21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Jesus said “It is not right”.
The woman said “Yes it is, Lord!!”
Argue with Jesus? We do it all the time…with results far inferior to what the Canaanite woman experienced. And, this isn’t the only time in scripture that somebody pestered Jesus until they got what they wanted.
I wonder about this. I suppose if Jesus had any limitation it would be his requirement to adhere to the truth. Then again, Jesus “IS” the truth, so it’s hardly a limitation. Jesus can change his mind and both positions would be true. Wrap your head around that.
I’m not, however, certain that Jesus did change his mind in this incident…
So, how do we account for this exchange…and the results? It isn’t that Jesus was wrong and the woman convinced him otherwise. Yet, after she confronted him, Jesus relented and gave her what she asked for.
What did Jesus mean when he said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”? And how is it that he helped the Canaanite woman anyway? I think only theologians get hung up on this statement by Jesus. It’s not the point of the incident.
I’m inclined to think the whole incident is not about “right or wrong”, but about the tenacity of faith. After all, Jesus did not say “you make a great argument”. He said “Woman, you have great faith”!
You see, faith…unbridled…is both uncontrollable and incontrovertible. When we assert our position as a matter of faith we cannot be dissuaded simply because somebody disagrees. Faith demands we adhere to our conviction in spite of uncertainty. It’s just as true that genuine faith cannot be refuted simply by a counter thesis.
Our problem is that we want to control our faith…like we try to control everything else in our lives. We don’t want it to “get out of control” to the degree it might embarrass us. We want our lives neatly in order.
And…bridled faith is easily dissuaded. At the first sign of controversy we shed our faith and resort to argument. We trust our intellect (in a pinch) more than we trust our convictions. Of course, this is why we never win an argument with Jesus.
The woman wasn’t arguing with Jesus. Her faith responded in spite of herself. In this respect, faith tends to be spontaneous. It bursts forth from our spirit. This is why she got her way. Jesus could have said anything and her response would not have been different.
If we have to formulate a response we are probably arguing. Jesus will likely never be convinced by our arguments. He will always be convinced by our faith.
Live boldly out there today…
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