Flashback Episode — Faith Meets Hostility: Mark 7:24-30

Continuing our year in Mark’s gospel, we come to one of the most shocking events in Jesus’ life, and an event that likely stood out in the disciples’ minds for how Jesus appears to be mean in this case. While Jesus routinely has harsh words for religious leaders who should know better, this case is different. Jesus chooses to be mean to someone coming asking for His help.

Those of you who have listened for a while or who are familiar with Jesus’ life will likely know what event we are focusing in on in this passage, so let’s dive in and discover what we can learn, and what Jesus is trying to teach us in this event. Our passage and event are found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 24, Mark tells us that:

²⁴ Jesus went from there to a place near Tyre. He entered a house. He did not want anyone to know where he was. But he could not keep it a secret. ²⁵ Soon a woman heard about him. An evil spirit controlled her little daughter. The woman came to Jesus and fell at his feet. ²⁶ She 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. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “That was a good reply. You may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ So she went home and found her child lying on the bed. And the demon was gone.

In this short event and miracle, Jesus first does something that is very uncharacteristic of Him. We might even call Jesus out for being not politically correct on multiple levels. Not only does Jesus subtly call this woman a dog, but He alludes to her entire race as being lower than that of the Jews.

As I have read the gospels, this event stands out as one of the meanest things Jesus ever does. This event oddly paints Jesus as being unChristlike, if that is even possible.

However, since Jesus is Christ, why might Jesus have insulted this gentile woman like He did? Since this is Jesus, He must have a reason for this cruelty. In at least one other gospel that includes this event, I believe it alluded to this woman following Jesus asking repeatedly for help while Jesus initially ignores her. So not only do we see Jesus ignore this request, but He also insults the requester when finally acknowledging her.

But why? Why does Jesus seem to single out this request and push back in what appears to be a mean way? Could we even call this love?

In this event, I see two big questions that challenge us to look deeper than the surface. Both of these questions would not be possible to ask if Jesus had responded in a more typical fashion. Like the gospel writers share in other parts of the gospel, Jesus was aware of the hearts and minds of those around Him and I believe He sensed He could use this event to teach His followers a couple of lessons.

The first lesson we can learn from this passage is one of the most challenging lessons we face in our lives. This lesson comes from the question: Does your faith persist if it meets resistance or hostility?

While it is never pleasant to think of Jesus being mean or hostile towards someone, we discover through this woman’s persistence that she wouldn’t leave Jesus alone until He had helped her. From what the gospel writers include, I can conclude that nothing Jesus would have done or said would have stopped this woman from persisting in her belief and her request for Jesus’ help. When our faith meets resistance or hostility, will we give up and abandon our faith, or will we continue persisting. We were never promised easy, simple lives, and one reason this might be the case is that an easy life produces only weak faith. Persistence and resistance together strengthen faith, and because of this, our faith can only be strengthened in less than easy environments.

Through Jesus’ resistance to this woman and her request, we see a faith that persists regardless of the obstacles present. This woman is an amazing example for us to model!

The second lesson we see in this passage is one that focuses more on Jesus. While the first lesson teaches us through the woman’s example, the second lesson teaches us through Jesus’ example. While we might look at this event and call Jesus out for being unloving, when we do this, we are met with the question: Is true love based on what you say, or is love based on what you do?

While it is easy to say that both what you say and what you do are important in the discussion of love, if you could only pick one, which would it be? If we look at what Jesus does in this passage and ignore what He says or doesn’t say, we simply see a miracle. Except that we don’t see a miracle directly, but we see Jesus promise the miracle and the woman accepting Jesus’ word.

This leads us to conclude that if we were to define love based on this event, love at its core is more about what we do and less about what we say. While Jesus didn’t walk around looking for people He could be openly mean to, in this event Jesus draws our attention onto the stereotype of the culture that looked down on others, and Jesus challenges us to help other people, even if culture tells us that we should be hostile or mean to them instead.

Jesus came as a Messiah for all humanity, not simply for a single race, religion, or sub-group of people. Jesus came to redeem sinners, and everyone in this world is defined this way regardless of whether you belief in God or whether you believe sin even exists.

As a follower of Jesus, we are called to display Jesus’ love. While this love should also include being kind with our words, it is much more important for us to be kind in our actions. Jesus was clearly kind with what He did in this event, and this was in spite of culture pushing Him to be cruel or mean.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally and purposefully seek God first in your life and choose to show His love to the world around you. Understand that love is more than simply words. Love includes our actions, our kindness, and our stepping out to help others who are from a different social group or social circle. Jesus helped people who were different from Him even if society told Him He should be exclusive, and Jesus challenged His followers to help others like He did.

Also, like the woman, we should be persistent in our faith and not let resistance or hostility change our faith, our hope, or our belief in Jesus.

Continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow and strengthen your faith and your relationship with Jesus, and don’t let anyone or anything get in between you and God. God wants a personal relationship with you. For a relationship to be truly personal, it cannot have anyone standing between you and God, or specifically you and Jesus. Intentionally focus on growing your personal relationship with God!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!