Mark 7: 24-30
Bread for the Dogs?

Jesus is far more concerned about the hearts of men than he is about any traditional customs.  He seems prepared to break all boundaries in order to reach people’s hearts and to make them clean. 

Today we see boundaries tested again from a different angle as Jesus leaves Galilee and encounters, not a delegation of Scribes expert in law and tradition, but a single foreign woman pleading for her daughter. 

Scripture Reading

Prayer 

There are times when God does not give us the answers we are looking for.  We have heard great things about God; we may believe that he is good and merciful and powerful, and so in our need and desperation we may come pleading with him and casting ourselves at his mercy (like this woman).  We kneel and pray in petition.  And at just the point of our need it seems God puts out his hand and says, “No. Stay away.  There’s no place for you right now, I have no provision for you.” - "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 

And at this point of bewilderment we wonder whether we are dealing with the same God that we had heard about, the one who is kind and generous, who heals people in their place of need and multiplies bread in the desert.  We came to him as our final hope, and in the confusion of what seems like rejection by him we may leave confounded, angry, and sad.  The Word that God gave us was not what we wanted.  He did not perform according to our request.  He does not act like we think he should; he does not bend according to our own will.  And so we quickly conclude that he is not the God we had heard about in the first place, and we refuse to seek him any further so long as he does not answer according to our perceived need nor act according to our will. 

*** Too often, from our limited perspective, we refuse to allow God to define himself when he does not meet our expectations.  We have certain categories within which we believe God ought to speak and act, and we will not engage him when he does otherwise. 

***Perhaps more poignantly, we have certain views about ourselves, usually rather high views of ourselves, and just as we might refuse to allow God to define himself, we also refuse for him to define us.  And so, too quickly, we refuse to meet God on his own terms. 

But the good news for us today is that when we do allow God to set the terms of engagement even when he acts differently than we expect, when we allow God to define himself and to define us, then we may just find ourselves at the center of his blessing. 

Prop:  If God is God, we must meet him according to his own categories.

(So that when God’s categories do not meet our expectations we do not find ourselves abandoning God.) 

Out text today raises questions about the region of Tyre, the mission of Christ, and the nature of faith. 

(1) The region of Tyre

v. 24 says, “…he arose and went away to the region of Tyre (and Sidon)”

Some of the best manuscripts of Mark simply have “the region of Tyre”.

- Tyre and Sidon are closely associated (in Scripture and elsewhere), but it seems Jesus was more specifically in the region of the city of Tyre (which was closer).

- Tyre is a rich port city on the coast of ancient Phoenicia, modern Lebanon, just north of Israel

- Tyre was renowned as an international shipping/ trade Center, known for it’s historic alliance with Egypt; it was a power-center.  King Hiram of Tyre sent numerous craftsmen and supplies to help David build his palace and to help Solomon build the Temple in Jerusalem.

- But most importantly for us, Tyre is NOT Israel.  Moreover, Tyre was (and is) an historic enemy of Israel. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, described Tyre as “notoriously our bitterest enemies” (Ag. Ap. 1.13).  Tyre had fought against Israel on many occasions, and the prophets had declared judgment against her.

- Jezebel was from Tyre, the wicked queen, wife of Ahab, who hated the God of Israel, seeking to establish the pagan worship of Baal, and seeking to destroy God’s prophet Elijah.

- So Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, under pressure from crowds and scribes and misunderstood by his closest disciples, retreats out of Jewish Galilee, out of Judea, and he enters hostile, enemy, pagan, non-Jewish Tyre where he enters a house in order to try to get some rest, (not wanting anyone to know). 

He is the God who travels to the region of Tyre and speaks with a Syro-phoenician woman pleading for the life of her daughter.  Her political, religious, and racial identity is right at the heart of today’s passage. 

V. 26 specifically explains, “Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth.”  Now we already know that we’re in the region of Tyre, but Mark wants us to know specifically who we are dealing with here.  Your translation may say, “she was a Greek” and that’s a more literal translation - ~Ellhni,j – indicating not that she was from the island of Greece, but that, like many in the Roman empire, she was Hellenized, she was of Greek culture and religion.  Mine reads “Gentile”, making the fuller connection – highlighting the point, which is that, as a Greek, she was non-Jewish.  She was from Syrophoenicia which is where Jesus is, the region of Tyre.  Mark wants us to know that not only is Jesus residing in the foreign region of Tyre, but he is dealing with a foreign woman from there. 

