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28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman,
great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her
daughter was healed instantly.
Jesus had gone to
Tyre and Sodon, away from His own who were at this time persecuting
him for his service to the people. Here, Jesus encounters a woman
who pleads and begs Jesus to deliver her daughter from a demonic
spirit. Jesus at first keeps silent and His disciples seeing this
woman as more of a nuisance asks Jesus to send this woman away.
Jesus says his service is meant for His own people, the
Jews, and compares all the other Gentiles to dogs. He does this
intentionally to put the woman down, to test her faith on Him as
the Messiah. The woman, being a Gentile, continues to entreat
Jesus, asking Him “can’t even the crumbs that fall off the master’s
table be used to feed her own?” In other words, she is willing to
take even the leftover grace and mercy that Jesus can give her.
Seeing the woman’s determination and faith, Jesus heals her
daughter.
What do we learn from this or how does
this apply in our lives? Firstly, Jesus going to the dark corners
of the country teaches us that we as Christians, who already have
been blessed with hearing the gospel, should consider it our duty
and responsibility to spread it to the ones who are deprived of
God’s grace and mercy.
Secondly, many a time when we pray and
plead to God, He may stay silent and we feel that our endless
requests are being ignored. We at times have to go through intense
humiliation to receive God’s grace. When Christ intends to honor us
most, He humbles us to make us recognize our own unworthiness. We
all have to come to Christ in utmost humility, confess our
sins and unworthiness and beg for His grace and mercy. And just
like Jesus is touched by the woman’s faith, He certainly will be
touched by our faith and the need to be cleansed of our soul’s
miseries. The smallest of Christ’s mercy or the smallest of the
crumbs of the Bread of life is very valuable to each and every one
of us, sinners, and we all need to have the unshaken faith like the
woman and be persistent, enduring and persevering every day
for the deliverance of our souls.
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