Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
August 16, 2026
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Pentecost 12A
Jesus, The Object Of Our Faith
Thus says the LORD, “Keep Justice and carry out righteousness, for my salvation is near … And the strangers who join themselves to the LORD to worship him and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants and handmaidens and to observe my Sabbaths, and keep from polluting it and take hold of my Covenant … even them I will bring to my Holy Hill, and will make them glad in my House of Prayer, their whole burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my Altar for my House will be called a House of Prayer for all the peoples. Is 56:1, 6-7 (DKV)
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As the church of our Lord Jesus Christ let us always put first things first.
In the beginning .. God. We love Him … because He FIRST loved us. And as regards today’s gospel let us get the order straight. Enter the Woman of Great Faith, Bold Request, Dogged Prayer … but she does not hold center stage, but Jesus does, Jesus comes first.
Why? Because he is realization of Isaiah’s prophecy that foresaw today’s gospel. He is the Covenant. The Sabbath. The Holy Hill. The House of Prayer. The Burnt Offering. The Sacrifice, the Altar and the Name of the LORD. Yes it is Jesus whom Isaiah glorifies in today’s Old Testament reading. Whom the woman glorifies. And who we worship today without ceasing.
He is all those things and so he comes first. He is the Person who must be present if we are to pray and expect to be heard by the Father. Without him the whole creation is estranged from its God and left to fend for itself. But with him who IS the Righteousness of God and the Justice of God Personified all things are ours. With him we too are possessed.
Not with the demons! But with the Spirit of our God (2 Cor. 3:3); and there is nothing better than that.
Isaiah was a prophet. A prophet was a spokesman for God who could accurately interpret the present his own day, and see into the future with perfect clarity. And so in today’s Old Testament lesson Isaiah foresees and predicts today’s gospel wherein the Son of David sets out to gather the “strangers” and “foreigners” to himself beginning with this Canaanite woman and her daughter.
Now as you may remember the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob chose the Nation of Israel to be his servant to the world. He ordained them to announce, and to safely deliver God’s promised Salvation which IS Christ. The case is as Bishop Reginald Heber taught us to sing:
Salvation! O salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
Till earth’s remotest nation
Shall learn Messiah’s name.
Yes this is what the Old Testament church was meant to do, but did not. Instead Israel was convinced that the LORD God had meant for the world to serve her, rather than she the world. Now we know what Jesus means when he says that he was sent only “to the lost sheep of Israel.”
When our LORD “was made man” he knew what the Jews of his day thought. He knew that it was backwards. And so he set out to correct it.
He first “came to his own” but his own would not receive him, as St. John the Evangelist tells us. And so today we find him quitting Israel’s borders and crossing over into the pagan nations of Tyre and Sidon. In so doing he was again fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy where Isaiah sees, “the strangers who join themselves to the Lord to worship him!” (Is 56:6) This woman and her daughter were such “strangers” who became worshipers.
We remember the famous exchange between Jesus, his disciples and the Woman. If you read the words slowly and carefully you find that that it was not only the disciples trying to get rid of this Woman. But so was Jesus. But with this difference.
The disciples were serious. Jesus was feigning.
Why? For two reasons.
Firstly, it was a test of her faith – which she passed with flying colors.
Secondly, he was teaching us how to pray. And so the game, which is no game, was on. The disciples cannot get rid of her, Jesus cannot dissuade her and in the end she wins.
“It is not right to take the children’s bread
and give it to the dogs,” says the Lord.
“Yes Lord! But even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from the master’s table!”
Jesus was had!
Had. Bested. Conquered. By a helpless pagan woman with no power … except seamless faith in this Son of David. The case is exactly as we sing, “Help of the helpless O abide with me.”
And with nothing but her dogged faith this “Canaanite Jacob” wrestles with God and puts HIS hip out of place – and would not let go until Jesus gave her the blessing that she sought.
And give it he did.
Which was his plan all along .
First he acknowledged her Great Faith. Faith lodged in the One who is worthy of all faith and acceptance. And then our Lord proclaims with perfect power: Let it be done for you as you desire! And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Released from the domain of darkness and “transferred into the Kingdom of God’s Own Dear Son.” (Col. 1:13)
Now there are MANY more things we could say today but let us settle for just two.
How did this woman’s daughter end up under such severe demonic oppression? Was she victim, or was she perpetrator. We don’t know, but we all know this daughter who for whatever reason decide to dance with the devil. She leaves her home, her family, her faith, her worship, her sacred morals; gaslights her parents and ghosts here loved ones!
In such cases otherwise faithful parents try everything they can to protect their dear daughters from the devil. And when everything fails they are deflated – and prepare themselves to endure whatever they must. They are often heard to say: “All we can do now is pray.” But please do not say that, because that puts prayer on the bottom shelf instead of the top shelf where it belongs. A last ditch effort, rather than our “health and salvation.”
Secondly, the daughter in today’s gospel never met or even laid eyes on Jesus. She had never “accepted the Lord,” or “asked Jesus into her heart.” Hear this well O Evangelicals.
But it was the enduring faith of her mother that saved her!
And you O parents. O grandparents. O children. Pray! Pray without ceasing. Especially in God’s House of prayer; and ignore every obstacle; even if it seems to be coming from God himself.
She is beyond your reach! But not beyond the reach of The Fisher of Men who can let a creature run for a long time and great distance, but with the twitch of the line bring her back home again.
Especially come to God’s House of Prayer open to all people without distinction. And if need be don’t just come! But haunt the place. Bring your pillow and blanket and tooth brush and never leave until Jesus says to you, “O Woman! Great is thy faith. Be it done for you as you wish.” And your daughter is made well.