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CLICK HERE for a worship video for August 16
Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost – August 16, 2026
Matthew 15:10-28
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
A Canaanite woman cried out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.”
The fact that she is a Canaanite woman is significant. The Canaanites were the ancient enemies of God’s people, Israel. The Canaanites are described repeatedly in the Bible as a wicked and idolatrous people. Descended from a cursed grandson of Noah, they rejected the true God in favor of a pantheon of false gods with names like Baal and Molech. The prophets warned and archaeology confirms that the Canaanites offered human sacrifices to these false gods, including the sacrifice of children. They were thus despised by the Israelites, who referred to them as dogs. It was not a term of endearment.
This was her background. These were her people. And yet this Canaanite woman believed that this Jewish rabbi, Jesus, could help her. She cried out to him, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” This was Jewish lingo she was using. She was using Jewish terms and Jewish titles to refer to Jesus. She called him Lord. She used the messianic title, “Son of David.” Somehow, some way, she knew that the Jews were expecting a messiah, a savior, from the line of David. Somehow, some way, she believed Jesus was that messiah. And somehow, some way, she believed this Jewish messiah could help her – a Canaanite woman.
Maybe it was a hope rooted in her desperation. After all, she was experiencing one of the worst things a human being can experience. She had a child who was suffering. The best description of being a parent I’ve ever heard is that for each child you have you grow another heart, only this one lives outside of your body. The love you feel is fierce and intense and profound. You want nothing more than for them to be well. And when they suffer, you feel a piercing of your own heart, and you would do anything to make that suffering stop. Maybe that’s what had this Canaanite woman crying out to Jesus. She had no right to expect anything from him, but she was desperate. Her child was suffering.
“Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David;” she said, “my daughter is tormented by a demon.” We don’t know what sort of demon she was facing exactly, but the word “tormented” tells us everything we need to know. Her daughter was not well.
And what do the scriptures tell us about how Jesus responded? They say, “But he did not answer her at all.” Her cries were met with silence.
Undeterred, she kept on pleading for his help. She kept on pleading to the point that the disciples asked Jesus to send her away. Now, finally, Jesus had something to say to her. He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
I’m not sure which is worse, the silence, or this remark, which is the equivalent of a big fat “No.” But once again, this woman would not give up. This Canaanite woman knelt before this Jewish messiah: “Lord, help me,” she said. Surely now he would help her, right? But Jesus said, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Preachers have been trying to do damage control ever since.
Bible scholars have long tried to make sense of Jesus’ words here. Some have suggested Jesus was testing her. Some say he was testing the disciples. Some say he had a sparkle in his eye when he said it and was only joking. Some say he was tired and cranky after a busy couple of days with no rest. Some have said Jesus was just using the common language of his time and culture. Others have said he was only following God’s timeline, which was Jews first, Gentiles later. Some point out that Jesus uses the term for little dog, or pet, instead of the term for a street dog, so it isn’t as mean as it sounds.
One unfortunate take which has gotten some traction in some circles recently is that Jesus is being taught here to examine his prejudices and that this was the diversity training he needed. (This is very bad theology. The sinless Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, through whom all things were made, needs sensitivity lessons from no one. Beware of preachers who fancy themselves to be more righteous than Jesus.)
Jesus’ words do sound offensive to our modern ears, and there might be something to some of those explanations, but we shouldn’t be more offended by Jesus’ response than the Canaanite woman herself was, and she doesn’t seem to be offended at all. Instead, she grabs on to Christ’s words as though they were a lifeline to her. She uses them to get her foot in the door. “Yes Lord,” she says, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She is happy to be called a dog if it means Jesus is her master! She doesn’t mind being called a dog if it means she can eat the crumbs from his table! After all, there isn’t that much difference between dogs and lost sheep. They both need help from the master, like all sinners do!
