Predominate Faith | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Predominate Faith | Previous Challenge Entry
By Shanta Richard
04/22/11
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She was a Greek born in Syrian Phoenicia. She was a single mother caring for her demon - possessed daughter. Every treatment she had tried had proved futile. The reputation of Christ as a healer had spread beyond Palestine, to Tyre and Sidon. But there was a cultural and religious barrier she would have to cross to approach Him. She was a Canaanite and He was a Jew. In the past the Jews had taken over the country that belonged to them and since then there had been hatred between the two nations. Could she expect mercy from a Jew? Moreover she was a gentile and a woman.

She had insight and she had courage, motivated by that supreme force – a mother’s love. She was willing to surrender all just to see her child cured. Her child was her only hope for living and worth any amount of sacrifice. It was with remarkable perseverance that she was able to enter the presence of Jesus. She addressed Him as the Son of David and as King. She presented her case, “My child is demon- possessed.”

Jesus did not answer. She was puzzled by His silence. Into that period of silence the disciples spoke up, demanding that He send her away. Jesus looked up at her and said, “I was sent for the lost sheep of Israel.” She understood what He meant. She was a foreigner. She had no right for His blessings. Again her mother’s love prompted her to plead, “My Lord, help me.”

Jesus answered, “I cannot give the food meant for children to dogs.” Anyone else would have lost hope and walked away at those words. But she realized that here was someone who could heal her child. It was that outstanding faith that made her more adamant. She was not going to take “No” for an answer. She would find a way.

As a mother she knew that there were always crumbs beneath the table where children ate. She believed that even crumbs were powerful and could cure her child. So she begged for those crumbs. She was not diminishing the privilege of the children of Israel. She was only asking for the left-overs. Such outstanding faith can have only one answer.
“O, woman great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire.”

“We are puzzled initially by both the silence and the speech of Christ. Neither is what we expect of Him. But that is because we don’t know Him very well. When He is silent He still listens. When He rebukes He is still loving.” (Eugene H Peterson)

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