FBC Daily Devotional – April 23, 2021

Well, a good Friday to you.

Here we are winding down another week, looking forward to the Lord's Day this coming weekend and

gathering together with God's people and worshiping Him together.

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 Sunday School Hour at 9 .30, as well as the morning service at

10 .30, and just last week, we began live streaming the afternoon

service at 1 o 'clock.

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

by live stream.

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.

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.

You know, Satan, he exerts a powerful influence over people, and he

leaves them with a sense of hopelessness.

Helplessness, and leaves them in a state of despair.

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 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.

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.

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 you know, the fame of Jesus has spread afar.

And you notice where this is.

It says in verse 24 that Jesus arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

So he's actually left Galilee, gone out of the region altogether, and yet the

the ministry of Jesus has preceded him reaching even to this region.

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

due respect.

She comes before him.

She falls down at his feet.

Now, this is a first in terms of people coming to

Jesus and asking.

We don't have any earlier record of a woman coming and pleading in behalf of her

needy child, and she pleads for mercy.

And notice how she pleads in her plea for mercy.

She also recognizes Jesus' identity.

She fell at his feet, and she says to him in verse 28, she calls him,

Lord, and she calls, pleads for mercy, pouring her heart out

to the Lord Jesus.

And verse 25 demonstrates a persistency, that she's desperately

persistent in all of this.

We get, 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 Lord Jesus.

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

It's a Gentile woman.

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

Matthew just describes her as a Canaanite woman.

But what's what's most striking in this encounter is how Jesus

responds to her.

He initially responds with silence.

Do you see that?

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

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.

It says, he answered her not a word.

She comes to Jesus and says, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely demon -possessed.

And Jesus answered her, not a word.

Silence.

His disciples responded, not with silence, but with just rejection.

They said to her, send her away, for she cries out after us.

Get rid of this woman.

Get her out of here.

Well, then in verse 26, Jesus answered in a rather brusque way.

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

Is this cruel and demeaning?

In verse 24, he says, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

In other words, should I do anything for you?

You're not of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, are you?

And then to say to her, she says, I'm not going to take the

children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

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 Jesus handles people, and he's

not treating her cruelly and in a demeaning way.

His responses mean this.

The silence, the silence initially, is he's giving his disciples a chance to

respond.

How will they handle this situation?

What will their attitude be?

What would you have done?

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, 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 Galilee

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

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

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.

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 me see here, verse 27.

Mark 7, verse 27.

Yeah, okay, here we go.

Jesus said to her, let the children be filled first.

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

happened.

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.

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

for Gentiles, right?

What about this idea of the dogs?

Why do we call this woman a dog?

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

common Jewish term of derision for Gentiles.

Now, does that mean that Jesus has such a negative attitude toward the 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.

Would she protest?

Would she protest this term of derision?

Would she protest her position and say, wait a minute, you know, I'm not a dog.

I deserve this.

He's giving her an opportunity to do that.

Would she express an entitlement mentality?

Well, you should do it for me.

Why wouldn't you do it for me?

Is that going to be her response?

Well, no.

Look at how she does respond.

She answered and said to him, yes, Lord.

Yes.

But even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs.

What a marvelous response.

It's a response that accepts the authority of Jesus.

Yes, Lord.

It's a response that recognizes the uniqueness of the place of the Jews as God's people.

It's a response that accepts the subordination of the Gentiles

in that time, under the old covenant, and it's a response that

expresses faith in the grace and the generosity of the Lord Jesus.

Surely, you can throw me a crumb, can't you?

Surely, you can throw me a crumb.

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.

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.

What a blessing for this mother.

She asked, interceding for her daughter.

She trusted in the Lord and she received the promise of the

blessing, the demon has gone out, and it's confirmed in verse 30 when she gets home.

So, this is an odd encounter.

It's a strange encounter, but it's a unique one.

And it's one that's full of teaching, full of instruction for us on how to approach the 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.

Yeah, 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.

All right.

I hope you have a good rest of your Friday and a wonderful weekend.

May you get some rest this weekend.

May you get some spiritual refreshment in God's house with God's people worshiping our Lord.

Have a good day.

God bless.