ON YOUR MARK: WEEK 7 DAY 5

Mark 7:24-30

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith

24 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. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 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.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

This passage always bothered me, but the Matthew Henry Commentary helped me understand this better. Jesus is saying that the Jewish nation has the primary place in receiving the miracles He is doing. The Greeks, like the woman we read about in today’s passage, “have been snarling at them, spiteful toward them, and ready to worry them.”  There is a deep and bitter history between the Greeks and Jews. This is what makes her response to Jesus so shocking. She had no Jewish blood, was not a practicing Jewish believer, and yet she had faith in Jesus.  It was her faith in Jesus that caused Him to act.

You may not have been raised in the church or have any institutional memory of what being a Jesus follower means, but if you have faith in Jesus, you are part of the family. I love that Jesus did not mince words with her, and when He saw her faith in Him Jesus was quick to act on her behalf. Being new to the faith is a glorious season of life because you are keenly aware of how much you need and love Jesus.

Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006).