Conference yukon::christian_v7

  Hi Mike,

  Jesus often *tested* people according to the current ideas of the day.

  This did not necessarily mean that He Himself believed these premises.

  In fact Jesus did heal this woman. And that healing was based upon
  *her faith* and not her race, so you see Jesus in this passage is 
  teaching us that Our Heavenly Father's favor is granted now on the
  basis of faith and not race or any other physical thing.

  Hank

    Matthew 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of
        Tyre and Sidon.
     22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and
        cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of
        David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
     23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and
        besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
     24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep
        of the house of Israel.
     25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
     26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's
        bread, and to cast it to dogs.
     27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
        fall from their masters' table.
     28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
        faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was
        made whole from that very hour.
    
    Mark 7:24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre
        and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know
        it: but he could not be hid.
     25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit,
        heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
     26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she
        besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her
        daughter.
     27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it
        is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the
        dogs.
     28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under
        the table eat of the children's crumbs.
     29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is
        gone out of thy daughter.
     30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out,
        and her daughter laid upon the bed.
    
    

    Read note 12.129 for instructions on how to set up the online
    conc/Bible whatever you want to call it.
    
    (Thanks ML!)
    
    p

    I second Hank's reply (Hank - this is the *third* time in a week, must
    be that eclipse thing ;-)
    
    This is somewhat similar to His reply upon being called "Good rabbi" -
    He said, "Why do you call Me 'good'?  Only G-d is good."
    
    On hearing this initially, without stopping to think about it, one
    might suppose He means that no one should equate Him with G-d.  But
    that doesn't sound consistent with the words He also said..."before
    Abraham was, I AM..." (at which point some of the people wanted to
    stone Him for blasphemy as they clearly understood such words as 
    claiming to be G-d).
    
    I find this phrase to be a test as well...to put it another way, "Why
    are you calling Me 'good'?  If you know that only G-d is good, are you
    recognizing Who it is that's speaking to you?  Do you realize I am He?"
    
    
    Steve

Hi Mike.

Do you see how the woman addressed Jesus - from Matthew 15:22?  She called 
him "Son of David".  A specifically Jewish title.  She was not a Jew, and 
was effectively saying :
	"As You are *their* holy person, will you do something for me?
	 - can your benefits extend beyond the borders of Judaism?"

Now if Jesus was an ordinary man, whose primary mission on earth was, say, 
just to help individuals living around him to have an easier life, this
wouldn't have mattered.  He could have said : 
	"Sure!  Consider it done!" 
		- and it would have been done!

However, Jesus wanted to draw a greater faith out from her, to realise that
He could be *her* Lord.  The 'worship' evoked in verse 25 isn't to gratify
delusions of grandeur (Hey, how *could* God have that - He already *is* the
ultimate... ;-) - the worship is so that she can receive the greater
blessing.  No - the GREATEST blessing.  Jesus cared enough for her to spend
that little time with her to give, not just a temporal / physical blessing,
but - to give a glimpse of what He really came for - the ultimate way to
the glory of God.... 

Mike, the minister's interpretation of Jesus' response as cultural bigotry 
says more about the minister than it does about Jesus!  It says that the 
minister has set himself up in a position to judge Jesus' words.  He hasn't 
understood Jesus' message, but rather than admit it, he has used it as a 
vehicle for a personal point he's trying to make.  ie - he is relying on 
human wisdom instead of Divine wisdom, and should not be in a position of 
spiritual instruction.

Malachi 2:7:
 "For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth 
  men should seek instruction - because he is a messenger of the LORD 
  Almighty."
- I believe that this also applies to the minister of the New Covenant, 
particuarly in view of James 3:1...

							God bless
								Andrew

Thanks for the verse extractions, Phil... ;-)

    Thank you all for your guidance. I knew things would be cleared up by
    you wonderful folk! I feel a lot better about this, and not a little
    worse that I understand so little of what the Bible has to tell me.
    
    This conference does help me a great deal!
    
    Thanks again.
    Mike