Jeffrey Heine: Alright. So this morning we're gonna look at Mark chapter 7 as we continue our study in the gospel of Mark. And as you are turning there, I actually want to talk about, something that happened in chapter 6 that we didn't get really to talk about. And that is when Jesus went to his hometown in Nazareth. When he went there he did not do many miracles there because the people were just too familiar with him.
They grew up with Jesus, they knew Jesus as a toddler, they got to see Jesus during those awkward junior high years, you know as his voice was changing. They knew Mary and Joseph, all of Jesus's siblings. And so when they saw Jesus, it was just hard to see him as a prophet, let alone as the son of God. And so as a result, Jesus, he did not perform many miracles there in Nazareth. And he said a prophet is not without honor except for in his hometown.
Now we really didn't get to look at those verses a few weeks ago because it was our mission Sunday when that fell on, that text, and our focus was on some other things. But I wanted to bring that back up for us this morning because I think we are in danger of treating Jesus the same way as his hometown did. When I went to Beeson Divinity School, once I finished, Lauren and I, we really struggled with whether we should stay here in Birmingham or not. And one of the reasons we struggle with it is because Birmingham is such a Jesus saturated place. Some of you might have heard me describe it this way.
It's hard to throw a rock and not break stained glass. There there's there's churches everywhere. So Jesus, he's just very familiar to us. Many of you grew up going to VBS's. Maybe you went to Christian Schools.
We regularly see cars drive by with fishes on them or businesses put fishes, on the signs for their business. Politicians pull out the church card because they know it will actually get them votes in a place like Birmingham. So Jesus is part of the cultural air that we breathe. So, might it be possible though that we've become so familiar with Jesus that we're actually blinded to who he really is. Blinded to his true power as the son of God.
A good way to think of this is perhaps here in the Bible Belt or the Buckle of the Bible Belt here in Birmingham, we've heard just enough of Jesus to become inoculated against him. By that I mean, we we hear Jesus's name mentioned or perhaps a story mentioned and we immediately think I know that. Well, I've heard that. And we just kind of check out And as a result, we we no longer hear him. We no longer stand in awe of him.
We no longer pursue him with a fearless persistent faith. Now, I think as we've been studying Mark, I think Jesus actually has been breaking through a number of our defenses. He certainly has done that for me. He has he has revealed himself as far more glorious and and big than I had previously imagined. In the text that we are looking at this morning, Jesus actually leaves Galilee, which was the bible belt of his day, or you could say the Torah belt of his day.
And he goes deep into gentile territory. He goes into a place where people are not as familiar with him. They're they're not there's not the fishes in the businesses or in the cars. There he finds a woman who actually appropriately sees him for who he is. Who who responds to him as such worthy of the son of God.
She's gonna actually see him more clearly than any of the disciples. And so with that in mind, let's read Mark chapter 7. We'll begin reading verse 24, and we're only gonna read half the text before you. I decided literally one minute before the 8 o'clock service, I'm punting that second half, to a couple of weeks from now. And from there, Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know yet, 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 she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. This is the word of the Lord.
You would pray with me. Lord, many of us come in here with very familiar, familiar to thoughts, familiar irreverence at times when it comes to thinking of you, worshiping you. Lord, would you knock all that down for us? Would you do only what your spirit could do and that's to truly open up our hearts and minds to see Jesus so that we might respond to him the way that you would have us respond. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
And the Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in your name Jesus, Amen. So when each of my girls turned 13 years old I would take them on a little daddy daughter trip overnight trip just as a way of getting away with them, spending some intentional time with them. And, each one of them I said, you could pick wherever you want to go. It just has to be within 5 hours driving distance.
And so each of them picked New Orleans which is exactly 5 hours away. And so we would go there, and it was great. We got to spend all that time in the car together, that time walking around the city, and and really as a dad there is nothing like holding the hand of your 13 year old daughter and walking down Bourbon Street. It's it's just one of those moments you cherish. And so we're doing that.
