Matthew 15:21-28
Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Jesus traveled around Israel because He came for the people of Israel...He tells us this in verse twenty four that, He came for the lost sheep of Israel...In Tyre and Sidon lived many Gentiles...Jesus preached and loved both Jew and Gentile alike... He also loved man and woman alike...We find no favoritism in Him, even though the early cultures differed much from those of today...He later in His Great Commission to His disciples, that they were to take His word to all nations...He is showing and announcing to the world His eternal love to everyone...
A Canaanite woman in the region where He was traveling cried out to Him...She recognized Him as the Son of David...He was the shoot of Jesse, David's father, that was to come and be our Messiah...Somehow the woman believed this...The woman's daughter was suffering terribly from a demon...His disciples saw her and tried to send her away...When He acknowledges her and the disciples let her closer to Him, she asks for His help for her daughter...Jesus replies that He came for the people of Israel, and it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs...She answers Him, and tells Him that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table...
She wanted one of the Master's crumbs, to save her daughter...He told her that she has great faith, and told her that her request was granted...He spoke and it was done...At that very hour, her daughter was healed...
They Canaanite woman wanted Jesus to have mercy...This mercy for her and a Gentile was for her daughter...Jesus has mercy and shows it to the woman...Jesus is impressed with the woman's persistence...He teaches persistence in the parable of the persistent widow going to an unjust judge for justice (Luke 18:1-8)...It is the responsibility for parents to take care of their children and pray for them...Jesus blesses the merciful, mourned, and poor in Spirit in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12)...She certainly was blessed in accordance to this sermon and He heals her daughter...She and we, then can understand this sermon better after her daughter is healed...He teaches us He desires mercy, not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13)...
When we are in trouble we often turn to the Father and Son...We can learn from the Canaanite woman to humbly seek the LORD when we have problems...His disciples had planned on sending her away...Obstacles and others may get in the way of our prayers and them being answered...We must be persistent in our prayers...We must understand and learn from our weaknesses, our inequities, our mercy...Our prayers are heard by Him...Dogs was a commonly used word that the Jews called the Gentiles...Jesus' remark about the dog's and then in His quickly healing the loved one shows it is not in the LORD's heart to demean anyone on earth...His love is everywhere...God's grace is universal...