Mark 7b (10-29-25)

What's up everybody? It's Pastor James. Welcome back once again to our midweek Bible study.

We're going to finish up chapter 7 today as we read about Jesus healing two very

different people. Our first passage is one of the most controversial passages in

the New Testament as it's very hard to understand why Jesus responded in such

a way. So let's dig into this one. Let's start with Mark 7 verses 24 through 30

Mark 7:24–30

as we read about the faith of this Gentile woman. It says,

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn't want anyone

to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn't keep it a secret. Right away a

woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was

possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast the demon out from

her daughter. Since she was a Gentile born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her,

First I should feed the children, my own family, the Jews. It isn't right to

take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. She replied, That's true,

Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the

children's plates. Good answer, he said, Now go home for the demon has left your

daughter. And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly

in bed and the demon was gone. Okay, so this passage is one that perplexes a lot

of people. Why in the world would Jesus resist healing this woman's

daughter? He's already healed Gentile people on the other side of the lake at

the end of chapter six. So why would he even begin to deny this woman the

healing of her daughter in this moment? First of all, Tyr was a region full of

Gentiles, but would have had Jewish people in the region. And Jesus' first

priority was to reach the children of Abraham. And you got to remember that as

you're reading the New Testament. He came to fulfill the promise that God made

Abraham back in Genesis 12. That's really hard to consider, but that's what

it is. Jesus came to reach the Jewish people, the descendants of Abraham, in

order to fulfill all the promises of God. Those were the first and foremost

people he came to minister to. Now, upon the rejection of Christ by those same

people, he begins to reach out to the Gentiles and to everyone else in the

world. So you see that as the New Testament progresses in all the Gospels,

Jesus begins to reach out more and more to the Gentiles as they're much more

receptive of him. So because of the promise that God made to Abraham, the

Israelites were given first priority and the first opportunity to accept the

Messiah that was promised to them for so long. A beautiful part about this is

that the woman comes on behalf of her daughter. And while the daughter is

unable to come, it's important to see that the mother is able to plead to the

Lord on her behalf. I say that because if there's anyone in our lives that needs

to know the Lord, we are able to intercede on their behalf and do so until the

Lord acknowledges the need and responds to that need. So if you're a parent or if

you're a child who's praying for a parent, if you have someone that you

love, maybe it's a spouse, maybe whoever it may be, a good friend, keep praying for

them. Keep interceding on their behalf. This woman does this for her child and

we should be doing this as believers. Interceding on behalf of people who are

not yet ready to come to Jesus on their own. That's very, very important. And as I

was reading, I found that one of the most common ways the Israelites referred

to Gentiles was by calling them dogs. In a very derogatory sense, like people use

the word B-I-T-C-H today. I'm not gonna say it because I believe that, you know,

you don't you don't say stuff that you don't normally say even in context and

even in quoting because eventually it'll come out. So this word B-I-T-C-H is a

derogatory term which derived from the female dog, how people used to refer to a

female dog. It has been applied to people and has become a very ugly word and so

it's not really accepted in today's language unless you're using it in a

very inappropriate offensive way. Well the term that was used for most Israelites

who referred to the Gentiles was a word that meant that same thing. It was a

derogatory term for a female dog that that's the way they referred to the

Gentiles. So it was not nice. However Jesus does not use that same word so I

think that's very important to understand. He refers to her as a dog or

her people as a dog but not the same way that Israelites normally would.

Rather he uses a different word which would have been for little dogs or

puppies. So there's a big difference between referring to someone and this

derogatory female dog term that we do today versus looking at someone and

saying all right come on pup let's go like treating someone as a little puppy

because the truth is is that we love puppies. It doesn't matter how ugly or

nasty a dog is there's something about a puppy that everyone loves and we're

willing to put up with a lot from puppies even though they are still nasty

and dirty and do all the same things that grown dogs do but puppies are much

more lovable they're much cuter and we're willing to put up with a lot more.

