Pastor Ben’s Ponderings

“But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him saying, ‘Send her away, for she cries out after us.’  . . . Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”     (Matthew 15:23, 28)

When people approached Jesus without love, He was silent. The Canaanite woman had heard of Him and His healings. She apparently had heard of Him like she had heard of witch doctors who might help her. When she begged Him to cast the devil from her daughter, Jesus answered her not a word. As she continued to ask, He finally said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

The difference between children and dogs or people and animals is the ability to know and to love. She had been so intent in her scrutiny of Him that something quickened in her heart, some belief, some love, and she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.”

By that statement she made Him, the loving Master, and herself, the hungry, unloving dog — a correct assessment of the facts. He was moved by her grasp of the issue, and said, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And the child was made whole. It was a miracle of love!