The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
The following is from Jon…
Matthew 15:21-26
21And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O LORD, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23But HE did not answer her a word. And HIS disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24HE answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before HIM, saying, ‘Lord, help me.” 26 And HE answered “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Wow, the first thing that comes to my mind when I read this passage is just wow. How could Jesus say no to this woman!? Why would HE say no to this one woman but say yes to thousands of others who came with the same requests? As Jesus says in verse 24 He was sent here for the people of Israel, the Jews. So this woman, being a Canaanite, was not in the “loop” that Jesus was here for. However, I think there’s something very meaningful in this passage, let’s read on…
Matthew 15:27-28
27She said, “Yes, LORD, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Mmm, ok wait a minute, now Jesus grants her request, why is this!? Why did HE change his mind? Well, I don’t think Jesus changed his mind at all. HE could tell right away that this woman had faith in HIM, so much faith that she came up asking HIM to heal her daughter who wasn’t even there with them! I believe what this verse is really all about is it’s showing us that even though we have faith that GOD is going to help us out in whatever situations we may be facing in our lives HE, in his infinite wisdom, is still going to test our faith to see how much we really do trust in HIM and how much faith we really have in HIM. So, when hard times come and you think to yourself, “GOD where are you? I’m doing what you want of me, but nothing is going right at all.” Remember that GOD is there with you, but we will be tested in our faith. Not so that we may boast about getting through the hard times, but that we can grow even stronger in our faith that when even harder times come our faith in GOD will be that much stronger so that we will not fall.
June 10, 2008 at 1:35 pm
This is a nice devotional on a pretty tough passage. What’s the deal with Jesus hangin’ out with the Jews and apparently doing stuff just for them anyway? There’s a really long answer to that question. The short of it is that basically in the Old Testament God had chosen the Israelites to be the people He would use to bless the whole world. When Jesus comes on the scene, it’s almost as if He needs to finish up some things with the Jewish people so that God’s original plans might still be in effect. Jesus comes with every intention to bless all peoples and bring salvation for any who will believe and live in faith. But before He can go to the cross and do all that, it’s like He has to tie up some loose ends with the Israelites first. But every now and then, in the midst of His dealings with the Israelites, you get a woman like this who’s faith is proved even more genuine than those who got to hang out with Jesus day in and day. She’s technically an outsider who was supposed to be “blessed” by the Israelites, but instead blesses them, in a way, by being such a model of genuine faith.
June 10, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Hrm, okay. I actually read this one.