Matthew 15:22

Also whosoever has his conscience polluted with the defilement of any sin, has a daughter sorely vexed by a daemon. Also whosoever has defiled any good that he has done by the plague of sin, has a daughter tossed by the furies of an unclean spirit, and has need to fly to prayers and tears, and to seek the intercessions and aids of the saints.

(ap. Anselm.) The great faith of this Chananæan woman is herein shewed. She believes Him to be God, in that she calls Him Lord; and man, in that she calls Him Son of David. She claims nothing of her own desert, but craves only God's mercy. And she says not, Have mercy on my daughter, but Have mercy on me; because the affliction of the daughter is the affliction of the mother. And the more to excite His compassion, she declares to Him the whole of her grief, My daughter is sore vexed by a dœmon; thus unfolding to the Physician the wound, and the extent and nature of the disease; its extent, when she says is sore vexed; its nature, by a dæmon.

And behold a woman. Here the insistence of the woman is presented. In her petition three things are signified. First, piety; second, faith; third, humility; and these are necessary for obtaining what one asks. The second begins at but she came and adored him; the …

The woman said, "Have mercy, not on my daughter, who is unconscious, but on me who am suffering and experiencing these terrible things." And she did not say, "Come and heal," but "Have mercy."

So then, let everyone who wants approach Him, and let the one say: "Son of David, have mercy on me"; and, if he hears, "What do you want Me to do for you?" let him say quickly, "Lord, let me receive my sight," and right …

If Christ had not now made a visit to these coasts, though the mercy was worth travelling far for, it is probable that she had never come to him. Note, It is often an excitement to a dormant faith and zeal, to have opportunities of acquaintance with Christ brought to our doors, to have the word nigh us.

And behold a woman of Canaan,....

A woman of Canaan - Matthew gives her this name because of the people from whom she sprung - the descendants of Canaan, Jdg 1:31, Jdg 1:32; but Mark calls her a Syrophenician, because of the country where she dwelt. The Canaanites and Phoenicians have been often confounded. This is frequently the case in the Septuagint. Compare Gen 46:10, with Exo 6:15, where the same person is called a Phoenician in the one place, and a Canaanite in the other. See also the same version in Exo 16:35; Jos 5:

WE learn from this chapter, dear Friends, that our Master was tired of battling with hypocrites and formalists and, therefore, withdrew Himself from them. They had come to Him with their foolish charges that His disciples did not observe the traditions of the elders and they made a great fuss about meats, drinks, washing of hands and all sorts of trifles. The Savior spoke very effectively to them—what if I say that He fired His great gun once and for all and silenced them?

Another of our Lord’s miracles is recorded in these verses:the circumstances which attend it are peculiarly full of interest; let us take them in order, and see what they are. Every word in these narratives is rich in instruction. We see in the first place, that true faith may sometimes be found where it might have been least expected. A Canaanite woman cries to our Lord for help, on behalf of her daughter. “Have mercy on me, she says O Lord thou son of David!” she says.

Another of our Lord’s miracles is recorded in these verses:the circumstances which attend it are peculiarly full of interest; let us take them in order, and see what they are. Every word in these narratives is rich in instruction. We see in the first place, that true faith may sometimes be found where it might have been least expected. A Canaanite woman cries to our Lord for help, on behalf of her daughter. “Have mercy on me, she says O Lord thou son of David!” she says. Such a prayer would have showed great faith had she lived in Bethany or Jerusalem; but when we find that she came from the “coasts of Tyre and Sidon”, such a prayer may well fill us with surprise. It ought to teach us that it is grace, not place, which makes people believers. We may live in a prophet’s family, like Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, and yet continue impenitent, unbelieving and fond of the world. We may dwell in the midst of superstition and dark idolatry, like the little maid in Naaman’s house, and yet be faithful witnesses for God and his Christ. Let us not despair of anyone’s soul merely because his lot is cast in an unfavorable position. It is possible to dwell in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and yet sit down in the kingdom of God. We see in the second place, that affliction sometimes proves a blessing to a person’s soul. The Canaanite mother, no doubt, had been sorely tried. She had seen her darling child vexed with a devil, and been unable to relieve her; but yet that trouble brought her to Christ, and taught her to pray. Without it she might have lived and died in careless ignorance, and never seen Jesus at all. Surely it was good for her that she was afflicted ( Psalm 119:71 ). Let us mark this well. There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble. We forget that every cross is a message from God, and intended to do us good in the end.

WE learn from this chapter, dear Friends, that our Master was tired of battling with hypocrites and formalists and, therefore, withdrew Himself from them. They had come to Him with their foolish charges that His disciples did not observe the traditions of the elders and they made a great fuss about meats, drinks, washing of hands and all sorts of trifles. The Savior spoke very effectively to them—what if I say that He fired His great gun once and for all and silenced them? He told them that the real defilement which rendered men unclean before God was not a matter of externals, but it concerned the heart—and that it was not that which entered into a man by way of meats and drinks which defiled him—but that which came out of him in his words and actions which were the result of the impure desires within his heart. Having thus, as it were, annihilated their flimsy arguments, or scattered them to the four winds of Heaven, the Master went right away from the quibblers. Do you not feel, sometimes, as if you would like to act in the same way? If you are true Believers. If you have learned to worship God in spirit and in truth, do you not get weary with the endless wrangles about rituals, outward ceremonies and the special and particular way in which Divine Worship should be performed? Do you not feel as if there were something better for you to do than to be always fighting about these secondary matters? Besides this, the atmosphere that was round about these hypocrites and formalists was so heavy, so laden with noxious fog, so unfit for a spiritually-minded person to breathe, that the Lord wanted to get right away from it to some quiet place where He might rest and, as it were, recover Himself from the sense of oppression and weariness which had come over Him in such company.