Matthew 15 Devotional Sharing by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint – Berkeley):
Matthew 15:21-28
21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
27″Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Every time I read this passage, I am amazed by this woman’s humility. I don’t think it’s simply because she was in a desperate situation that she was able to humble herself in this way. Jesus basically calls her a dog but she doesn’t seem to dwell on that at all. She just accepts it and quickly moves on to begging Jesus for help. It’s sad when people are clearly in a desperate situation, but because of their pride, are unable to humble themselves.
Because of her humility, her child received healing from Jesus. Similarly, humility is the condition for all kinds of healing:
- If I don’t know something, I need to ask and risk being looked upon as dumb.
- If I am in need of something, I need to ask for help.
- If I feel disconnected or lonely, I need to call someone and initiate.
- If I am struggling about some sin, I need to let someone know.
- If I need people’s prayers about some issue that I am going through, I need to be honest and vulnerable.
- If I feel depleted emotionally or physically, then I have to acknowledge my weakness and seek rest and recovery.
- If I am unable to handle life, then I need to rely on others.
- If my relationship with someone is tense, I need to initiate reconciliation.
- If I did something wrong to someone, I need to say sorry.
- If I’ve been running away from people or some truth, then it takes humility to come back.
- If I’m on the wrong path, then it takes humility to turn around.
- If I sinned against God, then I need to confess it to God.
All of this requires humbling myself. So many people forfeit “healing” of many kinds because they are not able to humble themselves.
Lord, please help me to acknowledge my weak and humble state and not be afraid to humble myself and forfeit healing in my life.
This is so true… I was really struck by her humility too… but also her resoluteness and her determination, and her absolute confidence that Jesus could drive out the demon and heal her daughter. As she cried out “Lord, help me!” I could sense that she had no doubt in her mind that Jesus was able. I think that’s what made her humble too…the knowledge that Jesus could, made her willing to endure. Thank you for the list of applications..as I look at them I see that they are very relevant to my life! Instead of being hopeless when I am in need, I need to have the confidence that Jesus is able to meet my need when I humbly turn and obey. In each of these instances, I see that if I were just humble and obeyed God in these ways, I would experience Jesus working in my life much more.
By: Jeanne on September 26, 2009
at 1:51 pm
This woman’s humility is truly amazing. I think about the ways I just want to keep masks on, or my pride makes me want to seem like I’m under control and ok. Yet there are thorns in my life that causes me to finally confess my weakness, and I praise God for the healing that so surely comes when I am humble enough to confess and ask for help.
By: sieun on September 26, 2009
at 3:42 pm
What you share is so true! Only when I humble myself and ask for needed help, have I exp. much healing in my life. Thank you for sharing! Very blessed by what you wrote.
By: Sunny Kim on September 26, 2009
at 4:14 pm
thank you for your sharing. i was also really amazed by the woman’s humility and her persistence in coming to Jesus. her humility is so beautiful and something that i want to emulate. i know people who are so resilient and unwilling to humble themselves to come to Jesus when they are clearly in need of help, whether it be physical or spiritual help- unwilling to give up their own efforts. this woman was so desperate, exhausted all other resources and came to Jesus; she knew that Jesus was the ONLY one who can help her. i had to ask myself, do i have the same kind of faith and assurance of God’s sovereignty and healing? i think the longer i live my life as a Christ follower, the more i experience His healing in my life, i become more confident of His faithfulness.
By: HPark on September 26, 2009
at 5:37 pm
wow, this is really true. For me, I need to let go of my pride, as pride seriously robs me of healing. Preserving my pride is actually pretty ridiculous when I think about it since there’s no real benefit and major detriment to preserving it. These examples of pride are very helpful and I have experienced most of these examples in the list.
By: seanguo84 on September 26, 2009
at 10:48 pm
thank you for pointing this out with concrete examples and giving me clearer perspective. i see this is so true in my life, how much i forfeit healing because of my pride. when you put it that way, it’s obvious folly and tragedy, but in practice i don’t often see it this clearly.
By: becky on September 28, 2009
at 9:41 am