[21] "Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. [22] A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
[23] Jesus did not answer a word.
So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
[24] He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
[25] The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
[26] He replied, “It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.”
[27] “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.”
[28] Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment."
This is such an interesting story, for in the telling of it, it seems that Jesus is cold-hearted towards her. He actually ignores her first several pleas, as noted by the disciples. This is the only time, that I am aware of, that Jesus acts this way, so its important to understand why.
First, when examining such a scripture, it is important to review this in light of all the other revelation also found in scripture, and not create some theology based on this single set of verses that is in conflict with rest of the scriptural revelation. We know that Jesus died for the sins of all men and women. We know that He loves each of us, regardless of our national heritage. We know that He healed everyone that came to Him. We know that He had great compassions, mercy and grace. We know that He was obedient to the Father in word and deed.
We also know that there were several other incidences where Jesus ministered outside the people of Israel, (e.g. Samaritan Woman - John 4; The Centurion's son - Matt 8:5-13) and in the story of the Centurion, Jesus makes a special point of talking about those outside the nation of Israel taking their place at the heavenly feast. Thus we know that Jesus statement here is not to be taken literally, but has another purpose.
I believe we see some of that purpose in the continuing conversation between Jesus and the woman, as Jesus even allows her to correct Him (look closely at verses 26 & 27). There is something else going on here, and we can learn from this interaction. I believe the Lord was testing that faith that the women apparently was exhibiting, in obedience to the Father, and He was waiting on the Father's release.
She had faith, that much was evident, but the motivation of the faith could have been in question. It seems to me that the Lord is testing her to see her real motivation and level of faith. Many times we hear something that we would like to have or experience, but our hearts are not fully engaged, or our motivation is not right. The Lord, in His love for us, and for our own maturation, will draw these issues to the surface, so that we can see what is in our heart, and repent of any wrong understanding or behaviour. We know nothing about this woman, but the Father knew everything. The Father was directing Jesus in how to respond, how to answer, and was thus after something.
We must never forget that the Lord deals with each of us individually, sometimes uniquely. He loves us perfectly, and wants the best for us. Maybe this woman lacked any real perseverance in her life, and thus the Lord was drawing her into a place of need where she discovered the fruits of perseverance. It is really impossible to know exactly what the Lord was doing in her heart, and we must remember that as well about our fellow brothers and sisters. We can easily judge a situation, believing we know exactly what the Lord is after in a person's life, but in reality, we know nothing unless the person tells us, or we receive some very direct prophetic understanding. Even then we must be careful not to judge. Maybe He was correcting a wrong perspective that she had about the Love of God and how it would apply to her daughter and herself. We will never know for sure this side of heaven.
At the very least, we can learn from this story the benefits of perseverance. We can see her pursuit of the Lord, in spite of resistance from those close to the Lord. We can see she is unrelenting, even when the answer the Lord gives seems to indicate His will is to not respond. We can see her challenging His statement back to her, refusing to believe that God would not move and act on her behalf. I am reminded of stories from the ministries of Smith Wigglesworth and John G. Lake, where they prayed throughout a night, or for many days before seeing breakthrough for a particular individual. One wonders how often the Lord is inviting us to grow in perseverance and we don't want to go there because of the personal cost or effort?
Lord help us to rightly discern Your purpose and intention in our lives for our present situation. Help us to hold onto the truth that we know about you, and not create a theology to explain our present experience, or apparent lack of activity on Your part. Let us learn to persevere, understanding that when You place in us faith for something, You intend to draw us deeper into dependence on You, and deeper into relationship.
Amen.
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