Reading this morning – where a Gentile woman fell at the feet of Jesus to ask Him to drive the demon out of her daughter, and Jesus, testing her understanding of Him, answered her request this way: “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (Mark 7:24-30) Wow! How mean and as we say today, “how racist!” But is that what Jesus was/is, a racist? Why would He say such a thing to a desperate woman who believed in His power as well as His compassion? Who are “the children” He’s referring to? And who are “the dogs?”
We know from another passage in Scripture that Jesus said that He came first to His own people/children, the Jews, God’s chosen race/nation. This race of Abraham and Sarah’s line (not Abraham and Hagar’s line) is who God chose to show Himself to and to show all other races/nations that He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will show compassion on whom He’ll show compassion. It’s not about anything good in anyone or in any race that God does anything good for; it’s all about His plan of redeeming mankind to Himself.
By singling out one people’s group to reveal Himself to – the world would see that there is no other God but Him; that “anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him” – which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did, not perfectly but faithfully, along with all the others whom God chose and called to serve Him. God knows what He’s doing, but we don’t see so well the ‘why or how’ God could choose and call someone that we don’t like – seeing what we see, or seeing only what we want to see; which is both self-righteous and hypocritical.
Who are the “dogs?” You think Donald Trump is vulgar and insensitive with what he calls people who viciously attack him, nip at his heels, bark at him to stop him. If you were living in the day of our Lord’s ministry on the earth, you’d be considered “a dog” by Him too, if you were not a Jew of God’s chosen race.
Jesus told John in prison what to write about the end times, and who will be left outside the Kingdom, unable to go through the gates (when God’s whole plan of redemption has been completed by Jesus Christ). “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life (eternal life with God) and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the DOGS: those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” (Revelation 22:12-15) So a “dog” in God’s book is a person who rejects God in his/her life, and ends up outside suffering, outside all that God has prepared for those who love and obey Him, unable to get in and find the peace and joy they long for; forever suffering that torment.
We also know that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and follows Him, can be from any race of people because the Scripture says that by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have been “grafted into Abraham’s eternal promise from God.” Apostle Paul teaches this by God’s wisdom imparted to him:
“Did they (the Jews) stumble so as to fall away beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles (all other races) to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their (the nation of Israel) full inclusion bring!” (Romans 11:11) This “full inclusion” means the ‘later time at the second coming of Jesus Christ’ when they all will see Him differently than they did before. God veils their eyes so He could include the Gentiles, so their blindness then wasn’t all their fault, and is why God has not rejected Israel at all; they are still His chosen people for all God has planned for the nation Israel for their full redemption and inclusion. PTL!
It’s easy to call Donald Trump a “racist” or whatever – for his choice of words to describe his enemies. Of course, Donald Trump is nothing like Jesus Christ, not yet that is, but like so many other men that God chose to do something with, who have been referred to as a “type of Christ,” Donald Trump is no different. None of the men of the Bible, referred to as a “type of Christ,” were perfect and without sin in their life. If you have been called to His purpose – you are also “a type of Christ.” Perfection was NEVER a qualification of God’s for using a man, or a woman. God sees the heart, and our future, as to whether we will finish what God called us to do. In fact, God will even see to it – that we DO finish.
“….being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will continue to perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus….. “ Philippians 1:6
We’re all growing in the Lord, some faster than others, but we’re all in need of God’s mercy and grace as we cooperate with His call in our lives. So, as ‘humble and wise’ Christians, we ought to be praying for our President to finish God’s will for him as POTUS. Amen?