And at last, Jesus responds to her need. “Woman, great is your faith!” Jesus says. Now he addresses her not as a dog, but as a woman, as a daughter of Eve. Now he praises her for her faith, which he describes as great – in stark contrast to the faith of his disciples which he had just recently called little. Now he gives her a place at his table, blessing her with more than crumbs. He gives her the full meal deal! “Let it be done for you as you wish,” Jesus said. Her prayer was answered. Her daughter was made well.
As Martin Luther said in a sermon on this passage: “Thus, she catches Christ in his own words, and [Jesus] is happy to be caught. She catches Christ the Lord in his own words and with that wins not only the right of a dog, but that of the [sheep]. Now then, where will he go, our dear Jesus? He let himself be made captive and must comply. Be sure of this: That is what he most deeply desires.”
Luther didn’t try to apologize for Jesus. He didn’t try to explain his responses away. Luther leaves the offense there, but looks to where it led and what it illustrates. Luther saw this whole scene as a picture of the Christian life. He saw it as a picture of faith and especially as a picture of prayer. In the same sermon Luther wrote: “From it we are to learn that nothing, not even the throes of death, must deter us from calling upon God in prayer—even though he has already said ‘No.’”
There is a particularly desperate kind of anguish that parents feel for their children when they are suffering, but even if you are not a parent or have never been in that kind of situation with your kids, probably all of us have had times when our prayers have been met with silence, or with a big fat “No.” There are times when God seems to be ignoring us or treating us rudely.
Over the years I’ve ministered to many people who have much in common with the Canaanite woman. I’ve had people come to me with tears in their eyes because their child is unwell in one way or another. I’ve stood vigil at Children’s Hospital in Seattle more than once. I’ve had parents of adult children share their anguish with me because their son or daughter is sick or suffering, or plagued by demon of addiction, or a demon of depression, a demon of unbelief.
I talk to people who have other people they care about deeply who are suffering, who are facing serious health problems or battling demons of various sorts. I know there are people in this sanctuary right now who have been begging Jesus for healing of bodies and minds and relationships, begging Jesus that things could be different, and so far, all they’ve gotten from him is either silence, or a “No.”
This Canaanite woman is the patron saint of all who have ever experienced what seems to be God’s cold shoulder. She is the patron saint of all outsiders who find themselves in desperate need. She is the patron saint of all who have felt like they are in the doghouse with God. She is the patron saint of all sinners longing for even some crumbs from the masters’ table.
But this Canaanite woman doesn’t just echo the desperation of what seems to be our unanswered prayers. She also shows us what Christian faith looks like. She says to Jesus: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” This is more than a witty comeback; it is a bold expression of faith. She is utterly convinced that Jesus can help her, and she demands it from him. “Even crumbs from you would be enough, Lord, so give them to me!” She holds him to his word even after that cruel silence, even after that big “no.” She catches him in his words, and Jesus was happy to be caught in them.
Such faith is great indeed. As Luther said, faith that holds Jesus to his Word in spite of everything is what Jesus most deeply desires from us. The Canaanite woman displayed remarkable trust in his mercy and grace in spite of what she had experienced thus far, and that trust ultimately proved to be well placed.
No matter what your background or history might be, you too can go to the Lord Jesus for help. If he can help a Canaanite woman, he can certainly help you. No matter what your deepest needs might be, your biggest fears, your most painful hurts, he can help. It might not always seem like it, but Christ Jesus is your messiah too. He is your savior, and he delights in hearing your prayers and responding to your needs.
He might not answer quickly. You might get silence at first. You might even get what seems like a firm “No.” Perhaps in these times he is teaching us to live by faith, to trust in his mercy and grace even when we can’t see it. But this Lord of ours loves to be held to his Word. He loves it when we hold him to his promises, and he will respond in due time. It might be sooner, it might be later, it might not be until the resurrection, but the day will come when our trust in him will be proven to be well placed, and all will be made well at last.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
CLICK HERE for a worship video for August 9
Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – August 9, 2026
Matthew 14:22-33
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
As some of you know, I served as an intern pastor in several congregations in North Dakota. In those old prairie churches, it is common to have altar paintings – depictions of biblical scenes positioned right above the altar. The most common ones are of Jesus the Good Shepherd or the Resurrected Christ. Sometimes you see Jesus on the cross, with the two criminals on either side.
