There is a strange account in the Gospels where a woman comes up to Jesus with a desperate plea because her daughter was dealing with a demon. The problem was that she was a Gentile, and Jews and Gentiles were not to mix or intermingle. But she tried all her sources, and she had heard about Jesus. Like the woman who dealt with hemorrhages for 12 years, she knew He had what it would take to heal her. But Jesus did something very strange with her: He showed her no compassion and insulted her. How? Why? Let’s explore.
At first, Jesus simply ignored her. He didn’t bother responding. He only turned to her when, in total desperation, she persisted, even though the disciples tried to send her away. Then Jesus told this woman straight to her face that He was sent to the children of Israel (the Jews) and that you don’t give the food meant for children to dogs. He called her a dog, which was a street animal, hardly a step above a pig, an unclean animal.
How insulting! How could Jesus, the very man who told a crowd, “He who is without sin cast the first stone” to save a woman caught in adultery, succumb to such racism and total disdain? He ignored her and then insulted her with a “You don’t have a right to what I offer” statement. How many of us would respond to that? I know what we would do. We’d just dismiss Jesus as being rude, inconsiderate, “un-Christlike,” and walk away. But why would we do that? The answer is because we are too self-centered and not desperate enough. We have seen the films where a coach will utterly rip into a player, not be nice at all, and totally diss him, but those insults awaken a drive to finally do what the coach knew he was capable of doing. And then the coach says, “Now we’re talking.” Jesus was doing something similar here.
Jesus was not deliberately ignoring her. He knew who she was and why she was there. He was testing her to see how desperate she was. Jesus taught the concept of “importunity,” unyielding and unrelenting pursuit of what we need, particularly through prayer. He wanted her to come after Him and not quit. Her situation left her no other choice. Jesus was the last option, and her daughter would die with that demon if He did not do something.
Then Jesus insulted her, calling her a dog and saying she was not worthy of eating at the children’s table. How did she respond? With humility, she used the same analogy to admit, “Yes, I am a dog, and yes, I am not worthy, but can something trickle down to me?” She knew she didn’t deserve anything, but she loved her child and wanted to see her well.
Jesus was amazed at her faith, knowing her place, knowing His place, and even knowing His mission. He tested her, and she passed the test. But Jesus also could have been testing His disciples to see if they cared. At first, they didn’t, so what He told her was what they were thinking. This Gentile woman was asking for that which belonged to the Jews? What is up with that? Yet she persisted, and Jesus, out of the genuine compassion He had all along, granted her request. And like the Centurion’s servant, this woman’s daughter was healed by a spoken word.
At times, Jesus will remain silent to our prayers. Now, there are times where God will flat out not answer them because we have been sinning, because we have selfish desires, we’re asking amiss, or a variety of reasons, but there are other times where we ask true, genuine prayers and God does not answer for a while. Are we going to give up after the first silence? After the second? The third? The tenth? Most do. They don’t know how to persist. And if God tells us, “You aren’t worthy of this,” most will think that’s a lie from the devil. But in this case, it came from Jesus. Are we going to feel insulted because we think we are worthy of God answering us? Or are we going to realize we don’t deserve anything from God and that we are not even worthy to be called children, and even being called a dog is still higher than we deserve? At least dogs get to dwell with the master. This woman knew her place and pleaded like a dog begging for something from the master, and the master gave it to her. How much more will God give to those whom He has adopted as children! Let us learn how to persist in our prayers and how to keep praying until we have what we need, but we need to be Kingdom-focused first before we do that.
Another challenge is, will we be content if God actually says “no”? We need to remember that the daughter was not dealing with a chronic illness, but a demon. It is different to be physically paralyzed versus dealing with a demon. Jesus never healed every physically disabled person, but He did deal with the demonic. And sometimes He does not give the answer we want, either to test our faith, or to test the faith of those around us. Let us take our requests before God, but let us also be content with the answer God gives. In this case, Jesus did not say “no.” So until God says “no,” and if your request has been tested to be in alignment with God’s will, go for it until the answer is given.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
0 comments:
Post a Comment