Luther’s House Sermon on the Canaanite Woman
August 31, 2020 Leave a comment
Translator’s Preface
Martin Luther preached the following sermon in his home on March 1, 1534, Reminiscere Sunday (Lent 2). Luther preached a number of sermons in his home between 1532 and 1534 on account of frailty. Veit Dietrich, Luther’s personal secretary and one of the attendees, transcribed these sermons as they were being preached. Later, he lent them to the parish deacon Georg Rörer, so that Rörer could in turn copy them into his own notebooks of Luther’s lectures and sermons. Since the whereabouts of Dietrich’s original transcripts, if they still exist, are unknown, Rörer’s copies are the closest thing to original copies of these house sermons that we have today. Dietrich later included this sermon in his 1544 edition of Luther’s House Postil. However, he took some noticeable liberties in the smoothing out of his transcript. And when Andreas Poach later published his own edition of the House Postil in 1559, based exclusively on Rörer’s notebooks, he used Dietrich’s version as his base for this sermon, since he was able to locate the sermon that Dietrich used, and he could tell that Dietrich followed it fairly closely. Accordingly, Poach made only minor tweaks and changes—some good, some unnecessary. (Compare Erlangen Edition 1:259–67 to 4:338–46.)
I have followed Rörer’s copy of Dietrich’s transcript, as found in the Weimar Edition 37:313–316, as closely as possible, except where the flow of the sermon or a difficult transcription demanded that I consult the editions of the House Postil for advice. Thus my English edition is shorter than either Dietrich’s or Poach’s.
You can find a longer, more sermon-study-type sermon on this Bible text in Luther’s Church Postil (Luther’s Works 76:378ff).
Though this house sermon is fairly short, it is a masterpiece, showcasing Luther’s biblical expertise, homiletical and oratorical skill, wide-ranging knowledge, and unshakable faith in Christ. May this fresh translation serve to glorify the triune God and edify the English-speaking reader.
House Sermon on the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21–28)
his is a sublime Gospel. It got appointed for this Sunday because it dealt with the driving out of demons. The idea was to induce people to be pious, go to confession, and so on. But it is a weighty and sublime Gospel, not just some child’s game. It describes the real struggle and mortal anguish that faith goes through with God, from which we are to learn that nothing should scare us off from praying and crying out to God. And we should not give up even if he himself says no, like in the perils of death, when the devil shoves his way in and our Lord God lets himself be seen as anything but our helper. Things go just horribly then. That is when the clouds cover the sun, and there is distress beyond all distress. This is portrayed for us here in this woman. Here everybody and every circumstance is so bad that nothing could be worse.
First, she is a gentile woman. This is the first circumstance that makes the situation difficult. She is not a child of Abraham nor of the seed of Abraham. She has no right to ask Jesus for anything. She is a foreigner. That alone should have deterred her. She should have said, “Why even ask? It’s a lost cause. I am a foreigner and from a heathen nation to boot, and he was sent to the Jews.” If we felt a deterrent that strong, we would quickly desist, when we heard our conscience saying, “Ugh, you are not someone who should be praying. You don’t belong to Christ. People like Peter and Paul can pray, but God won’t listen to you. You do not have faith. You are not one of the elect. You aren’t good enough for it.” That’s how the devil can bring someone to despair. It’s a strong deterrent.
But she heads out anyway. She doesn’t pay attention to any of this; she is blind to it in her spirit, so that she is able to forget and not think about the fact that she is a gentile. Her confidence in that man, namely the Lord Christ, is so great that she thinks, “He will not ignore me.” In this way she extinguishes the thought that she is a gentile. Someone else without faith would not be able to take it. He would think to himself, “You belong to the devil,” and would never pray again, because those who have no hope do not pray. But she won’t let herself be attacked this way. She does not dispute with herself by saying, “You don’t belong in that house.1 You are excluded, since you are a gentile.”
It is therefore a difficult and harmful temptation when the devil says, “Why keep on praying? You’re already mine. Go ahead and curse our Lord God. You aren’t going to be saved anyway.” These words can hinder a person from praying. So this is written for our sakes, so that we are not deterred from it. If he suggests this to us, then tell him, “I am a gentile, but I’m not going to worry about it. Although I am a sinner and a gentile, that doesn’t bother Christ. Yes, I will cry out to him all the more loudly, the worse I am. I therefore won’t give it any consideration at all. I’m not able to dispute right now whether I am one of the elect or not. This woman certainly didn’t appear to be one of the elect either, since she was a gentile. I simply need help right now.” This is quite a struggle, and it’s an amazing thing to behold in this woman.