But one of the congregations I served in that parish has a painting of the scene we hear about today. It shows Peter sinking down into the waters of the Sea of Galilee, with Jesus standing on the water, holding tight to Peter’s hand, saving him.
When I first saw it, I thought it was so strange. Here I was in the geographical center of North America, as far away from any ocean or sea as you can possibly get on this continent, and the scene these Norwegian farmers chose for their church was of Peter in those churning waters, nearly drowning, hanging on to Jesus for dear life.
As I thought about it more, I wondered if it wasn’t chosen because many of those Norwegian immigrants had made a harrowing journey across the sea to get there. That might be part of it, but eventually I came to understand that this image isn’t primarily about the sea. Peter wasn’t just drowning in water. He was drowning in fear. He was drowning in doubt.
Just a moment before, Peter had been walking in faith. His faith had him walking on water. Jesus said, “Come,” and Peter trusted Jesus’ word, and so out he went, walking in faith, walking on the water. Then, the scriptures tell us, he noticed the strong wind and became frightened. It was when he became frightened that he began to sink. “Lord, save me!” Peter cried. And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” Jesus said, “why did you doubt?”
Do you see it now? Peter wasn’t just drowning in water. He was drowning in fear and doubt. And so, this isn’t just a story about the sea. It is a story about what the sea represents, which, in the biblical worldview, is chaos. It is a story about any number of things that threaten to pull us under.
Those Norwegian farmers were far from any ocean, but they had plenty of things that threated to pull them under. People died all the time from disease and from farm accidents and from exposure to the elements, and so they were frequently drowning in grief and sorrow. Their survival as farmers depended on the weather, which was extreme and unpredictable. There were pests which could wipe out a year’s worth of hard labor in mere hours, and so they were frequently drowning in financial worries. There were all kinds of waves crashing over them – they just weren’t waves of water! They were waves of fear and doubt. And so, even though they were as far from the sea as you can get, those Norwegian farmers on the prairie saw themselves in Peter as Peter struggled to keep his head above water.
But that wasn’t all they saw. The altar painting also showed Jesus’ arm reaching down to Peter. And so they saw Jesus holding on to Peter tightly, saving him from drowning. They saw a savior who was more powerful than the wind and the waves. The image of Peter reflected back to them the reality of their lives, while the image of Jesus assured them that they had a savior who was holding on to them too.
Peter shows us the reality of our lives here today as well. As a pastor, hardly a day goes by when I don’t encounter someone struggling to walk in faith, sinking down into fear and doubt, struggling to keep their head above water. Here’s a confession for you: sometimes I am one of them! There are powerful winds and waves that cause us to be afraid. Health issues bring fears which drag us down. Grief can feel like waves of sorrow that keep crashing over us. Financial troubles can weigh heavily. The traumas we have experienced in life can resurface and feel overwhelming. We worry about loved ones. We worry about our world. Life is chaotic and threatening and scary. We feel helpless in the face of so many forces beyond our control. Before we know it, instead of walking in faith, we start to sink just like Peter did.
But just as this story shows us the reality of our lives, so too does it show us the truth of our savior. When Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus IMMEDIATELY reached out his hand and took hold of him. Jesus didn’t make him prove himself first. He didn’t make Peter get up and take a few more steps on the water before helping him. Jesus IMMEDIATELY reached out and caught him. He wasn’t going to let him go under. He wasn’t going to let him drown.
In the same way, when we cry out to Jesus, he is already right there beside us, ready to help. When we cry out to him, he IMMEDIATELY takes hold of us, pulling us to himself with his firm grip. He doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. He doesn’t leave us to flail about in the water. He gets a hold of us and he doesn’t let go.
