Jesus was astounded by the
faith of a Canaanite woman. He used her as an
example of the kind of single-minded, determined,
unrelinquishing faith that He hoped to develop
in all believers. Faith like that is affected
by despair and hope. This certainly was the
case of this Canaanite woman.
She was a desperate woman. Her daughter was demon possessed. This must have been
simply a torturous experience for a mom. I bet she tried everything to get help
for this daughter she loved. What help is there for someone who is demon possessed?
There was no medicine to save her. There wasn’t a 12-step program advertising
promising results. The only solution was religious. Though a Gentile, she was
willing to study the Jewish beliefs if that would bring relief to her suffering
child.
Perhaps she learned about Jesus from a Jewish friend. She may have heard that
He had successfully cast out demons. She had done her homework to find out where
He was staying because the Scripture says He had withdrawn to the region of Tyre
and Sidon, which indicates to me that He was not actively involved in ministry
or making it known where He could be found—His office hours were over.
This did not stop her. Before she found Him she had done her homework on Him
and, more than that, she fully believed that He alone had the power to change
her daughter’s desperate situation. She believed that He was the Son of
David, the promised Messiah, because that is what she called Him. She cried in
desperation, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering
terribly from demon possession. Her request was clear and full of faith.
She had done everything right. She was praying to the Lord, the Son of David,
and asking for mercy, telling Him the degree of suffering and the diagnosis of
her daughter’s problem. But Jesus did not speak a word to her (Matthew
15:23).
Now many of us take a response like that at best as a No, and at worst
as a God doesn’t care answer. The Canaanite woman did not see
Jesus’ silence that way. He was her only hope and her faith was all she
had to cling to. The disciples understood Jesus’ silence to be an indication
that her request was not important to Him, and they gave the advice that He send
her away because she kept asking for healing. Rather than sending this woman
of great faith away, Jesus answered her by pointing out that He had been sent
to Israel and she was not a Jew. Others might take that obvious fact as a No. Not
her; she pressed closer to Jesus and knelt down before Him and simply said, Lord,
help me!
This time Jesus reasoned that it wasn’t right to take the bread from the
children and feed it to the dogs. This could have been taken as a deep insult,
but she did not see it as an insult. She seemed to understand that He was a God
with a plan and it was to minister to the Jews first, but she did point out that
bread crumbs do fall to the dogs and that was all she needed.
That was all Jesus needed for the disciples to see what great faith is—unrelenting,
determined, abandoned faith. He bragged on her great faith and her daughter was
healed at that moment. How’s your faith?
