Faith and Tenacity

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:28 NIV)

Here we find Jesus withdrawing from the multitudes and heading for a little respite. It’s been a rough time for Jesus following the death of His cousin, John. He has made attempts to find solitude, but whether a hungry crowd of 5,000 or now a Canaanite woman petitioning for her daughter, the demands on Jesus just kept on coming. 

Yet Jesus is full of compassion and isn’t dismissive of the requests.

In v. 22, she comes to Jesus in desperation over her daughter. She is crying, distraught, and at the end of herself. I can picture the scene as Jesus and His disciples walked along the road, her overflow of emotional distress in their midst.

The disciples’ response is typically human. They ask Jesus to “send her away, for she keeps crying” (v. 23). I can identify with them here, as the disciples almost plead with Jesus to just make the noise stop. But Jesus doesn’t. He initially says nothing—then a short line about lost sheep.

I can imagine the disciples looking slightly confused by Jesus’ response. They asked for the woman to be sent away and Jesus then talks of lost sheep and continues walking. The woman continues in her cries and keeps on asking Jesus to help. Eventually, after another seemingly odd statement about bread and dogs, Jesus stops and says to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment (v. 28).

As I read this repeatedly, I began to see something beautiful take place in this story. Over the previous few chapters of Matthew, we have seen Jesus surrounded and confronted by the needs of so many. He is full of compassion for the people He encounters and that remains, despite the demand. 

But what I see here is that Jesus was not moved by the need of the woman—however desperate it was or how persistently she vocalized it.

Jesus was moved by her faith.

It was her determination to believe in Jesus’ ability to heal and her tenacity to keep on asking until she saw the breakthrough that appeared to move Him. She was not deterred in her petition but kept on asking. Even if all she would receive from Jesus would be “crumbs from their Master’s table” (v. 27), that would be enough to satisfy her.

This reminds me of Jacob as he wrestled with God in Genesis 32:22-32, saying “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (v. 26).

Jesus has the ability to heal instantaneously. He doesn’t need persuading in order to meet our need. Perhaps there is something else that He is trying to do? Maybe He wants to develop our faith, our character, our perseverance, our steadfastness?

In our instant, on-demand, microwave culture of the West, maybe we have lost the art of perseverance. I wonder how many of us would have given up at the first hurdle, when the disciples tried to shoo us away? Maybe we wouldn’t have wrestled all night like Jacob, giving up when our arms got tired, or our eyes became heavy?

Today, I want to encourage you to keep on asking. Whatever you are believing for, let’s commit to be tenacious in our pursuit of Jesus on the matter. Maybe today you feel like you’ve lost some energy because you’ve been asking for so long, wrestling deep into the night or that God has not seen your tears.

I encourage you, take heart and keep going.

Let’s be tenacious in our asking, believing in His ability and trusting His sovereignty. The promise for those who persevere is set out in Matthew 7:7-8: ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.

As we do that, engaged and partnered with the full measure of faith in us through the Holy Spirit, one day we will hear Him whisper to us too: 

“You have great faith! Your request is granted.”

~

Scripture is quoted from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION^®, NIV^® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.^® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.