{"id":26569,"date":"2026-08-12T16:43:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=26569"},"modified":"2026-08-12T16:43:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:43:31","slug":"matthew-1422-33-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/matthew-1422-33-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 14:22-33"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost | 16. August 2026 | Matthew 14:22-33 |\u00a0 Timothy Eichler |<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Matthew 15:[10-20] 21-28 English Standard Version <\/strong>Copyright \u00a9\u00a02001 by Crossway Bibles<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

10\u00a0And he called the people to him and said to them, \u201cHear and understand: 11\u00a0it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.\u201d 12\u00a0Then the disciples came and said to him, \u201cDo you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?\u201d 13\u00a0He answered, \u201cEvery plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14\u00a0Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.\u201d 15\u00a0But Peter said to him, \u201cExplain the parable to us.\u201d 16\u00a0And he said, \u201cAre you also still without understanding? 17\u00a0Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18\u00a0But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19\u00a0For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20\u00a0These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

21\u00a0And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22\u00a0And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, \u201cHave mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.\u201d 23\u00a0But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, \u201cSend her away, for she is crying out after us.\u201d 24\u00a0He answered, \u201cI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d 25\u00a0But she came and knelt before him, saying, \u201cLord, help me.\u201d 26\u00a0And he answered, \u201cIt is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.\u201d 27\u00a0She said, \u201cYes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters‘ table.\u201d 28\u00a0Then Jesus answered her, \u201cO woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.\u201d And her daughter was healed instantly.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen<\/em>
\nGrace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen<\/em><\/p>\n

Let us get to the heart of the matter. \u201c\u2026 what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,\u201d (Matthew 15:18). The heart of living as followers of Jesus Christ in a lost and troubled word comes from the heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In hearing our gospel this morning you may be reminded as I am of the words of the prophet Jeremiah \u201cI will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people,\u201d (Jeremiah 31:33). We annually hear these when we remember the Reformation on or about the Sunday nearest October thirty-first. The heart of the matter is written upon one\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

The heart of the matter is the LORD\u2019s \u2014 Yahweh\u2019s Law. This morning\u2019s gospel reading speaks to the heart of the matter as it proceeds through one\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n

Our gospel reading from St. Matthew includes seemingly two very different unrelated illustrations of the heart of the matter of living in a lost and troubled world. The illustrations identify the heart of matter is not one\u2019s culture, one\u2019s society, but one\u2019s way of life: the heart of the individual. What is written upon one\u2019s heart?<\/p>\n

How we think about the heart? There are five ways I have found in which people think about the heart of a person. The first,<\/strong> is the heart encompasses thoughts, reason, desire, and the will of the individual. It is the spiritual and moral essence from which all words, choices, and actions flow. Second,<\/strong> the heart is the center of the intellect where thinking, understanding, remembering, and reasoning take place. It is where truth and error are processed. A third<\/strong> way, is the heart is the seat of desires and passions as it holds what a person loves, longs for, treasures, and values. Fourth<\/strong>, the heart can be thought of as the engine of the will and volition dictating the choices we make, our commitments, and our moral resolve to obey or rebel. Finally,<\/strong> the heart is the source of life\u2019s output \u2014 the wellspring of life; what fills the inner core which eventually manifests itself in behavior.<\/p>\n

Each of these ways or a combination of them reveal the heart of the matter is in the words that pass out of one\u2019s mouth. For the words spoken reveal the intent of one\u2019s behavior towards self and towards others. Revealed is the way of life.<\/p>\n

Another way to reflect upon the words that proceed from the heart through one\u2019s mouth as revealing one\u2019s way of life is the geography where Jesus presents these two illustrations.<\/p>\n

