Hello and welcome to the Women’s Weekly Bible Challenge! I’m Lisa Ann Spencer.
Today is part two of our study, When Jesus Speaks to
Women.
REVIEW:
In part 1, we covered the first Canonical recorded
occurrence of Jesus speaking directly to a woman in Matthew 9:18-22. Jesus
addressed the woman as ‘Daughter’ after He healed her of an issue of blood that
had plagued her for 12 years.
This conversation and miracle occurred when Jesus was on His way to lay
hands on another ‘Daughter’, the 12-year-old daughter of Jairus, the
ruler of a synagogue.
JESUS SPEAKS TO A GENTILE!
I hope you had the opportunity to read through the book of
Matthew for yourself. If you did, you
probably saw that Jesus addressed many crowds which, no doubt, consisted of
men, women and children. For the sake of our study, we will focus on the next recorded
conversation between Jesus and a woman in Matthew chapter 15.
By comparing scripture with scripture, we can define many of
the terms that are used in these passages. By doing so, we will learn what God
would have us to know. It is always best to let scripture define words for us.
In this passage, Jesus was continuing his ministry in
northern Israel near the Sea of Galilee.
At the beginning of both of these chapters, we read about the scribes
and Pharisees from Jerusalem, who had traveled north to confront Jesus. They
were trying to catch Jesus breaking the Law of Moses. They confronted Jesus
because He did not keep the traditions of the elders of
Israel. Jesus called them hypocrites because they forsook the Law for the sake of keeping the traditions. His disciples asked Him if He knew that
the Pharisees were offended by His saying.
Matthew and Mark both tell us that Jesus then departed into the
coasts, or borders, of Tyre and Sidon; Mark states that He entered a house that
no man would know where He was.
📔NOTE: In the King James Bible, words are defined for us by a God-given,
cross-reference system. We tend to
think of ‘coasts’ as a ‘beach’ or a ‘seashore’, but we can see clearly that ‘coasts’
is defined as ‘borders’ when we compare the verses.
Tyre is a famous Gentile city, and Sidon is a Gentile
country. Tyre, or Tyrus, is found in the Old
Testament and is compared to Satan, the antichrist. Sidon, or Zidon, is the city of Jezebel, which is
steeped in paganism. It is here we encounter a woman of Canaan who came out of
those same coasts looking for Jesus. She
is referred to as a Greek and a Syrophenician in the passage from the
book of Mark. God is giving us enough
information to make sure we understand that this woman is a Gentile; she is not of Israel.
How is it that a Gentile woman knew who Jesus was? Obviously she had heard of His fame (Matthew
4:24; Mark 1:28). When she found Him, she cried after Him, “O Lord, thou son of David”.
‘Son of David’ is a Messianic title.
She knows Jesus is the expected Messiah, the seed of David! This demonstrates to us that the word of God
had gone out into the world as the Bible claims (Psalms 19:4; Romans 10:18). If a Gentile woman understood, then surely Israel should have also known
the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3).
And what does Jesus say to this Gentile woman who is begging
Him to heal her daughter? NOTHING! He
ignores her. We read that He answers her not a word!
She must have begun begging the disciples to help her,
because they go to Jesus and ask Him to send her away. They have no interest in helping her.
Matthew 15:24 But he
answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.
Jesus is saying that
this Gentile woman is outside His present scope of ministry.
The woman comes and worships Jesus, calling Him
‘Lord’ again.
The King James Bible cross-references ‘worshipped’ in the
Matthew account, and ‘fell at his feet’ in Mark’s
account, to teach us that when we see someone falling or kneeling at Jesus’s feet,
they are worshipping Him.
📔NOTE: Jesus always accepted
worship. Peter did not accept worship
(Acts 10:25-26), Paul did not accept worship (Acts 14:11-15), and the angel did
not accept worship (Revelation 22:8-9).
God alone may be worshipped.
Jesus is God! He was not just a
prophet as many false religions teach.
This woman begs Jesus to help her daughter who, in Matthew’s
account, is ‘grievously vexed with a devil’; or in Mark’s account, that He
would cast forth ‘the unclean spirit from her daughter’. Again we see the Bible defining these terms
for us.
Jesus speaks to her at last. And what does He say?
Matthew 15:26 Be he
answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast
it to dogs.
Mark 7:27 But Jesus
said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take
the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
In case you do not understand the meaning, Jesus has already
stated plainly that He was sent to minister only to Israel. It would not be proper to take what is meant
for Israel – the bread, which is the word of God, nor the signs of Israel's kingdom,
such as healing – and cast it to a
Gentile dog.
You must understand that all Israel was to be filled first,
and then the Gentiles would be reached through
Israel’s rise (Isaiah 60:3).
Their kingdom would be established on earth (1 Chronicles 17:11), and then the Law would be taught to all
nations from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3;
Micah 4:2), just as it was prophesied throughout the Old Testament.
What was this woman’s response to being reminded that she is
a Gentile dog, and that her needs cannot take precedence over Israel’s
preeminence?
She agreed! She said, Truth,
Lord!
Unlike the rulers of Israel that we read about earlier in
these chapters who were offended at Jesus’s preaching of the truth, this
Gentile woman was not offended by the truth.
She concedes to the truth, as we all should.
Once again, she proves to us that even the Gentiles knew the
word of God, and that they understood God’s plan for Israel to have dominion
over the Gentiles. That should make us
say WOW! It made me say WOW about 24
years ago when my eyes were opened to what it meant to “rightly divide the word
of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
The woman goes on to say that all she wants is a crumb from Israel’s
table.
Jesus, the God of the Universe, marvels at her great faith,
and so He heals her daughter.
Matthew
15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour.
CHALLENGE: Search the terms “Great” and “Faith” in your King
James Bible. Here are some amazing
results:
- Matthew 8:10 Spoken to a Gentile
- Matthew 15:28 Spoken to a Gentile
- Luke 7:9 Spoken of a Gentile
Jesus came searching for faith in Israel and lamented that
He did not find it (Luke 13:7; 18:8).
When you search the words “Little” and “Faith”, you will
find that Jesus is always upbraiding a Jew for having so little faith:
- Matthew 6:30
- Matthew 8:26
- Matthew 14:31
- Matthew 16:8
- Luke 12:28
I hope you’ll join me for part three!
The content of this Blog can be found in this YouTube video:
Comments
Post a Comment