Thursday, 1 January 2026
But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” Matthew 15:23
Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen).
You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).
“And He answered not a word. And having approached, His disciples, they entreated Him, saying, ‘You dismiss her! For she cries after us’” (CG).
In the previous verse, the woman of Canaan came to Jesus while He was in the region of Tyre and Sidon, begging Him to have mercy on her, seeking help for her demon-possessed daughter. Matthew continues the narrative, saying, “And He answered not a word.”
There are various thoughts on the cold shoulder, which is presented here. Some think that Jesus knew all along what would occur, and He was testing her, allowing the situation to unfold before doing what He knew He would do all along. Ellicott thinks that “the prevailing power of prayer working on the sympathy of Christ” is what eventually will motivate Him.
But at this point, He is candid about why He does not respond to her. That will be seen in the next verse. Jesus was on a mission. It was purposeful, targeted, and required His full attention. Hence, at this time, He did not answer her as she croaked out for her daughter. Matthew continues, saying, “And having approached, His disciples, they entreated Him.”
A new word is seen here, erótaó, to interrogate. HELPS Word Studies says, “make an earnest request, especially by someone on ‘special footing,’ i.e. in ‘preferred position.’” A good word to define this is entreat. The disciples are in such a preferred position, and they want to know why He is allowing this to continue.
One can see them, saying to Him (the verb is imperfect), “Why are you allowing her to annoy us. Why don’t you just tell her to leave!” It was an interrogation of sorts as to His motives for doing nothing, one way or another. In their ongoing words, Matthew notes they were “saying, ‘You dismiss her! For she croaks after us.’”
Stating the obvious doesn’t help anything here. Jesus knows she is there, and yet He is neither dismissing her nor assisting her. Therefore, their petition must be more for their own benefit than to convince Him. They are trying to figure out why He is not acting.
Life application: Put yourself in such a position. If you have been given instructions to do something, and yet an issue arises that does not fit within the parameters of your instructions, but you also don’t want to ignore the issue, what would you do?
It is probable that most people would not act. Not acting is not a violation of the mission unless it was made explicit from the outset. To cover every such condition would mean an infinitely long list. Hence, such things are normally not even addressed.
Think of any movie or play where such an event arises. A person has to do something. A secondary issue enters the scene that is not a part of the mission, but which has taken hold of the main actor. It introduces a tension into the narrative as both issues are dealt with. The main directive is followed while the secondary issue is allowed to play out, even though nothing is actively done about it by the main character.
This type of thing happens in real life all the time. An example might be a missionary who goes to a foreign land. His mission is to evangelize the people, making converts. He is not being paid for other things. While there, he meets a lady whom he is big time interested in. However, she is not a Christian, having not accepted the gospel.
What will he do? He cannot act toward her to develop a relationship because that would be contrary to the faith. However, he doesn’t want her to go away either. And so he does nothing. Regardless of the outcome (but for the sake of the love story, we’ll say she eventually accepts Jesus and they get married), the tension has developed.
This is as common as bullets in an ammo factory, and it is just why so many stories, plays, and movies are developed with this theme. It is a part of the human condition. In the end, when the rules are adhered to and yet the outcome is positive, we always get the best feeling when the story is over. Why? Because to do wrong, despite often being our default setting, is never the preferred option.
Therefore, to allow events to play out to a resolution (hopefully a happy one like our missionary example) is what stirs our human emotions the most. Think about this and consider it as this short story, relayed by Matthew, unfolds before us.
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16
Lord God, thank You for the humanity of our Messiah, Jesus. In seeing how He responded to the world around us, we have the perfect example of how to conduct our own affairs. May we learn to hold fast to Your word at all times while allowing surrounding events to play out in a way that will be favorable to our hopes and desires. Amen.