Matthew 15:23
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
Jesus deliberately gave the Canaanite mother no answer for a time, seeming to ignore her cry though His heart was moved with pity and He longed to help her at once. He acted out the cold, prejudiced way Jews treated a despised sufferer in order to expose it to the disciples and contrast it with the compassion He wanted them to show. His seeming neglect tested and proved her persevering faith, which refused offense and kept following until He commended it and healed her daughter. The disciples, mistaking His silence for approval of their own exclusiveness, urged Him to dismiss her because her importunity annoyed their unsympathetic hearts. The whole encounter was meant both to relieve her and to teach them to leave Jewish exclusiveness behind and carry mercy to all peoples without barrier.
Setting and Encounter
After clash with Pharisees, scribes and rulers over the hollowness of their piety and the unscripturalness of their teachings, when with the light of God's word they murmured and complained in unbelief and bitterness, sought His life and refused salvation freely offered them, He withdrew from Capernaum and the vicinity of Jerusalem and Galilee to the hill country on the borders of Phenicia overlooking Tyre and Sidon and the Mediterranean Sea. He entered into a house and would have no man know it, seeking to be unknown and to avoid an outbreak of hostility, hoping to find the retirement He had failed to secure at Bethsaida and to prepare His disciples for their mission, since the time had not yet come for messengers of the gospel to carry its glad tidings across the sea to the centers of the world's great empire, and retirement was not His only purpose. His wise, gracious words and deeds of mercy revealed a power far above priests and rulers, and His Godlike character made Him the observed of all observers so He could not be hid, and His whole life there was a representation of God as the great Medical Missionary.
The encounter in Matthew 15:23 is with the foreign woman of that district, the Canaanite or Syrophoenician woman. It was the only miracle He performed on that journey to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and He went there on purpose to perform it, making a long journey to relieve the anxious heart of the afflicted mother.
She belonged to the old Canaanite race of that district, heathen idolaters of an unfortunate and despised race, despised and hated by the Jews and excluded from the advantages the Jews daily enjoyed, without the light of God's word and having no dealings with Jews, the Jews refusing even to speak to Canaanites. Yet she represents the great human family of other nations who knew not God or the truth but felt a soul-longing for something they had not, one of the people of other nations who came to Christ to be healed or to make request for relatives or friends.
Her daughter was severely tormented by a demon, grievously vexed with a devil, and help sought from heathen gods had brought no relief. Tidings of His words and wonderful works of healing for rich or poor, and miracles of mercy He had performed, had penetrated that region through Jews living among the Phenicians, and having heard them hope sprang up in her heart. Inspired by a mother's love and urgent appeal for aid for her sick child with a sick daughter, and tempted to doubt what a Jewish teacher could do for her, she determined with resolute purpose and perfect faith in His power to do what she asked not to lose her only hope but to bring her affliction to Jesus for healing, realizing her only hope was in Jesus and resolving to appeal to Him to relieve her daughter. She listened to His instruction, and as she heard the word of truth she was deeply impressed.
She cried after Him for mercy as Son of David, begging for the crumbs that fall from the Master's table and willing to be regarded as a dog to have the privilege of a dog. Her crying at once yielded to divine influence with implicit faith in His ability to grant the favor she asked, unconditionally acknowledging Jesus as Redeemer able to do all that she asked, with no national or religious prejudice or pride to influence her course.
Silence and Plea
His answering her not a word was deliberate, temporary, and only apparent indifference from a pitying Saviour. For the time He acted out and represented the narrow ideas and sentiments controlling many who followed Him, receiving her distress as a Jew would have received one of her despised race, with the cold, heartless, prejudiced treatment Jews would have given a Canaanite in distress. He did this to impress the disciples with that manner, to test her faith and sincerity, and to set in contrast the compassionate manner He wanted them to show toward people in distress when He afterward granted her petition and healed her daughter.
The silence did not come from lack of compassion or from refusal to help. His heart was touched with pitying tenderness as He saw her woe and grief, and He longed to give her immediate assurance that her prayer was heard and her request fulfilled. Yet He passed on as if not hearing, and for a short time seemed to neglect the cry of her heart, delaying in order to teach the disciples their needed lesson and to bring her persistent faith to light.
That seeming neglect tested and proved her confidence, faith and sincerity. It called forth persevering faith that takes Him at His word, refuses to take offense or leave, persists without national or religious prejudice or pride, and is determined not to be driven away until the request is granted. She did not lose faith but yielded at once to divine influence with implicit faith in His ability to grant her favor, unconditionally acknowledging Him as Redeemer able to do all she asked, and continued following and supplicating as He went on. When her faith was manifest He commended it as great, turned to her with pity and love, granted what she willed, and made her daughter whole from that hour so the demon troubled her no more, and she departed happy in answered prayer.
The disciples' plea to send her away because she kept crying after them came from annoyance at her importunity and from unsympathetic hearts unmoved by her distress, reflecting the Jewish exclusiveness they shared. Seeing His indifference they mistook it for approval of Jewish prejudice against Canaanites and supposed such prejudice pleased Him. In answer He declared He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, words that sounded in accord with that prejudice yet were an implied rebuke, later understood to remind them He came to save all who would accept Him, with every believing seeker ready to believe counted among the lost sheep He came to gather into His fold.
Teaching and Application
The silence and the plea belong to an encounter meant both to relieve suffering and to train the disciples to leave Jewish exclusiveness behind and work for those beyond their own nation. Mercy toward the Canaanite woman was preparation for them to labor for Gentiles as well as for their own people, in a gospel mission unrestricted by custom or nationality. On the journey to the borders of Tyre and Sidon the disciples were shown that people of a despised race also suffered, longed for help, and hungered for truth. After the death that broke down the division between Jew and Gentile, this lesson guided their labor among all peoples.
It was direct work beyond the acknowledged people of Israel during earthly life, reaching and converting a Gentile woman. The healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter helped the disciples see that those regarded as unworthy of salvation could hunger for the light of truth. In this Christ broke down the division between Jews and Gentiles and taught that salvation is for all without territorial or social barriers. The conversion began the gathering of the Gentiles into the church, leading the Jews out of exclusiveness so they might become a blessing to others.
By first reflecting cold treatment and then showing compassion and healing, the dealing exposed the disciples' failure to care for people in need and taught them not to treat the distressed without mercy. The reception reflected what a Jew would have given one of a despised race, testing her faith and sincerity while making plain how they should respond to such distress. It was left as an example of mercy toward one of a despised people for their benefit after He would no longer be with them. That example was speaking words of hope to a weary, unsatisfied soul and healing the infirmity brought to Him, to be practiced from one end of the world to another in speaking and acting for humanity at large.
The account reveals love for suffering humanity and sympathy for afflicted mothers, for He is touched by a mother's sorrow and ready to hear earnest prayer. He made a long journey to relieve the anxious heart, showing readiness to comfort and help mothers in every grief and need and to bless children. He does not spurn the humble, suffering suppliant, but deals tenderly with determined seekers, and His compassion and healing power reach the suffering and needy. The seeming neglect tested and proved persevering faith that takes Him at His word, showing that even the weakest struggling soul who asks in faith will live and find hope and sufficiency in God, with the result seen when persistent faith was brought to light, commended, and granted what was asked.