New Testament- Lesson 110

Matthew Chapter 15- Part 2

Faith of a Canaanite Woman- Read (Matthew 15:21-28) (Mark 7:24-30)

Matthew and Mark, both write about  a woman who came to Jesus seeking deliverance for her daughter who was demon possessed, but Matthew mentions her to be a Canaanite and Mark writes that she was a Greek, a Syro-Phonecian by birth. Most probably, she was a Canaanite woman who lived in Syro-Phonecia and had adopted the Greek culture.

When Jesus came to the region of Tyre and Sidon, a Canaanite woman came to him and implored him saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed." Jesus did not answer her initially. (Mark writes...she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.) His disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us." But he answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Then she came and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, help me!" But he answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." To that she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." On hearing that  Jesus answered, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be as you desire." Her daughter was healed that very hour.

Jesus remained quiet initially to see whether she would persist in her crying out to him with faith; a faith with which she came to him though she was not a Jew. She crossed the first hurdle as she kept crying out to him to heal her daughter.

Next, the disciples thought that he should provide a solution for her, because she was creating a furore. To this, Jesus said that he was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, meaning that, all healings and deliverances were provided for God's chosen people.

The woman then worshipped Jesus, persisting in her pleadings, to which Jesus said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."

The Gentiles were often considered as mere dogs by the Jews, who considered themselves as God's own people and Jesus was referring to this when he made the above statement. But she neither got angry or depressed on hearing that. Instead, she replied, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table", conveying the message that all she desired was a deliverance for her daughter who was suffering and did not mind what people called her and though she being a Gentile did not qualify, yet the Lord could show mercy. On hearing that  Jesus answered, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be as you desire." Her daughter was healed that very hour.