Take It to the Lord in Prayer

 Matthew 15:21-28

The Faith of the Canaanite Woman

Jesus and His disciples came to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and it was a region where the Gentiles resided. A Canaanite woman came to seek for the help of Jesus, and she cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

The Canaanite woman’s daughter was possessed by a demon, and she suffered terribly. The Gospel of Mark once described concretely how a boy suffered greatly when he was possessed by demon: That evil spirit often seized him and threw him into the water and fire, and he would foam at the mouth and became rigid, etc. (Mark 9:17-27)

The greatest heart desire of this woman was to see her daughter breaking free from being tortured by the devil. However, she was a Canaanite, and Canaanites were bitter enemies of the Jews. Yet this woman was willing to humble herself, and address Jesus as her “Lord”. She praised Him for His kingly identity, that He was “the Son of David.”

Obviously, she had crossed the racial and religious boundary and trusted Jesus sincerely. She believed deeply in her heart that Jesus was able to set her daughter free from the possession of the devils. Would Jesus extend His help to this Canaanite woman who was a bitter enemy of the Jews?

Cried Out to God in Troubles

The woman humbled herself before Jesus in a public place, and she cried out in front of the crowd, and said, “Lord, have mercy on me!”

“Lord, have mercy on me!” was the prayer that frequently appeared in Psalm (Psalm 6:2; 9:14; 31:9; 56:1; 86:3). The Psalmist cried out to the Lord for help whenever they were pursued by their enemies, or trapped in any predicaments, for they knew that the Lord would rescue them out of their troubles.

“Lord, have mercy on me and be gracious to me!” Her cry expressed her trust in the Lord, knowing that there was no difficulty that was too big that the Lord was unable to solve it. This mother believed that Jesus would surely be able to cast out the evil spirit from her daughter.

The Lord is our ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1) Even if we face some fierce devils or vicious enemies, the Lord is able to rescue. Therefore, no matter how difficult our situation is, we need to know that our Lord is greater than our situation.

Even if our situation seemed to be hopeless, let us not forget that we still have hope, that we have our God who is able to help. Never shall we forsake God and seek help from other people or in other places. We should cling on tightly to the Lord and cried out to Him, “Be gracious to me! Have mercy on me, Lord!”

Seek God Unceasingly and Do not Give Up

Jesus heard the cry of this woman, but He kept silent! The woman did not give up when she encountered Jesus’ silence. She kept following Jesus and His disciples and kept crying out to them.

The disciples felt deeply annoyed, so they came to Jesus and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” The disciples obviously did not have compassion on this woman, nor did they even realize her need.

Today, we also often focus on our agenda, which could be some spiritual things, that we neglect the real needs of those who are around us. It is true especially when we are prejudice against those who are in need, or we foresee that attending to them will bring us many troubles. Hence, we pretend we do not see their needs.

We should not be fed up with such situation but grasp the opportunity to convey to others the goodness and kindness of God’s messages, and extend them our hands in order to help them. We need to be careful to not reject those who are different from us.

To our surprise, Jesus answered the disciples, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The Lord Jesus remained silent all the way, and He finally replied at this moment. It seemed that Jesus turned down the Canaanite woman because she was not an Israelite.

Jesus actually meant that the Heavenly Father had sent Him to first work among the Jews, and to enable the Jews to accept Him as the Messiah. After that they were to be the ones who would spread the good news of salvation to the world.

Jesus did not intentionally refuse to help this Canaanite woman. We notice that Jesus served the Gentiles in other places too. Jesus said these words just to test her faith, or He wanted to use this opportunity to teach us the lesson of faith – that all people are able to receive the salvation of the Lord by faith. Hence, he spoke those words.

The Canaanite woman did not give up when she encountered Jesus’ silence, instead she followed Him and cried out continually. She was persistent in asking even in the face of rejection by the Lord Jesus. She believed that Jesus would definitely be able to cast the demon out of her daughter. Hence, she persevered in the midst of all difficulties and sought for opportunities. Eventually, she anyhow managed to came before Jesus and said, “Lord, help me!” (v25)

Now, we might have prayed for a very long time over a specific request, but God have not answered us, and even rejected our request. The apostle Paul had such a kind of experience too.