We're walking down. I mean, she's her eyes are being opened to the world. All of my girls And for one of them, Natalie, who is my middle daughter, we're going and there was a parade coming towards us, and, the people were apparently poor. They didn't have enough money for clothes, and so they're they're making their way towards us. And and it was a bachelorette party happening at the same time with this band.
And this this woman just kind of runs into Natalie and she had this sash that said, the maid of dishonor. And, and and it was like, you know, welcome Natalie to just pagan land is what I said to her. And, that's where we're going this morning. Pagan land, that's that is certainly what the disciples would have thought, what every Jew would have thought when they heard the names Tyre and Sidon. Tyre was actually Jezebel's old hometown.
It was the birthplace of Baal worship. Sidon wasn't any better. And Jesus ventures there into this Gentile territory. Now besides the one time that Jesus briefly crossed the Sea of Galilee to go and cast out the legion of demons and come immediately back, Jesus hasn't ventured up into gentile territory. But here he he's he's not just taking a little trip.
This is a really long trip. Tyre is 20 miles away. Sidonus is 50 miles past that. All in all, Jesus is going to be walking about a 150 miles. So he's gonna be gone weeks, perhaps months.
This is not a little day trip with his disciples. And we almost know nothing about this trip. I mean, there is a 2, 3 very short stories about what Jesus did there, but we other than that we know almost nothing about that time. So we're not entirely sure why he decided to take this trip. It doesn't seem to be a missionary endeavor because he actually tries to keep a very low profile.
At first glance, he seems reluctant to even talk to people let alone perform a miracle. My best guess is that Jesus is going on this trip for the same reason that I went on these trips with my girls. Jesus wants to get away, spend some intentional time with those he loves. He wants to spend some intentional time with his disciples. And in order to do that, he needs to escape the crowds that are following them all around in Galilee.
You see at this point, it's the last year of Jesus's ministry here. He knows that his time in this world is is ticking away. Opposition is growing. The enemies are beginning to circle around. They're already already gathering, already plotting against him.
The cross is looming. He knows his time with his disciples is short and yet they have so much more they need to learn. There's so much more he needs to teach them before he departs. So I think he decides we'll get away. We'll go on a little hiking trip together if you will in order that he might pour into them before we begin to turn the page for the rest of Mark and he starts heading towards Jerusalem.
This is why we find when Jesus arrives in Tyre, the first thing he does is he goes and he hides. We read that Jesus, he went into someone's house and he did not want anyone to know that he was there. The problem with this though is that he's Jesus. Everybody knows who Jesus is. Even in Gentile territory, the people at least all knew about him.
We actually read back in Mark chapter 3 that people from Tyre and Sidon had been making their way into Galilee in order to be healed by him. So they were aware of him. So although Jesus is trying to fly under the radar, it's hard to do. Plus he's got 12 dudes following around with him. It's his entourage if you will, following around and people knew him.
It was like spotting a celebrity and word spread that he was holed up in this house. And then a woman hears about this, a woman who has a daughter who's possessed by an unclean spirit. And so she immediately sets off to go and to find Jesus. This woman has got a lot of strikes against her. For starters, she's a woman and Jewish men would have been very reluctant to talk to any women, let alone a woman they did not know.
2nd, she's a Gentile. Not just any Gentile, she's a Syrophoenician. If you're not sure, you know what a Syrophoenician woman is, the gospel of Matthew explains it for us. Says that she's a Canaanite. You can't get worse than a Canaanite for a Jew.
On top of all of that, her family her family life's a disaster. It's all falling apart. Her daughter, had a lot of problems. It's not like, you know, she was, you know, smoking or was getting kicked out of school. She, she reached a point where she actually had a demon.
