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Faith of the Canaanite woman

Matthew 15:22,28 '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.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.'

When Jesus was living in this world, he appreciated some people and also chided some people at times. Here in the above passage, Jesus Christ praised a woman of

Canaan. The answer or the manner of which she responded was in such a way that it pleased Jesus and he acknowledged her faith. This we read in Matthew 15:27 'And she

said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.' Although the woman did not receive a positive response initially, she did not

give up. She persistently followed up and Jesus saw that there was a hope and patience in her answer. As we read in Matthew 15:23 'But he answered her not a word.' Initially,

Jesus was silent towards the request of the woman. Further we read in Matthew 15:24 'But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'

Secondly, Jesus refuses to grant her request. Finally in Matthew 15:28 'Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.'

Finally, Jesus himself appreciates her and sends her with a great gift. In order to receive this great blessing, she passed through certain steps in that situation. Today,

let us meditate on the steps that led the woman of Canaan to receive the blessing from the Lord.

Prayer that impressed Jesus

Matthew 15:22 '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.'

Here we can read the prayer of the woman brought an ansewer from the Lord. This woman had a great knowledge about prayer. During that situation, Jesus had a plan that

even gentiles should receive certain blessings which is why he visited gentile towns as we read in Matthew 15:21. We should understand that Canaanites were Israel's enemies

in the Old testament who came seeking for the blessings from the Jesus, the Jewish messiah. People who were against the children of Israel knowing about Christ has been

doing, came in search of him to get the blessings. Here in this situation, we can see the woman of Canaan began to cry out. Her burden revealed as tears. In Matthew 15:23 'But

he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.' Here we read Jesus who usually responds to people, did not

answer her. The english translation confirms that she did not pray in her heart but cried out and shouted in agony. She was not able to see her daughter suffering in

pain and she starts to pray for her family. We can see there are certain people who are recommending for her. The disciples were not able to bear her cry and asked Jesus

to send her away. But Jesus who is the loving Lord did not send her away empty handed. He knew what she wanted and he gave her exactly that. Her prayer drove the answer

from the Lord. She received her answer and went home joyfully. Even in our lives, we are praying for certain things for a very long time. We need to start praying like

this woman of Canaan. We should not give up considering the waiting period but we should keep praying with hope. Our Lord will give us unexpected blessings when we

increase our prayer time.

Knowledge about Jesus

Matthew 15:22 '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.'

In the above passage we see the woman of Canaan refers Jesus as 'Son of David'. This signifies she had a divine wisdom concerning Jesus. She was aware of the fact that

Jesus was the son of David. She knew Jesus was the Messiah and came near to him. We read in Matthew 9:27 'And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him,

crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.' Here we read two blind men referred Jesus as 'Son of David' just as the same way how the Canaanite woman

called Jesus. We can presume that Jesus would have felt happy that jews are referring him as Son of David. The woman had the divine understanding that many Jews lacked,

if only Jews had this understanding, they would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah and received an eternal life. The woman also believed that Jesus had the authority

over all sickness and can heal her daughter. All this proves her strong knowledge about Jesus and which is the reason she approached him. She even confessed saying

'O Lord' which tells us that she understood that he was the true Lord. Even in our lives, we the children of the Lord must have a proper knowledge about our saviour

Jesus Christ. We need to believe in his name and we need to put our trust on the Lord.

Unrelenting faith on Jesus

Matthew 15:28 'And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him,

Yea, Lord.'

Over here we see about the uunrelenting faith on Jesus. Even after she did not receive an answer for her prayer, she did not give up. Her request was not completed yet

she did not stop. She kept following up with Jesus with her faith. The Lord honored the faith of the woman and grants her request. Even in our lives, we get weary when

our prayers are not answered or there was a delay. In this situation, we can see Jesus deliberatly delayed his answer to the woman just to test her faith. We need to

understand that delayed answers and situations of rejections are all the tests of faith. We can see the woman of Canaan received what she desired in her life. At the

end of her test of faith she not only received her answer but also a praise from the Lord himself. In case we are apprehensive concerning certain things, we need to

stay determined and must have an unrelented faith. Looking into our faith, Lord should say 'great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.' Let us pray

that we should have an unrelenting faith, an impressive prayer and a well-versed knowledge on the Lord God. Amen.

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Faith of the Canaanite woman