LESSON 1.—APRIL 3. JESUS VISITS TYRE AND SIDON.
(24) "And from thence He arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered into a house, and would have no man know it; and He could not be hid. (25) But straightway a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of Him, came and fell down at His feet. (26) Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she besought Him that He would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. (27) And He said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. (28) But she answered and saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. (29) And He said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the demon is gone out of thy daughter. (30) And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out. (31) "And again He went out from the borders of Tyre, and came through Sidon unto the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. (32) And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him to lay His hand upon him. (33) And He took him aside from the multitude privately, and put His fingers into his ears, and He spat, and touched his tongue; (34) and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. (35) And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. (36) And He charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. (37) And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; He maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." Golden Text.—"Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb. 11: 6. (1) Where does our lesson say that Jesus went? What did He desire on arriving there? Why was not this desire fulfilled? Verse 24. Note 1. (2) Who learned of His arrival? On finding Him, what did she do? Verse 25. Note 2. (3) Of what nationality was the woman? What did she ask of Jesus? Verse 26. Note 3. (4) What then did Jesus say to the woman? Verse 27. Note 4. (5) How did the woman further plead her cause? Verse 28. Note 5. (6) On account of this expression of faith, what favor did Jesus grant? Verse 29. Note 6. (7) What did the woman find on going to her house? Verse 30. (8) On leaving the region of Tyre, where did Jesus go? Verse 31. Note 7. (9) What special case of affliction was brought before Him? What request was made in behalf of this man? Verse 32. (10) How did Jesus proceed in his ministration for the afflicted one? Verse 33. Note 8. (11) After this ceremony, what did He do? Verse 34. (12) And what was the result? Verse 35. (13) What charge did Jesus give the people? What was the effect of this charge? Verse 36. (14) How were the people affected by this miracle? Verse 37. 1. "From thence," that is, from Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee, where a fierce opposition had been waged against Jesus by Pharisees and scribes who came from Jerusalem for that special purpose. The opposition of this class sometimes so affected the people, and even those who had accepted Christ, that it was not profitable to carry on a controversy with them. They were able at times to greatly hinder His work, altho they could not gainsay the logic of His words. Multitudes of people refrained from accepting Jesus as the Messiah because they feared the rulers. Under such circumstances Jesus would pass on to other fields. This was one of those occasions, and the Spirit led Him to the region of Tyre, which was only about thirty-five miles distant. Sidon was twenty miles farther up the coast. Jesus was seeking retirement, the "rest" of which He had been deprived when He sought it on the Bethsaida coast of the sea. But "He could not be hid;" for He was the "light of the world," and "as a city set on a hill." See John 8: 12; Matt. 5: 14. 2. A woman, who was in deep sorrow and whose daughter was in great affliction, sought and found Him. Of course she was led by the Spirit to seek Him out. And the Lord, by the same Spirit, is still saying to us, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matt. 7: 7. 3. Matthew tells us that when the woman first made her petition, Jesus did not answer her at all, and further illustrated the natural Jewish disposition by saying to the disciples, "I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This apparent indifference led the disciples to request that He send her away. They did not want the company to be annoyed by her. See Matt. 15: 23, 24. 4. Verse 27 of the lesson chapter is a further emphasis of the Jewish idea of their exclusive right to favor from God. The Jews did not consider the Gentiles as any better than dogs, and often referred to them as such. In all this Jesus was not only testing the woman's faith, but He was laying out a very important lesson for His disciples. It was a leading feature of His work as a teacher to prepare missionaries to carry the Gospel to the world after His departure. 5. The sorrowing Gentile woman had grasped the great Gospel principle which even the learned Jewish rabbis had failed to comprehend. We have also the record of a Roman centurion, of whom Jesus said He had not found the like in Israel. See Luke 7: 1-10. 6. The granting of the woman's request contained the lesson that, while the Jews had been the recipients of great privileges, yet God is not a respecter of persons. Peter learned the difficult lesson more fully at a later date, at the house of Cornelius, in Cæsarea. See Acts 10. The lesson to us is, that the greater the privileges that we enjoy, the greater our obligation to minister to those who have not such privileges. 7. Decapolis means ten cities, in the region east of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan. Among them was Gadara, the place where Jesus permitted the devils whom He cast out of an unfortunate man to go into a herd of swine, which ran into the sea and were drowned. It will be remembered that the people requested Jesus to leave their country, and He went away. It will be remembered also that the man whom He had healed wanted to go with Him, but Jesus told him to return home and declare how great things God had done for him. See Luke 8: 26-40. He did so with wonderful faithfulness, and no doubt his experience and work had much to do with the reception Jesus received when He came around the next time. So much for home mission work. 8. The unusual ceremony in healing this man may have been on account of his deafness, and the fact that he had been brought to Jesus instead of coming himself. In going apart with Jesus alone, he did a voluntary act, showing personal faith; and, owing to his deafness, signs were used instead of words.