A Dogged Faith
But she came and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord,
help me.” And [Jesus] answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread
and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the
crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:26-27).
Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
My
one-year-old grandson, Boden, learned a new trick this week. When he’s full, he
waits for their little dog, Poof, to come by. Then he reaches down from his
high chair and hands Poof his leftovers and crumbs. Both of them seem quite
happy with this arrangement. And let me tell you, when Poof has her teeth
clamped on that scrap of food, you’re not going to get it away from her without
a fight.
The
Canaanite woman was a lot like that little dog. When she got a hold of Jesus,
she wasn’t going to let go until she got what she wanted—a few crumbs from the
Master’s table. But Jesus wasn’t in a hurry to let her have them, either.
As you
read Scripture, you discover that many of the fiercest struggles that people
have are not with the devil, nor with the world, nor even with their own sinful
flesh. As Christians, these are ones that we know of and expect—opponents that,
with God on our side, are held in check. However, it is sobering, and perhaps
not just a little disturbing, to realize that many of our fiercest struggles
are with the Lord God Himself. Abraham was assaulted with God’s demand to
sacrifice Isaac. Job was afflicted in body, soul, spirit, and heart. He asked a
simple “Why?” and was himself questioned by the Lord God. Jacob wrestled with
God to receive a Word of blessing and was given the physical strength to
prevail.
Such a
trial was no less for the woman in our text for this day. She was tested by God.
She struggled with Him. And, despite facing opposition at every turn, she
refused to give up or give in. Hers was a dogged faith.
The
Canaanite woman had a lot of things working against her. First, she was a
woman. In the time and culture, being a woman often meant being in a lower
class economically and socially.
Second,
she was a Canaanite woman. That meant
she was not one of the children of Abraham and not one of God’s chosen people
of Israel. She was an outsider with absolutely no genetic right to ask for
help.
Third,
the woman’s daughter was demon-possessed. Moms and dads stay up at night with a
sick child, but parents’ hearts ache when a son or daughter is sick with a
serious disease for a long time. It’s bad enough when a virus or cancer invades
a little body, but I can’t begin to imagine the awful anguish a mother might
have if her daughter is demon-possessed; where Satan bodily invades the child. It’s
unthinkable!
So, let’s
take stock. What did the woman have? She had herself, her alien status, and her
demon-possessed daughter. But she had one other thing. She had the Word. Through
that Word, the Holy Spirit had worked in her a dogged faith. At some place and
at some time, she had heard the Word, at least a crumb of that Word, that this
man Jesus is the Lord, the Son of David, and she believed it.
She had
also heard Jesus was coming in her direction and she decided to go to Him for
help. Certainly, she must have had some conflicting thoughts. “Why should I ask
anything of Jesus? Who am I? A woman. A stranger. A foreigner. A nobody.” The
Canaanite woman somehow shut out all the negatives. By faith, she trusted that the
Lord would hear her petition—a plea not for herself, but for her daughter—and
that He would grant it.
Seeing
Jesus, the woman took hold of that scrap of hope, which was based on a mere
crumb of the Word. She petitioned God with the title the Hebrew people used: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my
daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
This becomes the example for us when we are assailed
by personal doubts and devils. We, too, may reply: “This is true about me, too.
I am certainly a great sinner and God truly owes me nothing but punishment and
condemnation, now and forever. If anything were left to me—to receive on what I
deserve, then I am most certainly lost. But here is Jesus, my Savior and my
Redeemer, who died on the cross, suffering the wrath of God in my place. There
is nowhere else to go.”
The woman followed Jesus, begging: “Have mercy on
me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But He
answered her not a word. Not a word! Not a word? Why? Her mind must have been
puzzled. “Where’s the man everyone is talking about, the compassionate Savior
who heals diseases and casts out demons? Is this man the one who is willing to
help so many, but not me? The only thing He gives me is silence.” But neither
her thoughts nor the Lord’s silence deterred her.
