25 “But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.” (Matthew 15:25–28 (ESV)
Jesus and His disciples initially refused the Canaanite woman’s request for her daughter’s healing (Matt. 15:21-24). However, she persisted. She came and knelt before Jesus. Knelt (προσκυνέω; proskuneo) means to prostrate oneself in worship. She continually said, “Lord, help me.” The woman not only acknowledged Jesus as Lord by her words (Matt. 15:22), but also by her behavior.
Jesus responded by saying,” “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The reference to dogs (κυνάριον; kunarion) refers to a family pet and not a stray on the street or alley. Jesus invoked the image of children being Israel and the family dog being Gentiles. Ministering to Israel came first before Jesus would minister to the Gentile nations.
However, the woman responded by saying, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” The woman understood the metaphor Jesus used. She did not deny its significant meaning. She knew she was a Gentile but she pleaded for God’s gracious provision for her daughter.
Jesus said, ““O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” The word great (μέγας; megas) means surprising. Faith (πίστις; pistis) is trust, commitment, dependence and worship of Christ. Jesus acknowledged that the woman’s faith in Him was astonishing. Jesus granted her request and her daughter was immediately healed. Like the healing of the nobleman’s son (John 4:46-54), Jesus did not have to be with the woman’s daughter to heal her daughter.
Jesus took the opportunity to test her faith, which explains His delay in granting her request. This behavior is not unusual with God. Abraham and Sarah had to wait a long time for the LORD to grant their heart’s desire (Gen. 21:1-5; Rom. 4:18-21).
“Jesus delayed to heed her requests in order to test her faith, that is, to refine it as silver is refined and purified. He wanted to give her faith an opportunity for more glorious expression. He aimed to strengthen it by means of the answer He had given her is vs. 24 and 26. She would now begin to realize, far better that if He had immediately healed her daughter, what an extraordinary blessing she was receiving,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
The woman was reverential, earnest, loving, humble and hopeful. She was also persevering in her God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Divine love is so infinite and marvelous that it even praises a human being for exercising a gift – in this case faith—with which this very divine love has endowed her, and which apart from that divine activity could not have gone into action at all,” concludes Dr. Hendriksen.
Soli deo Gloria!
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