It is amazing how God stretches me to learn, to grow; placing people, questions and scripture together at just the right time. I have a friend who is a teacher at YWAM and he recently sent me an email asking about Matthew 15:21-28.
This is a passage I have often wondered about myself but upon study we find so much:
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A 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.” 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.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” She said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
First a little context; Jesus and His disciples have traveled about 50 miles to Tyre and Sidon and while still among mostly Jew this territory had tremendous gentile influence. Next, Matthew identifies this woman as a Canaanite and if you remember from time of Judges the Canaanites were not just Gentiles, but were the enemies of Israel (and what does Christ teach us about enemies). Also, we need to consider the people involved; Jews, Disciples, Gentiles so there could be multiple lessons
Picking up in verse 22 - this woman was crying out - the word means so much more than just crying out - there is a sense of loudly talking and praying associated with this word and look how she recognizes Christ as Lord and as Son of David - she recognizes Christ as messiah when most Jews did not or would not accept that so you can begin to see what Hendriksen calls the "great contrast between the unbelief of the Jews and the faith of this woman, born a Gentile". Move to verse 23 and notice how Christ responded (with silence), but the disciples responded and look how they responded…"send her away"…Mounce writes that in this verse the insensitivity to suffering by Jesus is explainable by the rest of the lesson on faith, but the disciples were without excuse; they were annoyed and considered this woman a bother (where was the Christian love).
In verse 24, Jesus explains the he is for the lost sheep of Israel (Jews) so while he seems to refuse immediate help for the woman, and most people tend to downplay this, but notice he also did not send her away; refusing the request of the disciples so maybe this is more for the disciples than the woman. Then in an amazing display of faith the woman kneels before Christ (and reading of different versions help here, look at KJV); that word kneel in Greek is proskyneÅ - and also means to worship - amazing! So in this verse we see the reverence of this woman in agony worshipping Christ and the intense love she has for her daughter; she simply cries out, "Lord, Help me" - a prayer we all need…
Then comes verse 26 and Christ answering in a somewhat concerning manner - it is not right to give the children's bread to the dogs… SO there are probably two concerns to consider; first, why did Christ use this seemingly harsh phrase and second why did he delay in helping? First, the phrase is certainly cultural and in Greek there are several words for Dog - some mean savage, ugly dogs but not this one - in Greek this word is Kynarion - which is like a little puppy or house pet - well loved! Barclay remarks about this verse saying "we can be quite sure that the smile on Jesus' face and the compassion in his eyes robbed the words of all insult and bitterness" - which brings us to the delay - why delay in helping? Well for one thing this is certainly not the first time in the bible there is a delay in answering/helping - Abraham and Sarah had to wait patiently and persistently; Many of the Psalms written by David cry out on the wait; Jairus in Mark 5; Lazarus in John 11, so we can see this pattern of delay which is usually a lesson in faith. In this case it could be said that this woman displayed great faith, but also that her faith was refined as you can see by her answer in verse 27. Hendriksen calls this verse a "glorious expression of faith" and in this verse you can see her humility - she doesn't resent be called a dog as long as she is loved, you can see her eternal hope as she turns even what seems to be a negative response of no help into reason for optimism (even dogs get crumbs), you can see her "unswerving faith in Christ" as she sees Him as Lord, Savior and Master, and finally you can see her perseverance in faith - oh my! Barclay wrote of this as an "Indomitable persistence springing from an unconquerable hope" - Amen and a lesson for us all.
Then in verse 28 we see the daughter healed instantly and Christ declaring O woman, great is your faith - His love is so great that he praises expressions/examples of faith - another lesson for us all! So while this passage can be concerning there is so much in it - a lesson on the right position of our hearts as disciples of Christ to learn to love well especially those in need, a lesson on faith - patience and persistence in faith, it is a lesson on the great love of Christ and that no matter the trials before us there is Hope in Christ!
Grace and Peace!
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