We might well ask, “Why was Jesus silent?” Was it
for her that she might have her faith tested and become stronger as she grew in
her trust of Him? Possibly. Was it for those around her, that they might
realize the need for faith to be refined through trials? Maybe. But it is quite
possible that there was another reason why Jesus remained silent. Perhaps it
was because she was not being completely honest with Jesus. She petitioned Him
with a greeting that was common to the Hebrew people, designating Jesus as the
Son of David, giving the impression that she was one of the Israelite people,
one of the descendants of Abraham. His silence gave her an opportunity to be
honest with Jesus.
Jesus’ silence was incorrectly interpreted by the
disciples, as they came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she is crying out
after us.” Their words are ones that make Jesus seem harsh and cruel. “Please,
Master, send her away. Either grant her petition and she’ll go away thanking
You, or deny her request and order her to leave. Just send her away!”
Jesus answered both the disciples (by denying their request
to send her away), and the mother of the demon-possessed daughter (who hears a
shocking rebuke). He said, “I
was sent only to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.”
But these
difficult words of Jesus did not deter the woman. She came and knelt before
Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” Though still not admitting she wasn’t one of the
Hebrew people, she found her way to Jesus’ feet and prostrated herself on the
dirt floor of the house, assuming a position that a dog might have as it begs
near the kitchen table.
But Jesus
answered and said, “It is not right to
take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
I believe
those would be considered “trigger words” today. But this woman was no
“snowflake.” She was simply a Gentile woman with a demon-possessed daughter who
wanted the Lord God to grant her repeated request. Listen to her response and
marvel at the work of the Holy Spirit in this woman: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
masters’ table.”
Finally,
she admitted the one truth that she had withheld... that she was not one of the
sheep of the house of Israel, but that she was a Gentile dog. Her faith “takes
Christ captive in His Word, and makes out of His cruel words a comforting
inversion, as we see here. ‘You say,’ the woman responds, ‘that I am a dog. Let
it be. I will gladly be a dog; now give me the consideration that you give a
dog.’
No wonder
Jesus answered and said to her, “O
woman, great is your faith! Be
it done for you as you desire.” In contrast to the disciples, who had so
recently been chided for their little faith despite hearing His teaching and
seeing His miracles for three years, this woman had demonstrated great faith from
just a few scraps of the Word. We begin to understand why the Lord acted the
way He did and said the things He said and was so silent at first. He wanted
the dogged faith of the woman to become evident to her and to those around her,
as well as to us.
Prayer to
God often takes place in the midst of life’s struggles. Our petitions may not
be answered exactly as we would have them. When our Lord denies our requests,
and tells us “no,” we sometimes become tired by the delay, wearied at the
silence, angry at the answers, and end up wrestling with God.
For a
long time, He might deny our petition and the answer remains a firm, silent,
“No.” In fact, we often must let God say “No” to us for many months and perhaps
years, trusting that He’s looking out for our own good and the welfare of His
people. How many years did Abraham wait until the promise of a son became a
reality and baby Isaac began toddling around the tent? How many prayers did
Joseph offer up to God while in an Egyptian prison? Ultimately, and at the
right time that would benefit Joseph and his family, the Lord God said, “Yes.”
Paul writes
about his own struggle: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of the
surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a
messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about
this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for
you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
It is
likely that Paul carried this affliction to the grave. He did not, however,
have to bear it any further, for the answer to all prayers for the removal of
suffering, sorrow, pain, tears, and hurt is finally answered “Yes” when we
enter eternity and are together with the crucified and risen Lord in Paradise.
May the
Holy Spirit grant you such a dogged faith that trusts the Lord and holds on to His
promises, even when it seems He is not listening. May all of your prayers be
made in the confidence that God is your loving heavenly Father, who wants to
give you all things you need for this body and life. In Jesus, the Son of David,
you have everything you need for eternal life and salvation. Indeed, for Jesus’
sake, you are forgiven for all of your sins.
In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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