Matthew 15:21 - Meaning and Application

We have here the well-known story of Christ driving the devil out of the daughter of a Canaanite woman. It is striking and surprising, and it shows kindness toward the Gentiles, who were not Jews. It is a first glimpse of the light that would shine on the Gentiles (Luke 2:32). Christ came to his own people, and his own did not receive him, but many rejected and offended him. Notice what happened next, in verse 21.

Jesus left that place. When people either mock the light or resist it, they deserve to lose it. When Christ and his disciples could not live quietly among them, he withdrew, following his own rule, “Shake the dust off your feet” (Matthew 10:14). Though Christ is patient for a long time, he will not always bear the stubborn resistance of sinners against himself. He had already said, “Leave them alone” (Matthew 15:14), and now he did so. Strong prejudice against the gospel, and constant complaints against it, often lead Christ to withdraw and remove the lamp from its place (Acts 13:46, Acts 13:51).

When he left there, he went into the region of Tyre and Sidon, not into those cities themselves. Those cities had already been left out from sharing in Christ’s mighty works (Matthew 11:21, Matthew 11:22). He went into that part of the land of Israel that stretched toward them, just as Elijah went to Zarephath, a town in Sidon (Luke 4:26). He went there to seek out this poor woman, for whom he had mercy ready. While he went around doing good, he was never out of his way. Even the farthest and darkest parts of the land would receive some of his kindness, and later the ends of the earth would see his salvation too (Isaiah 49:6).

This is where the miracle happened, and we should notice the woman of Canaan’s approach to Christ in verse 22. She was a Gentile, outside the commonwealth of Israel. She was likely from the line of those Canaanite nations once under the curse, “Cursed be Canaan.” Still, God’s judgment on nations does not always fall on every single person. He will gather a remnant from all nations, even from the most unlikely places, and she came from those very coasts. If Christ had not visited that region, she may never have come to him, even though the mercy was worth a long journey. Often, when people have Christ and his word brought near to them, it stirs up faith and zeal that were sleeping before.

Her appeal was urgent. She cried out to Christ, and she kept crying, because she was serious and because she stood at some distance, not daring to come too near. As a Canaanite, she may have feared giving offense. In her cry, she first told him of her misery: “My daughter is badly oppressed by a demon.” The Greek sense is that she was badly possessed or under cruel demonic power. There were different levels of this misery, and this was one of the worst. It was a common but terrible condition in that time. The troubles of children weigh heavily on parents, and nothing should trouble us more than seeing them under Satan’s power. Loving parents feel the pain of their children as part of themselves. Even though the girl was tormented by a demon, she was still her daughter. Great suffering in those we love does not cancel our duty to them, and it should not cool our love.

It was her family’s distress that brought her to Christ. She came, not for teaching, but for healing. Yet because she came in faith, he did not turn her away. Need may drive us to Christ, but it should not drive us away from him. Her daughter’s affliction gave her this chance to come. It is good when we take other people’s troubles to heart, so we can also take them to Christ in prayer and get good from them.

She also asked for mercy. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David,” she said, confessing him to be the Messiah. Faith should hold on to that truth above all else and draw comfort from it. As Lord, he has power and can command deliverance. As the Son of David, he is the promised one through whom all mercy and grace were foretold. Though she was a Gentile, she still honored the promise given to the fathers of the Jews and the glory of David’s house. Gentiles must receive Christianity not only as a better form of natural religion, but as the fulfillment of the Jewish faith, with the Old Testament in view.

Her request was simple, “Have mercy on me.” She did not ask for one specific kind of help, only for mercy itself. She did not argue from her own worth, but leaned on mercy alone. Mercies given to children are mercies to parents as well, and blessings to our own family are blessings to us. Parents should pray for their children with great seriousness, especially for their souls. A parent may say, “I have a son or daughter badly controlled by pride, impurity, or malice, led captive by Satan. Lord, help them.” That is a worse case than bodily possession. Bring them to Christ by faith and prayer, for he alone can heal them. Parents should count it a great mercy when Satan’s power is broken in the souls of their children.

She met with discouragement, and in the whole story of Christ’s ministry we do not often see the like. He usually welcomed and encouraged all who came to him, answering before they called, or while they were still speaking. But here one woman was treated differently. Why? Some think Christ acted reservedly so as not to offend the Jews by showing Gentiles the same open favor he showed them. He had told his disciples not to go into the way of the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5), and so he might seem less eager toward her. But more likely, he did this to test her. He knew her heart. He knew the strength of her faith and how well she could, by his grace, push through discouragement. So he met her with obstacles, and the trial of her faith would end in praise, honor, and glory (1 Peter 1:6, 1 Peter 1:7). This was like God testing Abraham (Genesis 22:1), or like the angel wrestling with Jacob, not to defeat him but to draw him into wrestling more deeply (Genesis 32:24). Many parts of Christ’s providence, and especially his gracious dealings with his people, seem dark and puzzling. But this story helps explain them. It was left on record to teach us that there may be love in his face, even when he seems to strike us. So even if he slays us, we must still trust him.

