Mark 7:24-30 – The Power of Persistence and Compassion

Lectionary Readings for March 14, 2021     Fourth Sunday In Lent, Year B
Numbers 21:4-9          Moses and the Bronze Snake
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22    v1-2 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.
Ephesians 2:1-10        v4-5 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
John 3:14-21   Jesus speaking... 16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

But this week we’ll focus on Mark 7:24-30, “The Faith of a Gentile Woman.”

Peace through Leadership Quotes

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”   ~ Dalai Lama

“There is no improving the future, without disturbing the present, and the difficulty is to get people to be willing to be disturbed.”  ~ Catherine Booth, co-founder of The Salvation Army (1865)
(Background: “The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 in London by one-time Methodist preacher William Booth and his wife Catherine as the East London Christian Mission...”   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army )

As we ask ourselves, “What does it mean to follow in Jesus’ footsteps?” we find ourselves following someone who disrupted the social and religious structures of His day. When we continue the centuries-long Christian tradition of disrupting circumstances and systems that prevent people from hearing and feeling God’s love, we find our own lives are often disrupted as we, working together, seek a more peaceful world for ourselves, for others, and for future generations.

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading

As you listen to today story, you’re likely to come to one of two conclusions. Option 1) Jesus was a real jerk. OR Option 2) Jesus may have been God’s Spirit in the flesh, and he was definitely human as well which makes Him more relatable when we are... less than our best.

Keep in mind that when Jesus mentions dogs, He’s not talking about our beloved household pets. In His day, dogs were as beloved as our modern filthy subway rats or cockroaches. That’s how insulting His comment was to the mother in today’s reading.

Our story says that Jesus tried to retreat from the crowds by walking from the lake-front towns around the Sea of Galilee to the city of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast. I looked it up; that’s at least a 75-mile hike over challenging, rocky terrain. If you attempted to do that today, you’d likely be shot by at least three different nations along the way.

So Jesus arrives in Tyre feeling like, as my mother often said, a wrung out kitchen rag. The guy just wanted to eat, sleep, and pray... alone... in peace. But a pagan Greek woman shows up, pestering him for a favor.

Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we read today’s readings.

 

Read Mark 7:24-30.

When I hear the verse about dogs eating the crumbs from children, I laugh a bit. If you’ve ever lived in a home with kids and dogs, you’ll realize that 2,000 years later, our cultures are not so different – dogs eat what kids miss. Anne and I once adopted a dog from a family with twin two-year-olds. Once we got the dog home, it took some time and patience to wash the strawberry yogurt out of his hair. That dog was smart and well fed! Today’s story offers us a great deal to chew on.

For starters, the previous chapters of Mark include multiple stories of dedicated Pharisees challenging Jesus, and every time, Jesus counters their challenges with words so infused with faith-filled wisdom that the Pharisees dare not speak back. But this pattern falls apart when Jesus meets our determined, yet nameless mother.

She exchanges Jesus’ insulting dismissal with words of respect and wisdom... words that set him back and force him to reconsider. During our Tuesday night Bible Study someone pointed out that the Pharisees were trying to humiliate and discredit Jesus. In stark contrast, our mother speaks to Jesus boldly and respectfully. “You might not respect me, but I have a sick child who needs Your help, and you should respect that.” Jesus does and responds with a compassionate compliment and the miracle our mother desperately seeks.

This Greek, pagan woman fully understood the numerous reasons a devout Jewish man like Jesus would have to reject her. She also knew that her daughter needed help, and word on the street had it that Jesus could solve her problem. She was going to persist until Jesus relented; win or die trying.

You may already be thinking, “This sounds a lot like the two-part story of Jarius and his daughter as well as the hemorrhaging woman from two weeks ago” (Mark 5:21-43). It does indeed. I’m now thinking that Jarius makes a great Father’s Day story, and today’s reading makes a great Mother’s Day story. They persisted, and Jesus blessed their children. Or maybe you’ve been thinking about Gen. 18:22–33 where Abraham respectfully negotiated with God to have mercy on the citizens of Sodom. Or perhaps you prefer Exod. 32:11–14 when Moses challenged God to have mercy on the misfit Israelites, and God “changed His mind.”

From the Torah through the Gospels, our faith is rich with stories of an infinitely wise and powerful God who loves us so much that we can argue for mercy and blessings. These stories show, time and again, that our persistence draws out God’s compassion. That’s a powerful connection.

I don’t know about you, but for me, wisdom and humor often appear in the oddest times and places. During the past few years, I’ve become pen pals with an inmate in San Quintin. We’ve never met or talked – only letters. We ask each other for prayer requests. I mentioned Anne’s back pains in one letter. A few months later, my friend wrote back saying, “I’ve been praying for Anne’s back. Please let me know if she’s feeling better. If she’s not, I’ll ask God why He’s being so stingy.” Wow! I had never considered charging God with being stingy. But our beloved Scripture invites us to pray for people’s needs. Our Scripture presses us to have faith in what we can neither explain nor accomplish on our own. If we really believe all of that and we have faith in a God of miraculous healing, then yes, we should pray with great expectations. We should pray with the same persistence of today’s mother. Which begs the question, why do we hold back from God?

If you’re feeling timid with your prayers, one of the most invitational verses in all of Scripture is Isaiah 1:18, “Come now,” says the Lord, “let us talk this over together.” Jesus extended that invitation to everyone; he welcomed anyone who approached him with respect and faith. Through the Bible’s stories, God extends that invitation to all of humanity today. Just as the mother invited herself to join Jesus’ presence, through prayer, we too can join God’s presence, bringing our joys and our sorrows, our faith, our questions and our doubts, our praises and our anger. God invites us into His presence regardless of our condition or circumstance.

The question to us today is how can each of us invite others into God’s loving, welcoming presence – regardless of their circumstances? Every time we make an effort to be the hands and feet of Jesus, we answer that question – one person at a time. And that, my friends, is how we grow the Kingdom of God!

Amen? Amen!