FBC Daily Devotional – April 23, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:06

Well, a good Friday to you. Here we are winding down another week, looking forward to the

00:12

Lord's Day this coming weekend and gathering together with God's people and worshipping him together.

00:17

Hope you'll be able to join us. If you can't do it in person, then join by live stream, and we'll be live streaming the

00:25

Sunday school hour at 9 .30, as well as the morning service at 10 .30,

00:32

and just last week we began live streaming the afternoon service at 1 o 'clock.

00:38

So I hope you can join us for these services, if not in person, at least by live stream.

00:46

Well, today you read in Mark chapter 7, and you read this very interesting encounter that Jesus has with a woman, and she's a mother whose situation is very grave.

00:59

Her daughter is in very serious condition. She comes to Jesus, and we read in verse 25 that she fell down before him, and she pleaded with him because her daughter was possessed of a devil.

01:16

You know, Satan, he exerts a powerful influence over people, and he leaves them with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, and leaves them in a state of despair.

01:31

Maybe we don't see much, if any, of the kind of demon possession and devil control in such extreme ways as was common when

01:44

Jesus was publicly on the earth, but he nevertheless, the wicked one nevertheless, holds terrible sway over people and leaves them in despair and helplessness.

01:54

And certainly this was the case for this young daughter. And so the mother comes, and it's a very appropriate approach that she has.

02:02

She responds to what she knew of Jesus. We read in verse 25 that she had heard about him, and who knows what she heard and from whom she heard it, but the fame of Jesus has spread afar.

02:17

And you notice where this is. It says in verse 24 that Jesus arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

02:23

So he's actually left Galilee, gone out of the region altogether, and yet the ministry of Jesus has preceded him, reaching even to this region.

02:35

So this woman hears of Jesus and what he can do, and she actually shows him due respect.

02:43

She comes before him. She falls down at his feet. Now this is a first in terms of people coming to Jesus and asking.

02:54

We don't have any earlier record of a woman coming and pleading in behalf of her needy child, and she pleads for mercy.

03:04

And notice how she pleads in her plea for mercy. She also recognizes

03:09

Jesus' identity. She fell at his feet, and she says to him in verse 28, she calls him

03:17

Lord, and she pleads for mercy, pouring her heart out to the

03:24

Lord Jesus. And verse 25 demonstrates a persistency, that she's desperately persistent in all of this.

03:33

If you read a parallel passage in Matthew chapter 15, it contains even more descriptive, greater description of her treatment or of her approach to the

03:47

Lord Jesus. So it's a woman approaching, but what's also a first is it's a Gentile woman. It's a

03:53

Gentile woman. Mark tells us that she was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth.

03:59

Matthew just describes her as a Canaanite woman. But what's most striking in this encounter is how

04:08

Jesus responds to her. He initially responds with silence.

04:16

Do you see that? He says, you know, she comes and pleads, and he doesn't do anything.

04:22

Now we see that silence in Matthew 15. So I want to look at that parallel passage, because there again we have a greater unfolding of this.

04:31

It says, he answered her not a word. She comes to Jesus and says, have mercy on me,

04:36

O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely demon -possessed. And Jesus answered her, not a word, silence.

04:47

His disciples responded, not with silence, but with just rejection. They said to her, send her away, for she cries out after us.

04:57

Get rid of this woman. Get her out of here. Well then in verse 26, Jesus answered in a rather brusque way.

05:07

He answered and said, isn't it good to take the children's bread and throw it unto the dogs?

05:14

Is this cruel and demeaning? In verse 24, he says,

05:21

I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, should

05:26

I do anything for you? You're not of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, are you?

05:33

And then to say to her, she says, I'm not going to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

05:41

Should I take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs? Was this cruel and demeaning? Well, there's some significance, as always, in the way

05:49

Jesus handles people. And he's not treating her cruelly and in a demeaning way.

05:57

His responses mean this, the silence, the silence initially, is he's giving his disciples a chance to respond.

06:05

How will they handle this situation? What will their attitude be? What would you have done?

06:11

What would you have said? How would you have responded? And then in verse 24, here in Matthew chapter 15, in verse 24, when he says,

06:20

I was not sent except to the lost house of Israel, what he's saying here is, he's wanting to affirm with his disciples that just because they've left

06:32

Galilee doesn't mean that he's turned his back on and is abandoning the

06:37

Jews. He's affirming that they have a special role and a special function in his plan.

06:43

In fact, he affirms this in verse 26 when he says, it's not good to give the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

06:49

So there's a special place for the children, the children of Israel. And then back in Mark chapter 7, in our reading for today, in verse 27, he says this, let

07:13

Mark 7, verse 27, yeah, okay, here we go. Jesus said to her, let the children be filled first.

07:21

See again, you look at these parallel passages and you can get a fuller description of all that happened.

07:28

He says, let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.

07:35

So by saying, let the children be filled first, he's opening the door of hope for Gentiles.

07:43

What about this idea of the dogs? Why do we call this woman a dog?

07:50

Well, we have to understand that the idea of the dogs was a common

07:56

Jewish term of derision for Gentiles. Now, does that mean that Jesus has such a negative attitude toward the

08:06

Gentiles? No, I don't think so. I think what's happening here is Jesus is giving this woman every opportunity to abandon her request, but at the same time, to demonstrate her humble faith, to demonstrate her faith.

08:23

Would she protest? Would she protest this term of derision? Would she protest her position and say, wait a minute,

08:31

I'm not a dog, I deserve this. He's giving her an opportunity to do that.

08:37

Would she express an entitlement mentality? You should do it for me. Why wouldn't you do it for me?

08:44

Is that going to be her response? Well, no. Look at how she does respond.

08:50

She answered and said to him, yes, Lord, yes, but even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs.

08:59

What a marvelous response. It's a response that accepts the authority of Jesus, yes,

09:07

Lord. It's a response that recognizes the uniqueness of the place of the

09:13

Jews as God's people. It's a response that accepts the subordination of the

09:21

Gentiles in that time and the Old Covenant. It's a response that expresses faith in the grace and the generosity of the

09:33

Lord Jesus. Surely you can throw me a crumb, can't you? Surely you can throw me a crumb.

09:40

Well, this all turns out to a great blessing. Verses 29 and 30, he said to her, for this saying of yours, go your way, the demon has gone out of your daughter.

09:52

I'll do more than throw you a crumb. I'll solve the problem. When she'd come to her house, she found the demon gone out and her daughter lying on the bed.

10:02

What a blessing for this mother. She asked, interceding for her daughter.

10:09

She trusted in the Lord, and she receives the promise of the blessing.

10:16

The demon has gone out, and it's confirmed in verse 30 when she gets home. This is an odd encounter.

10:24

It's a strange encounter, but it's a unique one. It's one that's full of teaching, full of instruction for us on how to approach the

10:32

Lord. Not with a sense of entitlement, like you owe me, I deserve it, but with one that just simply trusts in his mercy, his grace, and his kindness.

10:45

May we be like her. Our Father in heaven, teach us to have this kind of humble spirit, and this we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

10:56

All right, I hope you have a good rest of your Friday and a wonderful weekend. May you get some rest this weekend.

11:03

May you get some spiritual refreshment in God's house with God's people worshipping our Lord. Have a good day.