Faith Lesson

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre.  He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret.  Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet.  Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.  Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews.  It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”  She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”  “Good answer!” he said.  “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.”  And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone. [Mark 7.24-30]

Jesus was never vague when it came to faith.  If anything, we have confused Jesus' teaching on faith with our own explanations for our faithlessness!  We reason that there is no necessity in our actually 'moving a mountain' or that we cannot claim to know enough of the 'big picture' to heal a sick person.  We constantly must adjust our theology to accommodate this lack of real faith.  So much have we done this that any person who really tries to live and walk by faith (as demonstrated and encouraged by Jesus) is ostracized and becomes an outcast to mainstream Christianity.

'Faith' today no longer moves mountains or heals the sick.  At least in the majority of Christian circles in the USA, faith has become more of an internal pacifier with no real external effect.  Faith has been given the meaning that it is an inner contentment with the way things are rather than the inner power to change the way things are.

We have volumes of books written today to console the Christian that his powerlessness (compared to Christ) is okay...  But the problem is not unique to today, Jesus addressed the exact same 'poisonous' theology in His day... even in today's One Year Chronological Bible reading, Jesus addressed the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees - which was nothing more that watered-down faith.  The Pharisees and Sadducees had an explanation for everything - including their lack of faith.

But back to today's Syro-Phoenician woman... even with the miracles that Jesus performed, perhaps even He saw faith as limited to the Jews...but this woman proved for all of history to follow that faith knows no nationality or ethnicity - faith simply moves the heart and hand of God.

If faith does not move the heart and hand of God, then it is not faith, but something else.

Father, thank You for this reminder today that faith is what You desire from those who follow You.