DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL
OF MARK
HAVE FAITH
AND BELIEVE
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
This seems
to be somewhat of a difficult exchange to understand. If Jesus responded in
this way because he was sent to the Jews and not to the gentiles why was he there
in the first place? Why didn’t he want anyone to know he was there? When
he did respond to her, why did he tell her he was not sent to for the gentiles
and calling her a dog was just a way of saying she did a pagan, a gentile, not
part of the family. That is sort of harsh and it would seem Jesus was being
mean, which we know he cannot be, so why this response? We might gather from
Matthews account that he and his disciples already had left the home as she
pursued after them, begging, pleading for Jesus to do something about her
daughter. Why did he put her off with this response? We know he had sent his
disciples into the gentile world two by two to tell the story. We also know
that Jesus is God in the flesh and thus he has all knowledge and already knows
what he is going to do, and thus we must assume this is a teaching moment for
his disciples as well as for us. It may well be Jesus was teaching that faith
is what is needed for him to act on our behalf. In fact, we know that salvation,
justification comes to us because we believe, in faith, on the forgiveness of
our sin due in whole to the blood of Jesus. We accept him as our Lord and
Savior in faith. We have no hard facts, we have no real hard evidence except a
book which we also believe in faith, without any evidence, that it is God
breathed. This woman, although called a dog by Jesus, responded that even the
dogs eat crumbs of the children. As a gentile, a non-Jew she still had faith
that Jesus could heal her daughter and this is that teaching moment. Jesus responded
in the form we know him to be, filled with compassion and love for all of his
creation. He was showing all, even his disciples that true faith in him is
needed for everything. He was also demonstrating that he did come for all, that
none are turned around, but that all must pursue after him, seeking his power
in their lives, it does not come to them freely without their seeking. True
faith in him is all that is needed and he will heal us, spiritually,
emotionally and yes, even physically. Have faith and believe.
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