Mark 7:24-30
We all get to a
place where we need some quiet space, away from the many challenges of our
culture. Jesus was no different than us He required downtime, and so He
goes to a Gentile area of the region of Tyre. Now it also had some Jewish
people living there, and this is the account; “And
from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he
entered a house and did not want anyone to know yet he could not be hidden. But
immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him
and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a
Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her
daughter. And he said to her, “Let the
children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and
throw it to the dogs.” But she answered
him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's
crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this
statement, you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the
demon gone.”
I recall the first
time I read Mark 7:24-30 it seemed harsh; I can only imagine what this culture
would have done to Jesus. But it was not our culture but the culture of
the Jewish people at the time of Jesus and yet are we that much
different? We know that of all the people of the world God chose the Jews
to be his people. It had not one thing to do with merit, they did not have
abilities, or qualities better than other nations, they were smaller in number
and had no distinction, but God, yes but God chose them. And they knew
they were unique, in that they and their parents and grandparents had witnessed
God’s blessing and protection. And it is clear He chose them to bring the
world to believe in Him as the only true God, but we also know “plan A” did not
work.
Scripture states in
John 1:10-13, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet
the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own
people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who
were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God.” Do you recall when Jesus sent out the twelve,
and He sent them to the Jews, that was “plan A”? My pastor, Ray Still has
a place he goes in San Antonio to get a cup of coffee and study, if he did that
in New Braunfels he would never get time to himself, your pastor needs his
space, and so did Jesus, so He went to a Gentile area for rest.
But unlike my
pastor, Jesus could not go to the next city and not be noticed, and that was
the case in Tyre, a Greek woman, a Syrophoenician by birth, saw Jesus and came
to the house where He was staying. She had a big problem, her daughter
had a demon, and she was asking Jesus to drive out the demon. She was not
part of “plan A” and do you recall Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:6, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls
before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” When
you are a child of the King, you are not common, you’re the king’s kids, and
that comes with acting as such, but often the Jews chose to forget their high
status, yet in pride, they looked down on others as less than
human. Usually, when I have made foolish statements such as we should nuke
that nation, I’ve forgotten my order was to go and make disciples, and I’m
saying they have no value. But then, I am confronted by Scripture like
John 3:16, and know that of all men I need forgiveness and God’s grace.
The lady was not
part of “plan A” but her faith was the victory, it moved Jesus to bring healing
to her daughter. And this question came into my mind, do we who say we
are followers of Jesus have any understanding of who we are? Maybe you
and I should look at our adoption papers, we were lost without hope and then
through grace and the faith that God gave us, we heard about Jesus and His
grace offer. To all who will by faith believe He died for all sin, they are
covered by His blood, and full forgiveness of our sins and unbelief accounted
for in Him. He died and was in the grave for three-days, arose and now
sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus tells us through His apostle
Peter that we are the following. “But
you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people,
but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received mercy.”
From the Back
Porch,
Bob Rice
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