“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed. Matthew 15:28 NLT
A simple read of that verse would lead one to believe this was a normal healing by powerful, compassionate Jesus. An ordinary woman with an ordinary daughter needed help, and Jesua made her well. But when you read the story in Matthew 15:21-28 you discover there was nothing ordinary about this, even though we know almost nothing about the woman. We don’t know her name. We don’t know her background except that she was a Gentile. We don’t know what she looked like, or where her home was, except near Tyre and Sidon. We do know that she had a daughter at home who was demon-possessed, suffering terribly.
We do know she knew who Jesus was. Though the religious Jews had the Scriptures testifying to Christ, the leaders rejected Him and didn’t see that He was the prophesied One. But this unnamed woman called Jesus “Lord” and “Son of David.” Even more, she fixed on Him as the object of her faith. She believed He was capable, and she put all of her trust in Him to do it.
It couldn’t have been easy. She came to Jesus in front of His disciples and pleaded with Him to heal her daughter. Completely His usual response, Jesus didn’t answer her. He didn’t even say a word. But she was so convinced He was the One, she kept on pleading and begging. The disciples became annoyed and urged Jesus to send her away. However, Jesus was making a point in an unusual way. He told her that He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. The disciples must have felt their impatience was validated, but still the woman would not be deterred. She came back again and worshiped him – think of that! She’s not getting what she desperately needs and she is worshiping! She worshiped and pled for help again. Then Jesus crossed the line, it seemed. He said, ”It’s not right to take food from children and throw it to the dogs.” What??? I can hardly get my mind around the fact that Jesus said that.
But Jesus knew what He was doing with this woman. There was no crying, no anger. Jesus respected her. I think He was smiling into her eyes. She kept her focus on Jesus, the object of her faith and agreed, but respectfully added her faith perspective. She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”
Jesus responded, “Dear woman, your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed and her daughter wasn’t even there. The disciples, during two years of training, hadn’t done what she did in a few moments of trusting. She impressed Jesus with her faith. The disciples’ hearts may have been good. They may have been sincere. They believed some things. But Jesus was never impressed with their faith. He never said they had great faith, but He did comment on their little faith. Her crumbs of faith impressed the God of the Universe.
- My knowledge and correctness doesn’t impress Jesus. Great faith does.