Short Prayers

Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord join us here today
When you speak, help us be eager to hear you
When you call, cause us to come to you quickly

Let us grow weary of all of our ploys and workarounds and distractions
Let us grow weary of depending on our wealth and position and power
Let us bring our anxieties and fears and concerns to you instead
Trusting you to make us whole
Trusting you to bind up our wounds
Trusting you in and for all things
Knowing your great good love is
Our deepest need
And most valued treasure.
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

The story I am going read to is found in both Matthew and Mark, but each one highlights different details. I’ve combined both versions of the story, because I didn’t want to leave out any of my favorite lines.

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. [And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.]
And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region [a Gentile] [whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet] . . . crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
And he answered, “[Let the children be fed first, for] It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! [For this statement you may go your way . . . .] Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. [And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.] Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30

Intro: Jesus crossed an international border looking for rest

Matthew says, he “went away” and “withdrew”
– he needed space where he was free from the desperate crowds
• care givers have to be careful to care for themselves
• otherwise burn out can take out a care giver
◦ during this brief respite, Jesus and disciples were off the clock
– last thing they wanted was to hear the cry of a Gentile woman
• Jesus buries his face in a newspaper or checks his cell phone
◦ seeing that he ignores her, she begins pestering his disciples
◦ and it worked – in frustration they went to Jesus
“Send her away, for she is crying out after us”
• they broke but not because they were more merciful than Jesus
Helmut Thielicke, “They can’t take the woman’s misery. The woman clearly feels that too, otherwise she would have turned to the weary and therefore more helpful disciples. She realizes, however, that they are not merciful in yielding to her cry for help. They just have weak nerves.”
◦ so far, she has been rejected and not helped

This woman is a hero
– a desperate mom – she’s a mother who won’t give up
• up till now, her daughter has had no hope for a cure
◦ but she heard about the Jewish rabbi who came to Sidon
◦ a miracle worker – an exorcist who cast out demons with a word
• he wasn’t from her country or culture,
◦ but, if need be, she’ll become enough of a bother to wear him down
◦ she easily broke through his ring of bodyguards
– having crossed the line, she fell down at Jesus’ feet,
• and prayed this short prayer: “Lord, help me”
• now, for all her work, what does Jesus give her?
◦ a hard time, a refusal – he tells her,

“This isn’t right. You’re not a lost sheep of Israel.
What I have to give isn’t for you.
You’re torn to pieces over your daughter–I heard you,
but I have children of my own to think of, and to care for.
The needs of my children come first. My provisions are for them.
It wouldn’t be right to take food from them and throw it to the dogs.
Your name is not on my list. I can’t help you.”

• for a moment Jesus sounds like a stone-faced bureaucrat
“I can’t approve this for you. You don’t have the right papers.”
Or, “We’re returning your application because you signed on the wrong line”

If we feel uncomfortable with how Jesus acts in this story–and we do–,
– it’s not that it lacks beauty or power
• but because we don’t like seeing Jesus in this negative light
◦ we’re uncomfortable with the way he treats her
◦ if ever he’s rude or severe, it’s with self-righteous, judgmental, hypocrites
• how we see this scenario is:
“So what if she’s from the wrong side of the tracks? What does it cost Jesus to meet her desperate need?”
◦ this is not the lovely image of Jesus that we treasure
– so now, do we have to give up our idea of a loving and kind Jesus?
• should we fret that perhaps he isn’t always “nice”?
◦ whenever we find Jesus one-to-one with any person–e.g., Nicodemus, Bartimaeus, or Peter
◦ he is always working a specific strategy – he’s after something
• perhaps Jesus is testing this soulful mother
◦ challenging her like he did with two blind men in chapter 9, whom he asked,
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Mt. 9:28)
◦ if Jesus discourages someone, he has a reason; he makes his move to win them, not lose them

When Jesus says “dogs,” the suspense is tangible
– can this story in any way have a happy ending?
• it’s her move now, and she says, “Yes, Lord”

“Refuse my prayer that’s fine. Okay, I’m a dog. I have no right to bother You, no right to demand anything from You. I’m an outsider. But Lord, I’m not asking for the children’s bread! I’m not applying for discipleship. But about those dogs You mentioned? Well, even those dogs are allowed to eat whatever scraps fall from the table.”

