Month: August 2008

Full of Life

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“The One who existed from the beginning is the One we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This One who is life from God was shown to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and announce to you that He is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was shown to us.” 1 John 1:1-2

Personal, intimate experience with the Lord Jesus is a vital necessity.  We need to “see Him with our own eyes and touch Him with our own hands”.  Otherwise we will be like the seven sons of Sceva – living in defeat because we use the name of a Jesus we don’t even know.  Personal relationship with Christ must be cultivated, maintained and protected.  The cares of life – both the good cares and the bad cares – will always attempt to crowd Him out, but we must guard this relationship jealously.  And out of the intimacy of our relationship with Him, our heart will overflow with testimonies of the Jesus we have come to know personally.  How much more compelling is our witness when others perceive that we are not speaking of a dead Savior, but a living Lord and Friend.  One who is able to save to the uttermost. One that we know and that knows us and that we spend abundantly satisfying time with.

“This One who is life from God” is the One we testify of.  The world’s experience of dead religion keeps them from our gatherings and from our Jesus.  But when we expose them to the One who is life from God, this One we have seen and touched, they will begin to see Christianity as it has forever been meant to be – full of life.

The Silence, the Denial, the Delay

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Matthew 15:23 – But He answered her not a word……..

 

She was a woman of Canaan with a desperate need.  How out of the ordinary it must have been for a gentile to come to Jesus; Him being a Jew surrounded by crowds of Jews.  Was it awkward for her?  Did she draw strange looks and disconcerting stares?  An outsider; a gentile.  She had no part in the covenant, no reason to think that she deserved anything from Christ.  But she is desperate and she had heard about Him (Mark 7:5).  Perhaps she had heard about His healing of a centurion’s servant and was clinging to the hope that there was indeed some portion of mercy for the gentiles.

Whatever her state of mind, she comes to the place Jesus is staying and apparently from a distance, she cries out to Him.  As she begs Him to cast a demon out of her daughter, He responds with…..silence.  Even the disciples take up her cause, asking Jesus to send her away, almost certainly intending that he would do so by granting her request.  At this Jesus replies:


“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24

 

Was she emboldened by this unexpected mediation by the disciples?  For she now comes close enough to fall at His feet and worship Him.  Undeterred by His previous disregard of her plea, she continues to present her request, only to be met with this response:


But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Mark 7:27

 

This would have been enough to crush most of us, but with a bold faith she answers Him:


“Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Matthew 15:27

 

And the result…..

Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. Mark 7:29-30

  

Did this woman have such confidence in the mercy of Christ that she was compelled to continue presenting her petition, or was she so desperate that she had no other choice?

Although she was ignored – “ and He answered her not a word”

And denied – “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of Israel”

And delayed – “let the children be filled first”

She persisted with a tenacity that would shame the most valiant prayer warriors, and yet with a humility exhibited by few.  What a precious combination. 

And she trusted that a crumb from the hand of Jesus was sufficient to meet every bit of her need.  But because of her faith she was granted the children’s bread.