Now it says in the text that she cries out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David,” and she laments her distress to him. And he hears her crying out, but he does not answer her. That is the second deterrent. He puts her in her place. She is a heathen who is not a part of his inheritance. She has no right to the benefit that is Christ himself. And so he is completely silent. A tower should crumble in the face of two cannons like this. We can imagine that she might ask herself, “Where now is the God who is merciful? Where is the man praised for hearing and answering?”
Third, the disciples grow tired of her crying out. They became more pious than Christ himself. It seems to them that Christ is being so cruel. Therefore they approach and ask on her behalf, “Just do what she wants and give her help. She isn’t going to let up.” This is a precious example of how we shouldn’t give up. Tauler provides an example to teach us that there comes a point when we should give up.2 By no means. Giving up happens far too often. The example of this woman shows that we should not give up, but should say like this woman did, “I am not going to dispute whether I am pious or not. I don’t have time for that right now. My daughter is sick in bed and is being horribly tormented by a demon.” This is what occupies her mind, and in this way she absorbs the harsh blows and rebuffs in her heart.
Fourth, Christ says, “I was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Thus he also slaps his disciples upside the head. He neither listens to the woman nor to the others praying on her behalf. This is a harsh man. He won’t even listen to other people who pray on her behalf of their own accord, without her asking them to. Christ is nowhere portrayed more harshly than he is here. But she acts as if it’s a game and doesn’t give up. Four great cannon shots have been fired at her and she has simply swallowed them down. Since her cries and the disciples’ intercession won’t work, she comes right into the house, Mark says (7:24,25). She is a shameless woman; she has run after him in the streets, and now she follows him into the building. He simply cannot get rid of her at all. This is written for our sakes, that we may learn what heartfelt pleasure he takes in it, when we steadily persist in prayer. If anyone would act this way toward another human, he would be considered a nuisance and forcibly removed from the premises.3 But this woman does not hesitate to act this way toward Christ.
But now Christ tells her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” If he had said this to me, I would have run right out the door. This is also the harshest deterrent. There it is, right out in the open: She is not one of the children, but is a dog. This is even worse than being a gentile. He calls her a dog. This is what it means to be severely tested. He appears to be saying, “You belong to the devil indoors and out [wie du gehest und stehest].” I would simply flee, in her shoes. If he were to say that to me in person, he would terrify me. For that matter, if Paul or some other great man were to say that to me, I would be scared to death.
But see how powerful and potent a thing faith is! She seizes him at his words, and turns them around in her favor. “You say I am a dog. That’s true. Then treat me like a dog.” She traps him in his own words, but he is happy to be trapped like that. “What I desire,” she says, “is nothing more than the right of a dog. I am not a child; I am not from the seed of Abraham. But you are a rich Lord, and you spread a glorious table. I am just a dog. I do not wish to sit at the table. Just let me have the crumbs that you and the children don’t need.” With that, she traps him. Yes, she not only wins the right of the dogs, but also the right of the children. Where else can he go? He has trapped himself. He must relent.
This is a masterpiece and an uncommon example. It was written that we might learn from it, namely, that we should never let us ourselves be refused by this man, the Lord Christ, even if the Lord God should act as if he were against us in whatever way he might choose, even if he should call us dogs or heathens. As this woman says, dogs must have masters and crumbs. Thus the Lord is trapped and says, “O woman, your faith is great!” As if to say: “If you could bear all these deterrents in your heart, then your faith is truly special.” This is an unusual judgment from his mouth. As if to say: “Some of the Jews took offense at me after one word. Is theirs the kind of faith we should celebrate?4 You, on the other hand, held firm.” So you see how and why he refused to listen to her, that he only exhibited his rude behavior so that her faith would be on display, and so that the Jews would know that she was not a Jew. It’s as if he were saying to them, “You who are the heirs need to learn from this gentile woman how you should believe in me and pray to me.”
He then tells her, “Go, let it be done for you exactly as you wish.” He doesn’t just give her the right of a dog, but says to her, “Not only shall your daughter be freed, but everything that you seek shall be done for you.” Thus he places her among Abraham’s seed. Her faith is what brings her to a place where she is no longer called a heathen, but a saint [nicht mehr ein heiden, sed heiligin].
