Mark 7: 27-30 New Living Translation Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, 27 Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” 28 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” 29 “Good answer!” He said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone. My Chloe, who is our new family dog pictured above, is so persistent, she just simply will not take no for an answer when it comes to food. She'll stand by you, come under you and even jump on you in order to get just a little of whatever you're eating. The truth is she's a liitle spoiled and we can't help but look at those eyes and give her whatever she wants. Our pets our so important to us but as much as we love them we know that somehow they are different than our human loved ones. Jesus made this distinction in today's Bible reading but He wasn't comparing the woman who was a "Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia" a dog in a sense that He was saying she was unclean in anyway and she picked up on this right away. She was persistent in asking when Jesus wouldn't answer and the disciples spoke up, just so she would stop asking, she kept on and even threw herself at His feet when He was taking off. It's at this point that Jesus says that He must first feed His own. She was quick to pick up that He wasn't saying that she, as a gentile and not a Jew [one of His own] would receive nothing but rather would receive after. Jesus acknowledging her faith said, " “Good answer! Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter." She still had to exercise even more faith because now she must walk away from Jesus and by faith believe that her daughter has already been delivered from the demon. We are people that want instant gratification, we want things now. We are so used to this, we have everything we need right at out fingertips from information to the power to turn on and change our TV. (I still remember when we used to have to manually turn on the TV and get up when we wanted to change it!) It's going to be a little harder for us to wait and trust that what Jesus has promised He will deliver. Will we live by faith in light of His word or in doubt only by what we can see.
3 Comments
Alan
11/6/2016 11:30:24 am
Amén! I remember a time when you taught me about the 3D's " Duty-Discipline-Delight"
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Miguel Crespo
11/7/2016 04:07:50 pm
As long as we are in these bodies we will have conflict with what the body wants and what the Spirit wants. It like swimming up stream, we have to keep going or the current will drag us back faster than we we're swiming forward. So like Dory says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." ??
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Alan
11/7/2016 08:33:52 pm
Thank you Miguel😇 your answers continue to encourage me Leave a Reply. |
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