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
Wow! Did you just see what Jesus said. He just called that woman a dog. That is not nice and isn’t showing love to her. Yet maybe on the heels of last weeks Gospel where Jesus says we do not need to follow all of the rules. And in doing this statement this week Jesus mirrors what the people would say about this woman who is an outsider. Jesus makes them all think….
And another way to look at this is to say Jesus was testing this woman. Had she heard about Jesus and thought she could get something out if Him. Maybe she heard about His healing others and she wants in on it. But Jesus says that the dogs should not take food from the children. He wanted to see how she would respond. And how would you respond?
Maybe, “why do you call me a dog?”
“What did I do to you for you to insult me?”
“How dare you, all I did was come here for help.”
But she does not respond this way. She responds in Faith! “Yes lord the food belongs to the children but the dogs also get the scraps, are not the people of God blessed to be a blessing.” And Jesus sees her intent is real and her faith in God is leading this. She is driven by faith not selfishness.
And Jesus says “because of this word you can go, your daughter is clean.” This word that she speaks is the Logos. The word that became flesh. She was proclaiming it is about living a life of true faith in God and knowing He will provide all of our needs.
Do you trust the word to speak it boldly in the face of opposition? What is your response to the world, what it wants to hear or a word (Logos) in faith?
Live your life boldly and speak the word (Logos) that lives in you!
aSacredRebel 