Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
the honor of bearing his name. 418 But the treachery and revolt of Adam made it proper that the
Lord should send to the stable, along with dogs, those who through the guilt of our first parent
became bastards; more especially when a comparison is made between the Jews, who were exempted
from the common lot, and the Gentiles, who were banished from the kingdom of God.
Christ’s meaning is more fully unfolded by Mark, who gives these words, Allow the children
first to be satisfied He tells the woman of Canaan that she acts presumptuously in proceeding —
as it were, in the midst of the supper — to seize on what was on the table. 419 His chief design was,
to make trial of the woman’s faith; but he also pointed out the dreadful vengeance that would
overtake the Jews, who rejected an inestimable benefit which was freely offered to them, and which
they refused to those who sought it with warmth and earnestness.
27. Certainly, Lord. The woman’s reply showed that she was not hurried along by a blind or
thoughtless impulse to offer a flat contradiction 420 to what Christ had said. As God preferred the
Jews to other nations, she does not dispute with them the honor of adoption, and declares, that she
has no objection whatever that Christ should satisfy them according to the order which God had
prescribed. She only asks that some crumbs — falling, as it were, accidentally — should come
within the reach of the dogs And at no time, certainly, did God shut up his grace among the Jews
in such a manner as not to bestow a small taste of them on the Gentiles. No terms could have been
employed that would have described more appropriately, or more justly, that dispensation of the
grace of God which was at that time in full operation.
28. Great is thy faith. He first applauds the woman’s faith, and next declares, that on account
of her faith he grants her prayer. The greatness of her faith appeared chiefly in this respect, that by
the aid of nothing more than a feeble spark of doctrine, she not only recognized the actual office
of Christ, and ascribed to him heavenly power, but pursued her course steadily through formidable
opposition; suffered herself to be annihilated, provided that she held by her conviction that she
would not fail to obtain Christ’s assistance; and, in a word, so tempered her confidence with humility,
that, while she advanced no unfounded claim, neither did she shut against her the fountain of the
grace of Christ, by a sense of her own unworthiness. This commendation, bestowed on a woman
who had been a heathen, 421 condemns the ingratitude of that nation which boasted that it was
consecrated to God.
But how can the woman be said to believe aright, who not only receives no promise from Christ,
but is driven back by his declaration to the contrary? On that point I have already spoken. Though
he appears to give a harsh refusal to her prayers, yet, convinced that God would grant the salvation
418 This is probably an allusion to Psalm 82:6, I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH.
— Ed.
419 “De vouloir ainsi mettre la main sur la table des enfans, au milieu de souper;” — “in wishing thus to put her hand to the
children’s table in the midst of the supper.”
420 “Pour se rebequer et heurter directement;” — “to give a saucy and open contradiction.”
421 “Ceste femme, profane de nation;” — “that woman, a heathen as to her nation.”
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John Calvin