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Matthew 15:21-28 is about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is eager to save us, by simply taking Him at His Word and trusting that His Word is true, and such trust Jesus calls “great faith.”
Great faith doesn’t give up in the face of God’s silence or apparent rejection in response to our prayers. The pagan Canaanite woman asked Jesus for help, but He initially didn’t even answer her, and then when His disciples tried to get Him to do something with her, He simply says to them, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” At first glance, it looks like Jesus is rejecting the woman and all other Gentiles completely, it sounds like He came only to seek out and save lost Jews. But, any faithful Jewish disciple should have known that the Old Testament predicted a day when the “house of Israel” would come to include not only Jews but also Gentiles, who would be brought to faith by the Lord, Isaiah 56:6-7.
So, when the Lord Jesus came to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel, while He first is referring to the Israelites, He also is referring to the Gentiles, Romans 1:16. He came to seek and to save the lost, and the way He would do that was by laying down His life as a ransom for the masses — for Jew and Gentile alike — for the forgiveness of all of your sins. Jesus answered for the guilt of all people on the cross, suffering God’s wrath against sin and dying for you, and then after rising from the dead, He sent the apostles out to preach the Gospel to all creation, to make disciples of all nations by Baptism into His death and resurrection and by teaching them His Word. In that way, He would rebuild the house of Israel in the Christian Church, gathering in all His lost sheep and being their Savior, your Good Shepherd.
And in this Canaanite woman we see a glimpse of the future mission of Christ’s Church to deliver the Gospel to all nations. So, Jesus follows through on what He says to the disciples by speaking to the woman directly for the first time. The woman came and prostrated herself before Jesus and said, “Lord, help me.” And Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” At this point, it seems the woman’s hopes are completely crushed.
But at the same time, we see Jesus throw the woman a bone. We see that Jesus has pulled this woman out of hopelessness to faith, true faith, saving faith in Jesus as Lord. Because she responds with the most remarkable confession: “Yes, Lord,” she says. “Yes, Lord. You are right that I have no business asking for your help. You are right that I am unworthy to sit down at the table in the house of Israel and partake of Your grace. Yes, Lord, I am a dog — but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
And Jesus replied: “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
It all happens so fast, you’ll miss the Gospel crumbs if you don’t listen carefully. What was so great about the woman’s faith? It was great because she took Jesus and His Words absolutely seriously, as absolutely true — she heard and believed Him and applied His Words to herself. Jesus set up a scenario in which the woman could find herself as a little dog under the table in God’s household. The woman holds Jesus captive to His Word.
The woman took Jesus at His Word and held Jesus to the scenario he set up by drawing out the natural thing that a dog would do with crumbs. She placed herself on the floor as a beggar, not entitled to anything at all, with no claims on the Bread, yet delighted whenever that Bread fell from above. She hungrily and joyfully lapped up everything Jesus let her eat.
Jesus through His Word gives not only healing for her daughter, but also eternal life in the Bread of Life, Himself, the One who would go up to Calvary not much later and die for the sins of this woman, her daughter, and all of you, too. So, from this, we learn that a great faith is one that clings to the Word of Jesus alone, and trusts in Him for forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation! Amen.
