Was Jesus Reluctant to Help?

A Canaanite woman who lived near the cities of Tyre and Sidon came to Jesus. “Son of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, sir! My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.” But Jesus did not say a word to her.

The silence of Jesus seems unkind.

His disciples came to him and begged him, “Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!” Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”

The disciples of Jesus are definitely unkind. The woman is noisy and needy and they want her to go away.

Jesus seems to push the noisy woman away by saying that he is responsible only for the needy among the people of Israel.

At this the woman came and fell at his feet. “Help me, sir!” she said. Jesus answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

The woman is persistent. She does not stop asking for help because Jesus is silent. She does not stop asking for help because the disciples want her to leave. She does not stop asking for help because Jesus seems unkind or unwilling. She does not stop asking for help even when Jesus compares her to a dog. In fact, the woman keeps asking for help…

“That’s true, sir,” she answered; “but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their masters’ table.” So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith! What you want will be done for you.” And at that very moment her daughter was healed.

We usually think of Jesus as kind, generous, and giving, but he seems distant and evasive in this story from Matthew 15:21-28, at least until the very end of it.

Was Jesus reluctant to heal the woman’s daughter? Did Jesus require repeated requests for help as proof of faith before he would act? Or was Jesus getting to know the woman by responding slowly instead of quickly to her request?

I do not know why Jesus behaved as he did. I do not know what the woman was thinking or feeling. I do know Jesus healed the woman’s daughter after they went around and around for a while. Maybe the message here is that we should get involved with Jesus and see what happens.