Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Other non-Jews received healings, and these miracle-events illustratively preached the Gospel each time. Certainly, Jesus will jump on this opportunity to heal a Canaanite woman’s daughter, right? Wrong…at least for the moment. Jesus will use this occasion to enlighten and correct His disciples of their wrongful Kingdom perspectives to and maximize their understanding of the Gospel. Jesus uses this event to teach His disciples that “Israel” is redefined around Himself; in this moment, it is the outsider, the Canaanite “dog” who is in possession of great faith, not the Israelite and not the disciples. It is all by grace. This is the kind of Savior we have for us today, notwithstanding socio-economic class, race, ethnicity, or sex. Each person’s need is as great as hers, and it is met by an even greater gospel.
Here is the Soundcloud audio link to yesterday’s service:
Here is the You.tube link:
