Mark 7:24-30. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, November 17, 2019.
We have been following Jesus throughout the Gospel of Mark as he traveled the different regions of Israel. Today, we find Jesus leaving Israel and going into a Gentile country. It is not explicitly stated why he does so, but it seems to be hinted at within the passage. It appears Jesus is trying to get away for a brief period where he can have some alone time with his disciples. Yet, as can often be the case, it was not to be.
In this story we find a woman who is desperate and, when she hears that a man is in her area who might be able to do something about it, she is not willing to give up easily. Let’s look at the story.
As I mentioned earlier, verse 24 tells us that Jesus “wanted no one to know” that he was in a house in the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is a substantial distance from the Galilee area in what we would call Lebanon today, but was referred to as Phoenicia during ancient times.
A woman who has a daughter who is harassed by an unclean spirit, or demon, hears about Jesus through the inevitable grapevine that all regions have. It is important to note that the impact of the ministry of Jesus had reached even areas beyond Israel.
We are told that this woman was a Syro-Phoenician by birth. Yet, she is also called a Greek because it is a reference to cultural practices. Most regions of the Middle East had been Hellenized or “Greek-ized” due to the dominance that began with Alexander the Great. She is genetically a Syro-Phoenician and culturally a Greek. This is important to the story.
The woman comes to the house and persistently keeps asking Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter. In Mark Jesus responds first to the woman. However, in the parallel account of this story in Matthew 15:21-28 [the audio is incorrect in stating it as Matthew 13], Jesus interacts with the disciples first. In Matthew’s account Jesus appears to ignore the woman until the disciples urge Jesus to send her away. They are getting annoyed with her continual crying out to them. We should pause and think about that for a moment. They do not have a heart of compassion for this woman and it appears that Jesus doesn’t either. However, we know from too many other places that Jesus is not being a male chauvinist, or that he is being racist. He has a particular reason, but the disciples are simply annoyed. It is easy as the disciples of Christ to be annoyed with desperate people. This is not a sign of great spirituality, but rather lack of maturity in Christ. We should beware a heart that is easily annoyed with the desperate circumstances of the lost. It can get in the way of ministry that God wants to accomplish.
So, in Matthew Jesus first responds to his own disciples with this. “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This statement is quite clear and demonstrates a difference between Jesus and his disciples. They are simply annoyed, but he is trying to remain focused on the purpose that God had sent him. He had not come to walk throughout the Gentile lands and heal their sick and cast out their demons. This does not mean that God doesn’t care about Gentiles. Later, Jesus would send his disciples to the ends of the earth. Yet, at this moment, his job was to first minister to Israel.
Thus, the particular reason for why Jesus didn’t respond to her then no longer exists now. Israel heard the Gospel and saw the great works of the Messiah. A remnant of Israel believed and entered into the New Covenant, but the rest of Israel did not. Paul refers to this as opening the door to the Gentiles to receive the good news of the Gospel. In fact, we can mistake the whole purpose behind why God created Israel in the first place. It was not because He wanted some kind of “most favored nation” to treat as a teacher’s pet over the rest of the world. Rather, it was to be a launch pad for taking back all the Gentile lands and making them one with God’s people again.
After this reply to the disciples, we are told that the woman bowed down before Jesus and said, “Lord, help me!” She is completely identified with the ailment of her daughter. The demon that terrorizes her daughter terrorizes her. Instead of casting her daughter out, she has chosen to remain in that harrowing situation and begs for Jesus to cast out the demon. It is at this point that Jesus gives an analogy to the woman to help her understand why he has not helped her.
The analogy is this. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” The children in this analogy represent Israel. Whereas, the little dogs represent the Gentiles in general, and specifically this woman. To our 21st century ears this might sound like a grotesquely insensitive statement. However, we must be careful of being offended on behalf of other people. Don’t jump on the band wagon of those who tell you that you must be offended at certain things. This woman doesn’t even bat an eyelash at what Jesus says. She not only isn’t offended, but she turns the analogy into her favor. In fact, we might speculate that Jesus is actually setting her up to see what kind of faith she actually has.
The Scriptures continually portray Israel as being near to God or close to God, whereas the Gentiles are far away. His analogy does the same thing, but in a different way. Many people treat their household pets a lot like children. However, in those societies, it was understood that humans come before family pets, no matter how loved they were. Does it seem insensitive? It depends. Is Jesus trying to put her down or trying to see if she wants to be lifted up? If all Gentiles are like the little dogs around the table of God then how much more powerful is the image of a family pet being lifted up to the status of a child of God? We can’t play it both ways. Either Jesus is trying to be incredibly mean to her, or he is trying to help her see her true condition. She is like the family pet wanting to sit at the table.
It is then that the woman demonstrates her true faith. She is not full of herself, demanding that Jesus give her justice. Rather, she accepts his picture that she is as far away from God as a pet is from its master. She stands in no place to demand help. The wisdom of accepting this characterization is that it opens the door to truth. Even the little dogs underneath the table are able to eat the crumbs that fall from it. Technically the dog isn’t eating with the family, but if something happens to fall on the floor [or even intentionally from time to time] few would fault the dog for eating it.
She does not demand that Jesus break his duty to God and resolve for his purpose. She only asks for a crumb that might fall from the table of what God was giving to Israel.
Jesus then remarks that her faith is very great indeed. He then tells her that she can go home; the demon has left her daughter. Her humility and strength of mind obtains for her the freedom of her daughter.
Today, there are no such restrictions on the Gospel. Christ has told his disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. However, is it not important for us who were far away from God to recognize that we have been brought near in a way that is as incredible as a family pet actually becoming a real, live child of God? Like some kind of strange Pinocchio twist, we are not receiving what is our due, but rather we are receiving what is highly unlikely. We all come to Christ as beggars, lacking even a right to his table. Yet, God has had compassion upon us all and bids us come. Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him, but as many as did receive him (even if they were Gentiles, little dogs, etc.) to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:11-12).
There is always a reward for those who will simply trust God’s goodness and persist in their faith. She knew that she sought a good thing. It is not God’s will that humans be tormented by demons. He did not create us for that. May we all learn the lesson that faith must be more than short-lived. It must also persist and be continually knocking, seeking, asking. Yes, God sometimes tells us, “No,” to some of the things we ask. However, in a case like this, we should never give up because we know that at the end of the day He is good and loves us.