So she had a unclean spirit in her, and so this woman has got a lot of things that are working against her. Yet we see that despite all of that, she boldly comes to Jesus uninvited and she begs for him to come in to help his daughter. And when we read that she begged Jesus, that word beg means continually begging. So she fell down at Jesus's feet and she begged and she begged and she begged and she begged. Then Jesus responds to the pleas of this desperate woman by calling her a dog.
Look what 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. Now if this rubs you the wrong way and seems really harsh, don't worry. It's actually a lot worse in Matthew's gospel. Matthew records the story in chapter 15 of his gospel. And there we read that before he ever reached She ever reached the home of Jesus and went in to see him, she was first begging outside of the home.
So she came to the outside of the home and she's calling inside to where Jesus is and she's saying have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David. Great theology. I mean, it's it's really profound what she is saying. Other people are missing it. She actually gets it.
She understands who he is and she is calling out, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. She's begging again, again, and again, and we read that Jesus responds by ignoring her. We read in Matthew's account that he did not say a word to her.
Then we read the disciples reaction, you know, the disciples so full of mercy and compassion. The disciples, they came to Jesus and he said, there's this woman outside and she is begging and begging and begging to see you. Could you please just send her away? They don't ask Jesus to go in to heal her. They're just like, you know, we've been trying to get away.
We're on vacation. We don't want to do this. I mean, we're just sitting down to have a quiet meal and that woman will not shut up. So Jesus would you just go out and just just kinda shoo her away. It's really quite a story.
Isn't it? Great story so far. Paints the church in such a good light. Perhaps this is a good way or a good time to to say this, but the church can often be The people in the church can often be the biggest hindrance to others coming to see Jesus. Perhaps you have seen that over the years, perhaps you have experienced that over the years that the people in the church can often be the biggest hindrance to those wanting to see Jesus.
For those of you who came into this place this morning alone, that took such guts. I mean really, I I admire your courage in doing that because I can't think of a more intimidating place to walk in all by yourself. I mean, you walk in and you open the door to just chaos everywhere. You have no clue what to do, where to go. You're just trying to find a seat.
And then of course everybody looks like they know one another. Everybody's really tight with one another and everybody else that looks like they're really tight with Jesus And you just feel like this outsider. It's kinda like going to the gym for the first time. Besides, a church being the most intimidating place, the second most intimidating place is going into a gym for the first time because you walk into that gym, and it seems like everyone there is just super fit. It's the first thing you notice is they look like they belong.
They all seem to know know what to do, where to go. They're using a language you don't understand. You're like, hey, this is an AMRAP. It's not an imam. You know, hey, you're supposed to do the DBs after the double unders.
That's a hanging clean. You're doing a power clean. Like you are lost. Just like someone coming in here and all they hear is words like righteousness, justification, atonement, and everything about this blood, blood, blood of Jesus. And they're like, they just wanna run.
A couple weeks ago in our gym, a lady she came in for the first time. After 10 minutes, she left crying. She's never come back. And we were trying to help her like trying, but all she could feel is just, this isn't me. I don't belong here.
This is for you guys. Some of you have felt the same way as you come in here and so I just want to just applaud you for your courage in coming to this place. And you need to know this about every person who's in here. You're gonna look around and you think every person here looks like they're tight with Jesus and they have all their lives together. You need to know that we are all messed up.
Every one of us is messed up. Every one of us has sinned just dripping in our lives. It's the reason we're here is because we actually need Jesus. And so if you need Jesus, you're in the right place. And if you've ever come across some real arrogant Christian jerks, I'm sorry.
They exist. They do. It's also the reason that they're here is we need to be changed by Jesus. And so that if that's you, if you're here because you think I just need to be changed by Jesus, you are in the right place. Don't let the people of the church hinder you from coming to him.
Didn't hinder this woman. She is not going to be deterred. So when she is being completely ignored, she decides well, I'm just gonna have to burst right in. And so she just bursts right through the door where Jesus is, uninvited, just falls down at his feet. And that's where the story of Mark actually begins.
