope being stretched in the abuse He took. We see His rope stretched as His beaten body is nailed to the cross and lifted up for all to see. Under the pressure of the sins of humanity, under the pressure of your and my sins, under the pressure of being forsaken by His own heavenly father, under the pressure of hell … Christ’s frayed rope never broke. Christ bore it all so that you may know the full measure of His love.

            The rope that held the stone in place over the entrance of Christ’s grave … they do break. They break as Christ rises from that grave on Easter morning. By the victorious resurrection of Jesus, we gather here this morning to take comfort in Him, to know and believe in our hearts that Christ has conquered all things. He has conquered sin, death, Satan and all we endure. Having conquered them all, Jesus say to you, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).

            Cast the burdens that are stretching out your rope, cast the burdens which are causing your rope to fray upon your Savior who has already experienced all of your trials and temptations. Come to Christ in His Word and in this gracious meal where He offers you all of Himself. Come, be strengthened, and leave today knowing and believing that wherever you go, whatever is stretching your rope … Christ is with you and He will help you through. Amen.

            The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.