So Jesus refers to this woman as a puppy or a little dog so it was not

completely offensive but it was still the term would have carried as in the

Gentiles were not the same as the children of Abraham and that was

something that would have been very clearly communicated. So it's better than

what the Gentiles were used to I'll say that and I don't know how many of us

would have received this comment very well you know if Jesus or if someone

that we were approaching would have referred to us in this way I don't know

how many of us would have received it as well as this woman did but this may

be one of those responses from Jesus that we may never truly understand why

he referred to her as such but the most important aspect of the story is how the

woman responds. She does not show offense to the way Jesus refers to her but rather

she shows true and outright humility and accepts the reference from our Lord to

see the desire at hand fulfilled. Now this is really important you know I

can't tell you how many times in my life where I've asked for something or

wanted something and because of my impatience because of my lack of healthy

response whatever it may be there's there's something within me that that

has many times seen my desire thwarted because of my lack of appropriate

response and this woman does not do that in this moment she responds

perfectly and because of that Jesus is impressed with her answer and her

humility and because of that he grants her the request that she's asking and so

there's a lot to be learned from this woman there's some valuable lessons and

many times in life the circumstances that we find ourselves in can be less than

desirable. We may feel abandoned or scorned by God in a lots of moments

but rather than coming at him with pride or frustration or perhaps coming at

him with humility and gently coming before him falling at his feet pleading

our needs rather than arguing why we don't deserve the circumstances we're

in and so a theologian named Clark gave this woman credit for nine things that

she did that we should model in our own lives today the first one is her

request was short she didn't come to the Lord she didn't get down and plead

for hours about what she needed or what she wanted it was very short quick and

do the point second thing is she's humble she remains humble in spot of an

unfavorable answer in the beginning she's still humble number three she had

faith she believed that God could do it and even when when Jesus told her nah

I gotta I gotta help the people of Israel first she still believed that he

was able and would be willing to help her number four she was fervent she

was passionate and had intensity she did not give up she asked her request shortly

very clear very concise and when told no she simply stated again why she

deserved what she was asking for so she didn't give up she was fervent she

kept going number five she was modest she did not feel like she deserved more

than what she was given or she deserved more than anyone else but she was very

modest in her request number six she was respectful she came before the Lord with

the utmost respect and even in the midst of giving an answer that probably was

not desirable she still had the utmost respect for him she was number seven she

was rational she was not consumed by emotion or just this this weird just

craziness of love for her child or anything like that she was very rational

in this moment and so she was able to answer well answer calmly and show the

Lord that she was deserving of what she was asking for number eight she relied

on God's mercy it wasn't that she deserved anything it was simply because

she believed God was more than willing and more than able and she relied on

God's mercy and number nine last one she was persevering she maintained her

request she protected it and she kept it alive she did not give in to emotions or

circumstances or even to the first answer but yet she kept on until she

got what she was asking for and she protected her request by maintaining her

composure by maintaining her respect her modesty her humility her faith her

rationale everything she kept intact to protect what she needed and wanted and

that my friends it's a major stuff that we can learn from as far as this woman's

request I don't know if you've ever seen anyone so passionate about their

desires or needs that the way they went about getting them took all the

possibility away because they didn't handle it well but I have done that

personally I have removed the possibility of me receiving good things

from people and from the Lord by the way that I've acted and this woman gives

us a stellar example of what it means to persevere stay calm be faithful be

respectful be humble and see what she needs and is asking for answered by

the Lord because the Lord loves those who are faithful and who believe in

him and trust in him so that is something great that we can learn today

all right let's read verses 31 through 37 as Jesus heals this deaf man so Jesus

left here and went up to Sedan before going back to the Sea of Galilee in the

region of the ten towns also known as the Decapolis which we've talked about

before verse 32 a deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him and the

people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him Jesus led him

away from the crowd so they could be alone he put his fingers into the man's

ears then spitting on his own fingers he touched the man's tongue looking up to

heaven he sighed and said Ephatha which means be open instantly the man could

hear perfectly and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly Jesus told the

