The Desire of Ages
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 43: Barriers Broken Down
This chapter is based on Matt. 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30.
After the encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus withdrew from
Capernaum, and crossing Galilee, repaired to the hill country on the borders of
Phoenicia. Looking westward, He could see, spread out upon the plain below, the
ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon, with their heathen temples, their magnificent
palaces and marts of trade, and the harbors filled with shipping. Beyond was
the blue expanse of the Mediterranean, over which the messengers of the gospel
were to bear its glad tidings to the centers of the world's great empire. But
the time was not yet. The work before Him now was to prepare His disciples for
their mission. In coming to this region He hoped to find the retirement He had
failed to secure at Bethsaida. Yet this was not His only purpose in taking this
journey. {DA 399.1}
"Behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those
borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my
daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." Matthew 15:22, R. V. The
people of this district were of the old Canaanite race. They were idolaters,
and were despised and hated by the Jews. To this class belonged the woman who
now came to Jesus. She was a heathen, and was therefore excluded from the
advantages which the Jews daily enjoyed. There [400] were
many Jews living among the Phoenicians, and the tidings of Christ's work had
penetrated to this region. Some of the people had listened to His words and had
witnessed His wonderful works. This woman had heard of the prophet, who, it was
reported, healed all manner of diseases. As she heard of His power, hope sprang
up in her heart. Inspired by a mother's love, she determined to present her
daughter's case to Him. It was her resolute purpose to bring her affliction to
Jesus. He must heal her child. She had sought help from the heathen gods, but
had obtained no relief. And at times she was tempted to think, What can this
Jewish teacher do for me? But the word had come, He heals all manner of diseases,
whether those who come to Him for help are rich or poor. She determined not to
lose her only hope. {DA
399.2}
Christ knew this woman's situation. He knew that she was
longing to see Him, and He placed Himself in her path. By ministering to her
sorrow, He could give a living representation of the lesson He designed to
teach. For this He had brought His disciples into this region. He desired them
to see the ignorance existing in cities and villages close to the land of
Israel. The people who had been given every opportunity to understand the truth
were without a knowledge of the needs of those around them. No effort was made
to help souls in darkness. The partition wall which Jewish pride had erected,
shut even the disciples from sympathy with the heathen world. But these
barriers were to be broken down. {DA 400.1}
Christ did not immediately reply to the woman's request. He
received this representative of a despised race as the Jews would have done. In
this He designed that His disciples should be impressed with the cold and
heartless manner in which the Jews would treat such a case, as evinced by His
reception of the woman, and the compassionate manner in which He would have
them deal with such distress, as manifested by His subsequent granting of her
petition. {DA 400.2}
But although Jesus did not reply, the woman did not lose
faith. As He passed on, as if not hearing her, she followed Him, continuing her
supplications. Annoyed by her importunities, the disciples asked Jesus to send
her away. They saw that their Master treated her with indifference, and they
therefore supposed that the prejudice of the Jews against the Canaanites was
pleasing to Him. But it was a pitying Saviour to whom the woman made her plea,
and in answer to the request of the disciples, Jesus said, "I am not sent
but unto the lost sheep of the house [401] of
Israel." Although this answer appeared to be in accordance with the
prejudice of the Jews, it was an implied rebuke to the disciples, which they
afterward understood as reminding them of what He had often told them,—that
He came to the world to save all who would accept Him. {DA 400.3}
The woman urged her case with increased earnestness, bowing
at Christ's feet, and crying, "Lord, help me." Jesus, still
apparently rejecting her entreaties, according to the unfeeling prejudice of
the Jews, answered, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to
cast it to dogs." This was virtually asserting that it was not just to
lavish the blessings brought to the favored people of God upon strangers and
aliens from Israel. This answer would have utterly discouraged a less earnest
seeker. But the woman saw that her opportunity had come. Beneath the apparent
refusal of Jesus, she saw a compassion that He could not hide. "Truth,
Lord," she answered, "yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from
their masters' table." While the children of the household eat at the
father's table, even the dogs are not left unfed. They have a right to the
crumbs that fall from the table abundantly supplied. So while there were many
blessings given to Israel, was there not also a blessing for her? She was
looked upon as a dog, and had she not then a dog's claim to a crumb from His
bounty? {DA 401.1}
Jesus had just departed from His field of labor because the
scribes and Pharisees were seeking to take His life. They murmured and
complained. They manifested unbelief and bitterness, and refused the salvation
so freely offered them. Here Christ meets one of an unfortunate and despised
race, that has not been favored with the light of God's word; yet she yields at
once to the divine influence of Christ, and has implicit faith in His ability
