Good Friday Sermon

"Feeding the Dogs"
[Mark 7:24-30]
April 14, 2006 Second Reformed Church

For whom did Jesus come?

Jesus had explained that spiritual cleanliness is a matter of the heart, not the body, and then He left with the disciples and went into the region of Tyre and they found a house where they could rest, for they desired to hide from the throng for awhile. Remember that Jesus is completely human, as well as completely divine, so He needed to rest His Body, just like us. But it was not to be.

A Gentile woman, a Syrophoenician, a non-Jew, who had heard of Jesus and His preaching and teaching and healing, and who had a little daughter who was possessed by an unclean spirit, came to Jesus and prostrated herself before Him. And she asked Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

Let us learn two things from her approach and her request:

First, she came to Jesus in all humility, and so ought we. We who are Christians are the sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, but God is still God and we are still humans, creatures. We can enter into the throne room of God with boldness thanks to Christ, but that boldness is not the same as arrogance; we must still come before our God understanding the relationship we have with Him. We no longer face condemnation, but we still must come before the Almighty God with our prayers in humility, recognizing the greatness of our God.

Second, she brought her cares to Christ, and especially her cares about her daughter. So, we Christians are also called to lift up our prayers to God. Part of the way in which we become Christ-like is in offering up our prayers to God. For, as we learn to pray rightly, we are changed such that we pray for God's Will. And notice one of the prayers that we are rightly compelled to lift up, is to pray for our children. All those who have children have the awesome responsibility of raising them in the teaching of the Scripture, and then to pray that God would be merciful and save them from the devil.

St. Augustine's mother, Monica, prayed for him for decades, that God would change his heart and deliver him from the devil. And God was pleased to deliver him and adopt him as a son. And the day finally came when St. Augustine turned back to the Scripture his mother had taught him.

We are to pray, and to pray, especially, for our children. And while our children are alive, we ought continue to pray for them, that they would be delivered and restored, that they would be pleasing in the sight of God. Let us come before God, humbly with our prayers, day after day, hour after hour, and year after year, especially for our children.

So, we see this good, Gentile mother come before Jesus in all humility, with dire concern for her daughter's deliverance, and she asked Jesus to cast the demon out of her. And Jesus said, "Let the children feed first, and it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

Is Jesus calling this woman and her daughter, "dogs"? Yes. Is He saying that He came for the children of Abraham, the Jews? Yes. Is He saying that He will not heal her unless she offers Him a good argument for healing her? No.

So many times this passage has been preached as though what it means is, "Jesus came to save the Jews only. And when they rejected Him, He switched to Plan B and offered salvation to the Gentiles as well." That's not true. That's not what Jesus is saying. Notice, Jesus said, "Let the children feed FIRST," that means it is His intention to feed the others, SECOND. Jesus' intention from before the creation was to come for some of the people of the Jews and some of the people of the Gentiles.

Paul tells us, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith'" (Romans 1:16-17).

Paul explains that, chronologically, the Gospel did come to the nation of Israel first, as was God’s Plan from all of eternity: "They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen" (Romans 9:4-5). God chose to reveal Himself through the nation of Israel and even to become incarnate as an Israelite.

Then, John tells us, "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:101-3). And some say, "Ah-hah. Jesus came to the Jews, failed, and went on to Plan B, the Gentiles."

No. "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not are all the children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named'" (Romans 9:6-8).

In other words, Jesus came for Israel -- the spiritual Israel -- which is made up of people who are from national Israel and from every other nation. God never intended that all of national Israel would receive Him; it was always God's Plan to offer the Gospel to all peoples, all nations.

So, at the time the Gentile woman came to Jesus, the Gospel was still being given to the Jews -- first -- though individual Gentiles had believed throughout history. So, Jesus was telling her that it was not time for the Gospel to be advanced among the Gentiles.

And though we may understand that, we wonder about the way Jesus addressed the woman: Wasn't Jesus out of line to call her and her child "dogs"? Perhaps the time for the Gentiles to hear the Gospel had not come, but did that give Jesus the right to insult them?

What was Jesus doing? We know the end of the story, so we know that Jesus delivered her daughter from the demon. So, what was He doing? He was testing her --strengthening her faith. She had come to Him, humbly, rightly, caring for her daughter, believing that Jesus is the Savior, but Jesus wanted to increase her faith by having her confess what the Father had revealed to her.

Jesus was obviously pleased at her response, "[Yes] Lord, [yet] the dogs underneath the table eat the little children's crumbs." She said, in effect, "I understand You are the Lord and Savior, and that You have come to the Jews first, but after the Jews have received the Gospel, their bread, we Gentiles receive the Gospel, the crumbs, just as was Your Plan from eternity."

And Jesus healed her daughter and sent the woman home, where she found her daughter, delivered from the demon. And so we see that Jesus came for all those He came to save, whether they be from the biological line of Abraham, or from Irvington, or Maplewood, or Union, or even Scotland. Jesus lived thirty-three years on earth, the Incarnate God, sinlessly obeying the Law, so He could credit that righteousness to those He came to save. Then, on that first Good Friday, His Arms were outstretched and spikes were pounded through them, and He received the Wrath of God for our sins in His Body, so those He came to save would be forgiven, and then He died.

And it would all be meaningless nonsense, except for the fact that we know Sunday is coming. On the third day He rose from the dead to the Glory of the Father and to seal the promises of the Gospel.

And with that, these words became Gospel: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:9-13).

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for sending Your Son to redeem all of the people that You always intended for Him to redeem. We thank You that You chose people from the line of Abraham and from every other nation of the world. We ask that we would be like the Gentile woman who came to You in faith and humility, praying according to Your Gospel. We ask, now, as we receive the bread and the cup and remember the crucifixion, that You would minister Your Grace to us. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.