THIS account of the Canaanite woman who came to Jesus is heart warming and moving. Here was a Gentile woman who believed in Jesus and came to him for his help. It is interesting to notice that the ministry of Jesus was not exclusively towards the Jews, for here we find a Gentile woman receiving Christ's blessing. Jesus responds to all who come to him with a lively faith. This woman came to Jesus and found he gave her rest.

The next thing we ought to notice is the way she approached Jesus. Her approach, which though speaking to him audibly and visibly, was an expression of prayer, and because of this gives us an insight as to the right way to approach Jesus in prayer. How much more blest would our praying be if we came to Jesus in prayer in the same way as this woman.

Let us look at her prayer and praying. The first thing that we meet is a recognition of Jesus as to his true identity, and a faith to believe this to be the truth, and so the woman came with an attitude of true worship. She owned Jesus as Lord and as the Son of David. By this, though a Gentile, she believed Jesus to be the promised Messiah who was to come from the line of David and to fulfill all the promises which God gave to David that there would always be someone to sit on the throne of David, and that his kingdom would have no end. The promise referred first and foremost to the everlasting spiritual kingdom of Jesus. How well the woman understood her faith we can't tell, but by this address she was proclaiming the Jesus was her God and that she was seeking him for his salvation. By calling Jesus Lord, the woman was submitting to him with obedient faith. She was surrendering herself to his kingly and divine rule and authority. In every way this Gentile woman showed herself to be a true spiritual child of Abraham, even though she was not a child of Abraham naturally and in the flesh. This attitude of the woman to Jesus is the mark of true discipleship which is to acknowledge Jesus as God and Lord and Saviour, and be committed to him in humble obedience and trust. The continuing narrative of this incident reveals this so clearly. Whatever Jesus said or did to her she bowed in submission and trust.

Jesus came to overcome the works of the devil, and deliver people from the darkness of his dominion, and bring them into the freedom of the light of his kingdom. The woman had come into this light of life, but her daughter was suffering still from the dominion of Satan in a very real way. She came to her Saviour that he may deliver her daughter and so demonstrate his mission and his power to carry it through to a successful conclusion. Here is a strong buttress to support to our faith. Meditate on this woman and be strengthened as we see Jesus fulfilling his saving role.

Let us take to heart that in the same way as Jesus cast out the demon in this daughter of the Canaanite woman so he has won the victory over Satan, and the Prince of this world has been judged, and there is deliverance, everlastingly, for all who apply to Jesus by faith.

The ways of Jesus with his believing disciples is sometimes hard to understand, but all things work for our good, just as it did for this woman, for she was a believing disciple. First the woman got no response from Jesus, but she never gave up praying and believing. Next she received the 'cold shoulder' by the disciples who were with Jesus, and this is often the experience of humble Christians in their contact with other believers. Then Jesus seemed to reject her, saying he had not come to bring salvation to any but Jews. However in the true spiritual understanding of Jesus words, this was not so. When he says "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" he speaking of the spiritual Israel, all the elect of God for whom Jesus came to die. By the same token when Jesus spoke "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs", the children are all those who are of the true Israel who have the faith of Abraham, and not simply the nation of the Jews.

The fact is that to the woman the response of Jesus to her prayer was not encouraging, and the attitude of the disciples to her was far from welcoming, yet she accepted all this discouragement, which seemed on the surface to exclude her from all answer to her prayer, and she refused to lose faith, and went on praying. Together with this she accepted humbly that she deserved nothing from the Lord and was unworthy of his help, and so trusted in his mercy alone.

Here is a deep lesson and example of true saving grace in the soul. When there is real saving grace in a person, there is always a recognition of sinfulness and sin which does not deserve anything from God except judgment and wrath, but in spite of this there is coming to Jesus in humble faith seeking the promise of mercy by free grace. The moment a soul comes to Jesus in any other spirit, and with any idea of deserving favour, then the attitude is wrong, and a sign of ill-health in the soul. Toplady puts this truth so well when he wrote, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling."

What is so wonderfully illustrated is the fact that Jesus always responds in the end to such humble faith in his mercy. This woman heard the gentle and gracious words "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." Great faith does not mean a large amount of faith, but great in the quality of her faith. We may have a very trembling and weak faith, but it is great in Jesus' eyes when we come in the humble dependent way this woman came to him, trusting only for mercy and knowing no merit to plead before the Saviour.