As we begin this morning, I have a confession to make. You can relax—my confession is not very juicy, but I am afraid you will still find it disturbing. So, here it goes: I am disappointed in the Lord. Frankly, there are times when I don’t like the way he runs things. I have been wrestling with the Lord for some things for years, and the list of things I would do differently is growing larger as I get older. At the top of that list is the 9/11 tragedy. I would not have let that happen. Instead, I would have done something suitably Old Testament to the terrorists—perhaps sending a couple of bears out of the woods to maul them to death, or letting loose a flood of water to drown them all. Better still, how about the ever-popular earth opening up and swallowing them alive? I am not really picky—just as long as they all died in some suitably horrible and preferably painful manner. You will have to forgive me; I suspect that is the warrior in me speaking.
But note this—apparently I am not the only one who has been disappointed in the Lord. The Bible is filled with people who were disappointed in the Lord. Think of Mary and Martha in John 11. They sent a message to Jesus, letting him know that his good friend Lazarus was deathly ill. Jesus responded by doing nothing, just staying put for a couple of days. By the time he decided to visit Bethany, Lazarus was dead and his cold body was in the tomb. In Luke 9, the disciples were on their way to Jerusalem when they ran into opposition from some Samaritan villagers. James and John responded to this by asking Jesus if he wanted them to call down fire from heaven to destroy the wicked Samaritans. To their disappointment, Jesus rebuked them for their haste and lack of grace.
I think it is fair to say that Job was disappointed in the Lord. The Scripture tells us the God commended Job for his faithfulness and obedience. In fact Job was the great example of faithfulness that God held up before Satan. But that faithfulness didn’t have much of a payoff, did it? All of his children, servants, flocks and herds—gone in an instant. What a payoff! Don’t you think Job was disappointed in the Lord? Indeed he was, for he spends most of the rest of the book complaining and asking for a redress of his grievances.
Apparently everyone in our text was disappointed in the Lord also. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus had engaged in open conflict with the Pharisees over their hypocrisy and faithlessness. They were disappointed that he did not keep their religious traditions. They asked him pointedly, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat.” The Pharisees reasoned that God was pleased with externalities. Be of the right racial stock; wash your hands; keep the traditions that have been passed down. These are the things that really matter.
Jesus responded by correcting their bad theology. He called them hypocrites and blind leaders of the blind. “It’s not what goes into a man’s mouth that makes him unclean.” Jesus said. “It’s what comes out of the mouth.” Eating with dirt on your hands does not make you unclean in God’s sight. Instead, “the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” These things, manifested outwardly, spring from a heart made unclean by sin.
Jesus distanced himself from the Pharisees by his teaching. And, after this exchange, he distanced himself physically from the Jews. He left Galilee to travel about thirty miles northward in the direction of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile stronghold. These cities were situated in the general vicinity of modern Beirut. The inhabitants of those lands were called “Phoenicians,” a word that comes from the Greek word for Canaanite. If you know your Old Testament, you will remember that the Canaanites were the inhabitants of the Promised Land, the wicked people who were destroyed by Joshua’s invading forces. They were notorious for their worship of many gods and their depraved religious practices. When Jesus drew near to this region, a Canaanite woman came to him begging for mercy. She asked Jesus to deliver her daughter from demon possession. Literally, “she kept on crying to him,” asking him for help.
Now, delivering someone from demon possession appears to be all in a day’s work for Jesus. Matthew had already recorded that Jesus had healed two demon-possessed men, one in chapter 8, and the other in chapter 12. Besides, according to Matthew 14:35, 36, Jesus already had been quite busy, healing people from all over the countryside. So, all things being equal, she wasn’t asking for the moon and the stars. She wasn’t even asking a favor for herself—she begged Jesus on behalf of her daughter whom she loved. We read that Jesus did not even acknowledge her request. The text is emphatic: “Not a word” did he answer her.
Well, this Canaanite woman was disappointed. She had addressed Jesus as Lord, probably a term of devotion, since she also called him by the Messianic title, “Son of David.” These expressions suggest that she was familiar with the Old Testament. She may have heard about his teaching, perhaps even knew some of the people he had healed. In light of all she knew about Jesus, she expected anything but cold, icy silence. And, so she came to him, as Mark’s account tells us, on behalf of her “little daughter” (Mark 7:25) as “soon as she heard about him.” Surely this one who had done so much for others could something for her! But, when Jesus finally spoke, he brushed her off, callously stating that he was sent only to help the lost sheep of Israel.
Now, wouldn’t you have done something to help her if you had been there? If you had the ability? Can you identify with her at all? Have you ever spent a sleepless night in a hospital waiting room? Watching the clock tick, second by second, so infinitely slowly. Have you ever been there? Have you ever prayed about something that was ripping your heart out, and felt that your prayers were bouncing off the ceiling tiles and going no higher? That was the Canaanite woman’s experience, and her heart ached with disappointment.
