EVEN THE DOGS GET CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE! A SERMON FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

An 18th Century Copperplate Engraving of Christ Healing the Syro-Pheonician Woman's Daughter

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to St. Alopen’s Cathedral Church in East Asia, a hub in the middle of an ever-changing and Pre- and Post-Christian cultural situation. We are extremely happy to have Bishop Gregory with us this morning, this Second Sunday of Lent, and we are extremely excited about the number of young people preparing for holy baptism this Easter. May the Lord help us to be faithful and learn everything that He has for us to learn during this time of penance and preparation.

This past week, we are extremely saddened by the news of massive slaughter of Christians in Syria. We ask the Lord to have mercy on all of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, that He would spare them, protect them, and that he would receive the souls of all those holy martyrs and innocents who have died. May the souls of the faithfully departed rest in peace, and may their memory be eternal. We cry with the saints in heaven, "How long, O Lord!" May the Lord Jesus Christ return with his countless armies of saints and angels to judge the world in righteousness and rule and reign forever! "Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!"

I will say these things to you now in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

THE EPISTLE: I THESSALONIANS (4:1-8)

BRETHREN: we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

THE GOSPEL: ST. MATTHEW (15:21-28)

AT that time: Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

SERMON

Beloved in Christ, as we walk through this sacred season of Lent, we find ourselves face to face with the Syro-Phoenician woman, that most persistent of intercessors, who would not be turned away from the mercy of Christ. Her story, set before us in the Holy Gospel today, is a lesson in faith, humility, and perseverance. But it is also a revelation of God’s boundless grace, extending beyond the borders of Israel to the nations, prefiguring that great ingathering of the Gentiles into the Church.

This moment in Christ’s ministry is not merely a miracle; it is an echo of Abraham on Mount Moriah. In the Old Testament lesson, the patriarch raises the knife over his beloved son, trusting in the unseen hand of providence. "God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering" (Gen. 22:8). And indeed, He does - first in the ram caught in the thicket, and ultimately in the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Just as Abraham’s faith was tested and found true, so is the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman tested, and she is found worthy by faith (as Abraham was in Hebrews 11:8-19).

THE TESTING OF FAITH

At first, Christ seems to rebuff the woman: "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs" (Matt. 15:26). How strange that our Lord, full of compassion, would respond in such a way! And yet, as St. John Chrysostom teaches, this was no rejection, but an invitation. "Christ hid His grace in seeming severity, that He might reveal the greater faith of the woman" (Homilies on Matthew, 52.2). St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the Apostolic Fathers, echoes this in his letter to the Ephesians: "The work is not of promise unless it be fulfilled through patience" (Epistle to the Ephesians, 3). Her faith, like gold, is refined in the furnace of trial.

The Desert Fathers, those solitary seekers of God, understood this well. Abba Poemen once said, "If you seek God with all your heart, He will test you, that your love may be proven" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers). So it is with the Syro-Phoenician woman. In this, she mirrors the perseverance of Jacob wrestling with the angel: "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" (Gen. 32:26). Her insistence is the very kind that our Lord Himself commands when He tells the parable of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1-8), whose persistence in prayer moves even an unjust judge. How much more, then, does the cry of this woman move the Judge of all the earth!

The great English poet John Donne, in his “Holy Sonnets”, captures this struggle: "Batter my heart, three-person’d God… for I, / Except you enthrall me, never shall be free." Like Donne, the Syro-Phoenician woman presses forward, undeterred by the apparent barrier, trusting that God’s grace lies just beyond the testing.

THE HUMILITY OF FAITH

Observe the humility of her response: "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table" (Matt. 15:27). This is no proud demand, but a meek submission. St. Clement of Rome, another Apostolic Father, writes, "Let us clothe ourselves with concord and humility, ever exercising self-control, standing far off from all whispering and evil-speaking" (1 Clement 30:3). Her words reflect this humility, akin to the Centurion who says, "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" (Matt. 8:8), or the Prodigal Son who pleads, "I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants" (Luke 15:19). And yet, in such humility, faith finds its exaltation. "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek" (Luke 1:52).

St. Athanasius, a towering Nicene Father, reflects on this in his “On the Incarnation”: "The Lord took pity on our race… and stooped to our lowliness that we might be raised" (Section 8). The Syro-Phoenician woman embodies this stooping, and in it, she is lifted up. The Desert Fathers, too, prized this virtue. Abba Anthony the Great taught, "I have seen all the snares of the devil spread out on the earth, and I said with a groan, ‘Who can escape them?’ And I heard a voice saying, ‘Humility’" (Sayings of the Desert Fathers).

This humility is the path laid before us in Lent. It is the cry of the Publican: "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). It is the fasting and sackcloth of Nineveh, which moved God to stay His hand (Jonah 3:5-10). It is the self-emptying of Christ Himself, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation" (Phil. 2:6-7). Charles Dickens, in "A Tale of Two Cities", offers a poignant image of such humility: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done." Though spoken in sacrifice, it mirrors the surrender of self that Lent calls us to - a surrender that opens the door to grace. Let us then take up the Lenten fast, not as an external observance, but as the very pattern of our lives, that we may decrease, and Christ may increase within us (John 3:30).

THE VICTORY OF FAITH

What is Christ’s response? "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (Matt. 15:28). It is a declaration reminiscent of the great reversals of Holy Scripture:

- The last shall be first (Matt. 20:16).

- The weak shall be made strong (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

- The barren shall bear fruit (1 Sam. 2:5).

St. Gregory of Nyssa, a Nicene Father, marvels at this reversal: "The power of God is most perfectly shown when it raises the lowly to the heights" (On the Beatitudes). Thus, the woman who was once outside the covenant is brought within it. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). This is the fulfillment of that ancient promise to Abraham, the unveiling of the great mystery hidden from ages past, that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Greek… for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).

J.R.R. Tolkien, in his Lord of the Rings, speaks of “the long defeat,” that sense of struggle in a fallen world. Yet he does not leave us in despair. The road of faith is long, the night is dark, but dawn is always promised. "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." So too, this nameless woman, through a simple act of trust, becomes an emblem of faith for all generations. Similarly, Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice, reminds us of the quiet strength of the overlooked: "There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me." Though spoken by Elizabeth Bennet, it resonates with the Syro-Phoenician woman’s resolve.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us, like her, cry out to Christ with steadfast hearts. Let us, like Abraham, trust in the God Who provides. Let us, like Paul on the road to Damascus, arise from our blindness, strengthened to preach Christ. Let us, like the saints and martyrs of old, endure to the end, knowing that He Who promised is faithful.

A POEM REFLECTING ON FAITH

Before I close, let us pause to reflect on these themes through the words of George Herbert, that great English priest and poet, whose work “The Call” speaks of the grace that meets us in our humility and faith:

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:

Such a Light, as shows a feast:

Such a Feast, as mends in length:

Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:

Such a Joy, as none can move:

Such a Love, as none can part:

Such a Heart, as joys in love.

May we, with the Syro-Phoenician woman, with Abraham, with all the company of the faithful, hold fast to Christ, Who is Himself the true Bread from heaven, given for the life of the world (John 6:51).

Let us pray…

COLLECT

O Almighty God, who in thy boundless mercy didst try the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman and reward her humble perseverance with the healing of her daughter, and who didst provide for Abraham a lamb in the thicket of his trial: Grant unto us, we beseech thee, such steadfastness in faith and lowliness of heart, that we, amid the disciplines of this holy Lent, may ever cling to thy promises; and so, being found worthy through the merits of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, may be brought into the fellowship of thy saints, and taste the crumbs of thy heavenly banquet; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.