Jesus now responds to this woman who's begging begging begging at his feet In verse 27 by saying, let the children be fed first for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to dogs. Jesus called her a dog. Now commentators are very quick to point out that this is not as bad as it seems, which means it's bad. Anytime commentators immediately have to point out something like that it means well it's probably because it certainly looks bad. Some commentators who would say, Jesus certainly said this with a twinkle in his eye.
I'm like, did he? Yeah, I mean it just it doesn't feel like his eyes twinkling as he's saying this. Now, I do think it is important to know and somewhat softens it that Jesus did not use the normal word for dog. The word that's used every other time in your Bible. He uses a unique word that's only found here and it's a word that doesn't mean street dog which is all the other dogs.
It actually means house dog. So it's, it's a dog as an owner. Softens it a little but she's still a dog. And and she she's she's just begging, begging Jesus. We had a dog, a Daisy, died a few months ago.
Last couple of years of her life, she was a brat, because she was so annoying because she just begged non stop. And honestly, it's one of your fault. It's one of you. We we have people to our house all the time. She's never tasted real food.
We've always given her dog food, and at one of our dinners, one of you gave her real food. And the moment she tasted real food, all she could do was, that's it. There was no tournamax. She would just beg, beg, beg, beg. So at the table, she would come up underneath me in her nose.
It would just hit me for the last 2 years of her life begging, begging, begging, begging. That's what Jesus says this woman's doing. Begging, begging, begging, begging like a dog. I actually don't think Jesus is being rude here. I think he's speaking to her using a parable.
It's a parable with a very particular point. When Jesus says, let the children be fed first, he is saying, hey, I came first and foremost to the Jews. Yes, Jesus believed that he was to reach all of the Gentiles, that the Gentiles were going to be saved, but it was always going to be through the nation of Israel. This is what God had promised Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12, that the whole world would be blessed through him through Abraham, and it's also why Jesus is traveling around with 12 Jewish men. He was going to pour into them first and then they would reach the nations.
So Jesus is gonna pour into them, pour into them. It's only gonna be after his death and resurrection that he's then gonna commission them and say now go to the ends of the earth. But it was gonna start with these Jewish men. And certainly, that's what we see in acts. The church began with the Jews and then it spread to the rest of the world to which I am thankful because I am a gentile.
This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 116 when he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. For is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So in this parable here Jesus is saying, hey one must first feed the children before giving the leftovers to the house dog. Now this might seem like a little rebuff to the girl but to this woman, but she she did not at all see it this way. She's actually, she heard that she was encouraged.
She's encouraged because this is, this is what she's thinking in this moment, well, Jesus actually came into my country. And you know what? Jesus didn't listen to his disciples. He hasn't actually turned me away. And even though Jesus said this little parable about the dog and everything, he actually hasn't said no.
When I read this, I kept thinking of the dumb and dumber line. So you're saying I've got a chance. Like, that's what she's saying. So you're saying I've got a chance here. In all seriousness, I think Jesus is using this woman to teach his disciples about what real faith looks like, how you're supposed to respond to him.
Faith looks like this for this woman, unless she gets a definite no, she's going to believe yes. Unless she gets a definite no, she's going to believe that Jesus's answer is yes. Faith looks and believes in the heart of Jesus, even when at times it looks like his face might be frowning. Is that how you approach Jesus in prayer? Bold, fearless, gutsy?
Or do you just quickly give up when all you hear is silence after you've been praying? Do you interpret God's silence as a no? Or like this woman whose silence is just an invitation to come crashing in? To boldly come into his presence, to make your request known. Hear me, do not give up on prayer unless you get a definite no.
Believe that the answer is yes. Now it's a desperation that drove this woman to Jesus, but it's her understanding of his grace that really gives her the boldness to answer Jesus the way she does. So when she hears this parable, she's not at all discouraged. Instead, she's emboldened because this is what she's thinking. Okay.
