just Give Me Jesus

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

JUST GIVE ME JESUS

Mark 7:24-30

24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."  28 "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."  30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

NIV

We went through this already, but having looked at one aspect, we should also look at another aspect we may overlook if we are not careful. Certainly Jesus knew that he came for the whole world and not just Israel, as his response to her would seem to indicate. Yet, there is something to be said that he intends those he came for, to be able to eat all they want. In other words, Jesus does not put on a limit on his availability. We might eat as much as we want. We can have the entire loaf of bread, we can indulge ourselves in the bread of life without being concerned that it will ever diminish in the amount that is available. We can have all of Jesus all the time, without limit. The other truth which we should also pay attention to is the fact that Jesus did not have to go with her in order for the demon to leave the girl. This is much like that Roman officer with a sick child who told Jesus he did not need to bother to come with him as he understood authority and that all Jesus had to do was to exercise His authority and his child would be healed. We need to have that kind of faith as well, knowing that Jesus has all the authority over all things, including our very lives. Sometimes we pray that he would just touch us, or that if we would only reach out and touch the hem of his garment, at least in a spiritual sense. That may well be appropriate in many of the cases for it brings us into some sort of relationship with Jesus, looking to Him, having faith in Him and we cannot ever assume there is any special formula or type of prayer that is better than any other. Any way we look to Jesus is any exercise of our faith and that is good. But we also have to see that Jesus does not need to touch us nor do we have to touch the hem of His garment in order for us to be healed. We simply need to ask. He need not come with us, or to us, nor does he require us to do anything, other than asking in faith believing. This woman had faith, she believed Jesus was the solution to her need. That is where we get messed up sometimes, thinking that we might need to get involved in the solution of our need. This is not to say that we might not need to do something at a time, such as the man who had to go to the water and wash the mud Jesus had put on his eyes. But Jesus instructed him to do so, and that is the difference. Any involvement we may do has to be per the instructions of Jesus, or as we might say, per the leading of the Spirit. Otherwise, we need only to have faith that Jesus in all the solution we need. As Ruth Graham Lotz has often said, “Just give me Jesus”.