Humility and Faith

Can you believe what Jesus said to this woman?! He compared her and her daughter to hungry dogs attempting to steal bread from hungry children. Oh how the real Jesus offends ours modern sensibilities!

We in the Western world have been conditioned for thousands of years to vigorously defend our self worth and our rights before men. Interestingly as I have been reading about English culture and history, from which American culture is derived and whose influence in the western world is not insignificant, I find that these traits go far back at least to the time of our Lord and probably further. Now I would also note that it was Christ Himself has taught us that we are individually of infinite worth to God. So indeed we must not discount the work of Christ in this regard. However, we can learn much from this unlearned Syro-Phoenecian woman.

This woman had an honest appraisal of herself and her family. It is true that we are of great worth to our Lord. Yet it is because of our Lord and not because of some inherit trait of ourselves that we are so elevated. She saw her need and her utter powerless position to satisfy it and as such appealed to Christ. I can only think that Christ knew what He would do ahead of time for this woman though this is my conjecture. He indeed loved the Gentiles as well as the Jews but I'm sure was seeking to test her.

Again it does not explicitly say He was testing her but it seems consistent with other parts of scripture. The most evident test was a test of humility. Who did she think she was before the Lord? Did she demand a miracle? Did she think the Lord was compelled by anything to meet her need? Her need was mercy, and so is ours. We have no right in and of ourselves to demand anything from God. We are to be humble before Him. There, however is another test that may be hidden in Jesus' statement.

He said that the children should be fed first and then the dogs. Again in our ears this would sound very prejudiced but it was the truth. Yet again I think that the Lord was testing her heart. What did she think of the Lord? Was He a traveling magician or was He a merciful Saviour? Hebrews 11:6 it says that it is impossible to please God without faith, and that he who comes to must not only believe that He exists but that He also rewards those who earnestly seek Him. This last part is so key to our understanding.

Christ longs for us to know Him as He truly is, a loving and merciful savior and King. Oh how this understanding would change our lives! The solution to our anxieties and the key to our faith is understanding that God loves us and rewards us and is seeking our good! This woman seems to have had faith in the character of Christ and He rewarded her by revealing it to her in a miraculous answer to prayer.

Created over 1 year ago