Devotional:

“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.” — Mark 7:24-30

Let’s go back and look at this a little more in context. If you read Mark 7:1-23, the Pharisees had made the journey from Jerusalem to Capernaum to file a complaint against Jesus and the disciples. The complaint was this: they were breaking the Pharisee’s religious rules. Not God’s rules, their rules. Jerusalem and Capernaum were not close; it was about an 80-mile walk. This was quite a journey to take to yell at Jesus and the disciples for breaking a bunch of rules they had made up. Ritualistic cleansing or washing hands was just one form of legalism that the Pharisees used to control the Jewish people. Those manufactured laws and practices added to God’s law were meant to restrict the people of Israel, God’s laws were meant to free them.

Jesus refers to one of them at the beginning of the chapter; obey your mother and father! But Jesus puts them in their place, saying they take the fundamental laws of God, like this one…discount them and add their own. Washing hands before eating was not a law of God for ordinary Jews. It was an added ritual the elders had put forth long before this. It was a law of God meant for the head elders and priests before entering the Holy of Holies to make sacrifices, but nowhere were the average Jews told to do this hand-washing ritual before eating and wedding ceremonies.

Jesus proceeds to say in verse 15: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” This was against everything the religious leaders taught and required of the Jewish people. In verses 18-23, when the disciples question what Jesus is saying, He tells them that nothing that goes into a man can defile him.

This is a massive change in Jewish culture! Because Jesus is saying that even food cannot make you unclean. Jewish laws were very strict about what they could and could not eat. Some Jews, even today, follow Kosher restrictions to keep within the Jewish traditions. Jesus is unraveling all these things that were meant to hold people at a distance from God instead of allowing them to embrace God’s freedom.

So, we pick up at verse 24, where Jesus goes to this region that was no longer inside Israel. Even when Jesus went to the Gerasene region in day 14’s devotional, that was still in Israel. It was a mostly gentile area of Israel, but it was within the country.

Jesus crossed the border to Tyre and Sidon, which were two cities within what we now know as Lebanon. Think about it, Jesus just finished speaking against the religious leader’s made-up laws of ritualistic cleansing He gets up and crosses into a country that is 100%, gentile. Jews would never have come to this country; it was considered unclean to them. It was a region of gentiles with mixed ethnicities and religions and it was unlawful for Jews to interact with them.

Jesus didn’t go here to teach or heal people that day. Jesus sought refuge, rest and time away from all He had just done. He had fed 5,000 with basically a Lunchable. He walked on water and shut down a storm. He healed who knows how many people in Gennesaret…Jesus, fully man, was tired and needed rest and Jesus, the Son of God, needed to be refueled by His Father.

Jesus finds a house to hide in and this gentile woman finds Him, approaches Him and falls at His feet, pleading for her daughter to be healed from an evil spirit. This woman, who knew it was forbidden to go anywhere near a Jewish rabbi as a gentile woman, laid at His feet, begging for her daughter’s life. She saw Jesus as more than just a man who could perform miracles. There was a reverence in her posture toward Him. Was it a divine act of God that she knew or had word spread throughout this region outside of Israel? It doesn’t really say. We only know she believed He was more than a miracle-worker.

Verse 27 hit me pretty hard and I had to spend time praying, reading and asking God to speak to me. This was the first time I could hear Jesus’s response to someone and I did not hear compassion. And that, if I can be honest, made me sad.

How could Jesus say this to this woman who recognized Him way more than even the Jews did? She humbled herself in front of Him knowing she was not worthy and had nothing to offer. When Jesus addressed her, it seemed harsh and insensitive. Especially when He referenced the term dog. Jews commonly referred to gentiles as dogs. That wasn’t abnormal. Dogs were not the fluffy house pets that we all have now. They were wild, dirty, mangy and more nuisance than anything. Jews saw gentiles like they saw dogs.

But the disciples were with Jesus that day. This was an opportunity for Him to show them something very difficult culturally, because Jesus’s ministry was for the people of Israel up to this point. When he said, “let the children be fed first,” He meant it wasn’t quite her turn yet. Jesus only came there to rest; He wasn’t ministering there, but would soon begin His ministry outside Israel. 

I can imagine the disciples thinking when they heard Jesus say this to her, “That’s right, Jesus, you tell her.” But her response back was not expected. What a perfect opportunity for Jesus to follow up on His conversation with them in verses 18-23. Jesus saw this woman’s heart and used this moment as a perfect example that her nationality or race didn’t make her unclean in Jesus’s eyes. It was her pure heart that made her worthy of Jesus’s love and mercy. She was persistent and she was faithful and for this, He healed her daughter immediately. 

This gave the disciples a glimpse into their future ministry. Even beyond Jesus and the disciple’s three years together, Jesus would use them and many others to continue to fulfill the promise that salvation was for everyone who believed.

This woman’s response to Jesus was humble and honest. She knew how the Jews viewed her and did not deny what Jesus said, but she didn’t back down. She said, “even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs.” She’s not prideful or offended. She says, “Yes, Lord, I know who I am. I am not worthy of asking anything from You, but I know enough about You to know there is something for me and I’ll take the crumbs if You’ll let me.”

How powerful is that? She doesn’t storm off, yelling obscenities or bad things about Jesus throughout the streets. She doesn’t slump her shoulders and walk away defeated. She says I’ll take the crumbs because those won’t get eaten anyway and it won’t take away from Your children and I know even Your crumbs have the power to heal. 

It is hard to come to God just as you are in complete humility and surrender. We try to get it all together first, as if that increases the chances of Him accepting us. And it is sad to see when a church doesn’t accept others who don’t look like them, act like them or even believe like them.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to love others just as Jesus loved that woman.

Are you treating everyone with the knowledge that they are all God’s children, with no preconceived notions, no stereotypes and no restrictions?

What rules and restrictions have you told yourself you need to do to please God? 

How do you approach Jesus? Is it in complete humble reverence, knowing you have nothing to offer? Or do you bring your checklist to show Him everything you’ve done right?

God wants to meet us in the middle of the mess, not after we think we’ve dug our way out of it. And everyone gets a seat at the table and no one gets the crumbs. And praise God for that, because I have a big mess and I have to lay it at His feet every single day.

God, let us come to You with humility and reverence as this woman did. Help us to see others the way You saw everyone You encountered and let us treat them with the same love and kindness that You showed. Amen