“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
We too ask Jesus for the things that matter deeply to us. However, when we are met with silence we often give up too quickly. This woman, by contrast demonstrated the essence of the very persistence in prayer that Jesus taught (see Luke 11:5-9 and Luke 18:1-8).
His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
When those around us tell us that we're not helping matters by continuing to pursue Jesus with our request we often let ourselves be silenced. If they convince us that we are just wasting time, not only for ourselves, but time that could be used better for other things, it is easy to give up. They may try to convince us that only a special and unique chosen few are eligible for the breakthrough we desire. They often reinforce the assumptions of the world and even our own negative self-image.
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Jesus himself did not respond immediately and when he did respond he only seemed to reinforce any doubts that the Canaanite woman might have felt, that she was just wasting her time after all, that she did not deserve anything from Jesus. Yet she persisted, not because she thought herself deserving, but out of love for her daughter.
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
The Lord taught persistence in prayer because he desired to see, not only requests for interventions, but acts of faith. He himself more than once acted as though he would not do something, or that his intention was to keep going and not intervene.
Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come (see John 2:4).
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther (see Luke 24:28).
When we encounter such a response from Jesus we would do well to not give up immediately. Like Mary, we should respond with faith, being open to whatever he tells us. Like the disciples at Emmaus we should plead with him to stay with us, for night is drawing near. Like the Canaanite woman, we should keep asking, all the more when Jesus breaks his initial silence, even if his initial words to us seem like rejection.
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Persistence in prayer works when it is free from pride. The motivation for this woman to persist was not because she believed she deserved to have Jesus do something for her. Rather, it was entirely because she knew that he could do it and because she loved her daughter. Jesus really did have a mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It was mainly after Pentecost that the Gospel would go to the nations. But the faith of this woman allowed her to make herself small enough that she could fit into the plan and the path of Jesus even before that. There was so little of her own ego in the way, she was so completely acting in faith, that Jesus couldn't help but respond.
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
The Canaanite woman was the antithesis of the children of Israel, who saw a difficult situation and despaired.
At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries,
and even in the night the people wailed.
From them, we learn what not to do if we want our prayers answered. In order to remain in the desert for forty days and not forty years we should avoid making an evil report about our circumstances.
So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying,
“The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.
When we prophesy doom about our circumstances and speak from the flesh rather than faith we often create the very circumstances we fear.
By my life, says the LORD,
I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.
Let us learn to avoid complaining, so that we will not be stuck remaining in trials for longer than we must. Instead, let us be more like Caleb, and speak in faith. We can always prophesy victory, for the victory is already ours in Christ (see First Corinthians 15:57 and First John 5:4).
Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said,
“We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so.”
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