Mark Part 9

MARK

A MESSIAH FOR EVEN THE OUTSIDERS

MARK 7:24-37 – A MESSIAH FOR EVEN THE OUTSIDERS

We have a clear advantage over the people living during Jesus’s day. We have the complete canon of the Bible literally at our fingertips – either in the written form or on your device, both Old and New Testament. In addition, we have a whole lot of really good Bible resources. I have a library filled with great books on theology and different commentaries. What an incredible blessing that is, to live in an age like this where we have all that. We know from having read and studied our Bibles that Jesus was indeed the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the One who had been promised for centuries by the prophets. We know that, right? The term Messiah literally means “Anointed One.” But the Jews had other names, titles and descriptions for their Messiah. He was called The Lord’s Son and the Lord’s King (Psalm 2), Son of Man (Daniel 7), The Promised One (Genesis 3 and Genesis 12), Seed of David (2 Samuel 7), The Teacher (Joel 2), The Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42-53), The Prophet Like Moses (Deuteronomy 18), and Immanuel, God with Us (Isaiah 7). We could go on and on.

So, while we know that Jesus is the Messiah, that reality has not been revealed so far in the first seven chapters of Mark. At this point in our study, Jesus’ mission is still a mystery. Even His own disciples are unaware of Jesus’s ultimate purpose. All of that is going to get revealed in time, but at this point it has not happened yet.

Now, while we understand that the Jewish people of Jesus’s day did not yet have full revelation, one thing that surprises me about them is this: How is it that the Jewish people failed to understand that their Messiah (and God’s salvation) was NOT exclusively for them? That is apparently what they thought, what they believed. Otherwise, why did they get so mad at Paul in Acts 22 when he told them he was going to takeg the gospel to the Gentiles? They were enraged! Why did they think that all of God’s blessings were just for them? I don’t understand how they could possibly think that. Just listen to some of these passages from their own scriptures…

God is talking to Abraham, making this covenant with Abraham back in Genesis 12, early on in the Bible. “I will make of you [Abraham] a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). So, although God is starting a nation, it is through that nation that all the families of the earth will be blessed. Early on we read that.

This is Psalm 46: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations [a Hebrew reference to Gentiles], I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).

Psalm 65: “By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas” (Psalm 65:5).

Psalm 86: “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name” (Psalm 86:9).

Psalm 102: “Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: that He looked down from His holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth…  that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem His praise, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord” (Psalm 102:18-22).

Isaiah 11 “In that day the root of Jesse [the Messiah], who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of Him shall the nations inquire, and His resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10).

Isaiah 42: “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations (Isaiah 42:6).

Isaiah 45: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).

Isaiah 49: “It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6)

Isaiah 55: “Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you [a nation other than Israel] shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you” (Isaiah 55:5).

Isaiah 56: “And the foreigners [non-Israelites] who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant…” (Isaiah 56:6).

Isaiah 60: “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3).

Jeremiah 3: “At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart” (Jeremiah 3:17).

Jeremiah 16. This is kind of a long passage but it is really good: “O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say…” This is what the nations are saying: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies…” Our religion is worthless. Our religion is just a bunch of idolatry. “…worthless things in which there is no profit. Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!” They are not really gods. “Therefore, behold, I will make them [the nations from the ends of the earth] know this once I will make them know My power and My might, and they shall know that My name is the Lord” (Jeremiah 16:19-21).

Daniel 7: “To Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).

And then the last one I have for you, Malachi Chapter 1: “For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to My name, and a pure offering. For My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 1:11).

God’s heart, His plan for salvation has always been, not merely for His covenant people, but for ALL people. The Jewish Messiah is the Messiah for ALL the earth! It is important to understand this fundamental concept as we get into our passage today in Mark Chapter 7.

READ Mark 7:24.

Tyre and Sidon are in the region of Phoenicia. Q1, based on this verse, was Jesus’s goal when He traveled up to Tyre and Sidon to spread the word about Himself? NO. He was purposely keeping a low profile. That is what it says… He “did not want anyone to know.” So, that makes Q1 false.

Almost the entire earthly ministry of Jesus was spent ministering to a Jewish population in Roman-occupied Judea, modern day Israel. Jesus and His disciples now travel into Gentile territory making a rare appearance in the region of Phoenicia. But even way up there they have heard about Jesus. He may have escaped the crowds back home. But word about Him has spread… “Hey, Jesus is here!”

READ Mark 7:25-26

A woman approaches Jesus, which is the answer to Q2. A woman approaches Jesus. Now, we are not told her name, but we know her ethnic identity. She is “a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth.” This woman is of mixed Syrian and Phoenician descent. She approaches Jesus and begs Him to help her daughter. She falls down at His feet desperate for help. Then Matthew’s gospel adds another detail – she cries out, “Have mercy, O Lord, Son of David!” (Matthew 15:22). So, the answer to Q3 is that when the woman comes to Jesus, she does everything listed except welcoming Him.

What on earth would this Gentile woman want with a Jewish rabbi? Q4, what is the request she makes? What does she want Jesus to do for her? She wants Him to remove an unclean spirit, to cast out a demon. This is something Jesus has done frequently and the woman has apparently heard about it. Well, Jesus’s response is not exactly what we would expect. Frankly, when you read it, it doesn’t sound at all like Jesus.

READ Mark 7:27

Matthew adds that Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Jesus seems to refuse the woman’s request and Q5 asks why? His response sounds insensitive, even a bit rude, doesn’t it? We do not have the benefit of knowing what His facial expression the tone of His voice was. So, what is really going on here?