The first discouragement was this: when she cried after him, he answered her not a word (Matthew 15:23).

His ear had always been open to the cries of poor people, and his lips, like a honeycomb, were ready to speak words of peace. Yet to this poor woman he seemed to turn a deaf ear, and she could get neither help nor answer. It would have been easy for her to become angry and say, “Is this the one so praised for kindness and tenderness? Have so many been heard and answered by him, as people say, and must I be the first one turned away? Why is he so distant from me if it is true that he has helped so many others?”

But Christ knew what he was doing, and he stayed silent so that she might pray with more urgency. He heard her, was pleased with her, and strengthened her in her soul to keep asking (Psalm 138:3; Job 23:6), even though he did not immediately give the answer she expected. By seeming to draw the mercy she wanted away from her, he drew her on to ask even more earnestly for it. Every prayer that God accepts is not answered at once. Sometimes God seems not to notice his people’s prayers, as if he were asleep or stunned (Psalm 44:23; Jeremiah 14:9; Psalm 22:1, 2), and sometimes even as if he were angry with them (Psalm 80:4; Lamentations 3:8, 44). Yet he allows this to test and strengthen their faith, and to make his later help more glorious to himself and more welcome to them, for “the vision” at the end “will not lie” (Hebrews 2:3). See also Job 35:14.

When the disciples spoke a good word for her, Christ gave a reason for refusing her, and that was even more discouraging. Still, it was some relief that the disciples stood up for her. They said, “Send her away, for she keeps crying after us.” It is a good thing to have the prayers of godly people on your side, and we should want that. Yet the disciples, though they wanted her to get help, were thinking more about their own comfort than her need. They wanted him to send her away, either with a cure or at least so she would stop troubling them. Continued pleading can feel tiring even to good people, but Christ loves to be pressed with prayer.

Christ’s answer to the disciples almost destroyed her hopes: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In other words, “You know I was not sent for her. She is not one of them, so why should I go beyond my commission?” Strong and settled reasons are hard to overcome, even with much pressing. Here he did not merely stay silent, he argued against her and seemed to shut her mouth with a reason. It was true that she was a lost sheep and needed his care as much as anyone, but she was not part of the house of Israel, to whom he was first sent (Acts 3:26). Christ was a servant especially to the circumcised, that is, to the Jews (Romans 15:8). He was also meant to be a light to the Gentiles, but that time had not yet fully come. The veil had not yet been torn, and the dividing wall had not yet been removed.

Christ’s personal ministry was the honor of his people Israel. If he was sent to them, what did he have to do with those who were not among them? It is a serious trial when we have reason to wonder whether we are among those to whom Christ was sent. But, thank God, there is now no room for that doubt. The difference between Jew and Gentile has been taken away. We know that he gave his life as a ransom for many, and if for many, why not for me?

When she kept pressing, he also pointed to the unfitness of the request and gave her not only a refusal, but what seemed like a reproach: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26). This could have cut off all hope and driven her to despair, unless she had very strong faith. Gospel grace and miraculous healings, which came with it, were the children’s bread. They belonged to those who had the adoption, the special privilege of being God’s people (Romans 9:4). They were not on the same level as the rain and harvest God gave to the nations that he let go their own way (Acts 14:16, 17). These were special favors, set apart for the chosen people, like a fenced garden. Christ did preach to the Samaritans (John 4:41), but we do not read that he worked miracles among them. “Salvation is from the Jews.” So it was not fitting to take these gifts and give them away.

The Jews treated the Gentiles with great contempt and called them dogs. Compared with the house of Israel, which was so honored and privileged, Christ here seems to speak in that same way, and so to say that the Gentiles should not share in the favors given to the Jews. Yet later the tables were turned, and after the Gentiles were brought into the church, the Jewish legalists were called dogs (Philippians 3:2). Here Christ presses this against the woman of Canaan: “How can she expect to eat the children’s bread if she is not part of the family?”

