Great Faith 1

Matt 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Mark 7:24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

1. The woman was a Syrophoenician, Canaanite, Greek who apparently lives in the area of Tyre and Sidon. She has no standing as will shortly be seen, no promise for her family, yet she approaches Jesus who was trying to hide and get some rest. She was clearly very persistent.

2. She recognizes Jesus for who he is, the son of David prophesied. How does she know this?

3. In Matthew his first response to her plea is to answer nothing, in a sense to ignore her. The disciples ask him to stop ignoring the situation as it has become troubling for them. His response then is to point out that she is not in the select group who he has come to.

4. Her response is to worship him and plead again for help

5. Then comes the stunning statement, It is not right to give the children's bread unto dogs. Not just ignoring, not just saying she did not qualify, but actually calling out the insult.

6 Her response is clear, she knows who he is and the power that he has. She identifies with the dogs and says, just give me a dog's portion, and for this saying she is called out by Jesus as having great faith and for this saying, her daughter is healed.

We see here and persistence in knowing the Jesus could and would, He was willing and able to heal. She pounded on the door, wearied the one who could help her to the point that no matter what she heard, she continued to worshipped and claimed no right, just faith.