316
T H E K IN G ’ S BUS INESS '
was under the power o f an unclean demon. Try and picture what that meant. Recall the actions o f the demon-possessed man in the synagogue ( Mark 1 :23-26), and the demoniac o f Gadara (Mark 5:1-13). Can you imagine the anguish o f the mother as she watched her little one’s sufferings and heard her piercing cries day after day? She was a heathen woman, and very prob ably she had tried all the charms that heathenism could suggest only to see them fail. We might say that she was reduced to desperation. And it is only when we are driven to desperation by a realization o f our utter helplessness, that we are in fit condition to pray successfully. Why are our prayers so easy going? Because we are not really conscious o f our need and so we are not dead in earnest. What a contrast between this heathen mother and many “ Christian” mothers of today. She was burdened for her daughter on account o f her condition; they smile serenely and attend the club and let their daughters run to the dance and the show and to ruin. Are you praying, as she did ? ' I f you are you will surely get an answer. 2 . Faith and Prayer. “ Faith cometh by hearing” (Rom. 10:17). She heard o f Jesus, who had come into her neighborhood apparently for retire ment; but the news o f His coming could not be kept secret. It may not have meant much to others; but to hqr it was an event o f tremendous importance. His fame had travelled to that Gentile community. What He had done for others, she believed He could do for her. She believed, too, that her being a Gentile woman would be no barrier to Him and that He would help her. How did she know ? A h ! God’s Spirit is a great teacher, and did He not teach her? She came to Him, and no one Can do that unless drawn by the Father (John 6:44). She fell at His feet. Real faith always lays us there. Real faith is never neglectful o f right personal effort; but it is always focussed upon Him. See Mark 11:22, 24.
sanitary precaution, but simply as a bit o f ceremonialism. Their opposition was not because it was unhealthy and danger ous; but because it was illegal. They did not charge the disciples with having dirty hands; but with having “unclean hands” , i. e., the disciples’ hands were clean, phys ically and actually, but unclean, ceremo nially and traditionally. The Pharisees did not say that the disciples had broken the laws o f God given by Moses; but that they had transgressed “the tradition o f the eiders.” This was characteristic o f them. The law o f God was submerged in the tra ditions o f men. See how Jesus exposed their hypocrisy by showing how they actu ally set aside God’s law which required the son to Care for his parents, and sub stituted for that a gift to the Temple. There is a lot o f apparent concern for what God says that is really more concern about our interpretation o f what He says, or our traditions regarding it. Human nature, even regenerate, has a weakness for emphasizing externalities arid overlooking internal conditions. Jesus teaches that what a man is is the really important thing, for if the man is what he ought to be, he will do what he ought to do. Then in verses 14-23 He exposes, from another angle, the absurdity o f mere externalism, showing the sink o f iniquity in the human heart that cannot be remedied by cere monialism. Mr. Moody used to say that it was useless to try to make a well o f bad water good by painting the outside o f the pump. II. Jesus Setting a Sick Girl Free from an Unclean Spirit. This section o f the narrative is such a good illustration o f successful praying that we should treat it in that way. i. Need and Prayer. But for this woman’s need we should never have had this story. It was trouble, and trouble beyond any human power to help, that drove her to pray. Had it been herself alone who was suffering she might have borne it; but it was far worse than that, for it was her little daughter who
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker