Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Did Jesus Really Call Her a "Dog"? | The Gospels | Mark 7:24–37

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. How would you feel if someone called you a dog? Not in a friendly way, like what's up dog or a cool way, like you dog, but in a kind of offensive way. Like, you're not a person. You're a dog.

Starting point is 00:00:26 Speaking for myself, I probably wouldn't be very happy. I'd be tempted to bite back. Call me a dog and you get the teeth. Of course, that's not how Jesus tells us to treat our enemies, but I have to confess, the temptation would be there. I bring all this up, not just to be silly, but because for years I've been bothered by Mark chapter 7, verses 24 to 30, because in this passage, Jesus calls someone in need a dog, not in a cool way, but in a kind of offensive way. And it just seems so out of character for him, especially when he's dealing with those who are humble, weak, or needy.

Starting point is 00:01:06 In fact, that's why I think this passage is so important, because Mark had to know that it would surprise his readers. He didn't have to include the story. The Gospels aren't a comprehensive telling of everything that Jesus did, and that's especially the case of Mark's gospel. And yet, he did include this story, this out-of-place story. And I think it's meant to beg a question. Why? So let's hop straight into Mark 7 24 to 30. Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. That was a region in a Gentile area to the north of Palestine. Let's continue. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it. Yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet.

Starting point is 00:01:59 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. First, let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs. Lord, she replied, Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Then he told her, for such a reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.

Starting point is 00:02:27 She went home and found her child lying. on the bed and the demon gone. So what's happening here? Well I think it's an invitation from Mark to read and reread and reread again this strange story because with each rereading of this story, new layers of meaning appear. Now on the first reading, Jesus sounds a bit tired. You know, he's trying to get away from all the crowds in Israel and so he travels outside of Israel to tire so he can get a little break. But it doesn't go well. People find out. And so when a a non-Jewish woman from Syrian Phoenicia shows up. It's easy to read his responses, plain old irritability, or even worse, maybe a bit racist. Like he's saying that God's children, the Israelites,

Starting point is 00:03:12 should get fed before the Gentile dogs like her get fed. But rather than biting back, she humbles herself. She admits, you're right, I'm a dog. And then she asks for the crumbs. Impressed by this, Jesus relents and cast the demon out of her daughter. And perhaps the lesson of layer one is simple. We should all be like that woman. We should be humble. None of us deserve to be called God's children, not the Israelites, not the Gentiles, not you or me. And if we don't deserve to be his children, then we don't deserve to be richly blessed by him. So we don't come before Jesus with an entitled spirit. Instead, we say, you know what, Jesus, before you, I am a dog. I know I'm not deserving. But in your mercy, could I get but the crumbs of your blessing? And God's answer is

Starting point is 00:04:03 straightforward. He says, yes, he doesn't just give her the crumbs. He gives her the feast she requested. Her beloved daughter is freed entirely from demonic possession. If you only read once, perhaps the story is a bit confusing, but nonetheless applicable, be humble. But a second reading yields even more fruit because it's on the second reading that you might start feeling in it. at the back of your head, the sense that you've read something like these words somewhere else before. And if you've read the whole Bible, or if you did the historical books with us last year, then you'd be right. You've read some things that this passage is echoing. In 1st, King 17, we learn about a prophet named Elijah who lived during a terrible drought in Israel. So did God send

Starting point is 00:04:48 Elijah to Israel? Well, no, he didn't. Instead, he sent Elijah to Tyre, the very region that Jesus himself was going. And during Elijah's journeys in that region, you know who he met? Another Phoenician woman who allowed Elijah to lodge in his home. She welcomed him in a way that not even the Israelites would. By God's power, Elijah did multiple miracles in her household to keep her family alive during the drought. The most important one involved her child who was resurrected from the dead. So what was the point of this passage in 1st King 17? Well, part of the reason why why Elijah leaves Israel and then blesses someone outside of Israel is to show that God is casting his judgments on Israel. God was saying to the people, if you would only trust me, welcome me

Starting point is 00:05:35 and worship me, then I would preserve you as I preserved this non-Israelite family. But you've rejected me. You've worshipped idols. You've burned your children. So I'll feed this Phoenician, what was originally meant for you. In a similar way, Jesus finds a mixed bag in Israel. during his time. Some, especially amongst the poor, the weak, and the sinners, they do have faith in him. But those with wealth, those with power, those with influence, for the most part, they don't trust him. So the fact that a non-Israelite experiences the blessings of God's healing hand before Israelites experience that, well, that's an indictment of their hard heart. It's a judgment upon Israel for rejecting Jesus. So there's some irony in the story because it was common for Jewish elites, the very people who

Starting point is 00:06:28 rejected Jesus, it was common for them to call Gentiles dogs. So when Jesus uses this phrase, you can imagine them maybe hearing this red and nodding along, like, yeah, finally, Jesus gets it, call her the Gentile dog. But it turns out this is a bit of a trap because in the very next moment, he gives her what they themselves would have wanted, the power of God. And so the story turns their expectations upside down, and they begin to realize that they're not above the so-called Gentile dog. In fact, they're below her because she received what they wanted to eat, but could not receive because of their hard hearts. And thus, a second reading gives us a second lesson.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Beware of hardening your heart against Jesus. He'll take the food that was set apart for you, the food that you rejected, and he'll give it to one who desires it. instead. But is this the final layer of the story? I don't think so. The third layer of this story is more cosmic, because this story shows us something of how God works in the world throughout history, which is to say God chooses to work through particulars. He works through a particular family, the family of Abraham, to become a particular nation, the nation of Israel, with a particular mission to spread God's blessings to all the nations, not just to bless themselves. In other words, God planned to bless the particular nation of Israel, not so that they would keep the blessing

Starting point is 00:07:57 for themselves, but so that they would become a conduit for God's blessing to the rest of the world. Thus, Paul would later write that salvation came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. That's not because Jesus was a racist. It's not because Jesus disliked Gentile people. No, it's because God always works through particular lives and particular means, and by means of the particular, he reaches the universal. By means of reaching the Jewish people, his intention was always to reach the universal, everybody else. So what Jesus said here is actually not wrong. The gospel and its blessings were meant to go to the Jews first so that they could be the conduit and then it could go to the Gentiles. But he didn't say that out of preference for one people group. He said that

Starting point is 00:08:42 because that's how God works by blessing a particular group so that through that group he could bless everyone else. We see this in the book of Acts as the gospel spreads from Jews to Samaritans to Gentiles. And now we see it in our own lives. As many of us are Gentiles rescued by the blessing of God that flowed through his Jewish son Jesus and his Jewish disciples into the world, into our Gentile lives. And that's the third layer of meaning. God works by similar means today. He wants to work through you as a particular person to become a conduit for his blessing to reach many the universal. So today, lay yourself humbly down before Christ. Don't harden your heart against him.

Starting point is 00:09:30 Don't deny the meal he wishes to give you. Instead, confess your humility before him. Confess that you don't deserve his mercy. And then praise him that he chose to bless you nonetheless. Praise him that he came in a particular time. in place to a particular people to you so that he could give you his blessings and you could spread them abroad

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Did Jesus Really Call Her a "Dog"? | The Gospels | Mark 7:24–37

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