WITH HIS sermon on "The Bread of Life," given in the church at
Capernaum, Jesus finished his work among the people of Galilee. He had
lived in that land for more than a year; he had traveled through every
part of it; he had spoken in most of its villages and cities, and had
sent out his disciples to preach in many other places. Everybody in
Galilee had either heard Jesus or had heard about him. If they did not
believe in him and his gospel, it was because they would not.
There was another and important work which now lay before Jesus. That
was the training of his twelve disciples. These men, the apostles, as
they were called later, had been with him for nearly a year. They had
listened to his preaching and had heard his sermons many times, over and
over again; for in different places Jesus gave the same talks to the
people; but those talks and parables the Twelve heard in each place, as
Jesus wished those men to hear his words until they knew them by heart
and could give them as his message to others who had not heard Jesus
himself.
One reason why we have in the four gospels, by Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, so many of the teachings and parables of Jesus, is that the
disciples heard them so many times, learned them, could tell them to
others; and thus at least thirty years after Jesus passed away from
earth, his words were remembered and could be written down.
But besides the public teachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the
Mount and the parables, there were other great truths of the gospel that
could not be given to the people, for they were not ready for them and
could not understand them. We can see how the common people were puzzled
by his words about "the bread of life." Jesus saw that it was needful
for him to take the twelve disciples apart by themselves, that he might
teach them some of the deeper truths of his gospel. In Galilee he could
not be alone with these men; for wherever he might go there would always
be many sick people coming to be cured and others leading men held in
the power of evil spirits begging Jesus to cast them out. Then, too, in
every place were the Pharisees and scribes, bringing their questions,
asking for miracles, and trying to stir up the people against Jesus.
Wherever Jesus was, a crowd was always around him, and he could find no
time to teach his disciples some truths needful for them to know.
He made up his mind to go away from Galilee to some quiet place where no
one would know of his coming. On the northwest of Galilee was a narrow
land, on the other side of the Lebanon mountains, beside the great
Mediterranean Sea. It was called Phoenicia, from the people who lived
there, the Phoenicians; and also called "the land of Tyre and Sidon,"
from its two leading cities. The people who lived in that country were
not Jews, and few of them even spoke the Jewish language. Jesus thought
that this would be a quiet place where he could talk alone with his
disciples.
[Illustration: The woman threw herself at Jesus' feet and cried aloud:
"Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David!"]
Jesus and the Twelve quietly left Capernaum, and walked over the
mountains to this land of Tyre and Sidon. There they found a house and
went into it, intending for a time to live there. Jesus wished nobody to
know of his coming; but he could not be hidden. A woman of that country
heard of him, and at once went to Jesus, threw herself at his feet,
and begged him to come and cast an evil spirit out of her daughter.
This woman was not of the Jewish people. She was a foreigner, of a
mingled Syrian and Phoenician race, a people called "Canaanites." She
cried aloud and kept on crying:
"Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David! My little daughter is terribly
troubled with an unclean spirit. Will you not please come and help her?"
At first Jesus did not answer her one word. But his disciples said to
him, "O Master! send this woman away, for she is making a great noise
and disturbing us!" To them she was only a Gentile, a heathen woman, and
the Jews, even those who followed Jesus, looked with great contempt on
all such people. They did not know that Jesus was sent to save not only
the Jews but also the Gentiles.
Jesus wished to teach his disciples a lesson, that a Gentile could have
the same faith as a Jew. He said to the woman:
"I was not sent to your people, but only to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel."
But the woman kept on following him. She knelt down before Jesus, and
said, "Master, help me!"
He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first of all; it is not
fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
"That is true, Lord," said the woman; "yet the little dogs under the
table do pick up some of the children's crumbs."
Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great. Your prayer is
granted as you wish. The evil spirit is gone away from your daughter."
The woman believed the word of Jesus. She hastened to her home and found
her daughter well and resting upon her bed.
In the Land of the Ten Cities