Lesson 2437

(Lesson 2437)(08-17-18) Mark 7:24-30
    “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. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 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. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.”

   Today’s quote relates that Jesus expelled a devil from the daughter of a Grecian woman, someone who was a Gentile. (It is immportant to remember that Jesus was a Jew and that Jews were to avoid any contact with Gentiles because they were seen as “unclean” by tradition.)
    What Jesus did for that woman is significant to us today in that it confirms that Jesus, during His earthly ministry, dealt, except with very few examples, with Jews. He referred to the woman, a Gentile, as a dog, when He said, “it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs”. Yet, because of the faith and determination demonstrated by the woman, He honored her request.
    We will learn that later, after the Jews had rejected Jesus and His teaching, the word would be given to the Gentiles through Saul of Tarsus, (Paul) who would be converted by Jesus Himself and made responsible to preach the new law of faith to the Gentiles.~