What happens in the boat after all of this is not just a nice conclusion to the story. The scriptures tell us that when Peter and Jesus got into the boat, Peter and the other disciples – disciples who had fears of their own – worshipped Jesus together, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” This part is our story too.
The boat is the church, and we are those disciples. We are not disciples because we walk perfectly and fearlessly in faith all the time. We are not disciples because we have great wisdom or because of our great morals. We are not followers of Jesus because we have everything figured out.
We are Jesus’ disciples because we too have been overwhelmed by fear as chaos rages all around us, but he has reached out and taken hold of us.
We are Jesus’ disciples because we too have been battered by the wind and the waves, but we have come to trust that Jesus is truly the Son of God, and as such, he is more powerful than anything that threatens to sink us.
We are Jesus’ disciples because we know what it feels like to drown, but the Lord Jesus has heard our cry. And even though our faith is small and weak and fleeting and floundering, he is quick to lift us up by his grace and mercy and love.
Being a disciple of Jesus doesn’t mean walking on water ourselves, it means knowing that he can and entrusting ourselves to his strong saving hand.
No matter what wind or waves you are facing today, the Lord Jesus is already right there beside you. He hears your cry and is holding tightly to you, so do not be afraid. Even now he is lifting us up into the boat of his church, where together, safely in his presence, we worship him.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
CLICK HERE for a worship video for August 2
Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – August 2, 2026
Matthew 14:13:21
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes a meal is more than a meal. Sometimes eating food is more than just a way to get your body the calories it needs. Sometimes a meal means something. Maybe it is a recipe from a long departed loved one which makes it feel like they’re right there with you. Maybe it is an ethnic food, a tradition you carry on that connects you to your ancestors. Maybe it is something special you always eat on a holiday, without which it just wouldn’t be the same.
My wife and I were married up in Bellingham. We only had a weekend for our honeymoon because I had to come back and take my last final exams at Western Washington University that next week. So, we took a short trip to Victoria, BC. We left right from the church to catch the ferry out of Vancouver. On that ferry ride we got an order of French fries and gravy, which is how they often serve it in Canada. To this day, French fries and gravy means something to us. We sometimes have it on our anniversary. We sometimes have it when we’re up in Canada. It is a very simple dish. There’s nothing fancy about it. But whenever we have it, it is meaningful to us. It is only French fries for crying out loud, but when you put gravy on them, they become intensely romantic to us. It is a meal that points us to our honeymoon. It points us to the promises we made on our wedding day. It is a meal that points us to the covenant relationship we share.
The Bible is full of meals that mean something. Over and over again, God reveals himself in and through meals. Over and over again, God establishes relationships with his people through meals. After God made a covenant with his people, establishing a relationship with them, Moses and the elders shared a meal in God’s presence. When God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, they didn’t just witness salvation, they ate it! God gave them a meal, the Passover meal, which delivered salvation to them! As God’s people wandered in the wilderness for forty years, unable to feed themselves, God provided manna, bread from heaven, which nourished and sustained them. There were the sacrifices made at the temple, many of which concluded with the worshippers eating a portion of the sacrifice, indicating a restored and renewed relationship with God. There are meaningful meals found in the lives and writings of the prophets. Elijah and Elisha both presided over miraculous meals which revealed that the God of Israel was the true God who brings life.
And then there is our reading from Isaiah for today, one of several passages in the Old Testament where the prophets declare that when the Messiah comes, there will be a freely given feast to which all are invited! As we heard:
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant.”
Do you see that this is about more than food? This meal is about relationship. It leads to a new and everlasting covenant. It isn’t just about calories for the body, it is about food for the soul. It is a meal that means something.
All of this is vitally important background for understanding our gospel reading for today. In order to truly savor this well-known miracle of the feeding of the more than five thousand, we need to keep in mind that God has a history of revealing himself through meals!
