There is the story of this woman in the bible that we may often gloss over without taking into cognizance her inspiring show of faith. Interestingly, the bible doesn’t give us so many details about her just like the woman with the issue of blood. As much as we know about her identity is the fact that she was Gentile, another account tells us she was Syrophoencian. So we pretty much can tell that she perhaps wasn’t exposed to the knowledge of God of the Israelites based on her background. Nonetheless, she heard about Jesus Christ, believed Him, and showed so much faith in Him. I like Matthew’s account of her interaction with Jesus, especially because he shares some intricate details of this woman’s interaction. So let us look closely at Matthew 15:22-28 together, shall we?
She Came Crying to The Lord – Matthew 15:22:
This dear woman was in dire need of help, she was in dire need of a miracle and she sought answers from the one who truly had answers. I find it interesting to see that her one prayer point was the prayer of mercy. She cried out to the Lord Jesus Christ with her prayer request then continued to call out for His mercy. It is as though her prayer for mercy was continuous… I have heard from men of God that one of the greatest prayers to make or offer to the Lord is the prayer of mercy. The prayer of mercy asks God to look upon us with His loving kindness, a cry to look upon us and withhold the judgment that we deserve for our sins. The prayer of mercy! This woman had an understanding of this prayer or she just felt helpless to the point that that was all she could muster non-stop.
Jesus Christ was Silent – Matthew 15:23:
As I write this blog post, I am reminded of the time an adulterous woman was brought to Jesus by the Pharisees. They brought her forward with all the accusations against her, however as they spoke – Jesus Christ was silent. John 8:6 tells us that He stooped low to write on the ground while the Scribes and Pharisees continued to blab about this poor woman. He did as though He did not hear them speak but He was working on something, this same way He was silent as this Gentile woman cried out to Him. The Bible tells us that as this woman cried out to Him, He said nothing rather it was His disciples perhaps irked by her shouts told wanted her to get lost.
You know Jesus’ silence could have deterred her, His silence could have caused her to bubble up with anger, His silence should have or could have discouraged her from pressing further. This wasn’t the case for this woman, she continued to cry out to God.
Jesus finally responds- Matthew 15:24:
This my Jesus is awesome! Him alone be Glory, Honor, and Power forever! So instead of doing as His disciples nudged Him to do, Jesus responded to this woman. He said to her that He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, He was saying to her that He wasn’t sent to her and there was little or nothing He could do for her as she wasn’t an Israelite to start with talk more of being one of the lost sheep of Israel. This scenario in my head is as though a doctor is telling a loved one that there is nothing they can do to revive e or salvage a situation. This woman wasn’t budging nonetheless!
She Worshipped the Lord – Matthew 15:25:
Her response was worship! I don’t think we can ever get it wrong with worship; when we worship the Lord in Spirit and truth when we worship Him from the depths of our Spirits. One thing we can guarantee is the presence of God even if we do not get the answer we desire in the moment. King David was a man who understood what it meant to worship the Lord, He could stay the whole day on his face just worshipping the Lord. Jesus Christ saw and heard her worship Him, this must have moved Him and so He responded to her the more.
Jesus speaks to her some More – Matthew 15:26:
It was as though the Lord was sorry for her but He could not do contrary to the will of the Father in the moment – the will to save and deliver the lost sheep of Israel. He had not gone to the cross yet to tear down the demarcation between the Gentiles and the Jews. The finished works on the cross are what gives all and sundry access to salvation and deliverance but this time when this woman engaged Jesus Christ He had not finished the works on the cross – this is my thought and something I heard in a sermon or perhaps Jesus Christ just wanted to show us what great faith looks like or perhaps stretch her faith to see how far she would go.
My Jesus Christ said to her, “It is not good to take the Children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” – Matthew 15:26
She shows her great faith in Him, she is unwavering:
Humanly speaking, Jesus’ response could have annoyed her. Like what did He mean by He couldn’t give the children’s bread to dogs? Was Jesus calling her a dog? who did He think He is to insinuate that she is a dog? These sorts of questions could have rolled over her head however, she wasn’t perturbed by His statement. All she knew was that she heard about all the good works He had done, she believed Him and He must do the same for her. Her response to Jesus has not been matched to date. She said to Jesus Christ,
Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the little crumbs that fall from the master’s table – Matthew 15:27. The first thing she did was acknowledge Jesus’ response to her, by all means, you are right my Lord! However, let us reason this together! This bread you are talking about, this bread that. you would feed to the children, crumbs will fall off the table – I am more than happy to wait around to take off the crumbs. I wait on you master. At. this point, Jesus Christ knew He could not say anything else to change her mind, her faith in Him was unwavering and to honor it, He would. Jesus Christ was so in awe of her faith that He couldn’t help but acknowledge it and release His healing power to her daughter who was miles away.
I hope that you are inspired and encouraged by this woman’s faith. By her persistent faith in Jesus Christ, she received her desire from the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in times, when it seems as though Jesus is silent, I pray that we are encouraged to push against all odds, keep crying out to Jesus, and keep engaging Him till He answers our request.
Amen.