Faith and Humility (Matthew 15:21-28)

This is a very interesting passage in the Gospel of Matthew. It is one of the miracles that Jesus performed and it deals with a Gentile woman who is getting help for her daughter that is vexed with a devil. The spiritual application for us will be to see how faith and humility are connected.

What is going on in the passage?

The woman comes to Jesus and asks him to help her daughter. Jesus gives her no answer at first. Then she goes to the disciples and asked them for help. They in turn go to Jesus and ask him to get rid of her. Then the woman returns and worships Jesus asking for help once again. This time Jesus tell her it is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it unto the dogs. She is calling the woman a dog. She accepts this statement as truth. Jesus grants her request and end the passage saying that she has great faith.

What can we see from the fact that Jesus called her a dog?

To us this seems really harsh but it has to do with the fact that she is a Gentile and not a Jew. At first Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What is so interesting here is that she accepted her place as a dog. Then she said that dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the masters table. This show great humility as well as faith.

Proverbs 12:10 “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

By the woman making the statement that she did in a way she compares herself to this proverb. Animals are totally at the mercy of their masters. They must rely on them for everything. In this we see a great type of faith. The woman had faith in Jesus Christ and humbled herself under his hand as an dog and she was rewarded for it.

For us we see a similar passage in 1 Peter 5:5-7. We told to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all our care upon him. In this we see great faith and humility. It takes great humility to admit that you are not capable of making any decisions for yourself without God. This also takes great faith as well. Therefore when we great faith we may have to think about it being connected with great humility.

Faith and Humility (Matthew 15:21-28)

Handout

1)  What is happening in this passage?

2)  What does Jesus say in the end about this woman?

3)  What is so significant about Jesus calling her a dog?

4)  How are faith and humility connected?