Often this miracle story is turned into a moral lesson about sharing, about feeding people. Now of course it is important to share. Of course Christians should be concerned about feeding the hungry. We do that through our contributions to Help House, and in a number of other ways, and we should. It is part of how we live out our faith.
But this story is not about that! At least not directly! When the disciples pointed out to Jesus that it was getting late and there were more than five thousand people there, it was a valid concern. They were being practical. It was time to wrap things up so people could get home for dinner. And when Jesus told the disciples that the crowd didn’t need to go away, that they could feed them, he wasn’t scolding them for being selfish, he was setting up the scenario for his miracle. And when the disciples expressed confusion about how exactly they were supposed to feed more than five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish, they were only being realistic. How do you divide five loaves and two fish between that many people? How can you possibly cut the servings up that small? Even if you could, how would that microscopic morsel possibly be enough to fill anyone up?
What happens next is what makes this meal meaningful. Jesus took what they had, even though it wasn’t enough. Jesus told the crowd to sit down in the grass. Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up to heaven. He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. The disciples then gave them to the crowds. All ate and were filled. They didn’t get tiny scraps; they all ate their fill! There were even leftovers! Twelve baskets full – more than they had when they started!
This meal means something. Here’s what it means: It means Jesus is God’s Messiah, the savior who has come with abundant blessings for all, filling people up as a free gift. It means Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises spoken by the prophets, that God would send a savior to bring salvation to all, establishing a new covenant, a new relationship. The way Jesus prepared the meal means something. Jesus looked to heaven and blessed and broke the bread, lifting it up and saying the berakah, the prayer of thanksgiving. This means that this was not just a way to get calories for the body; it was offered as food for the soul. The twelve baskets of leftovers mean something too. They mean that the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s original chosen people, are now being expanded to include all those who gather around the bread of the New Israel, founded on these twelve apostles and their twelve baskets of bread from Jesus. Talk about rich food! This is a richly meaningful meal!
There is a church which stands today on the site of this miraculous meal. It is called, appropriately enough, the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish, or Church of the Multiplication for short. It has been there on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee since 350AD. There is a Byzantine-era mosaic on the floor of the sanctuary with an image of loaves and fishes. Christian tourists familiar with this gospel story often point out that there are only four loaves in the mosaic. They assume that the artists messed up because the Bible says there were five loaves.
But the artists didn’t mess up. The four loaves were very much on purpose. You see that mosaic is directly under the altar. The fifth loaf is lifted up every Sunday as the priest lifts up the host of the Lord’s Supper. The artists were making a very intentional point that the miracle of the Multiplication continues in perpetuity as Jesus continues to feed his people with food for the soul, the food of the new covenant.
And so that miraculous meal of the feeding of the five thousand which happened so long ago means something to us here today too. It reveals to us who Jesus is for us. He is the savior who enacts and embodies Isaiah’s feast, given to us as a free gift. He is the savior who has invited us into the new covenant he has established, a new relationship with God, and he keeps calling us back into this relationship again and again. He is the savior who takes our “not enough” and turns it into an abundance of grace. He is the savior who fills our deepest hungers, who gives us food for our souls.
Jesus is the savior who continues to reveal himself to us through a miraculous meal. For on the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus again took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples as the food of forgiveness, the food of grace, the food of new life, the food of himself and his sacrificial love, freely given for us and for our salvation.
This meal is more than bread and wine. It means something. It means that in spite of all the things we lack, all the things we don’t have enough of, the strengthening and sustaining and life-giving grace of Jesus Christ continues to be given to us in miraculous abundance, that we would eat and be filled with his great love for us, today and forever.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
On Sunday, August 9, we will have ONE SERVICE AT 11am, which will be held at Three Sisters Farm (938 Scenic Heights Road). Our church picnic will follow. BBQ and bottled water will be provided. You are invited to bring a side dish and/or a dessert to share. Bring a friend too!