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| Exposition of the Details in the Narrative.
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17. Exposition of
the Details in the Narrative.
Now bring together from the Gospels those who call Him
Son of David, as she, and the blind men in Jericho;5498
and who call Him Son of God, and that
without the addition “truly” like the demoniacs who say,
“What have we to do with Thee, Thou Son of God;”5499
and who call Him so with the addition
“truly,” like those in the boat who worshipped Him saying,
“Truly Thou art the Son of God.”5500
For the bringing together of these
passages will, I think, be useful to you with a view to seeing the
difference of those who come (to Jesus); some indeed come as to Him
“who was born of the seed of David according to the
flesh;”5501
but others come to
Him who “was declared to be the Son of God with power, according
to the spirit of holiness;”5502
and of these
some with the “truly,” and some without it. Further,
observe, that the Canaanitish woman besought Him not about a son, whom
she does not seem to have brought forth at all, but about a daughter
who was terribly vexed with a demon; but another mother receives back
alive her son who was being carried forth dead.5503
And again the ruler of the synagogue
makes supplication for a daughter twelve years old, as being
dead,5504
but the nobleman about a son as being still
sick, and at the point of death.5505
The
daughter, accordingly, who was distressed by a demon, and the dead son
sprang from two mothers; and the dead daughter, and the son who was
sick unto death, sprang from two fathers, of whom the one was a ruler
of the synagogue, and the other was a nobleman. And I am
persuaded these things contain reasons concerning the diverse kinds of
souls which Jesus vivifies and heals. And all the cures that He
works among the people, especially those recorded by the Evangelists,
took place at that time, that those who would not otherwise have
believed unless they saw signs and wonders might believe;5506
for the things aforetime were symbols of the
things that are ever being accomplished by the power of Jesus; for
there is no time when each of the things which are written is not done
by the power of Jesus according to the desert of each. The
Canaanitish woman, therefore, because of her race was not worthy even
to receive an answer from Jesus, who acknowledged that He had not been
sent by the Father for any other
thing than to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,5507
—a lost race of souls possessed of
clear vision; but, because of her resolution and of having worshipped
Jesus as Son of God, she obtains an answer, which reproaches her with
baseness of birth and exhibits the measure of her worthiness, namely,
that she was worthy of crumbs as the little dogs, but not of the
loaves. But when she with intensified resolution, accepting the
saying of Jesus, puts forth the claim to obtain crumbs even as a little
dog, and acknowledges that the masters are of a nobler race, then she
gets a second answer, which bears testimony to her faith as great, and
a promise that it shall be done unto her as she wills.5508
And corresponding, I think, “to
the Jerusalem above, which is free, the mother”5509
of Paul and those like to him, must we
conceive of the Canaanitish woman, the mother of her who was terribly
distressed with a demon, who was the symbol of the mother of such a
soul. And consider whether it is not according to sound reason
that there are also many fathers and many mothers corresponding to the
fathers of Abraham to whom the patriarch went away,5510
and to Jerusalem the “mother,”
as Paul says, concerning himself and those like to him. And it is
probable that she of whom the Canaanitish woman was a symbol came out
of the borders of Tyre and Sidon, of which the places on earth were
types, and came to the Saviour and besought Him and even now beseeches
Him saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my
daughter is terribly vexed with a demon.”5511
Then also to those without and to the
disciples when necessary He answers and says, “I was not
sent;”5512
teaching us that
there are some lost souls pre-eminently intellectual and clear of
vision, figuratively called sheep of the house of Israel; which things,
I think, the simpler who are of opinion that they are spoken in regard
to the Israel which is after the flesh will of necessity admit, namely,
that our Saviour was sent by the Father to no others than to those lost
Jews. But we, who can truthfully boast that “if we have
once known Christ after the flesh, but now no longer do we know Him
so,”5513
are assured that it
is pre-eminently the work of the Word to save the more intelligent, for
these are more akin to Him than those who are duller. But since
the lost sheep of the house of Israel, with the exception of “the
remnant according to the election of grace,”5514
disbelieved the Word, on this account
“God chose the foolish things of the world,”5515
namely, that which was not Israel, nor clear
of vision, that He might put to shame the wise ones of Israel; and He
called “the things which are not,”5516
handing over to them an intelligent nation who were able to admit
“the foolishness of the preaching,”5517
and of His good pleasure saved those who believe in this, that He might
refute “the things which are,” having perfected praise for
Himself, “out of the mouths of babes and
sucklings,”5518
when they became
hostile to truth. Now, the Canaanitish woman, having come,
worshipped Jesus as God, saying, “Lord, help me,” but He
answered and said, “It is not possible to take the
children’s bread and cast it to the little dogs.”5519
But some one might inquire also into
the meaning of this saying, since,—inasmuch as there was a
measure of loaves such that both the children and the dogs of the
household could not eat loaves, unless the dogs ate other loaves than
those which were well made,—it was not possible according to
right reason for the well-made loaf of the children to be given as food
to the little dogs. But no such thing appears in the case of the
power of Jesus, for of this it was possible both for the children and
those called little dogs to partake. Consider, then, whether
perhaps with reference to the saying, “It is not possible to take
the bread of children,” we ought to say that, “He who
emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a
servant,”5520
brought a measure
of power such as the world was capable of receiving, of which power
also He was conscious that a certain quantity went forth from Him as is
plain from the words, “Some one did touch Me, for I perceived
that power had gone forth from Me.”5521
From this measure of power, then, He
dispensed, giving a larger portion to those who were pre-eminent and
who were called sons, but a smaller portion to those who were not such,
as to the little dogs. But though these things were so,
nevertheless where there was great faith, to her, who because of her
base birth in Canaanitish land was a little dog, He gave as to a child
the bread of the children. And perhaps, also, of the words of
Jesus there are some loaves which it is possible to give to the more
rational, as to children only; and other words, as it were, crumbs from
the great house and table of the wellborn and the masters, which may be used by some
souls, like the dogs. And according to the law of Moses it is
written about certain things, “Ye shall cast them to the
dogs,”5522
and it was a matter
of care to the Holy Spirit to give instruction about certain foods that
they should be left to the dogs. Let others, then, who are
strangers to the doctrine of the Church, assume that souls pass from
the bodies of men into the bodies of dogs, according to their varying
degree of wickedness; but we, who do not find this at all in the divine
Scripture, say that the more rational condition changes into one more
irrational, undergoing this affection in consequence of great
slothfulness and negligence. But, also, in the same way, a will
which was more irrational, because of its neglect of reason, sometimes
turns and becomes rational, so that that which at one time was a dog,
loving to eat of the crumbs that fell from the table of its masters,
comes into the condition of a son. For virtue contributes greatly
to the making of one a son of God, but wickedness, and mad fury in
wanton discourses and shamelessness, contribute to the giving of a man
the name of dog according to the word of the Scripture.5523
And the like you will also understand
in the case of the other names which are applied to animals without
reason. Only, he who is reproached as a dog and yet is not
indignant at being called unworthy of the bread of children and with
all forbearance repeats the saying of that Canaanitish woman,
“Yea, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their masters’5524
table,” will
obtain the very gentle answer of Jesus saying to him, “Great is
thy faith,”—when he has received so great faith—and
saying, “Be it done unto thee even as thou wilt,”5525
so that he himself may be healed, and if he
has produced any fruit which stands in need of healing, that this, too,
may be cured.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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