to grant the favor she asks. She begs for the crumbs that fall from the
Master's table. If she may have the privilege of a dog, she is willing to be
regarded as a dog. She has no national or religious prejudice or pride to
influence her course, and she immediately acknowledges Jesus as the Redeemer,
and as being able to do all that she asks of Him. {DA 401.2}
The Saviour is satisfied. He has tested her faith in Him. By
His dealings with her, He has shown that she who has been regarded as an
outcast from Israel is no longer an alien, but a child in God's household. As a
child it is her privilege to share in the Father's gifts. Christ now grants her
request, and finishes the lesson to the disciples. Turning to her with a look
of pity and love, He says, "O woman, great is thy faith: [402]
be it unto thee even as thou wilt." From that hour her daughter became
whole. The demon troubled her no more. The woman departed, acknowledging her
Saviour, and happy in the granting of her prayer. {DA 401.3}
This was the only miracle that Jesus wrought while on this
journey. It was for the performance of this act that He went to the borders of
Tyre and Sidon. He wished to relieve the afflicted woman, and at the same time
to leave an example in His work of mercy toward one of a despised people for
the benefit of His disciples when He should no longer be with them. He wished
to lead them from their Jewish exclusiveness to be interested in working for
others besides their own people. {DA 402.1}
Jesus longed to unfold the deep mysteries of the truth which
had been hid for ages, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs with the Jews,
and "partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel." Ephesians
3:6. This truth the disciples were slow to learn, and the divine Teacher gave
them lesson upon lesson. In rewarding the faith of the centurion at Capernaum,
and preaching the gospel to the inhabitants of Sychar, He had already given
evidence that He did not share the intolerance of the Jews. But the Samaritans
had some knowledge of God; and the centurion had shown kindness to Israel. Now
Jesus brought the disciples in contact with a heathen, whom they regarded as
having no reason above any of her people, to expect favor from Him. He would
give an example of how such a one should be treated. The disciples had thought
that He dispensed too freely the gifts of His grace. He would show that His
love was not to be circumscribed to race or nation. {DA 402.2}
When He said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of
the house of Israel," He stated the truth, and in His work for the
Canaanite woman He was fulfilling His commission. This woman was one of the
lost sheep that Israel should have rescued. It was their appointed work, the
work which they had neglected, that Christ was doing. {DA 402.3}
This act opened the minds of the disciples more fully to the
labor that lay before them among the Gentiles. They saw a wide field of usefulness
outside of Judea. They saw souls bearing sorrows unknown to those more highly
favored. Among those whom they had been taught to despise were souls longing
for help from the mighty Healer, hungering for the light of truth, which had
been so abundantly given to the Jews. {DA 402.4}
Afterward, when the Jews turned still more persistently from
the disciples, because they declared Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, [403]
and when the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was broken down by the
death of Christ, this lesson, and similar ones which pointed to the gospel work
unrestricted by custom or nationality, had a powerful influence upon the
representatives of Christ, in directing their labors. {DA 402.5}
The Saviour's visit to Phoenicia and the miracle there
performed had a yet wider purpose. Not alone for the afflicted woman, nor even
for His disciples and those who received their labors, was the work
accomplished; but also "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name."
John 20:31. The same agencies that barred men away from Christ eighteen hundred
years ago are at work today. The spirit which built up the partition wall
between Jew and Gentile is still active. Pride and prejudice have built strong
walls of separation between different classes of men. Christ and His mission
have been misrepresented, and multitudes feel that they are virtually shut away
from the ministry of the gospel. But let them not feel that they are shut away from
Christ. There are no barriers which man or Satan can erect but that faith can
penetrate. {DA 403.1}
In faith the woman of Phoenicia flung herself against the
barriers that had been piled up between Jew and Gentile. Against
discouragement, regardless of appearances that might have led her to doubt, she
trusted the Saviour's love. It is thus that Christ desires us to trust in Him.
The blessings of salvation are for every soul. Nothing but his own choice can
prevent any man from becoming a partaker of the promise in Christ by the
gospel. {DA 403.2}
Caste is hateful to God. He ignores everything of this
character. In His sight the souls of all men are of equal value. He "hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him,
and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us." Without
distinction of age, or rank, or nationality, or religious privilege, all are
invited to come unto Him and live. "Whosoever believeth on Him shall not
be ashamed. For there is no difference." "There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free." "The rich and poor meet
together: the Lord is the Maker of them all." "The same Lord over all
is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved." Acts 17:26, 27; Galatians 3:28; Proverbs 22:2;
Romans 10:11-13. {DA
403.3}
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"The True Sign"
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