According to our text, the disciples also heard the woman’s cries for help. They noted Jesus’ silence and were themselves disappointed in the Lord. But consider this: they were disappointed not because Jesus failed to help this poor woman. Apparently they gave no thought to her problem at all. They just wanted her to be quiet. She was a nuisance. They wanted Jesus to send her away at once and to put an end to the noise. Now I don’t have much occasion to go to Toys ‘R Us these days. But, when my kids were small, I spent much time and much money in their stores. On too many occasions I have been to the toy store when some Mom or Dad—who did not know why God created duct tape— would beg and plead with a screaming small person to “please behave,” “please be quiet.” I would gladly have offered my services as a child-development consultant to stop the howling. Well, something similar happened in our text. The disciples just wanted Jesus to put an end to this embarrassing and irritating scene. They “kept on urging him” to send her away, and were disappointed when he did not act to end this scene.
With neither Jesus nor the disciples showing any concern at all, her disappointment should have been enough to send her packing. But this poor woman was shameless, and proceeded to act out one of the most pathetic scenes in the Bible. Throwing herself at Jesus’ feet, she cried out, “Lord, help me.” At this point she had identified herself completely with her daughter’s need. In her mind, their needs had become inseparable. Apparently unmoved by her tears and desperation, Jesus replied to her that it would be inappropriate to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs. The Jews typically viewed themselves as God’s children and considered the unclean Gentiles to be nothing more than dogs. Jesus used the very language of the Jews and by that language appeared to endorse their arrogance and exclusivism. But his intent was otherwise.
It is at this point that the woman responded in a remarkable manner. Her spirit was vexed and her heart was broken. But she would not turn aside. In humility, she acknowledged herself to be unworthy. But even as she accepted Jesus’ apparent dismissal of her as a dirty gentile, she reminded him that even the little housedogs ate crumbs that fell from their master’s table. And, we find something amazing in our text. In response to her final plea, Jesus now addresses her disappointment. He said, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you wish. And her daughter was healed that very hour!”
What a contrast between the Canaanite woman and the Pharisees! The Pharisees were the children of the covenant. They had the oracles of God, and the Anointed One himself stood in their midst. But with all their privileges, the Lord was disappointed in them. They despised the very Bread of Life set before them. Unlike his seeming indifference to the Canaanite woman, Jesus had frequently offered himself to his own people. But now, in our text, Jesus speaks not words of comfort, but condemnation. He accused the Pharisees of drawing near with their lips while their hearts were far from him.
The Canaanite woman, however, was a foreigner to the covenant of God. Yet she drew near with her heart and hungered for the Living Bread. With her lips she sought mercy—and Jesus gave it to her. Not at first, mind you, for he withheld outwardly what he intended to give her inwardly. Jesus disappointed the Canaanite woman in order to bless her in the end. At first he ignored her with his lips in order that at last he might draw her heart close to his heart.
This has often been the experience of God’s people. Think of how long Abraham and Sarah waited for the promised son, Isaac. Think of the many times the Psalmist cried out, “O Lord, how long?” And think of the other examples we find in the New Testament. Why did Jesus delay to heal the blind men in Matthew 9? Why did he take so long before responding to Jairus whose daughter lay dying on her bed? Why did he delay those two days in Bethany, letting Lazarus slip from sickness into death, John 11:6?
In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, four children, Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy, are transported to the magical land of Narnia. Narnia is a strange place. There are talking animals and an evil witch who has cursed everything. In Narnia, the children prepare to meet Aslan, the Great King, the Christ Figure who brings redemption to the land of Narnia. “Who is Aslan?” asks Susan. “Aslan,” said Mr. Beaver, “Why don’t you know? He’s the King. He’s the Lord of the whole wood.” “Is—he a man?” asked Lucy. “Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly, “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood, and the Son of the Great Emperor Beyond the Sea. Don’t you know who is the king of beasts? Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the Great Lion.” “Oooh,” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he— quite safe?” “I shall feel very nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, deary, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver: “If there is anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.”
Back to my confession. The Lord has disappointed me, just as he disappointed Mary and Martha, Lazarus, and Job. Just as he has disappointed every one of us on so many occasions. But consider this. Although he disappointed Mary and Martha, at the end he restored Lazarus to life, strengthening the faith of the disciples and causing many of the Jews to believe on him. He did heal the blind men. And he took Jairus’ daughter by the hand, saying “Little girl, rise up.” He does not act on our timing, but is never late for a divine appointment.
How has God disappointed you? Has he ignored your desperate pleas for help? Has he responded to your loud cries and groanings with a deafening silence? Has he let the tears flow while you knelt helplessly at his feet? Do not waste those tears. When God knocks the props out and removes the arm of flesh, do not let your trials be in vain. “The testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” James 1:2, 3. Not one of your trials is accidental, and no disappointment is without divine purpose. They are all part of God’s plan to make you die to yourself and become more like Jesus.
As we have seen in our text, when the Lord turns a deaf ear to us, he does so to draw us closer to him, so that we may hear him more clearly when he does speak. When he ignores our cries for help, it is only to teach us what we need ask of him. He disappoints us not out of malice or indifference, but out of love. We do not understand his ways, and there are many things that puzzle us. But this much we know. When he disappoints us, it is not to hurt us, but to teach us that he alone is our joy, our contentment, and our all-sufficiency. You see, he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the King, I tell you.
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