The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-10-18

ChTonologicaIly the incident Of the
c]enturtOns servent precedes that OF
the Syrophenician woman. though We
viii look at them in the order suE'
Eestcd The one incident occurs near
the border Of Tyre and Sidou, prob
ably about May or June. A. D.. 20, and
the other in CapernaUm during tho
summer OF A. y. %. Roth are Incl
dents in the life Of Jesus that have
to do with his ministry as the Hebrew
Messiah to those who were outside Of
the pale Of Judaism.
At the beginning OF Marks record
". 24) we have a wonderful sugges'
ton as to the strain Of Jesus, ministry
and the accompanying lesson that
true righteousness cannot be hid. It
speaks for itself.
There nre four uses Of the
"answerod' in Matthew'S rccor
this incident Matt. lj;2l-2S) tina
suggestive. Let us first, howevel
the setting. This woman was a { ",
"A Gentle, by race she was q Sy'
~rophenician, that is, n C~anaanito.
Thus she was a descendant of that
race whom God, by the hand Of Josh.
ua, had driven out to make room for
the Hebrew nation, and as such Is
under the ban Of God, See Eph 2;l&
Yet this reaches Jesus, her
trouble being that her daughter Is
possessed by nm u~nslean spirit. At
her approach she takes a lowly place
at Jesus feet and requests that he
heal the child She calls him the
son Of David" and He answered
her not a word" Matt. 1928, She
had no claim upon him as the Mes
stab. This wac the wrong footing, for
she was not a child Of the kingdom.
1t was her need that drove her to
him. How she had heard OF him Is
suggested in Mark 3:S and 1924, CT.
Rom, 1917. There are some ques'
ton that silence win not answer. A
wrong conclusion will be reached, as
In this case the disciples came to q
wrong conclusion and desired to
send her away" Contrast Jesus
patience with the disciples impa-
tience, she crieth after US and en-
phasize the danger Of external judg-
ment, There are many great moral
issues today that are demanding an
other answer than that of silence,
The Answer Of Law. b
Jesus then made a second answer,
the answer Of law, Matthew 1924, In
which he accepts her estimate Of him
o. the Jewish Messiah His work
was primarily to the Jews John Ill,
12). But her need was great, and
Identifying herself with the need OF
the child she "worshipped" jesus.
He Is more than the Messiah, he Is q
Saviour, Not yet, however, Is Jesus
ready to grant her request, His third
answer ", 25), the answer Of mercy,
ID literally that FIRST the children
must be fed, and she replied, Yea,
Lord; even the dogs under the table
eat OF the children's crumbs" For
this saying, viz, that she did not pro-
test against the words he had spoken,
but accepted the proper estimate Of
him as being the Jewish Messiah and
herself as outside Of that covenant,
he made a fourth answer, the answer
to faith. He answered: 20, woman,
great is thy faith" " %, and grants
her carte blanc ". 2S), BE 1t unto
thee ever as thou wilt" AS %outcasts,
we must cast ourselves at his feet"
II 10 his table, the Masters table,
from which we may expect food He
II Is that breaks the bread for us. We
are never beyond his reach and no
has made abundant provision.
Let us now look at the account Of
the centurlon's servant, Once more
Jesus Is appealed to by one who 10
| outside the Hebrew covenant and on
behalf Of a servant. In the other In
| cident there was the interruption OF
a seeming refusal and here the inter
ruption OF an instantaneous granting
Of the request. Again we need 10
read the parallel accounts given by
the other evangelists. Verse ten Of
this section 10 the key to this whole
story. What are some of the marks
Of a great faith" First, 1t Ia
tested, The servant was dear unto
the centurion" Luke To. Second, II
is progressive when he heard Of
Jesus" Luke 7:3. Third, 1t will be
recognized by others, Luke "a
recognized by others, Luke IA Here
we are told that the centurion came
not, at least not at first, unto Jesus,
but is interceded for by the Jews Tho
ground Of their intercession was that
which constitutes a fourth evidence Of
d great faith, viz, liberality, He 10
worthy for he loveth our nation and
hath built US a synagogue" Luke 7;
4, 5. We have, however, a better
ground Of intercesslon, Heb. 1913.
Great faith is also humble, Lord, |
am not worthy" MATTHEW 8:8. Sixth,
It is confident, Speak the word only"
Matthew 8;8, and lastly, 1t recognized
authority, Matthew $40. Notice the
word also" in this verse as used in
the revised version. The secret OF
Jesus life was his implicit obedience
to the Father, John ABA and Matthew
g :42. The centurion being under
authority could command others, and
Jesus being under the authority OF
God OF course had power. W. believe
the centurion saw in Jesus the Son Of
the most High, therefore what was
healing in him, all that was needed
was but the word OF command.
The Great Faith.
The protest in v. o, and the remark.
able commentator of Jesus thereon,
is a solemn warning to all who are in
covenant relations with God and his