◦ anyone who has children and a dog or two, knows for sure,
◦ more than a few scraps will fall under the table
(I wonder if there are any dogs that eat lima beans)
• before approaching Jesus, she had already decided no matter what he tells her, she will say “Yes”
◦ and that’s what Jesus wants–is her “Yes”
– do you remember what we’ve gone over these past two weeks?
(It’s okay if you don’t. I don’t either, but I have it in my notes)
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord, and not do what I command you?”
Why do you call me ‘Lord,’ but your actual response to me is not a ‘Yes, Lord’?
– here is a woman–a Gentile–who accepts the conceptual frame in which Jesus placed her
• but then she re-frames HIS concept to create a loophole for herself and her daughter
• it’s as if this were a game, like chess, and she just countered his move
“Yes, Lord, I’m a dog; but even the dogs get something”

“Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith!”

Was Jesus smiling when he said this? I think so. I think he enjoyed her riposte. After all, it was precisely the sort of response he hoped for, only perhaps even more clever.

– there’s another story like this, but involving a Roman centurion (another Gentile)
• Jesus said of him,
“Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith” (Mt. 8:10)
◦ the woman won the match, because her faith wouldn’t allow her to give up
◦ Luke, in his gospel, tells us that one time Jesus
“told . . . a parable to the effect that [we] ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Lk. 18:1)
• that describes this woman — she did not lose heart, even when rejected and insulted
– she won because she was ready to surrender
• ready to accept any deal Jesus offered, meet any demand he made
• and her surrender, her “Yes, Lord,” is what Jesus was after
◦ he did not want her to walk away discouraged or hopeless
◦ he did not want the rich young man to walk away discouraged, but he did
and that was because he wasn’t prepared to meet Jesus’ demands
his response was a, “No Lord, not that!”

Some of the people I love–and whom I know love Jesus–
– have given up on prayer – not that they stopped praying
• but they never ask for anything out of the ordinary
◦ they ask for assistance, forgiveness, safe travel, and their daily bread
◦ all the basic stuff and typical necessities
• they ask for God’s help with things they can also do on their own,
(just in case he doesn’t come through)
◦ but they avoid asking for anything that depends totally on God
– most people I know have a limit on how far they’ll trust God,
• and when they reach it, they “lose heart”
◦ I, also, have my moments of despair
◦ but when God is silent, I’m learning to listen more closely
• there’s often a message in God’s silence
◦ I’m learning to say,
“Lord, since You haven’t answered the question I asked, what’s the question I should be asking?”
Or, “Since You have given me what I requested, what should be my request?”
– that’s an important lesson, however, not today’s “big idea”

Conclusion: I have another point I wish to make clear

It’s not a law, or a rule, or a magic formula to get the answer you want to every prayer
– in fact, it’s rather simple:
• we don’t have to pray long prayers to get God’s attention
• its enough to pray, “Lord, help me!”

Every week I pray for my extended family – it’s a long list
– for years, I’ve prayed my heart’s concerns
(with lots of details and ‘suggestions’ for God)
• so working my way through that list took a long time
• one morning I realized God didn’t need all the details and instructions that I gave him
◦ after that, when praying, I paused at each person’s name, and without words,
◦ I felt, briefly, my concern for their needs and what I hoped God would do for them
– so in my prayers now, I respect God’s wisdom in deciding how he will assist them
• and that gives me more time to rest in his presence
• short prayers can be as effective as long prayers,
◦ if they are sincere and backed by faith and surrender

From the example of this desperate woman, we learn
that “Lord, help me” can be enough of a prayer
or, as in Peter’s case, “Lord, save me!”
(If he had tried to pray a longer prayer, he would have drowned)
God is not waiting for us to find the right words
He waits for our, surrender, our “Yes, Lord, your will be done”
With friends or walking alone, we can pray out loud if we want
(Public prayer must be prayed aloud, so that others can say “Amen” to our prayer)
anywhere else we can pray silently at the altar of our hearts
Because we make our prayers,
whether long or short, loud or silent, with tears or laughter,
to our infinite Father in heaven anything is possible – all things are possible