By: Dale Weckbacher
Mark 7:28-29
But she answered him,
“Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And
he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon
has left your daughter.”
(ESV)
The thought of tests usually conjures up negative
images. We may remember a tough test in
school for which we felt unprepared and spent all night the night before the
test studying. We may think of our
driver's test where we wanted our license to have the freedom of driving our
own car but feared failure and not achieving that freedom. It may be a medical test bringing fear the
doctors may find some disease, or it may be a test we need to pass to land our
dream job.
However, the testing of our faith in God is nothing to fear
for it results in steadfastness, leading to perfection and completeness in
Christ and lacking nothing (James
1:2-4). A word of caution here, lack
of nothing in one's life does not infer one having great material wealth but
instead, great spiritual wealth through a relationship with Christ made stronger
through testing from God. This is the
joy James speaks of when he reminds us to consider it all joy when testing
comes.
God tests the Syrophoenician Woman’s faith by,
1)
Jesus trying to sneak into town (Mark
7:24) – As God Jesus knew the woman’s need but is testing her to see if she
will seek Him out or seek help for her daughter from someone else. Her diligence in seeking Jesus out indicates
she has passed this first test. Life is
full of trials and challenges. The
common secular belief is to fight and work hard through the challenge. However, challenges like the demon-possession
of her daughter are not something the woman in this text could work out for
casting out a demon only comes through prayer (Mark
9:29). The woman passed this first
test by understanding her need required Godly intervention from Jesus who had already cast out demons.
2)
By not letting her social status and heritage
stop her (Mark
7:26) – This woman is a Gentile and someone a Jewish Rabbi could
reject. However, this woman has heard of
Jesus casting a demon out of the man in the country of the Gerasenes (Mark
5:1-20). Word of Jesus casting a
legion of demons into a herd of swine that drown themselves in the sea would
have spread quickly due to the immensity of the event. The woman obviously loved her daughter and
upon hearing of Jesus casting out a legion of demons knew she must approach
Jesus and take her chances on whether He would accept her.
3)
Upon seeing Jesus, she responds with worship (Mark
7:25) – Even though the woman was most likely in a panic over what was
happening to her daughter, she does not immediately plead with Jesus to cast
the demon out but instead falls at Jesus’ feet in worship. This indicates that not only had she heard of
Jesus reputation of casting out demons but that she believed he had divine
power and was worthy of worship.
4)
Jesus appears to reject her, but she stands
strong in her faith (Mark
7:27-28) – Jesus begins by calling the woman a dog due to her social status
as a Gentile. The choices for the woman
in this test is should I just leave, or should I stay and respond. However, due to a belief Jesus was a prophet
from God or even God Himself, the woman stands strong by saying all she needs
is the crumbs the children (the Jews) drop.
It is this response that causes the Woman to pass this test of her faith
with Jesus telling her to go home for the demon has left her daughter.
The Syrophoenician woman demonstrated steadfastness of faith
and received the reward of her daughter being free of the demon that possessed
her. When we have a need, we must follow
this woman’s example by seeking God, not feeling unworthy of God’s love, begin with the worship of God, and know that even crumbs from God can meet our
need. However, just like the example of
tests in school, passing tests of our faith require regular study of God’s word
and prayer. With this diligent study, we
are prepared to have the reflex action of turning to God in worship and knowing
God loves us and wants to meet our need.
My prayer is that those reading this will become steadfast in faith by
passing the tests of faith just like the Syrophoenician woman.
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