crowd not to tell anyone but the more he told them not to the more they spread

and use they were completely amazed and said again and again everything he

does is wonderful he even makes the deaf to hear and give speech to those

who cannot speak all right so Jesus goes a little further north to Sedan and then

he is about to go back to the Decapolis which is the ten towns and this is a

unique miracle because it's one of the only times that Jesus leads someone away

from the crowd in order to do the miracle if you go back to verse 32 when

it says that the people beg Jesus to lay his hands on the man sometimes we

have to be careful what we ask for in the way that we ask it we may not

exactly like what the Lord does in order to give us what it is that we're asking

for you know people joke all the time about being careful and praying for

patience because typically when we pray for patience the Lord brings about

frustrating things in our life that will cause us to practice patience in

order to get what it is that we're asking for and so I always joke around

and say I asked the Lord for patience all the time but I ask him to

supernaturally give it to me give me the patience of Christ so that I don't have

to endure unpleasant things in order to experience patience but I respond with

patience in the way that Jesus has called me to supernaturally and I'll

laugh about that because it's funny you know we have to be careful about the

things that we ask for now I believe that God is able to do that and we have

to be very specific in how we pray and what we ask for because when Jesus gets

a hold of this man he lays his hands on the man but he does it in a very very

different way than how we see Jesus normally do his miracles he puts his

fingers in the man's ears he spits on his fingers and touches the man's tongue

and this is very different than any other gospels accounts of Jesus healing

people it's very personal it's very intimate it's also very gross I don't

know how many of you would be okay with even Jesus doing this I mean it's one

thing to drink after someone it's another thing to kiss someone of the

opposite sex that is but to the idea of someone spitting on their hands and then

putting that in my mouth grosses me out completely and so you got to ask

yourself this question and reading this what are we willing to endure in

order to see Jesus work and move in our lives will it be uncomfortable will it

be gross will it be frustrating will it be different and hard to understand

more than likely yes more than likely the answer is yes and you see this

with this man right now what a wonderful miracle that he did but how weirdly

gross it was even for that time and once again we see the messianic secret

as Jesus commands the crowds not to tell anyone but the more he told them not to

the more they did these people were amazed at all that Jesus did and they

said that it was wonderful and yet so many people missed the true reason

that Jesus was there his miracles though wonderful as they were were the least

of what he did the true miracle was the change of the heart and soul that was

available to everyone there and they were missing it so many people completely

missed what Jesus could do for their heart what Jesus could do for their

eternity simply because they were settling for temporary physical healings

not because the death and the mute man went back to the way that he was

before but eventually he died and he didn't and the healing didn't matter

anymore eventually people that Jesus brought back from the dead died again

eventually those that were paralyzed those that were blind those that that

couldn't talk couldn't hear that every infirmity that Jesus healed eventually

those people died anyway the real question is is what did they allow Jesus

to do for their eternal soul that's the most important thing and that's what so

many people miss and that's why it is so so very sad that Jesus walked among them

and done all these wonderful things and yet many of them completely miss the

healing that Jesus could do for their eternal soul and I just end today by

asking you this question have you allowed Jesus to heal your eternal soul

let's pray together father in heaven thank you again for another wonderful

beautiful day and I pray Lord that you would speak into our hearts and guide us

Jesus I know that there are many things in our lives that we pray to you

about and ask you to answer and do great works in and Lord while we deal

with all this and we just walk through this life and endure so many things we

do ask that you would be with us but more importantly we ask that you would

heal our eternal souls cleanse us guide us forgive us help us to be be reborn

help us to be filled with your Holy Spirit because that is the most important

thing Lord we love you today we thank you for this time together and I pray

that you would speak into our hearts and minds and help us to honor you and

serve you Lord we love you we ask all this in Jesus name amen all right guys

thanks for tuning in for another week thank you for being a part of the

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have a great week