The apostles thought she was a nuisance and asked Jesus to get rid of her. Jesus had gone to the region of Tyre and Sidon, modern-day Lebanon, and a local woman approached him for a favor. This was pagan country, home turf of the infamous Jezebel. The inhabitants of these parts were fondly referred to as “dogs” by their Jewish neighbors, who viewed them as unclean. He ignores her at first. Then he rebuffs her. Then comes what many would take as a put down. She could simply have taken offense and walked off in a huff. But instead she persevered, responding with humility and wit. Jesus could no longer resist…and immediately, her daughter was delivered from the power of evil.
Many people think faith is “belief that…” Belief that God exists, or that Jesus is the Messiah. This woman certainly has this kind of belief. Yet faith is more than “belief that.” It is belief in. To believe in someone is to trust them, to entrust—to commit—something of value to them, even to entrust one’s very self to them. Here, the woman entrusts the destiny of her daughter to the man who stands before her. And desire for her daughter’s salvation propels her to pursue him, to seek him tirelessly until she obtains what she believes he can provide.
Jesus often rebukes his disciples for having little faith. Their faith is little because it cowers before every obstacle. This woman’s faith is great because it disregards every obstacle. Notice that though she is insistent, she is nonetheless humble. She does not arrogantly demand to be served first. She’ll settle for leftovers. There is a place in the gospels where Jesus says that faith can move mountains. Here we see that faith can move something even more formidable than mountains—it can move God Himself!