“Faith Like A Canaanite Woman”

            Isaiah 56:1, 8 ¹Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.  ⁸The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

            In verses 3-6 God is talking to the Israelites and telling them that if eunuchs and foreigners join themselves with the Lord then He will give them everlasting names and bring them to His Holy Mountain.  If the Israelites thought that they were exclusive because they are God’s chosen people then they had not read this verse and others like it.  We Christians have through history thought that God limits His selection to those who are of a certain denomination, or only those who attend a church service, or maybe those who think they are the righteous, but like the Israelites we too would be wrong.  God saves through His grace and mercy not ours.

            God’s plan was not to just pick a few people and let the rest of civilization suffer eternal death; rather God’s plan was to spread His word and love to every nation on this world.  If God had just wanted the Israelites He would have said go therefore and only baptize the circumcised. Matthew 28:19 says baptize all nations.  In Matthew 15: 21-28 Jesus might appear to us that He came for the Jews only but like the Centurion Jesus ministers to those who were thought to be non-believers and ministers to this Canaanite woman.

            Matthew 15:22–28 ²²And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

            I’m sure you have gone to our Lord in prayer and maybe experienced part of what this Canaanite woman had trying to communicate with The Lord Jesus.  Silence…  This seems like our Lord has chosen to be rude to this woman.  Jesus gives her silence as if to ignore the woman’s pleas for help.  I’m sure at times when we pray we feel the same as if Jesus was ignoring us then our sinful nature takes over and we start to lose faith.  For this woman, a Canaanite, she might expect this from Jesus as she belongs to a race of pagan beliefs, idol worshippers, and a people that despised the Jews and their beliefs. 

            The disciples that were with Jesus got tired of this Canaanite women crying and begging, and begged Jesus to get rid of her.  And then to rub insult to injury, Jesus lets her know that He only came to minister to the lost sheep of Israel.  Maybe the disciples wanted Jesus to grant her wish or they just wanted her gone, regardless the disciples also are begging Jesus, maybe only to save their ears from this woman’s crying.

            You would think this woman would have given up after the treatment Jesus and His disciples appear to hand out to her.  We who are supposed to be known as believers sometimes give up on our Lord with much less reasoning.  Our faith in our Lord waivers easily and we give up on Him.  It’s strange, the Canaanite woman did not give up instead she stays with Jesus in this conversation and even keeps up with Him as Jesus even compares her to dogs.

            Matthew 15:22–28 ²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

            She knew who Jesus was, contrary to her nationality this Canaanite woman knew Jesus was a descendent of David and even knew to call Him Lord.  She may have talked to others who had seen Jesus; she might have read or heard the Holy Scriptures that told of a savior who would come from the line of David.  She surely must have heard or even seen the miracles of healing and the driving out of demons from other people performed by Jesus.  Either way, this Canaanite woman had faith that Jesus could drive the demons out of her daughter.

            It seems strange that this woman stayed and seemingly took a verbal beating as she is compared to dogs at the dinner table.  What is really interesting was the woman took that analogy and humbly let Jesus know she would settle for the crumbs of the Master’s table.  Even the crumbs that fall from our Lord’s Table were enough for this woman to know her prayer would be answered. 

            We might think that we only receive crumbs, or that Jesus’ silence is not answering our prayers, but the truth is that Jesus is speaking loudly to us even in His silence.  The answer is not always no, or wait, sometimes it is to ask us where are we in our faith?  Are we one to give up, or are we one to be like the Canaanite woman and be persistent in our request.

            Luke 18:6-8 ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? ^, Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

            We can have faith in this, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior will always make the correct judgment, even when we go against Him.  It would seem that Christ would chose not to save us as we continue to sin, but He forgives us.  It would seem that Christ would abandon us to our fate, but instead He intercedes for us.  It would seem that through our rudeness to our Savior He would give up on us, but He does not. 

            Christ our Savior will not leave us after all He died to be with us always even until the end of time.  We have a loving Lord who is awesome even in His silence because in the end He gives eternal life and relationship with Him.  For those whom He gathers Christ builds their faith through the knowledge received from His Word and Holy Spirit.  We have an awesome loving God and the best part of it all is that we get to worship Him.  God is going to give us an everlasting name.  Amen.