Not Being Difficult on Purpose, Well, Yeah He Is
[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 ESV Read More
There are a few places in the scriptures where Jesus is hesitant. Every time, He is deliberately hesitant about doing what someone is asking Him, but we never get a clear explanation of why He didn’t act faster. This time, Jesus actually gives a little bit of an explanation.
So far, Jesus and the disciples have been traveling in mostly Jewish territory. Except for demon-possessed man across the Sea of Galilee, they haven’t had much contact with Gentiles. When Jesus sent out the 12 to preach, heal, and cast out demons, He sent them to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). The people of Israel have already heard about Moses and the Law. They have already heard about the coming Messiah. Jesus goes to them to show them that all of that is true, and He is the Messiah.
Now Jesus is trying to lay low and visit cities in secret so that they don’t crowd Him out wanting bread. Even the disciples are still trying to grasp what it means that Jesus is the ‘son of God.’ To begin to be introduced to the Gentiles would bring another level of complexity to the whole kingdom message, and the disciples might not be ready for that yet.
But the Syrophoenician woman doesn’t care about any of that. There are two parts of an equation that she knows and that is all that matters.
One: Her daughter is possessed by a demon.
Two: This man, Jesus, has the power to heal her.
With those two things, she has the determination to get help. When Jesus pushes back, He speaks with the attitude of the Jewish people. Syrophoenician people are dogs and they don’t deserve a thing. Go back and re-read this passage picturing Jesus talking to her with a huge smile and exaggerated drama like He’s being as sarcastic as Seinfeld when He talks about feeding the dogs. We don’t know His tone when He said it. Read it like He’s stoic, but then smiles when she replies.
This woman shows the humility and perseverance of the people in Jesus’ parables about prayer. She shows the faith of another Gentile: a Roman Centurion that Jesus would say had the greatest faith in Israel. The woman’s determination shows that her faith is going to stand whether Jesus answers her prayers or not.
She doesn’t believe Jesus has the power because He does what she wants, she tells Him what she wants because she believes He has the power!
When God is slow to answer, numerous saints in the Bible push Him by telling Him about His own faithfulness and power. They have faith before they have a reason to believe. God does that to show it off. Just like a sword is tested by being hit with a hammer or a rope is tested by being pulled on really hard, these people meet resistance to show off to themselves and others that their faith is strong and that God is faithful.
God loves us too much to waste time. He’s doing much more when He takes His time to display His glory.
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