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Christ Breaks Down Racial Barriers
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a look of pity and love, He said, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it
unto thee even as thou wilt.” From that hour her daughter became
whole. The woman departed, acknowledging her Saviour, and happy
in the granting of her prayer.
It was for this miracle that Jesus went to the borders of Tyre and
Sidon. He wished to relieve the afflicted woman and at the same
time leave an example of mercy for the benefit of His disciples when
He would no longer be with them. He wished to lead them to be
interested in working for others besides their own people.
Jesus longed to unfold the deep mysteries of the truth, that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs with the Jews, and “partakers of His
promise in Christ by the gospel.”
Ephesians 3:6
. In rewarding the
faith of the centurion at Capernaum and preaching to the inhabitants
of Sychar, He had already given evidence that He did not share the
intolerance of the Jews. But now Jesus brought the disciples in
contact with a heathen, whom they regarded as having no reason to
expect favor from Him. He would show that His love was not to be
circumscribed to race or nation.
When He said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house
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of Israel,” He stated the truth. This woman was one of the lost sheep
that Israel should have rescued. The work they had neglected, Christ
was doing.
This act opened the minds of the disciples more fully to the
labor that lay before them among the Gentiles. They saw souls
bearing sorrows unknown to those more highly favored, longing
for help from the mighty Healer, hungering for truth. Afterward,
when the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was broken down
by the death of Christ, this lesson had a powerful influence on the
representatives of Christ.
The Saviour’s visit to Phoenicia and the miracle there performed
had a yet wider purpose. Today, the same pride and prejudice have
built strong walls of separation between different classes of men.
Multitudes feel virtually shut away from the gospel. But let them
not feel that they are shut away from Christ.
In faith the woman of Phoenicia flung herself against the barriers
piled up between Jew and Gentile. Against discouragement, regard-
less of appearances, that might have led her to doubt, she trusted the
Saviour’s love. Thus Christ desires us to trust in Him. The blessings