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. (Mark 7:24-30, ESV)
For the longest time, I didn't get this passage, because at first, Jesus' response to this lady's need, and her response to Jesus' statement, seemed irrelevant to the situation at hand. But after doing some digging, it makes muuuuuuch more sense now.
First, Mark notes that Jesus went to a Gentile region, and then entered some random house to try and hide, but ultimately, He couldn't. By now, He's well known in the region. As to why He picked a random house, I don't know. Maybe it's because He knew that the following situation would happen, and thus, He went to this random house.
Mark highlights that the woman is Syrophoenician, or a Gentile, and that she needs help, and then comes the first of the two weird statements. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” At first I thought Jesus was saying something that didn't make any sense, and that it was irrelevant. But after doing some more digging, this is what His statement means.
Children = the Jews
Bread = His message
Dogs = Gentiles
To refer to the Gentiles as dogs seems harsh, but in the original text, the word "dogs" in this context means "little pet dogs." Therefore, Jesus was not being derogatory, rather, He was gently reminding the woman that she was a Gentile, and that Jesus' message had to go to the Jews first. Just as Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Jesus was simply stating that His ministry must begin with the Jews first.
But this Gentile woman's reply is a humble and a persistent one.
“Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.”
In saying "Yes, Lord" this woman agrees with Jesus. She probably understood that Jesus' ministry had to begin with the Jews, but then her profound reply to it is that even little pet dogs eat children's crumbs.
Essentially, she's saying that even the Gentiles will take any bit of that ministry that they can now, even if they could only have a crumb of it. This Gentile woman wanted anything, no matter how big or how small. She wanted Jesus' ministry that badly. She couldn't wait for it.
And for that, Jesus healed her daughter, and the demon was gone by the time the woman went home.
There's a valuable lesson in this story. And a humbling one at that. When I read it now, I end up asking myself if I ever quantify God's working in my life. Do I try to measure it? Do I try to debate whether God's work in my life is either too little or just enough?
But why should I care about numbers, in this case? The fact is that God works in my life, despite the fact that He doesn't have to. And when He does work in my life, He is working according to His plan, not mine. So when He does work, He's ultimately giving me 100% of it. I may not see it as 100%, because I may want Him to work a different way. But clearly, His ways are higher than mine.
This Gentile was begging for anything from Jesus. She knew that she wasn't supposed to receive God's grace quite yet, but she was saying that she would be content with any bit of it, even a crumb of it.
In light of this, I want to learn to be content, and equally as desperate, as this lady. I want to learn how to gladly and humbly receive anything that God can give me, no matter how small it might seem, because ultimately, I want to fully believe that He's giving me exactly what I need. At the same time, I want to yearn for it. I want to be able to ask God for anything, but not in the sense where I just list what I want. I want to be able to go to God, and simply ask, "give me anything, I don't care what it is, as long as it's from You." Even more than that, I want to be able to go to God and ask "just give me YOU."
I want to be able to apply Psalm 37:4 to its fullest.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
In no way is this verse saying "delight in the Lord, and He'll give you whatever you want." No. Instead, it's really saying "delight in the Lord, and you'll get the Lord." That's what I want my heart to do. Set my heart on the Lord, and I will receive the Lord.
Set your heart on the Lord, and you will receive the Lord. All of the Lord.
-simon
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