The Lord continued His ministry in Galilee for over a year, but the Jews had corrupt hearts which made them reject the Gospel. The Lord was tired of their hard-heartedness. He briefly stopped His ministry and went to Tyre in the land of the Gentiles. However, the Lord discovered amazing faith that He did not expect there.
A certain Syrophoenician woman found the Lord and asked Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. The Lord did not even listen to her. The fact that this gentile woman dared to find and talk to the Messiah of the Jews went against common sense. But the Lord’s real intent was that He wanted her to show a confident faith which surpassed the privilege of the Jews.
The Lord said, as if stabbing with a dagger, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs!” This poor woman pleaded for her child, yet she was treated like a filthy dog! If this woman turned around after being hurled with curses, it would be understandable. But her reaction was completely unexpected. “You are right. I am merely Your dog. But don’t even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs?”
The Lord was greatly surprised by the woman’s words. The Jews were proud of being God’s people. While they considered themselves as righteous and rejected the Gospel, this gentile woman plainly acknowledged her lowliness before the Lord and humbly asked for His help. Therefore, the Lord said to her, “You have great faith. Your request is granted!”
Though the door of grace was still closed to the gentiles, God’s grace came to the Syrophoenician woman as a special circumstance. What made this possible was the humility that she showed. This is what the Christian church must remember today.
We now enjoy God’s love as Christians. But this is not because we have the right to receive this love. As gentiles, we were governed by the prince of the power of the air and followed the lusts of the flesh. We lived as children of wrath. The grace of Christ came on us because the Jews took their blessings for granted and were proud. God turned the preaching of the Gospel to the gentiles as a kind of punishment for their hard-heartedness.
However, if this favor continues, will you consider this as your right? God’s attention turned away from the Jews because of their pride. What will happen if you also display this pride? If God did not spare the original branches, will He spare the grafted branches? We should not forget that we barely live due to God’s mercy, and we should stay humble.
We gained faith through repentance. If we really are people who have repented, we should not lose the heart of repentance our whole lives. Just as the warp and weft must be woven to form a cloth, we must not let go of faith along with repentance so that we can walk the path of eternal life to the end. If it was not for God’s mercy, we would be no different from the dogs rummaging through the trash. We must be humble if we want to remain in God’s love.
God provided a device to preserve our spirits known as ‘the church’. This was to prevent even the chance that we would fall into pride and become corrupt. Exalting yourself, arguing about your rights, or using the church as a means to satisfy greed is directly opposing the will of the Lord (who guides the church). Worthless people like us became members of the church completely by the Lord’s mercy. Let’s not forget this fact our whole lives, and be humbly led by the Lord to the end.
(Lord’s Day Service on August 1, 2021)
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