only hope

“When Jesus left there, He withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.

          Jesus was always on the move and this time went toward to cities that were       considered very wicked and deserving of God’s wrath.  It is where the lost were.

“Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, ‘Have mercy on me, Son of David!  My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.’

          A Canaanite, a non-Jewish woman apparently knew of Jesus the miracle worker and yet using the title Son of David recognized Him as the Jewish Messiah.

“Jesus did not say a word to her.” 

          Jesus did not respond to the cries of the woman.  He was silent.

          How often do we cry out to God or Jesus and He is silent?  It seems God’s silence is always interwoven with His purposes.

His disciples approached Him and urged Him, ‘Send here away because she is crying out after us.’”

          The woman was persistent, even though Jesus was silent she continued to cry    out to Jesus, so much so, that the disciples said, ‘Send her away!’  When someone is intent on finding Jesus, they can often be seen as more of a nuisance than someone desperately seeking to find help.

“He replied, ‘I was sent to only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’”

          Jesus tells the disciples that He was sent as promised to the Israelites, that is His time in earthly ministry focused on the people of Israel.

“But she came, knelt down before Him, and said, ‘Lord, help me!’”  

          This gentile woman who was filled with so much love for her daughter cast aside all notion of pride and in humility bowed before Jesus and asked for His help for her situation.  Jesus was her only hope. Do we see Jesus as our only hope for trials and challenges we have in our life?  To the point that our heart says if Jesus doesn’t intervene, help or deliver we have nothing? 

“He answered, ‘It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’”  

          Jesus’ answer seems so calloused to one so desperate.

“Yes, Lord,’ she said, ‘yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’” 

          The woman’s response was spoken in humility, truth, and wisdom.  It came from  a heart that believed only Jesus, no matter what could meet her daughter’s need.

“Then Jesus replied to her, ‘Woman, your faith is great.  Let it be done for you as you want.’  And from that moment her daughter was healed.”  Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus met her need because her faith drove her to cry out to Jesus at any cost, it caused her to persist, it caused her to humble herself before the Messiah, it caused her to fully depend on Jesus regardless.  She fully believed Jesus was her only hope.  


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