Bread Crumbs & Bread Loaves

Jesus seeks privacy.v. 24 “he did not want anyone to know”

St. Mark Ver. 24

Christ was but the reputed son of a village carpenter, a poor despised Nazarene. Yet He could not be hid. And no wonder. He had come to seek and save that which was lost, to fulfil all prophecy, to preach the everlasting gospel, to work such miracles as the world had never seen; therefore the fame of Him spread abroad. 1. The Lord Jesus IS not hid. He may be plainly seen by those who will use their eyes—in the works of creation, in His Word, in the effects of His grace.

St. Mark Ver. 24

There is a religiousness which clamours for recognition. Far removed from this stagey pietism is the goodness which does not clamour for recognition. With all her magnificence, how modest is Nature. Christ’s character and life is the grandeur of the firmament—silent, simple, severe.

Where is Jesus?

You Can’t hide Greatness!

hidden=secluded. People must have heard, maybe expected him.

1. Christ could not be hid because of the manifestiveness of such goodness. Goodness is self-revealing. This is true in large measure of genius, of culture, and this is pre-eminently true of character. It “cannot be hid.”

A Woman…

Immediately.... (in the moment of opportunity) As God, she fell before Him—she worshipped Him; as man, she appealed to His feeling for the sorrows of man’s heart, crying to Him, “Lord, help me!” She reached on to that entire sympathy which was to be the fruit of His being “perfected through suffering.”

Exell, Joseph S., The Biblical Illustrator: St. Mark (London: James Nisbet & Co., n.d.), p. 284

She is: Gentile, Syrophoenician by birth. (a unique gentile, of the region.

Tyre/Sidon- It came under Roman rule in 64 BCE and was renowned in Roman times for its textiles and for a purple dye extracted from sea snails of the genus Murex (the dye was said to be worth more than its weight in gold, and purple cloth became a symbol of wealth and of royalty). By the 2nd century CE it had a sizable Christian community, and the Christian scholar Origen was buried there.

The Need & Desperation

a sick child

sick by a demon.

How do you pay for a favor? She begs/pleads.

The Conversation— Humility & Faith=Opportunity

St. Mark Vers. 25–30

Without faith our humility were pride, and our prayers babbling.

St. Mark Vers. 25–30

This woman’s faith was great in both respects. She most firmly believed Christ to be the Lord, able to work a miracle on her daughter: and her devotion and confidence was so strongly built, that neither silence nor denial nor a reproach could shake it.

St. Mark Vers. 25–30

we will therefore contemplate this woman’s faith in those several fruits it brought forth,—in her patience, in her humility, in her perseverance; which are those lesser stars that shine in the firmament of our souls, and borrow their light from the lustre of faith, as from their sun. 1. We must admire her patience. She endured much; misery, reproach, repulse, silence, and the name of a “dog.” Her patience proves the greatness of her faith. 2. Next follows her humility, a companion of patience. “She worshipped Him.” Not a humility which stays at home, but which “comes out of her coasts” after Christ. She cries after Him; He answers not. She falls on the ground; He calls her “dog.” A humility that is not silent, but helps Christ to accuse her. A humility, not at the lower end, but under the table, content with the crumbs which fall to the dogs. Thus doth the soul by true humility go out from God to meet Him, and, beholding His immense goodness, looks back unto herself, and dwells in the contemplation of her own poverty; and, being conscious of her own emptiness and nihility, she stands at gaze, and trembles at that unmeasurable goodness which filleth all things. It is a good flight from Him which humility makes. For thus to go away from God into the valley of our own imperfections, is to meet Him: we are then most near Him when we place ourselves at such a distance; as the best way to enjoy the sun is not to live in his sphere. We must therefore learn by this woman here to take heed how we grace ourselves.