This teaches us that those Christ means especially to honor he first humbles, laying them low in a sense of their own smallness and unworthiness. We must first see ourselves as dogs, less than the least of all God’s mercies, before we are fit to receive them as honored gifts. Christ also delights to test great faith with great trials, and sometimes keeps the sharpest test for the end, so that, being tried, we may come out like gold. That rule can guide us in other cases too, though here it is used to test her faith. Special ordinances and church privileges are the children’s bread, and they must not be handed over to people who are openly ignorant and godless. Common kindness should reach everyone, but spiritual honors belong to the household of faith. To give them without care or distinction is to waste the children’s bread and to give what is holy to dogs (Matthew 7:6).

Here also we see the strength of her faith and resolve in pressing through all these discouragements. Many people, if tested like this, would have gone quiet or broken out in anger. She might have said, “This is cold comfort for a poor, troubled person. I would have been better off staying home than coming here to be mocked and mistreated like this, not only having my desperate case ignored, but even being called a dog.” A proud, unbroken heart would not have borne it. The honor of the house of Israel was not so great in the world that this slight against the Gentiles could not have been answered back, if she had chosen to do so. It might even have led her to think less of Christ and hurt the good opinion she had already formed of him, for we are quick to judge people by how they treat us.

“Is this the Son of David?” she might have said. “Is this the one known for kindness, tenderness, and compassion? I have no reason to speak of him that way, for I have never been treated so roughly in my life. He could have done as much for me as for others. Or, if not, he did not need to compare me to the dogs of his flock. I am not a dog. I am a woman, an honest woman, and a woman in misery. It is not right to call me a dog.” But she does not say any of that.

A humble, believing soul that truly loves Christ takes everything he says and does in the best possible way. It keeps going through every discouragement. This woman shows that first by a holy eagerness to keep pressing her request, as seen in the earlier refusal (Matthew 15:25). “Then she came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me.” She kept on praying. What Christ said silenced the disciples, and you hear no more from them. They took the answer, but the woman did not give up.

The more deeply we feel our burden, the more firmly we should pray for it to be lifted. God wants us to keep at prayer, to pray always and not lose heart. She also grew in her praying. Instead of blaming Christ or accusing him of being unkind, she seems to suspect herself and put the fault on herself. She may have thought she was not humble or reverent enough at first, so now she comes and worships him with more respect. Or she may have thought she had not been earnest enough, so now she cries, “Lord, help me.” When answers to prayer are delayed, God is teaching us to pray more and pray better.

Then it is time to ask where we fell short in our earlier prayers, so we can do better next time. Disappointment in prayer should push us toward more prayer. Christ himself, in his agony, prayed more earnestly. She also sets aside the question of whether she belongs to those Christ was sent to. She does not argue that point, even though she might have claimed some kinship with Israel. Instead, she simply comes to the Son of David for mercy and will not let him go until he blesses her.

Many weak Christians trouble themselves with questions about election, wondering whether they belong to the house of Israel or not. Such people should focus on their need before God and keep praying for mercy and grace. They should throw themselves by faith at Christ’s feet and say, “If I perish, I will perish here.” In time, that matter will become clear. If we cannot reason our unbelief away, we should pray it away. A warm, earnest prayer, “Lord, help me,” will carry us through many discouragements that seem ready to crush us.

Her prayer is very short, but it is full and heartfelt: “Lord, help me.” We can take it in several ways. First, it may be a complaint about her misery. If the Messiah has been sent only to the house of Israel, then, “Lord, help me, what will become of me and my family?” It is not useless for broken hearts to cry out in sorrow, for God looks on them then (Jeremiah 31:18). Second, it may be a request for grace to hold on during this test. She found it hard to keep her faith when she was met with such coldness, so she prays, “Lord, strengthen my faith now. Lord, let your right hand support me while I keep close to you” (Psalm 63:8). Third, it may be a way of pressing her original request, “Lord, help me, give me what I came for.”

She believed Christ could and would help her, even though she was not of the house of Israel, or else she would have stopped asking. She keeps good thoughts about Christ and refuses to let go. “Lord, help me” is a good prayer if it is truly meant, and it is a pity when people turn it into a common saying and take God’s name lightly in it.

She also shows holy wisdom in faith by offering a surprising plea. Christ had put the Jews with the children, like olive trees around God’s table, and the Gentiles with the dogs under the table. She does not deny the force of that picture. There is no gain in arguing against any word of Christ, even when it seems very hard for us. But this poor woman, since she cannot object, decides to make the best of it (Matthew 15:27). “Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs.”

Her answer is deeply humble: “Truth, Lord.” You cannot speak too lowly of a humble believer, because he is ready to speak just as lowly of himself. Some people seem to put themselves down, but then feel offended if anyone else does it. A truly humbled person will agree to the most humbling words and not call them insults. “Truth, Lord, I cannot deny it. I am a dog, and I have no right to the children’s bread.” David, “You have done foolishly, very foolishly,” truth, Lord. Asaph, “You have been like a beast before God,” truth, Lord. Agur, “You are more brutish than any man,” truth, Lord. Paul, “You are the chief of sinners, less than the least of all saints, not fit to be called an apostle,” truth, Lord.

