I’ve been meditating on a passage in Matthew 15 for a few weeks. It’s about the Canaanite woman who asks Jesus to help her daughter. Jesus ignores her at first. Then says He only came for the ‘lost sheep of Israel’. Then He talks about it not being right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.
It’s always been a disturbing and confusing passage for me. And that has not changed.
But what I’ve been focusing on recently is the fact that Jesus tells the woman in verse 28 that she has GREAT FAITH!
I can’t explain (because I still don’t understand completely) the dialogue that took place before that verse. But I’ve been meditating on what it was about the woman that caused Jesus to say she had great faith. And I’ve come up with three things.
1. She knew who God was. She went to Him as her only hope. She may have tried other avenues, but once she went to Jesus, she didn’t go anywhere else. And she was tenacious! She didn’t give up . . . no matter what He said that would possibly have dissuaded others, she didn’t leave! And I think it was because she knew who He was — that HE was her only hope!
2. She knew who she was. She knew that the blood coursing through her veins did not automatically position her to expect Jesus to ‘reward’ her with her request. She knew that there was nothing about her worthy of His acting on her behalf. So when He made the analogy of tossing the children’s bread to the dogs, this woman was not offended. She knew that based on who she was and what she had or hadn’t done, she didn’t deserve to be in the house . . . much less to have a place at the table!
3. She knew God to be merciful!
She knew God. She knew herself. And she knew that the only thing that was able to connect the two was God’s mercy.
This woman didn’t try to elevate herself. And she didn’t attempt to demote God.
She saw the vast, humanly untraversable expanse between the two of them and she knew there was nothing she could do to make the trek up to God. And she also knew He was not obligated to reach down to her.
But she knew Him to be merciful. And that’s what she was asking for.
And Jesus says that’s GREAT FAITH!
