As I read through my new Gideon Mini-Bible yesterday, I came across an incident that stood out to me, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 15: 21-28, a Canaanite woman came to Jesus and asked Him to heal her daughter, but, surprisingly, He didn't. He didn't even answer her. Jesus' disciples began to be annoyed by the woman's pleadings and asked Jesus to do something about her, but He told them that He was there to help Israelites, not Canaanites. But this did not deter the woman. She continued asking for help, eventually getting this response from Jesus: "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Now, not only was Jesus refusing to help the woman, He was insulting her and her people by comparing them to dogs.
This doesn't sound like the Jesus I know, or thought I knew. The Jesus I know is helpful and loving, or at the very least, polite. Even if, for whatever reason, He couldn't help the Canaanite woman, I would have thought that there was no way Jesus would have been so rude about it.
Yet, despite having be ignored, denied, and insulted, the woman did not become angry. She answered humbly: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then, Jesus turned, saying, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire."
Now, it's fairly easy too imagine that Jesus simply became exasperated by the woman's incessant requests and relented just to silence her. After all, He had once given a parable (I believe it's called the parable of the importune widow) in which He essentially recommends that course of action. In that parable, a woman asks an unjust judge for help, and he refuses, yet he gives in eventually as the woman annoys him by continually asking him for help. Yet, there are at least two things wrong with comparing Jesus to this unjust judge: one, Jesus doesn't want us to keep asking Him for things after He has already given an answer (just ask Martin Harris), and two, Jesus is not an unjust judge. He is a loving and merciful helper.
So, what gives? Why did Jesus deny the woman's request at first, citing some racist, exclusionary excuse, knowing that He would ultimately, gladly grant her request?
I think the answer is in His exclamation: "O woman, great is your faith!" Jesus wasn't being rude just for the sake of being rude or because He was having a bad day. He was testing her. He wanted her to prove that she had the faith, diligence, and patience to keep asking for aid, even when she wasn't getting it, or any positive response.
In life, we often go through hard times, and we ask God for help, and sometimes it seems like we aren't getting it. At those times, it's tempting to think that God has abandoned us and that He doesn't really care about us, when the reality may be that He's testing our faith and patience so He can reward us for being faithful and patient. There's a saying that the teacher is always silent during a test. Perhaps that includes the great Teacher being silent during the times when our faith is being tested. Sure, it still doesn't feel very good, but at least now we know that there's a reason for it.
So, if you go through a rough patch, and it seems like God isn't answering you, remember the Canaanite woman and impress the Savior with how faithful, diligent, and patient you can be. Keep asking, keep keeping the commandments, keep trying to do your best, and eventually, God will reward your faithfulness, whether He does so in this life or the next. It can be hard to be faithful, especially when God seems not to be faithful to us, but if we can learn anything from the Canaanite woman and, it's that God does hear and will eventually answer our prayers.
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