“24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 Jesus said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 28 But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ 29 Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ 30 And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone” Mark 7:24-30.
This Syrophoenician woman from Tyre is a Gentile pagan from a city that the OT described as a wealthy and godless oppressor of Israel (see Isaiah 23 and Jeremiah 47:4). Jews believed that such Gentiles as her defiled by touch, and that gentiles were impure because they were Gentiles. But this lady comes to Jesus with a humble request. Will you, Jesus, be as gracious to this outcast from Tyre as you are to the outcasts from Israel?
But notice how Jesus dismisses her outright with an insult. Jesus tells her that she must wait, first for the jews and then for the Gentile. The children come first, Jesus reminds her, and the dogs come second. My, what an insult. Everyone who knew Jesus assumed He came as the Messiah of Israel, and so she had no right as a Gentile to cut into the line.
But she is not bitter at Jesus because of His insulting comment to her. Instead, she engages Jesus to consider his mission. For even the dogs, the gentiles under the table get to eat the crumbs of the children, the food of Israel. She accepts her identity as a dog, but begs for food from Jesus, nonetheless. She understands the bread Jesus offers her. She wants the bread of Jesus’ mercy.
And Jesus gives her his mercy.
Friends, we all do this. We look at women, at LBGTQ+ folks, at people of color, at the poor and uneducated, as dogs. They are unworthy to be part of OUR church! But the mercy of God is for all, is it not?
Pray today that the log you see in others’ eyes will not cause you to forget about the cord of wood falling from your own.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins”
1 Peter 4:8.
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” Luke 6:37.
Comments