THE CHILDREN’S BREAD
Mark 7:24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
From thence he arose – He needed to distance himself from both the location and the situation! He had just denied the massive multitudes, gathering for the Passover, the fulfillment of their determination to force him to only being Israel’s national Messiah and king. John 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. Many today only allow the Lord Jesus to be a Jewish Messiah, and not that which he is in reality, Lord of all!
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 1 Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The powerful miracle of feeding five thousand men, besides women and children, with only two small fishes and five barley loaves, had not brought them to an understanding of who he was! Mark 6:52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. Yet this very same blessing of the bread had worked for the two on the road to Emmaus! Luke 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
And it is from this point of the highest social excitement concerning him, that after this pinnacle is reached, there begins now the downward cooling of the multitudes carnal affections. And we finally hear these physically healed masses crying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And their chief priests (the legal authorities to represent their nation) saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15). They came to full well reject a Savior who would not fulfill their national demands of being saved from Roman rule! They were entirely convinced that they were not sinners, and needed no Savior from sin! Galatians 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, They attempted, like so many today, to make God in their own image! Psalm 50:21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
The determination to make the Lord Jesus only a national Messiah, without seeing him as the soul’s very Bread, is a seriously damning matter! 1 John 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. It was this improper approach to him that caused him to, at first, answer this Greek woman not a word! (Matthew 15:23). We shall see more of that later in this article.
And having again antagonized the Pharisees, fueling their fires of hatred and murder, he must indeed “arise from thence” and go to a place of separation in order that his crucifixion may not take place but only upon his appointed time! Matthew 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
We read in verse twenty six of our text that the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician. This means that she was from the Syrian portion of the region of Phenicia. (See Acts 21:2,3). Therefore, she was a Gentile. And she did not come for herself. She came on behalf of a daughter with an unclean spirit, who was not present at the time of this seeking of the Lord’s healing. And what a spiritual picture of the upcoming Gentile church she is!
This was a Gentile female. Christ’s Bride shall be made of both Jewish and Gentile believers. She came on behalf of her daughter, who was a distance from them. Christ’s Bride would be made of them that were nigh, (the elect Jews), and them that were afar (Gentiles).
Ephesians 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
And like this woman’s daughter, all we Gentiles were once controlled by an unclean spirit! Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
The Lord being no respecter of persons, therefore has rejected the Jews for their attempt to force him to be a Jewish king, (John 6:15), so he makes no response to this Gentile mother who attempts to approach him with the salutation of, O Lord, thou Son of David (Matt. 15:22). When will religionists ever learn that we Gentiles need never attempt to approach Christ from a Jewish perspective? Christ will only be approached by those who are SINNERS!! For the Father sent not his son into the world to condemn any for not being Jews! But he sent his son into the world to save them which are lost. John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Who are the true Israelites? Who are the true Jews? Consider these two verses which first tell who is not a Jew. Then it reveals just who is a Jew. Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
The Lord did not refuse to answer this woman because she was a Gentile. For he had bragged on the Roman Centurion’s faith as being greater than he had ever seen in Israel! (See Luke 7:1-9). And even though his disciples didn’t approve of his dealings with the woman at the well – who was a Samaritan – he even revealed to her plainly that he was the very Son of God! John 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. The only reason that he didn’t answer this Gentile woman at first was that she tried, for whatever reason, to approach him improperly as a Jewish Messiah! He was the Messiah, and he was a Jew. But that was not a limitation he would allow to be placed upon him. For, as already stated, This Lamb of God came to take away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).
And this opens up the remaining discourse he had with her. His silence causes her to drop the attempt at Jewish flattery and cry out in all desperate honesty, Lord help me! Matthew 15:25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
Now we read in verses twenty seven and twenty eight of our above listed text their remaining conversation. He tells her, Let the children first be filled: This also ties in with the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. For there it clearly states that “the children,” that is, the people of Israel, were filled! Mark 6:42 And they did all eat, and were filled. For just as Elijah told the Gentile woman of Zarephath, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. (1 Kings 17:13). So the Lord had “filled” the children of Israel first, and now, as this Gentile woman finally approaches him with an honest heart, he begins to give her opportunity for his help.
And therefore after the children are filled he commands, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. For he had not stopped blessing and breaking the loaves and fishes until both the children were filled, and the twelve baskets could be filled with the left overs! Mark 6:43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
So the children’s fragments became this Gentile woman’s crumbs! And we Gentile believers are still feeding from the miracle of the Body that was broken for us! 1 Corinthians 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. For Christ alone is our Bread of Life! John 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
The Lord Jesus preached concerning Gods passing over the many widows in Israel in order to aid the Gentile who fed Elijah. And it was used to cause the fulfillment of Isaiah’s and the Apostle Paul’s statement that God would make Israel jealous over a people who were not of their nation. Romans 10:19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. 21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
So read what happened as the Lord Jesus preached this in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth: Luke 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
It is impossible for the true, spiritual Christian to cease to be astounded at the acceptance of murder among religion! Satan, the angel of light, is really deceiving masses of peoples in their various religions. All those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, the presently reigning Son of God, set themselves up for murderous, satanic religion! Proverbs 8:35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. 36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
Romans 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Pastor Gene Breed