He called me a house dog. Ouch. But when you think about it, you know, a house dog means we live under the same roof as the child. House dog has the same master as the child, needs to be provided for in the same way as the child. And so that leaves her leads her to respond in verse 28.
Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. This is, this is such a humble, insightful, I would even dare say playful answer to Jesus. It's remarkable and it is in stark contrast to how all the religious elite have been interacting with Jesus. It's in stark contrast with how the disciples have been interacting with Jesus.
For starters, she is the 1st and the only person in the gospel of Mark to ever get one of Jesus's parables. She's the only one who understands any of his parables. I mean the the religious elite, the Pharisees, the scribes, they didn't understand Jesus's parables. The disciples didn't understand Jesus's parables, even the easy ones. I mean, last last week, we're looking at you know, it's not what comes from the outside when they eat that makes you unclean and they're like, I don't get it.
Jesus, could you come here privately because we don't wanna embarrass ourselves. Tell us what you meant. The disciples didn't get the parables, but but look at this woman. She she readily understands what Jesus is saying. Not only that, but she responds accordingly.
She she responds by entering into that parable and answering him within the parable. It's remarkable what she does. And so let's let's look at each thing she says. First she says, Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
Right there that's just such a humble posture. She's not defensive. She says, Lord, I do not refute anything you say. I am who you say I am. What a posture to first come with a request.
I am who you say I am. She understands that Jesus came first and foremost to the Jews and not to her. But this is when it turns. She goes I am who you say I am but I also know who you are and you are a God of lavish grace. That fuels her for this next response.
When she says, yet even the dogs under under the table eat the children's crumbs. What she is saying is Lord, I do understand who you are and I understand that you are gonna set a meal before Israel but I also know it's not just any meal, it's a feast. And it is a feast of such abundance. I see it as food is just spilling over the table and certainly in light of such an abundant feast with food spilling off the table, there's enough for me. What a unbelievable response.
It was her understanding of God's grace that gave her the boldness to make such a request, gave her that tenacity in prayer. Do you see God as that gracious Or do you just no longer even ask him of things because you just assume the answer's no? Do you see God as stingy? Or one who gives such good gifts, so much grace it's just spilling off the table. Jesus responds to her by saying because of this answer you may go your way.
The demon has left your daughter. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus he actually exclaims, woman great is your faith. In Greek it's actually woman you have mega faith. I love that. You have mega faith.
And Jesus wants us to have mega faith. And then just with a mere word he casts out the demon. Notice that the woman doesn't say you have to come with me. I need you to come. No.
She just trusts Jesus at his word. Your daughter has been delivered. Also notice that at this point in Mark's gospel, Jesus has so defeated satan that, like, he could just cast out a demon that's not even near him with just a word. Casting out a demon is as easy as breathing for Jesus at this point. Okay.
So why is this story here for us? Mark, as we know, is highly selective in the stories he picks. It's the shortest of all the gospels. So why did he decide to include this story? Well, I think it's just he wants to show us how we should appropriately respond to Jesus.
If we truly understand his power and that it is only matched by his grace And when we see his power and his grace combined, how can we not come to him boldly, fearlessly, persistently, constantly approaching him in prayer. I think Mark wrote this to show us that even though when God is initially silent with us it does not mean no. That we should not interpret silence as a no but just as the chance to boldly go even further into his room and pray. It's to show us that his grace is so abundant that his gifts just spill off the table for all to enjoy. So be gutsy in the way that you pray.
Don't stop. Paul says in Ephesians 1 that Jesus has lavished the riches of his grace upon us. In Hebrews 4, he said, let us draw now in confidence near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in a time of need. Let's go to him now. Jesus, your power is only matched by your grace.
And those two things combined, how can we not boldly go to you with our request request and prayer? So Lord, I pray that you would give us hearts that do not give up but press into who you are. We pray this in the sweet name of Jesus. Amen.