Have mercy on me—Sunday of the Canaanite Woman

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.

When I pray I ask time and again for the Lord to do things, to act in a certain way, to intervene in some supernatural way in our world.  I want him to do something for me, or something for a friend, and I ask in prayer.  This is not a bad thing to do, not wrong by itself, but it places me at the centre of my world—I am here as the arbiter of what is right and wrong, what is good or sinful, and I will pray that the right should prevail and that goodness will flow our over humanity.  I choose, I decide, I pray: and then I am crestfallen and humiliated when it does not happen.

“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David;” cries out the Canaanite Woman, “my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.”  She does not ask for her daughter to be healed, though that would be a good and worthy thing to ask, nor that her daughter receive mercy.  In that moment she is recognising that she herself is not autonomous, not independent, but is dependent upon and needs the mercy—which is to say, the love—of God.  The scribes and the Pharisees, earlier in this chapter, could not recognise this: the Lord describes them, using the words of the prophet,

These people draw near to me with their mouth,
And honour me with their lips,
But their heart is far from me.
And in vain they worship me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Matthew 15:8–9, Isaiah 29:13

They could not recognise what the Canaanite Woman did: what is necessary is that they should ask for mercy, that they should repent.

And I consider my prayer and I start to apprehend that it is good to ask God for things but what is necessary for my salvation is I invite the mercy—the love, the healing, the grace—of God into me, that I repent, that I change into the person I was created to be.  And if I do that I will have heeded the words of the Lord,

[D]o not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:31–33

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray for our friends, pray for our families, pray for good things to happen in all the world, and most of all each pray for God’s mercy to flow through us.  And then, as the Lord sees fit for our salvation, he will act on our requests.

That we, coming before Jesus Christ in repentance and entreating him for his mercy, may glorify, praise and honour him, together with his unoriginate Father, and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit.  Amen.


Brethren, you are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.
— Second Corinthians 6:16–18, 7:1

At that time, Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
— Matthew 15:21–28