-history

-location

-political identity 

I want us to pay attention when the Scriptures tell us where we are because it will be important for our understanding of who we are in God’s economy. 

Do you have good theology of place?  Do you know where you are in the world? 

There is a certain thread of American thought, still prevalent, which considers the USA to be the New Israel.  With our religious freedom, our Biblically informed constitution, and our material abundance that we have somehow entered the New Promised Land.  And this is such a powerful thought among American Christians that it often overshadows the biblical order of things so that we begin to truly believe we are God’s Judea and the nations are “out there”, and we forget that in reality – to God’s glory – we are the nations.  We are the Gentiles inhabiting the coastlands and the far reaches of the earth from Jerusalem.  We are like this Syro-phoenician woman approaching Jesus, and according to Jesus (in this passage) we are the dogs.  (That where we fit in the analogy.) 

So, having understood that we are (each of us) in the region of Tyre confronted by a non-Jewish woman, this raises questions about… 

(2) The mission of Christ

Our passage is an important one for Mark who uses this story to establish two vital aspects of Jesus’ role as Christ.  His encounter with this Syrophoenician woman confirms that, in his mission as Messiah to the Jews, Jesus maintains, first 

2a. The Old Testament priority of Israel.

2b. The promised inclusion of the Gentiles (the nations). 

2a. The Old Testament priority of Israel.

Whoa…whatever happened to gentle Jesus, meek and mild?  Let me just say that dogs do not have a happy image in the Bible; they are typically portrayed (not as house pets or as man’s best friend) but as bloodthirsty, unclean scavengers who eat whatever waste is available.  They are a sign of judgment and a sign of low status.  (About the only thing lower is a dead dog.)

So apparently it’s not a sin to get irritated (like Jesus) and insult people – unless Jesus has a greater purpose here in his harsh saying to this woman. 

An important part of the answer here is that Jesus is making a strong affirmation of the distinction between Jew and Gentile.  He sees it as a valid and necessary distinction.  According to the order of things in God’s economy, the Jews are the chosen children – not the surrounding nations who are like unclean dogs. 

If you’ve read the Old Testament this makes perfect sense in accord with the calling of Israel, and it give all the more assurance that Jesus operates in continuity with the God of the Old Testament.  Yes it is offensive, but this is part of the scandal of Biblical revelation, that the God of the Bible, in his divine prerogative chooses to work through a particular nation of people.  God chooses Abraham in Genesis 12; he does not chose everyone. 

BUT, Abraham and all Israel, all the Jews as chosen children of Abraham were not chosen simply that they should bless themselves, but only so that by God’s special presence in their lives they might become a blessing to the nations, to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12: 3).  That’s why they were chosen, and that’s the second part of what Jesus affirms in his encounter with the Syro-phoenician woman.

Jesus paves the way for…

2b. The promised inclusion of the nations (the Gentiles).

Jesus will fulfill what Israel never did.  Jesus’ mission is to the Jews, to proclaim God’s kingdom to the chosen children of Abraham.  But, more importantly, Jesus’ mission is to be the Jew, to be the True Israelite, and as the true King of Israel to become the light to the nations that David and Solomon never were.  As the True King of Israel, Jesus will become the true King of all Nations. 

It’s what the prophets said he would do.  (Are you familiar with the servant songs from Isaiah?) 

Isaiah 49: 1-6 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.  2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 

5 And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him- for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength-  6 he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 

As the true Israelite, Jesus is the ebed-YHWH, the long promised servant of the Lord who will bring salvation to the ends of the earth.  By casting the demon from this woman’s daughter Jesus acknowledges that she also has a say in his blessing; it’s a sign that the kingdom of God, proclaimed first among the Jews is already overflowing to the nations, the dogs who come to Jesus, casting themselves at his feet will also be filled to satisfaction.  His harsh language here is part of the “sharp sword” of his mouth and it is designed to help us see, to help his disciples to catch what is happening as this foreign woman comes to him. 

These two things go together: the priority of Israel and the inclusion of the Gentiles.  There is not one without the other in the biblical economy of salvation.  The priority of Israel and the inclusion of the nations must be bound together and they meet in the person of Jesus Christ. 

App: So we learn that Jesus had a deep sense of priority and a clear sense of mission in his earthly ministry.  He knew that his role as Christ was constrained by God’s Word through the OT prophets.  He knew that he was called to some things but not all things.  He knew that the only way to fulfill his role for the world was to first fulfill his role for Israel.  He knew, according to God’s plan (i.e. according to the scriptures) - in order to achieve the salvation of the world he must intentionally focus his ministry among one people in one geographic area.  It’s amazing really.  And it’s part of the glory of the God of the Bible, the God of the Universe, that he chooses to work in such an astoundingly localized and particularized fashion. 