Paul had a thorn in his flesh (which might be a sickness), whereby he was greatly afflicted. He once asked God thrice to take it away, but the Lord refused to answer his prayer. His weakness was still there in his body, but he had thus experienced the grace of God, which was sufficient for him (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

Sometimes we are disillusioned and feel disappointed at God when we cry out to Him and received only His silence or rejection. There might even be voices that tempt us to forget about trusting in God.

Whatever it may be, we need to have faith in God, and insist on praying to Him and waiting for Him to extend His helping hands. God has His beautiful plan, and He has His perfect timing to answer our prayers.

Humble Ourselves to Ask from God Boldly

Jesus finally answered the woman personally, and he said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” （v 26）

Jews usually described the Gentile as “dogs”, and they perceive these pagans as unclean as dogs who are not entitled to God’s blessings. Jesus used this word not to demean her, but to reflect the contempt that Jews had towards the Gentiles, and to show her later that He was different in His attitude towards her.

It is interesting to note that the dog that Jesus referred to was indeed a “puppy, pet” in Greek, and it indicated that the young daughter of the woman was deeply loved by her master, except that the children of the master had their priority taken.

If the story were to stop at verse 26, then the result would look as if Jesus had rejected the request of this mother, and that he was racist. However, the story continued to take a twist!

In fact, Jesus’ silence and rejection were His tests to this mother, so that she would continue to ask boldly, and her great faith would then be revealed. The story line went on winding through high peaks and finally, the end was something opposite to our expectation: Jesus fulfilled the heart desire of this mother.

Jesus told the woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” She replied, “Yes, it is, Lord. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” （v 27）

The Canaanite woman did not argue with Jesus, she would rather be seen as a dog. For she had come to understand, that as a gentile, she was not able to receive the grace that the Israelites had received. She accepted this fact humbly. She humbled herself in order that Jesus may heal her daughter.

Today, are we willing to humble ourselves for the sake that others could be benefited or blessed? This kind of humility which is altruistic, of which Christ has demonstrated. We are called to imitate Christ, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as man, humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

If all of us have this attitude in doing ministries – put first the benefit of others, all the conflicts and disagreements would be resolved easily, and our ministries will advance tremendously, since we march on in unison.

Nevertheless, this Canaanite woman also believed that Jesus was full of grace and mercy, and hence, she replied wittingly, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

As long as the Lord was willing to show mercy for her to receive a little bit of grace, she would be fully satisfied. This mother was not deterred from approaching the Lord because of her racial identity. She believed that God would show mercy towards those gentiles who were willing to put their trust in Him.

In reality, the family of Rahab, the prostitute in the city of Jericho, was saved. And Naaman, the Aramean general was healed of his leprosy. All these are examples of God’s mercy shown towards the Gentiles.

To our surprise, Jesus praised her and granted her heart desire, saying to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. (v28)

The Jews thought that only they were qualified to receive God’s blessings, but they refused to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah and they had thus lost their salvation in God. Many Gentiles acknowledge and receive Jesus as their Savior and they have received their salvation. This is indeed something ironic!

God is merciful and gracious. Though we were once sinners and we could not approach Him directly, the Lord Jesus shed His precious blood and cleansed all our sins, and He had removed those hindrances that separate men from God, so that nothing can stop us from coming before God and seeking His help through Jesus.

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) This is a precious promise. God is faithful, and He has already promised that we can ask of Him. We just need to ask boldly and confidently. May God strengthen our faith.

Conclusion

The Canaanite woman trusted the One, and this resulted in her unwavering faith amid difficult circumstances. Though she faced many trials, she did not give up her trust in the Lord. She humbled herself and continued calling out to Jesus boldly, in order that her daughters could be heal from demon-possessed.

May we who have suffered from the rampant widespread of pandemic and who live under the uncertainties of the days to come, to have the great faith she had in trusting the Lord, and to come before his throne of the grace in prayer! By doing so, we will not only have our wishes fulfilled by the Lord, but our spiritual lives will become mature and resilient eventually.