Second Quarter 2005 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
Jesus Through the Eyes of Mark

Insights to Lesson 6
By Galilee
April 30-May 6

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

"The Passion Predicted"

This week’s lesson opens with another example of Jesus the Good Shepherd seeking out one of His lost sheep. Christ left Capernaum to find seclusion and rest in the country around Tyre and Sidon. The Jews hated these people who were of the old Canaanitish race. It is ironic that had the children of Israel followed God’s command on entry to Canaan, this problem would have been completely abolished. Regardless, the Cananitish woman must have heard something about Jesus because she determined that He was the only hope for her besieged daughter. Though she must have thought she was seeking after Him, Ellen G. White in The Desire of Ages tells us that “He placed Himself in her path” (p. 400).

Here is a lesson we can learn. Because we can imply from the circumstances that someone had told her about Jesus, we can also imply that the Holy Spirit was working on her heart to not give up hope. This is a demonstration of the model Christ gave His disciples of how the gospel is to be spread. The Great Commission is to “go tell” the gospel. The Holy Spirit works on the heart in ways humans are not to witness. Then, when Providence deems the timing to be perfect, the individual is confronted with the real Christ. The faith may be tested, but we may trust that decision is always preceded with sufficient information to make the step of faith a choice, not a reckless leap in the dark.

The woman must overcome her fear of the prejudice of the Jews surrounding Jesus in order to make her desperate plea for help. Christ’s initial reaction seems to justify those fears. Uncharacteristically, He ignores her. When she pressed her case, the disciples “supposed that the prejudice of the Jews against the Canaanites was pleasing to Him” (ibid.).

It is tempting to believe that Christ was using Divine omniscience to perceive the strength of her faith. To believe that is to disbelieve Philippians 2, which tells us that He laid aside those prerogatives, and Christ’s own statement, “I can of Mine own self to nothing.” (John 5:30, KJV). How the Spirit prompted Him we don’t know, but the same privilege is available to those who ask for such guidance in humble faith.

Christ’s response, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” seems on the surface to be an outright lie. But we need to understand how God defines the house of Israel. We are given His definition in Galatians 3:29: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (KJV). E. J. Waggoner explains the concept: “All are alike sinners, and all are saved in the same way. They who would make a distinction on the ground of nationality, claiming that there is something different for the Jew than for the Gentile, might just as well make a difference on the ground of sex, claiming that women cannot be saved in the same way and at the same time as men” (The Glad Tidings, p. 84).

Waggoner further explains that the “promise” spoken by God to Abraham concerned his offspring, or heir. Noting that the promise language in Genesis contemplated Christ as the “Offspring,” Waggoner states that “God’s purpose is to ‘gather together in one all things in Christ’” (Eph. 1:10, KJV; ibid., p. 85).

Now that we have defined the House of Israel, we can better understand the conversation between Christ and the woman. Ignoring His first comment, the women presses her case, and to demonstrate her helplessness she “came and fell at His feet” (Mark 7:25, KJV). The Jew would never display such an undignified position in public. Again, Christ’s response seems to support the prevailing prejudice: “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it unto the dogs.”

In making this statement, Jesus spoke the truth about the privileges that had been bestowed on the children of Israel. They had been given special gifts and advantages which they had misinterpreted as evidence of their superiority above all others. If we think this lesson applies only to ancient Israel we misunderstand the definition of “Israel” discussed above. Privilege and advantage from God are always accompanied by responsibility.

This heathen woman was beginning to grasp this concept when she responded to Christ “Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28, KJV). “But the woman saw that her opportunity had come. Beneath the apparent refusal of Jesus, she saw a compassion that He could not hide” (The Desire of Ages, p. 401). Here we see a shift in her thinking. No doubt she initially thought of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, not sent to any nation but Israel.

We can thus understand that the action of providing crumbs was more deliberate than an unintended breach of table etiquette. It can reasonably be implied that this custom arose out of a sense of obligation that the dogs which were provided existence and shelter by their master, were to be fed. The woman’s response evidenced her humble faith that “if she may have the privilege of a dog, she is willing to be regarded as a dog” (The Desire of Ages, p. 401).

One of the principles given to Jones and Waggoner in 1888 was the concept that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was for the entire world, “children” and “dogs.” It was by this sacrifice that the human race was allowed to live. The consequences of eating of the forbidden fruit was “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17, KJV, emphasis added). As soon as there was sin, there was a Savior. Like the dogs under the table, it is possible for human beings to reject the saving sacrifice of the cross, but like the dogs, it cannot be rejected without a struggle. The metaphor can be extended. The dogs have been given shelter, comfort and necessary food to sustain life. To reject this, the dog must struggle against the natural needs built into his body. The person who, like the prodigal son is pursuing happiness in the world, must recognize that his need is for the comfort of a loving heavenly Father.

It is only by overcoming this built-in need that we are allowed to continue on a path of rejection. It can be said, God has made it hard for the heedless and headstrong to be lost. Once it is understood that “while we were yet sinners,” and His enemy, Christ died for us, we can with gratitude accept the “adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:5) and allow God to write His law on our hearts. We are no longer under condemnation of the law, but obedient children, fully adopted into the family of Christ.

In Tuesday’s lesson, Peter, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, answers the world’s greatest question: “Who do you say I am?” Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, the Messiah, by Whose name and no other we can be saved. Like Peter, we cannot come to this realization on our own, only by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Once we come to that realization, we take up the same cross Christ took: “Father, not My will, but Thine be done.” The cross that Christians are called to bear is not represented by the burdens of living in this world of sin. It is relinquishing our will to the will of our heavenly Father, by Whom we have been adopted in the Beloved. That is how Christ lived His life and it is how we are privileged to live ours.

The Sabbath School lesson ends with the Transfiguration. The presence of Moses and Elijah testifies to the saving power of the cross to reach backward as well as forward in time as Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Truly the sacrifice of Christ on His cross saved the world and can transform both those who die in Christ, and those at the very end who have allowed the cleansing, restoring, and setting right that is Christ’s present ministry in the second apartment of the heavenly Sanctuary. May this be our prayer.

—Arlene Hill

Read the study notes for Lesson 7