Her use of that answer as a plea is very skillful: “Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs.” By a remarkable sharpness and spiritual quickness, she found an argument in words that looked like a slight. A living, active faith can turn what seems against us into something for us. It can bring food out of what seems to be a closed mouth, and sweetness out of something strong and harsh. Unbelief often mistakes help for harm and draws dark conclusions from hopeful words (Judges 13:22-23). But faith can find comfort even in discouragement and draw near to God by holding on to the hand that seems to push it away. It is a great blessing to have quick understanding in the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:3).

Her plea is this: “Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs.” It is true that the main and regular provision belongs to the children only, but the small, casual, leftover crumbs are given to the dogs and are not denied them, the dogs that sit under the table waiting for them. We poor Gentiles cannot expect the steady ministry and miracles of the Son of David in the way the Jews can. But they are growing tired of their food, treating it lightly, finding fault with it, and crumbling it away. Surely then some broken pieces may fall to a poor Gentile. “I ask for a cure on the side, which is only a crumb. It is from the same precious bread, but only a small piece compared with the loaves they have.”

When we are close to being full from the children’s bread, we should remember how many others would be glad of the crumbs. Our broken share in spiritual blessings would be a feast to many a soul (Acts 13:42). Notice here, her humility and her need made her glad of crumbs.

Those who know they deserve nothing will be thankful for anything. When we see ourselves as less than the least of God’s mercies, we are ready for his greatest gifts. Even the smallest kindness from Christ is precious to a believer, like the crumbs of the bread of life.

Her faith also led her to expect those crumbs. Why should it not be at Christ’s table as at a rich man’s table, where the dogs are fed as surely as the children? Notice that she calls it her master’s table. If she was a dog, she was his dog. It cannot go badly with us if we belong to Christ, even in the humblest way. Like the prodigal son, she could have said, “I am not worthy to be called a child; make me like one of your hired servants” (Luke 15:17-19). It is good to be in God’s house, even if we are only at the threshold.

The happy result of this was that she came away with honor and comfort. Though she was a Canaanite woman, she showed herself to be a true daughter of Israel, one who, like a prince, had power with God and prevailed. Until now Christ had hidden his face from her, but now he gathered her with everlasting kindness (Matthew 15:28). Then Jesus said, “O woman, great is your faith.” It was like Joseph making himself known to his brothers, “I am Joseph.” In a similar way, Jesus now begins to show himself clearly. He will not keep opposing forever.

Christ praised her faith. He said, “O woman, great is your faith.” Notice that he praised her faith, not only the other graces seen in her conduct, such as wisdom, humility, gentleness, patience, and persistence in prayer. Those graces were the fruit of her faith, so Christ focused on the root that produced them. Faith honors Christ more than any other grace, so Christ especially honors faith. It was also the greatness of her faith that he praised. All the saints have faith that is equally precious, but it is not equally strong in all of them. Believers are not all the same size in spiritual growth.

Great faith is shown by a steady hold on Jesus Christ as a fully sufficient Savior, even when things seem discouraging. It means loving and trusting him as a friend even when he seems to be acting like an enemy. That is great faith. Weak faith, if it is real, is not rejected, but great faith is specially praised and is very pleasing to Christ. In those who believe this way, he is most honored. Christ spoke in the same way when he praised the centurion, who was also a Gentile. The centurion showed strong faith in Christ’s power, and this woman showed strong faith in Christ’s kindness. Both were acceptable to him.

He also healed her daughter: “Let it be done for you as you wish.” In effect, he said, “I will deny you nothing. Take what you came for.” Great believers may receive what they ask for. When our will agrees with Christ’s command, his will joins with our desire. Those who refuse Christ nothing will find that he refuses them nothing in the end, even if for a time he seems to hide his face. You may desire pardon for sin, victory over sin’s power, and a holy nature. Christ can say, “Let it be done for you as you wish.” What more could you ask?

When we come, as this poor woman did, to pray against Satan and his kingdom, we join with Christ’s own intercession. Then it will be done accordingly. Satan may still sift Peter and torment Paul, but through Christ’s prayer and the strength of his grace, we will be more than conquerors (Luke 22:31-32; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Romans 16:20). The outcome matched Christ’s word. Her daughter was healed from that very hour, and from then on she was no longer troubled by the demon. The mother’s faith brought healing to the daughter. Even though the patient was far away, that did not limit the power of Christ’s word. He spoke, and it was done.