V.24 A Gentile’s Show of Faith
Here Jesus travels northeast “to the region of Tyre and Sidon”. This is reportedly the farthest Jesus had ever traveled during His public ministry. Sidon is about 50 miles northeast of Capernaum.
Perhaps Jesus was looking for a place to rest away from the crowds. But even in a house so far north as Sidon, Jesus could not find the privacy He sought for.
A local woman heard that Jesus was in town. The news about Jesus had traveled quickly. From a Jewish point of view this woman was the consummate outsider. She was a Gentile and a woman, and an unclean spirit possessed her daughter. She wanted desperately for Jesus to cast the unclean spirit out of her daughter, as attested to by verse 26; “and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.” Matthew 15:22 and 25 shows the woman crying out to Jesus; “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David...Lord help me!”
V. 27 It may be that Jesus was in the middle of teaching of feeding His disciples (His “children”) when this encounter occurred. This would help make sense of Jesus’ response, since His words seem to come off as rather harsh.
None of us stops during a meal with our family to feed the house pets (“little dogs”). Jesus is not attempting to insult the woman by using the metaphor. He appears to be testing her faith.
Many of us may have found ourselves becoming frustrated, or at least confused, when we have gone to the Lord in prayer, seeking help in a desperate situation and we don’t get the answer we expect. How did we respond?
Let us not forget that Jesus had traveled far from home. Could He have traveled this far with the intent of meeting this woman at her point of need, since this is the only healing we read about in this area? If this is the case, then there is an important lesson to be learned here.
In times of great need, we may feel as if the Lord seems distant, even absent from us and our situation. But Jesus is never far from us. In fact, His Spirit lives within us. We are never alone!
The term “dog” Jesus uses in His parable is a reference to her status as a Gentile, as Jesus makes clear in Matthew 15:24 and 26; “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
V.28 The woman seems to understand Jesus’ test when she replies that “even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” It appears that Jesus is using this dialogue to test the woman’s faith. Would Jesus heed the request of a Gentile woman? Matthew records Jesus’ reaction to her response, “O woman, great is your faith “(15:28).
She did not dispute the fairness or appropriateness of her standing as an outsider. On the contrary, she acknowledged His authority. She admitted that she had no claim on Him and cast herself on His mercy.
All of us were like this woman, outsiders, separated from Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-13 “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
We were separated from Jesus, aliens and strangers. But we have been reunited with Him through His blood. Oh, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
The woman’s faith results in her request being granted, as she finds her daughter healed upon her arrival back home. Her expression of faith was rewarded.
Healing of a Deaf-Mute
V.31 Jesus travels from there to the Sea of Galilee. The healing of the deaf-mute man is one of two miracles that are only found in Mark’s gospel. The man was brought to Jesus by others, presumably friends or family members. They begged Jesus to place His hand on the man so that he would be healed.
But Jesus does more than simply place His hand on the man to heal him. Pulling the man away from the crowd, Jesus placed His fingers in the man’s ears and spat and touched the man’s tongue.
Why do you think Jesus did this? Could He have simply healed the man without doing any of the things He did?
V.34 Before pronouncing the words “Be opened,” it is said that Jesus sighed. The Greek word used here means to groan or sigh deeply, as if in labor. Why do you think Jesus did this?
The following is an excerpt from The IVP New Testament Commentary Mark (Kernaghan), p.144.
The man Jesus healed here was also deaf in a spiritual sense. As a Gentile, he could not hear the Word of God, and without some understanding of God’s Word he could not speak sensibly. Isaiah 29:18 looks forward to the day when the Word of God would be open to the nations of the world: “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.” Mark’s account has several connections with the book of Isaiah. The Gentiles are the people who walk in darkness (Is. 9:2), and the Greek word translated could hardly talk in Mark 7:32 appears in only one other place in the Bible—in Isaiah 35:6, where the mute sing for joy.
V.36 Jesus commanded the people who had brought the man, who is now healed, not to tell anyone about what had occurred, “but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.” This is not the first time Jesus had told the witnesses of a miracle not to tell anyone. Why do you think Jesus wanted them to remain silent?
What insights have you gained from this study?
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