Here’s how this applies to us: Even if our Lord God make us wait for a long time, we should not give up. He will secretly say yes to your prayer in his5 heart, even if you do not see and experience it right away. Just don’t give up. Joseph probably cried out to him for twelve years or more. It took a long time for God to act. And, judging by appearances, the more time passed, the worse things got for him, since the more he prayed, the worse it got. The same was true for Christ in his passion. And that’s also how it goes today with Christians. When they have called out to him for a long time, they don’t perceive any improvement, but that things are actually getting worse, just like with Joseph. But if God had heard and delivered Joseph right away, his father Jacob and his brothers might have become pious,6 but Joseph would have remained a shepherd. But since God’s deliverance took such a long time, Joseph became a ruler over Egypt and the greatest man among his brothers, and God provided food for many people through him during a famine. So too, when our Lord God refuses his Christians for a long time and keeps on saying no, and they keep clinging to his yes, they will ultimately experience his yes. For God’s word will always prove true: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you” (John 16:23). Since his word is true, that will certainly take place.
But reason objects: “Okay, but how can he act like that to us?” Don’t worry about it. There’s no harm done by it. Let him say no. Let him delay one, two, even three years or longer. He can never tear out of your heart what he has promised. He may have in mind to give you more than what you asked, as he was willing to do for this woman. If she had desired more, he would have given her more.
Therefore our Lord God wants to teach us that it is not always good for him to answer us right away. In great distress, he takes quicker action, like when someone falls into the water or in time of war. That’s not the time to make people wait. The same is true in great and severe spiritual afflictions. But in situations where a person can bear to do some waiting, there the person is to learn that God delays for our good. “Even if he lingers,” says Habakkuk, “wait for him, because He who is coming will come and will not delay” (2:3).
Right now he is delaying with us. He is letting the pope and the Muslim Turk rage against us. And although we cry out and are doing miserably, he isn’t listening and is acting as if he doesn’t know us. He is letting us get dragged through the mud, as if we had no God. But he will eventually compensate us for all of this. We should have no doubt that we have a yes in heaven, hidden within the heart of Christ. But just as he does in this account, Christ builds five solid walls of iron around his yes, and the devil is constantly shooting nothing but no’s at the situation. But in spite of all this, you should still say, “I take it as a yes, and I know that he wishes to be gracious and merciful to those who cry out to him. I know the yes is hiding there in his heart. Therefore, I am not going to dispute whether I am elect or the fact that I am a gentile. Instead, I will simply stick to this fact—that the yes is there.”
Thus this account is an especially beautiful example of faith, showing how it wants to be practiced and that it will ultimately come out the conqueror in every situation. We should not therefore despise the Word so much, but cling firmly to it and have no doubt that our prayers are heard by God. Just as this woman keeps crying out to the Lord Christ and will not let his yes be taken from her heart, but steadfastly persists in her confidence that he is kind and will help her—yes, she does not let our Lord God himself deprive her of it—so may our Lord God help us to follow after her. Amen.
Endnotes
1 Namely, where Jesus was staying
2 In one of his sermons, Johannes Tauler tells of a girl who, in an ecstatic state, saw herself separated from God by an inexpressibly great distance. Since the saints in the presence of God did not hear her because they were completely immersed in the beatific vision of God, she eventually appealed to God himself: “even if you would have me suffer in this horrible, hellish pain eternally, I will humbly yield myself to it, according to your dearest will, in time and in eternity.” Thereupon she was immediately “swung into the lovely abyss of the Godhead” (Julius Hamberger, ed., Johann Tauler’s Predigten, 2nd ed. [Prague: F. Tempsky, 1872], 218–19).
3 I had to use my imagination to complete this sentence and the rest of the paragraph. Veit Dietrich only recorded the first half and ended with “etc.”
4 Original: “sollen wir den [denn?] feyren?” The meaning isn’t entirely clear.
5 Even though the Weimar Edition has dein, not sein, the immediate context and what Luther says at the end of the sermon supports changing “your” to “his.” This may have been a copying error on the part of Rörer, or on the part of the editors of the Weimar Edition. (A University of Jena librarian, in custody of their rare books collection, once told me that there were many mistakes in the Weimar Edition.)
6 Dietrich’s transcription is not exactly clear here, and thus required some interpretive filling in.
Pelagius, “Supreme Dimwit”?
March 17, 2018 Leave a comment
If you think Martin Luther possessed the muse of smack talk, it may have been passed down to him from Jerome (whom, ironically, Luther didn’t particularly care for as a theologian). Here are a few excerpts from Jerome’s preface to his commentary on Jeremiah, written between 417 and 419 AD, in which he obliquely refers to Pelagius:
* A reference to Pelagius’ portliness. (“Scottish” may have meant Irish at the time.)
Sources
Patrologia Latina 24:706-708
Luther’s Works (American Edition) 54:72, no. 445
Filed under Quotes Tagged with Commentary on Jeremiah, fathead, heretic, insults, Irish porridge, Jerome, Martin Luther, Pelagius, Scotch porridge, Scottish porridge, smack talk, supreme dimwit