She saw in him the messianic King who had authority over every evil spirit. Knowing that he alone could help her child, she pleaded for mercy, crying out persistently (Matthew 15:23) for relief for her daughter, who was afflicted by a demon. Her distress’s redemptive purpose was how it drove her to Jesus.
The Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon cried out to Jesus because she recognized in him the messianic King who holds authority over every evil spirit. Knowing that only he could deliver her child, she pleaded for mercy on behalf of her daughter, who was grievously afflicted by a demon1. The child’s suffering, in her eyes, equated to her own suffering; she cried out persistently, as if the pain were hers (see Matthew 15:23). Yet this very distress had a redemptive purpose, for it drove her to seek Jesus. Without such anguish, she might never have come to meet him (Bette, page 361).
22 Et voici, une femme cananéenne, qui venait de ces contrées, lui cria: Aie pitié de moi, Seigneur, Fils de David! Ma fille est cruellement tourmentée par le démon.