We should take heed and be reminded that we also are called to live local lives in local places with particular geography, and that God is pleased to work powerfully through localized obedience according to his plan.  This should not become an excuse to avoid outreach – no, but it is an affirmation that God can and will work powerfully right where you are today and tomorrow and the rest of this week if you will just look for him to do so and trust that he is able.   Jesus did not heal everyone.  It was not his mission.  It would not have fulfilled his purpose or achieved the desired result of salvation to the world. 

So I ask, are you willing to accept God on his terms in this regard – the God who does not heal everyone – and who deems it better that he should not do so?  Jesus’ visit to Tyre highlights that there were many other nations that he did not visit – certainly not the lands of northern Europe which were home to my ancestors.  Can you accept God working in particular ways and in particular places for the sake of the world?  Or do you inwardly resent this aspect of God’s revelation, demanding that the Lord should work according to your agenda, according to what you think is best. 

Watch Out!, lest you refuse God’s sovereign mercy on this score and are left only with personal demands and questions.  It’s OK to doubt and to ask the hard questions.  We need to ask these questions, but you don’t want to end there, content with questions, to end like the…

Voice of Judas from Jesus Christ Superstar

(Have you heard the song that Judas sings in that play, addressing Jesus directly?)

VOICE OF JUDAS Every time I look at you I don’t understand Why you let the things you did get so out of hand. You’d have managed better if you’d had it planned. Why’d you choose such a backward time in such a strange land? If you’d come today you could have reached a whole nation. Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication. Don’t you get me wrong. I only want to know.

CHOIR Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Who are you?  What have you sacrificed?  Jesus Christ Superstar, Do you think you’re what they say you are? 

I love this song because it captures well the doubts of our times.

These are fine questions to ask, but don’t let yourself be satisfied simply by having smart questions?  You can end up like Judas.  There are answers, though they may not be answers in accord with your own conception of how things ought to be.  God decided that he would save the world through Israel, and he did so in the unique person of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus did not heal everyone, but he did heal everywhere he went. And it seems he only healed those (or the families of those) who came to him by faith like this Gentile woman. 

(3) Nature of Faith 

Upon hearing Jesus’ harsh words to her, the Syro-phoenician woman answers Jesus according to his Word.  She accepts her place in the parable.  As one commentator has noted, she is the first person in the book of Mark to hear a parable and understand it.  This is the sort of faith Jesus has been looking for.  - “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 

She allows Jesus to define her.  She can freely accept her role as a Gentile dog, just so long as she gets to stay and eat from his Table.  She knows who Jesus is.

“For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.”

Jesus did not want to insult this woman.  He wanted to make a political statement, and he wanted to highlight her faith, to test her faith, whether she can keep it in the face of an ostensible rejection – and she does.  In so doing she brilliantly outshines the disciples in their dullness at this point in the narrative. 

Another commentator says that she is like Jacob, who wrestles with God by the banks of Jordan, refusing to release until God has blessed him.  This is the faith that God accepts.  Unlike the disciples, she hears what Jesus says.  And unlike the scribes and Pharisees she approaches Jesus without an agenda.  At Jesus’ word she gets up and goes home because she believes her daughter is well and she finds just what she had believed – the girl lying in bed and the demon gone. 

(Concluding Application) Praise God for her example, leading the way for we Gentiles to bow before the God of Israel, accepting our place in this world and so finding our place at his Table.  Faith allows God to define us, and it allows him to define himself.  Just as he taught earlier (in this chapter, 7: 19) when he declared all foods clean, Jesus is not so much concerned about this woman’s racial identity as he is about what’s inside or her.  He treats her as a Gentile, demonstrating that he knows her racial status, but he shows that even Gentile dogs are welcome at his table so long as he finds faith inside them.

As we all come to our Lord’s Table today, even now partaking of his body and his blood in communion with all who have eaten at his Table and who do eat today around the globe. Let us rejoice in the Jew who came to save Gentiles according to the Scriptures.  Let us rejoice in the one who was not content that we (of the nations) should remain like dogs under the table, but gave his life that we also might become children of Abraham – of full status to sup at the Master’s Table – by faith alone. 

(Zechariah 8:20-23) 20 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities.  21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.'  22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.  23 Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"