A Mother's Faith: The Gentile Woman's Daughter

Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. In Mark's account, he entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not stay hidden.

A woman came to him in deep trouble about her daughter. Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman. Mark says she was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. Her little daughter had an unclean spirit, and the mother cried for mercy and begged Jesus to help.

At first, Jesus did not answer her. His disciples asked him to send her away because she kept crying out after them. Jesus said he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But the woman came and knelt before him, asking for help.

Jesus spoke of children being fed first and said it was not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. The woman did not give up. She answered that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table, or from under the table.

Jesus answered that her faith was great. In Mark's account, he told her to go home because of her answer, and said the demon had gone out of her daughter. She went home and found her child lying on the bed, with the demon gone. What do you notice about the way this mother kept asking for help?