The Historic Christ in the Faith of To-Day (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ...1 Mark viii. io; Matt. xv. 32-39-3 Origen against Celsus, bk. i., ch. 65. 'Mark vii. 24. from the task of choosing between alternative possibilities. At this period of His Ministry it is feasible that the Jewish rejection of His claims might have stirred the doubt if it might not be best to appeal directly to the Gentiles. Even as He was wrestling with this perplexity the Syrophoenician woman may have stood before Him as the representative of the Greeks, and, like the Macedonian of St. Paul's vision at Troas, uttered the cry of heathendom, "Come over and help us." The reiterated plaint of this poor woman vexed the disciples, and they urged their Rabbi to send her away. Jesus told her the thought which had been working in His mind that His Ministry was to Israel. Upon hearing this she fell at His feet with entreaties; but seeing this, Jesus quoted a Jewish proverb, as though He were pursuing a mental argument quite as much as holding dialogue with the woman, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it unto the dogs." Repellent as the saying seems to us, the Master's tone evidently left the woman's trust in His goodness unquenched, and with ready wit she replied, "Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." It is not surprising that the woman's faith should triumph over Jesus' seeming reluctance, and as a consequence He sent her away with a promise that her petition should be granted. 7. Although Jesus received the spiritual monition that His Father gave permission and power to heal both the Syrophoenician girl and the deaf-mute in Decapolis, He did not account this a Divine commission to pursue an extended ministry among the Gentiles. As the first sense of perplexity which sprang from the ...