Read Matthew 15:21-28
Matthew 15:21-28 presents the story of a Canaanite woman, a gentile who comes to Jesus on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter in need of deliverance.
We find at the end of this passage in vs 28, that Jesus commends this woman for having GREAT FAITH! Her request was granted by Jesus, and her daughter was healed that very hour!!
But, what was it about this Canaanite woman’s faith that might have made Jesus commend her as having GREAT FAITH? We see in this passage, 3 TESTS OF FAITH from Jesus that this woman had to overcome, that seemingly made her faith great! Let’s take a closer look!
1.THE TEST OF SILENCE!
“Jesus did not answer a word.” (vs 23)
In vs 22-23, in response to this woman’s cry for Jesus to have mercy for her daughter who was demon-possessed, the scripture says that JESUS DID NOT ANSWER A WORD! SILENCE.....NOTHING....
How do you deal with the situation where it seems like God is silent to your prayers? How do you deal with that situation where you’ve been praying for that deliverance and His miraculous intervention and it seems like Jesus isn’t paying attention to you and hasn’t given you an answer?
We see in vs 23 that this Canaanite woman’s response was to KEEP CRYING OUT AFTER JESUS! She persisted in petitioning Jesus despite His silence!
(In Luke 11:8-10, Jesus tells us to persist in asking, seeking and knocking and In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus reminds us to always pray and NOT GIVE UP, by using the parable of the persistent widow as an example!!)
Will we also learn to KEEP CRYING OUT TO JESUS and persist in prayer to Him even when He seems silent?
2.THE TEST OF DISHEARTENMENT:
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (vs 24)
The second response Jesus gave this Canaanite woman was to seemingly dishearten/dissuade her by saying that He did not come for her needs. How do we deal with the situation where people might tell you that particular “promise” from God’s word is not for you?
What was the woman’s response? In vs 25 it says she WORSHIPPED Jesus and prayed JUST 3 WORDS!! “Lord, help me!”
Sometimes the best prayers are the SHORTEST ones that are prayed to Jesus out of a desperate heart!! In Matthew 6:7, Jesus tells us that when we pray, we don’t need to BABBLE ON WITH MANY WORDS like the pagans do, because your Heavenly Father already knows what you need even before you ask Him!! This Canaanite woman simply cried out to Jesus and worshipped Him in the midst of that possible disheartenment.
Will we learn to worship and cry out to Him in the midst of our own disheartenment and STILL BELIEVE for His promises and intervention in our life?
3.THE TEST OF OFFENCE:
“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” (vs 26)
The third response it seems that Jesus gave to this Canaanite woman, was to OFFEND her. Notice in this above statement that He essentially CALLED HER A DOG? When most people would have stormed off in offence, possibly thinking “How dare he call me a dog...”, this Canaanite woman, not only agreed with Jesus, but still called Him LORD and then went on to state her claim that even the dogs get the scraps that fall from the master’s table!!
She didn’t allow offence to stop her coming to Jesus, seeing who He truly was and believing for her miracle!
Q. HAS OFFENCE FROM WHAT SOMEONE HAS EVER PREACHED, SAID OR DONE IN CHURCH OR LIFE EVER STOPPED YOU FROM COMING TO JESUS?
CONCLUSION:
Therefore we see from this passage that this woman may have been commended with great faith (vs 28) because:
1.It had BEEN TESTED by Jesus and found to be true!! (James 1:2-4 it is only when our faith is tested that it matures!!)
2.It was a PERSISTENT faith- one that didn’t give up at the first sign of discouragement or silence!!
3.IT OVERCAME OFFENCE and made her fight for her daughter’s deliverance!!
SIGNS OF GREAT FAITH!
1.Great faith pushes through even when it seems like God is silent!!
2.Great faith keeps believing in the midst of discouragement and dissuasion!
3.Great faith doesn’t get easily offended!!
WILL JESUS COMMEND US AS HAVING GREAT FAITH?
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