Sermon in Shongweni on the 4th Octobe...

Dear friends of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, especially you dear confirmands!

It is with great joy that I am sharing this wonderful day with you. I am very happy to be a guest of Mandla Thwala, who is a Seminary graduate  and now pastor of this Shongweni congregation and dean of the KwaZulu/Natal diocese. It is a wonderful blessing of our Lord that he equips those he calls with talents and gifts to build up his Church to his honor and glory and for the benefit of many people. That he has done this
here in Shongweni and with you and your pastor Thwala makes me very grateful and also makes me feel very much at home.

I bring you greetings from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane [Pretoria] on this day. We appreciate your support and we are very eager to have more Zulu students from KwaZulu/Natal in the future. Presently there is only one Zulu at the Seminary – our student representative Bheki Ngobese, who is in the final stages of his studies. God willing he is going to be a vicar at Ohlangeni starting next year – just like your pastor and dean was a couple of years ago. So – please if you have bright and faithful young men – encourage them to join the Seminary. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Please ask the
Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest field – just like our Lord Jesus Christ encourages us to do [Mt.9,37f].  

Every confirmation is a wonderful occasion. Confirmands, who have been taught God’s word and Luther’s teachings, are reminded of what the triune God did to them starting off from their birth, but especially in holy Baptism. In the first birth they – like all living creatures in this world – received life from God the creator to be children of their parents, their people and nation. In the 2^nd birth – i.e. in holy Baptism – they became children of God and heirs of heaven by the workings of the Holy Spirit through the washing in the water together with God’s word. Now they are no longer strangers and foreigners to the family of God, but rather members of God’s household – the only, holy Christian Church universal. Today you are given the opportunity to proclaim publicly your faith in this triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who has created you as human beings, rescued you from sin, death and devil – not through gold/silver, but rather with the precious blood of our Lord/Savior IX – and now deals with you – not as enemies, but friends and family! You belong to him and he cares for you. This good news is emphasized and underlined in the invitation to the Lord’s supper, which is extended to you for the first time today. You are to eat and drink the Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of your sin and to thus encourage you even more to believe, that he who has given his body into death so that you may live with him forever and he who shed his blood for you on the cross on Golgotha gives you part of his new life so that you are united with him – now and eternally. We know that he has not only done that to you, but also to us, who today  celebrate this confirmation as a very special highlight in your young lives and remember our own confirmation years ago. Like St. Paul we are confident, that he, who
started the good work in us, will eventually bring it to wonderful completion through IX our Lord.

God’s word as prescribed for the 17^th Sunday after Trinity from St. Matthew the 15^th chapter verses 21-28:

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was 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, "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! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

The Lord set’s his table for his people. Out in the desert and barren places he feeds thousands with bread from heaven – literally – and all those plenty people are satisfied so that baskets and baskets with leftovers remain. Nobody lacks anything, but is well taken care of.

The Lord changes water into wine so that a entire wedding party is well taken care of. The divine surplus is
overflowing and God’s people are well taken care of – yes, more than that. They partake in God’s abundance and rejoice in his goodness. He has done everything very well! 

Even those who are outside – like the sinners and tax collectors, the lepers, the poor beggars, the demon-possesses – all those disqualified by some or other negative issue and who were not entitled to be at the Lord’s table by the Law of Moses, they are all invited inside to be part of this Lord’s feast. He forgives the sins, he heals the diseases and makes those, who are outcasts and renegades from the House of Israel legitimate heirs of God’s kingdom. The Lord sends out his disciples to bring them in, so that his house might be filled. There is still room and you too are also most cordially invited: Come – it is all prepared! Taste and see how good our Lord is!

That is the work and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ: To gather, feed and take good care of the lost sheep of the House of Israel. That’s what he did in his lifetime. Now as he is carrying out this good mission
of his, he is opposed by the high and mighty, the governing bodies and theological schools of his time. They are not happy with what this Jesus of Nazareth is doing and so they start to pester and plague him. Jesus then turns his back on them and moves off into the area of Tyre and Sidon – that’s in the North of Judea on the coast of the Mediterranean, where today we find Beirut/Lebanon.

Now on his way there is this women, who is not a Jew, but a gentile and she is calling to Jesus like we did this morning: Kyrie eleison! That’s a cry for help in Greek. Translated that means: Lord have mercy! She calls him the son of David – for just like he ruled all the area in the east of the Mediterranean so also Jesus should practice his good Lordship over this area too. It’s actually a confession of faith! You are the Lord – you are the son of the big King David – have mercy on me, help me or better my daughter. Jesus first makes it clear,
that she has no right to demand such help. She is not entitled to it. The Lady however knows this. She agrees. She does not demand help, but rather begs for mercy: Please help my daughter!

The disciples want to get rid of her quickly, but Jesus says: No – it is not good, because it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Now that is quite a embarrassment, yes, even a humiliation and an insult. Jesus says the Israelites are the children, but the gentiles are dogs. Now the lady would have every reason to be upset and to go away and leave this Jesus behind. However she agrees with Jesus and yet catches him in his own words. She says: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Oh, what a women and what a faith! She is not put off by Jesus harsh rebuttal of her petition, no, she persists and eventually corners him, so that he has to admit: "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Is that not wonderful. Jesus is merciful and helps this very insistent women – even though she is a gentile. Yes, at first it was just crumbs and here and there that gentiles came into the benefit of Jesus mission. 

However even in that time, he showed that his mission was bigger than just for the house or tribe or people of Israel. As we read in the Gospel of St. John, Jesus Christ says: I have other sheep that are not of this
sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (Joh 10:16 NIV).  That is why, when he had conquered death and the devil by his glorious resurrection, he instructed his disciples and the Church at large: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  (Mat 28:18-20 NIV)

Now it’s not only crumbs, but the fullness and complexity of divine citizenship we as gentiles have through Christ’s calling! We don’t only get fed crumbs, but can eat our fill at the table of our Lord. We don’t just get an idea of Christian teachings, but are taught everything he taught us. And we don’t only have some fleeting connection with Jesus Christ, but rather – he is with us always. Now it is in faith, but then we will see it with our eyes – and compared with that the blessings of this time are again only crumbs…there the Lord’s Supper will be a feast for all to see and for us to partake in.

Here this mother brings her daughter to Jesus and he hears our prayers like he heard hers. We don’t know, what happened with this daughter later on in her life – except that she was definitely healed by Jesus and that instantly. We do know however that your baptism was not in vain, for even today you confess your faith in the
triune God together with the entire Christian Church. God’s action in your baptism was not in vain, but he started his good work in you there and will complete it graciously then and by his never-ending mercy until you will see the wonderful goal/destination he has prepared for you. To safeguard this, he keeps you in his holy word and at his table taking good care of you as long as you are on the way. Amen.