Introit (Psalm 25)
St. Matthew 15:21–28
In the name of the Father and of the + Son
and of the Holy Spirit –
Reminiscere
is the Latin name for this
Sunday. It means “remember,” coming from Psalm 25 and our Introit for this day.
Remember your
mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been
from of old. Has God forgotten something? Isn’t it strange for us to
pray this, since we are the ones who so easily and so constantly forget what
God has told us and done for us. Why would we tell God to remember? After all,
He is omniscient. He knows all things. But sometimes it seems like He has
forgotten – forgotten His deeds of old and His promises, forgotten His mercy
and steadfast love, and forgotten us. “Has He forgotten me?” we ask, when we
lose our job, or when the days seem to drag on in darkness, or when the cancer
treatments don’t work, or when a loved one dies. Has God forgotten?
It seems that way in Jesus’
encounter with the Canaanite woman. First, He ignores her. Then He says that He
is not for her. Then He calls her a dog. But she won’t let Him get away. She
refuses to believe that He has forgotten her. She has faith that her Lord is
good, even when it seems like He is not. She is practically screaming Psalm 25:
Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your
steadfast love. Keep your promises, Son
of David. I don’t have to be a Jew to know that You are my Savior. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let
me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult
over me. Don’t let the demons take my
daughter. Don’t let Satan exult over me. Lord, help me. Remember, Lord. I remember Your mercy. You remember
it too. This is what makes her faith great. There is nothing great in her, but
her faith is great because she puts her faith in the Great One, the Lord who
remembers and shows mercy and steadfast love to poor sinners.
Let’s boil down the prayers of
our Introit. It’s basically this: Remember
Your mercy, O Lord. Remember not my
sins. Now that’s something
even a Gentile dog can pray. When we run to the Lord for salvation, this is
what we want from Him. We want Him to think upon His mercy and love. We want
Him to look down with favor and forgiveness. And we want Him to not remember
our sins. We want Him to blot them out, cancel our debts, erase them as though
they’ve never been. We don’t want the Lord to forget us, but we want Him to
forget our sins. We don’t want the Lord to forget His love for us, but we want
Him to forget His anger.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my
transgressions; according to your
steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your
goodness, O Lord! For
a sinner to say to God, “Remember me,” is quite a bold thing. Possibly risky. What
if He does, and remembers all the evil you have done? But the Canaanite woman,
or any trusting heart, is not so brazen as to put herself forward on her own
merits. Rather she prays precisely, Remember not my sins…but according to your steadfast love remember me.
Lord, only remember me with Your compassion. Remember me, not for my sake, but only for the sake of your goodness! This
is not arrogance, but only humility before God and trust in His never-failing
mercy.
In this way, Psalm 25 could also
be the prayer of the Penitent Thief, hanging on the cross next to Jesus. As he
hung there dying, he confessed his guilt and acknowledged that he was receiving
the due reward of his deeds. But then he said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42) There,
at the bitter end of his life, this thief had nothing to say for himself, no good
deeds to put forward, no hope, except to be remembered by the love and mercy of
God. He turned to Jesus on the cross, dying for him, and asks this Jesus to
think on him in the kingdom of forgiveness, to look upon him in the way that
only the King on the Cross can. And according to His steadfast love, for the
sake of His goodness, Jesus said, “Truly,
today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Now like the Penitent Thief, if
you’re asking God to remember not your sins, then it must mean that you are aware
of them. You know what you’ve done and you know how that stacks up against
God’s commandments. You know the sins of your youth and the transgressions of
five minutes ago. And you’re frightened, or at least you should be. Often, we
Christians who know the Gospel, run past our sins too quickly. “Yeah, I know I
sinned here and there but God forgives me so no big deal.” We would do well to
actually examine our lives. We should put our thoughts, words, and actions
under the magnifying glass of God’s Law. And we should fear His anger and we
should fear the Devil’s hold on us. Demons are real and it is their goal to
drag you away from God through sin, false ideas, and impenitence. Hell is real
too. And it is God who sentences sinners to eternal death apart from His love. Could
any of these thoughts have been flying around in the Canaanite woman’s head? Wasn’t
there some fear in her voice as she cried, “Lord,
help me!”?
But even in Jesus’ refusal to
answer, His forgetfulness, His anger, there is His goodness hidden deep down. Because
He is teaching her, pulling her to where He wants her to be: with Him and only
Him. Good and
upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs
sinners in the way. Jesus takes her to the point of confession. He
takes her to the point of no-return, no rescuing herself. He takes her to the
point where only He can do the rescuing. “You’re a Gentile dog,” says Jesus.
“You’re a sinner.” “Yes, Lord,” she says. “You’re right. I am a sinner.” This
is what the Lord wants to hear from sinners: the Truth. No arguing with Him, no
insisting on your rights or claiming that you’ve been treated unfairly. When we
want the Lord to remember us, we don’t want Him to remember any of our
self-righteousness or excuses. But we confess, we acknowledge our sin and His
judgment. Good
and upright is the Lord. Let us
seek instruction only from Him.
And then the impossible happens.
The Lord remembers not your sins. The Omniscient One forgets. And all He
remembers is His mercy. All He remembers is His steadfast love. He forgives
you. All He remembers is His sacrifice for you: Jesus the Sinless One, bleeding
and dying, paying the debt you owe, suffering the punishment you deserve, rising
again in the life you can share. The record of your sins was nailed to the
cross with Jesus and destroyed. There are no more sins for God to remember. But
He remembers you, because you are with Jesus. And for His name’s sake, your
guilt is pardoned. Remember
your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast
love, for
they have been from of old.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus –
