• "Prayer is the Mechanism of Faith"
• Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent
• February 24, 2002
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett

"Woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." The woman of great faith in the gospel today (Matthew 15:21f.) illustrates three aspects of faith.

First, she believed the right things about Jesus. She called Jesus, "O Lord, thou son of David." Her use of the title, "son of David" shows that she believed Jesus to be the Messiah of Israel, the promised descendant of King David.

We commonly talk about "the Faith," by which we mean the things we believe about God and the traditions we practice that enshrine those beliefs. God is Trinity. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is the full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for sin. The epistle of Jude refers to these things when it says, "ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (1:3).

Theology, or right belief about Jesus, leads us to put our trust in the right place. The prophets often criticized Israel for trusting in pagan gods and foreign rulers who were not, in fact, able to save. If the woman of great faith had approached some other Jewish rabbi and begged him to heal her daughter, she would have gone home disappointed. Right belief is the foundation for faith.

Nonetheless, right belief must lead us to the second aspect of faith: trust and dependence. I must not only believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for the sins of the world; I must also trust him to forgive the particular sins I have committed.

A story is told about a man who performed a high wire act. He would push a wheelbarrow along a tightrope strung across a deep canyon. A spectator was asked, "Do you believe the man can do this?" The spectator said, "Yes." Then the spectator was asked, "Will you, then, ride the wheelbarrow across?" The spectator said, "No." He believed but he didn't trust.

Many people believe the right things about God. But they have not yet experienced that conversion of the heart that brings them into a relationship of trust and dependence. Too often what is labeled faith is something more like a hedged bet. We say, "It can't hurt to pray about it."

The woman of great faith put herself completely into the hands of Jesus. First with a heartfelt cry, "Have mercy upon me!" Then, with a refusal to be rebuffed by the callous disciples. And finally, with a prostration at Jesus' feet and an agonized plea, "Lord, Help me." Finally, with the admission that she had no right to an answer, but would simply depend upon whatever grace the Lord might give. She not only believed that Jesus could help. She also got into the wheelbarrow.

This leads to the third aspect of faith illustrated by the gospel. Perseverance. The woman asked until she got an answer. Had she stopped when Jesus was silent or when the disciples discouraged her, her daughter would have remained demonized.

This is where would-be faith usually breaks down. Many people are willing to believe the right things about Jesus and trust him-for a while. But when things don't go the way they want, they give up.

We should follow the example of the woman's perseverance, with certain cautions. If we focus on some specific thing we want from God, we might think that following her example means continuing to pray until God gives us that specific thing.

We should actually expect more. We should pray to Jesus, not just for isolated miracles here and there; we should pray to Jesus about everything. As Philippians says, "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (4:6-7).

What we get from Jesus in not every healing and comfort we want is the peace of God and the presence of God. This is far better. For what we want may not be what is best. The thing we want most will be hell if it is not what God wants for us. And the greatest disappointment will be heaven if it is within the will of God.

This is why persistent prayer is so important. We must pray without ceasing so that we will discover God's will for our lives. Many people ask, "Why is God doing this? But many are not willing to continue to pray for the months or years necessary to receive the answer. Perseverance is, thus, the defining feature of genuine faith. Right belief about Jesus and trust in Jesus will not save us unless we continue to believe and trust.

This all highlights the importance of the life of prayer. Prayer is the mechanism of faith. Through our daily habits of prayer we come to Jesus the Son of God. Through our daily habits of prayer we learn to trust Jesus, to commit our lives to him. Through our habits of prayer we learn to persevere, to keep on praying even when we are discouraged and don't feel like it.

As we believe the right things and put our trust in Jesus and persevere in faith and prayer, we have the hope that Jesus will respond to us and say, "Great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt."