The Faith of a Woman

By Matthew 15, Jesus is pretty much a celebrity. You've got the haters (Scribes and Pharisees) as well as his fans (apostles and other followers). You can imagine that many people were seeking out Christ for miracles and teachings. Typically, we think of Jesus as a pretty nice guy, right? He blesses, heals, strengthens, forgives, etc. Which is why Matthew 15 is a bit surprising in regards to Jesus's character.

Staring in verse 22, a woman of *Canaan decent approaches Jesus saying her daughter is sick.
*Note - this means she is a Canaanite and of different decent (stuck with darker skin). Despite her different race (and there is a lot of racism at this time), she still had the courage to seek out Jesus.

In other stories Jesus would act according to her faith, telling her according to her faith her daughter would be healed. However, he doesn't do that in this story...at least not at first.

In the very next verse it says that, "but he answered not a word." Jesus was not paying any attention to her. How incredibly disappointing. This was supposed to be the almighty Jesus who could calm the seas, heal the sick, cure the blind, and be a friend to all mankind, yet, he wasn't listening to this woman who was pleading for his help.

Then in verse 25, she drops down and begins to worship Jesus saying, " Lord, help me." At this point, she would have had every reason/right to turn around grumbling about the so-called "Jesus Christ." Instead, she pushes her faith even further and worships Him. I think we could all learn to be a little bit more like this woman. If there are challenges standing in our way, disappointments, frustration, keep standing firm and don't give up. In the words of Elder Holland, "doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith"
This woman knew that Jesus would help her.

Yet, in verse 26 Jesus responds to her worshipping with, "... It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to dogs."
Okay, I think at this point I would have been totally insulted and probably given up.
This woman is way stronger than I am. She responds saying, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs, which fall from their masters' table."
Wow. What an example of complete faith. Even when the answer was no, she showed all of her testimony, even if it was just crumbs.

So finally, after three attempts of getting Jesus to heal her daughter, in verse 28 Jesus says "O woman, great is they faith: be it unto thee even as though wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."

Is it possible that Jesus knew all along that he was going to heal her daughter? Maybe.
 I do think that also He wanted to test the woman's faith and see how far she would go, laying out her testimony and then solidifying it for herself.
If every time we asked for something, and Jesus just gave it to us, we would become (as my professor so graciously put it) spoiled spiritual brats. He wants us to work for it and not be greedy just because we asked Him for help. Remember that.

Don't forget to be awesome!