Geographically speaking the way of life revealed by Jesus in Matthew is done in a region of the plain of Gennesaret, which is located between\u00a0 the villages of Tiberias and Capernaum. This is a very fertile area that allowed for the growth of a variety of plants including walnut, palm-trees, figs, and olives. At the southern end is the new capital city of Tiberias founded by Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas, you may remember is the one John the Baptist criticized for his relationship with Herodias, his sister-in-law. John the Baptist\u2019s tells him that it is unlawful for you to have her. Because of Herod Antipas\u2019 evil thoughts, adultery, and sexual immorality he beheaded John the Baptist \u2014 murdered him. In other words, the very things that Jesus says defile or makes a person unclean or contrary to God\u2019s way of life is what Heord Antipas is doing. To the north is Capernaum which means the village of comfort. The village of comfort appears frequently in the gospels because it is Jesus\u2019 adopted home city or operating base during his ministry in Galilee where he performs many miracles.<\/p>\n

Is one\u2019s heart of the matter located in Tiberias or in Capernaum?<\/p>\n

Where do you find yourself? What is written upon your heart? What are the words that proceed out of your mouth?<\/p>\n

The lost and troubled world we live in is vastly different in many ways to the world Jesus lived in, however, the heart of the matter has not changed. The heart of the matter is lived out in much the same manner today as it was then in the first century. Are we living in our hearts in Tiberias or in Capernaum?<\/p>\n

Are evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander proceeding out of our mouth? Or the grace, mercy, and peace?<\/p>\n

To answer these questions we find Jesus on the road traveling to the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. Here we have Jesus entering into Canaanite territory. Territory that is not necessarily friendly to those of Jewish decent. Jesus is approached by a Canaanite woman seeking help for her daughter who is demon possessed. Who has had written upon her heart in one way or another we do not know behavior that is destructive to her. What we do know is that her mother does not like her destructive behavior. Behavior that is comprised of evil thoughts.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the matter is the Canaanite woman\u2019s faith. Faith seeking the healing touch of Jesus of Nazareth. She does not care that Jesus is Jewish or that she is not of the house of Israel. What she cares about is the elimination of the demons \u2026 evil thoughts that have taken up residence in her daughter\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

There is a brief conversation between Jesus the the woman about her daughter\u2019s condition. What is Jesus\u2019 response to her request? \u201cO woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let the heart of the matter that resides in you, professed through the words passing through your lips, be realized as you desire. The heart of the matter for the Canaanite woman on the surface is her daughter. This is what her words would tell us. However, deeper in her heart is her confession and trust in Jesus. Her faith in Him is the heart of the matter.<\/p>\n

Like the Canaanite woman we live in a world that may not includes us as it she was not included in the house of Israel along the shores of the Mediterranean in Tyre and Sidon. We live in the world of Tiberias filled with evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. All one needs to do in read or listen to the news. Predominately what one hears are evil thoughts regardless of the political bent of the speaker. It is hard to find the truth in the words that are spoken for in seeking the truth we all have our own desires wrapped upon in what we hear. We listen for that which supports our position right or wrong as long as it supports our heart\u2019s desire.<\/p>\n

However, we do not have to live as the world lives. To live contrary to the world is to live the way of life of Jesus in Capernaum. To live a way of life in the village of comfort of grace, mercy, and peace. To live faithfully as the Canaanite Woman who has God\u2019s law written upon her heart.<\/p>\n

Which way of life is written on your heart?
\nTiberias?
\nCapernaum?
\nThe faith of the Canaanite woman?<\/p>\n

In reflecting upon these questions this week do so with the words of Jesus in your heart:
\n\u201c\u2026 great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

To God be the glory now and forever. Amen<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Pastor Timothy Richard Eichler, STS
\npastoreichler@gmail.com
\nResurrection Lutheran Church
\nCoronado, CA, USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost | 16. August 2026 | Matthew 14:22-33 |\u00a0 Timothy Eichler |   Matthew 15:[10-20] 21-28 English Standard Version Copyright \u00a9\u00a02001 by Crossway Bibles 10\u00a0And he called the people to him and said to them, \u201cHear and understand: 11\u00a0it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,480,727,157,853,108,110,461,349,3,109,1800],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-26569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-11-so-n-trinitatis","category-archiv","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-14-chapter-14-matthaeus","category-kasus","category-nt","category-predigten","category-timothy-eichler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26573,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26569\/revisions\/26573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26569"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=26569"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=26569"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=26569"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=26569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}