ELCA preacher: Jesus’ “ugly” response to the Syrophoenician woman

10/12/2020

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)

I turned on the TV this afternoon to see a worship service from an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation, Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church of Mahtomedi, Minnesota. Years ago, this congregation was known for being more biblical and evangelical and even helped start a reform movement within Lutheranism. I don’t know much about the church today except for the sermon I just watched by Stephanie Anderson-Telschow, a deacon at St Andrew’s.

She preached about Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28) in which He tells her that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel and “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs”. It is a bit of a difficult text but many scholars believe Jesus was testing the woman’s faith, she passed the test, and her daughter was healed. But today’s preacher said “Jesus’ response is so ugly that we barely recognize him...Was Jesus wrong? Did he make a mistake? I don’t know about that...”.

I do. Jesus did not make a mistake. He is fully God and fully man and his teaching is 100% accurate. He never sinned against this woman or anyone else. He sometimes said things that are difficult for us to understand, but, as the Bible teaches, Jesus was sinless (Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22).
I hope you are a member of a good, biblical congregation which joyfully acknowledges the rightness of Jesus’ teaching.

In Him,

Pastor Tom Brock

5 Comments

Born again

10/12/2020 10:56:06 am

Calling into question Jesus’ words. Typical of this denomination. Do they even believe in Jesus? Hmm. Member of the National Council of Churches, who have communist connections. This denomination has obvious support and alignment with the Democrat Party. This party has adopted and actively support Bernie & AOC’s Marxist agenda. Connect the dots. One can conclude they pray to Marx, Lenin, Mao. Evil forces at work here.

David

10/12/2020 04:08:40 pm

I am/was (I'm going to start visiting a nearby NALC church) a member of an ELCA congregation and a few weeks back we had a fill in pastor who commented about that same parable. She said that Jesus was mean to the woman and that she corrected Him and taught Him something. This pastor was fresh out of seminary. It's sad to see what their heads are being filled with at these ELCA seminaries.

Didaskalos

10/13/2020 06:02:35 am

The ELCA usually ignores every one of God's Word's truths, admonitions, and rebukes that speak against its favorite heresies and apostasies. When the ELCA does quote the Word, it's usually to eisegete it and elevate the ELCA's own tawdry Gnosticism over the plain truths of the Bible.

Great pastors, scholars and commentators like Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Poole, William MacDonald, and F. F. Bruce shed light on the Word that the SJW dilettantes in the ELCA neither know nor care to know:

"If Jesus' words sound harsh to us, we should remember that, like the surgeon's scalpel, it was not intended to hurt but to heal. She *was* a Gentile...And here, Jesus used the word for little pet dogs. The question was, would she acknowledge her unworthiness to receive the least of his mercies? Her reply was magnificent. She agreed with His description completely. [Like David in Psalm 51] she cast herself on His mercy, love, and grace." [MacDonald]

"We are at the great disadvantage of not hearing the tone of Jesus’ voice as He spoke to this woman. We suspect that His tone was not harsh; we rather suspect that it was winsome with the effect of inviting greater faith from the woman.

“Its harshest word [dogs] contains a loophole. [Dogs] does not compare Gentiles to the dogs without, in the street, but to the household dogs belonging to the family, which have their portion though not the children’s.” (F. F. Bruce)

"The woman responded with great faith...It was as if she said, “Jesus, I understand that the focus of Your ministry is to the Jews – that they have a special place in God’s redemptive plan. Yet I also understand that Your ministry extends beyond the Jewish people, and I want to be part of that extended blessing.”

"Her response is especially meaningful in light of the increasing rejection of Jesus by the Jewish religious leaders. It was as if the woman said, “I’m not asking for the portion that belongs to the children, just the crumbs that they don’t want.” In the flow of Matthew’s gospel, there was more and more that the Jewish religious establishment did not want to receive.

"These were two faith-filled words: 'Yet even.' She accepted Jesus’ description and asked for mercy despite it – or perhaps because of it. “She would not give over...So as she said, like Jacob, I will not let thee go, until thou bless me. And as he, like a prince, so she, like a princess, prevailed with God and obtained the thing which she desired.” (Matthew Poole)

“Dear friend, possibly someone has whispered in your ear, ‘Suppose you are not one of the elect.’ Well, that was very much what our Lord’s expression meant to her…Notice that this woman does not battle with that truth at all, she does not raise any question about it; she wisely waives it, and she just goes on praying, ‘Lord, help me! Lord, have mercy upon me!’ I invite you, dear friend, to do just the same.” (Charles Spurgeon)

"(Matt. 15:28) Jesus rewards the great faith of the Gentile woman.
Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour."

"'O woman, great is your faith!' Jesus never said this to another person. He complimented the great faith of the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Matthew 8:10), but He said it to the crowd, not to the centurion directly. This Gentile woman heard it from Jesus directly. Significantly, the only two people to receive this compliment from Jesus were these Gentiles."

10/15/2020 02:31:56 pm

Breaking today on sites such as Breitbart.com, Hunter & Joe Biden’s connections to Ukraine, China, Russia worth millions in buying influence in US. Biden allies Facebook, Twitter trying to shut down spreading of the truth. Won’t work, Biden’s going down. If you ELCA leadership read this site y’all better repent and return to Christ because your leadership is goin’ down.

Brian

10/22/2020 06:47:24 am

I recently argued with an ELCA pastor (a frustrating experience) about the means of salvation. Many Lutherans and Reformed theologians taught some broad theology against works as a means of grace and even so far as to say that no one is capable or required to make a decision for Christ.

This pastor railed against what she called “decision theology” claiming that God not only provided the means of grace but that he also has given it to all as a gift. I said “Ok, so if he gave it to all, then all are saved?”

She said “Yes”. Again, we all are well aware that the ELCA teaches Universalism. But the venom this pastor spat against “decision theology” would anger her congregation if they knew. The end of John’s gospel says that “these things are written that you may believe.” Belief is an active choice or else Jesus would never have had to die. Following ELCA “logic”, God could have simply willed that all be saved despite their sins.

And if the ELCA actually believed in Hell (they don’t) how would they justify their position without falling into predestination? Works don’t save us but accepting Christ is NOT a work. It’s THE act of faith that is needed for salvation and it is supported by scripture. That probably means I’m not a Lutheran. Good! Because Lutheranism is a dying man-made religion. I would rather choose personal faith.

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ELCA preacher: Jesus’ “ugly” response to the Syrophoenician woman

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