I had to go to some commentaries and got a little help from John MacArthur. He provides some insight. He says that Jesus is testing this Gentile woman’s faith. His first responsibility was to feed (preach the gospel) to the children, a reference to the Jewish people. “Bread” refers to God’s blessings which are for the “children,” the Jewish people first and foremost. “Dogs” is a term for a house pet. It is not the derisive term used by a lot of Jews who described Gentiles basically as mangy mongrels. Jesus is simply saying that His priority is to the Jews and not the Gentiles. So, there you have the answer. There will come a time when God’s blessings will be bestowed upon Gentiles, but that time is not now, not here in Mark 7. That is all He is saying.

To her credit the woman is persistent and this is the classic response that she gives to Jesus...

READ Mark 7:28

It is a response that is humble. She recognizes she does not deserve any of God’s blessings. She basically says, “I will take whatever You want to give me, Lord, however small that may be. I will gladly settle for whatever crumbs You want to throw my way.” This is the attitude that God desires whenever we approach Him in prayer – one of humility, submission, yielding our will, and total reliance upon Him.

READ Mark 7:29

Matthew adds in his account that Jesus tells the woman, “Your faith is great” (Matthew 15:28). So, there you have the answer to Q6. What was it that appears to have changed Jesus’s mind to fulfill the woman’s request? Her faith was great. It was her faith, right? Based on this woman’s statement of faith, Jesus grants her request. What a welcome contrast this woman’s faith is to the complete lack of faith that Jesus has constantly encountered by the Jewish religious leaders back home – refreshing!

Jesus tells her, “Go home. The demon is gone!” Matthew adds that her daughter was instantly healed (Matthew 15:28). So, that is the answer to Q7 [how long did it take for this miracle to occur after Jesus said the word?] Notice that Jesus heals the girl without actually being present with her.

But the woman doesn’t know for sure that her daughter has been healed, does she? Or does she? Let me ask you a question – If Jesus told you something, would you believe Him? I believe that she believed and hurried home with a joyful expectancy. And what does she find when she gets home?

READ Mark 7:30

It is exactly as Jesus said it would be. Her daughter is lying down. She is OK and the demon is gone. I like what Jerry Vines said in his commentary. He made this statement: “I would rather have the crumbs that come from the Master’s table than the feast that comes from the devil’s table. Give me the crumbs of Jesus any day.” I like that.

Between verses 30 and 31 several months pass. Some commentaries will say as much as 8 months. We do not know exactly, but nothing is recorded in the Gospels about what happens during this time. Jesus and the disciples apparently travel outside of Galilee and primarily through the Gentile regions.

READ Mark 7:31

Q8 asks, where does Jesus go next? The region of Decapolis. This is the same region where Jesus had cast the demons into the herd of pigs back in Mark Chapter 5. So, many of the people there remember Jesus. News about what Jesus had done for that formerly demon-possessed man has spread. If you recall, that man had asked to go with Jesus. But Jesus told him, “No. You go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” In essence, that man became the first Gentile missionary.

READ Mark 7:32

Our Gentile missionary’s testimony about Jesus appears to have been fruitful. Jesus receives a warm welcome by the crowd. Mark alone tells us this story we are about to read. Q9, who did the people of this region bring to Jesus? A deaf man who could hardly talk. They beg Jesus to lay His hands on the man and heal him. Is that what Jesus does? Well, let’s find out…

READ Mark 7:33a

Jesus is going to perform this miracle privately, away from the crowds. In the last miracle Jesus never even saw the girl that He healed. He just said the word and she was healed. Here, with this man, Jesus is up close and personal, one-on-one. Because the man is deaf, Jesus puts His own fingers into the man’s ears to communicate what He is about to do.

READ Mark 7:33b

So, Jesus spits on His own fingers and then touches the man’s tongue. Touching the tongue tells the man that He intends to restore his speech. That is obvious. The reason for spitting is less clear. If you read different commentaries, you will hear different possible explanations. The one that makes the most sense to me is this: In some cultures, saliva was believed to have healing properties, and Jesus may have used this common belief to communicate his intention to heal. That seems feasible. Remember He is communicating with a deaf man. The guy cannot hear so Jesus is going to communicate what He is about to do.

READ Mark 7:34

This is the second time that Mark records for us Jesus’s exact words in Aramaic, which is His native language. Let me skip ahead to answer Q13, what does that word Ephphatha mean? “Be opened.” The exact words that Jesus spoke. I love to “hear” the words in Aramaic, the exact words that came out of His mouth, right? It was not King James English. Sorry to disappoint you. The powerful words of God straight from Jesus’s own lips. Amazing!

Now let’s go back to Q10. Is it true or false that Jesus uses a different method than the crowd asked? It is true, a completely different healing process. That is the subject of Q11. Jesus does everything listed EXCEPT for laying His hands on the man’s head. So, He took him aside privately. He looked up to heaven. He spit and touched the man’s tongue. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. And He sighed and spoke to him. It is interesting that the one thing He didn’t do was the method they asked Him to do. I just find it fascinating that Jesus never seems to do things the same way all the time. He does things differently than the way we expect Him to do it.

 READ Mark 7:35

So, Jesus heals this deaf man and cures his speech impediment. By the way, how many times do the Gospels record Jesus healing a deaf person? The answer will surprise you. This is the only time. That surprised me. It was this event right here in Mark Chapter 7. Only Mark records it. And it was most likely a Gentile deaf man at that.

Q12 is an interesting question. It asks, “Considering the woman’s daughter in the previous story and the deaf man in this story, did either one of them (these recipients of Jesus’s miracles) demonstrate faith in Jesus before He healed them?” The easy answer – you would not be wrong to say that because Mark does not say – would be “we aren’t sure.” But based on the narrative alone, the answer would be NO. Just based on what the Bible tells us alone. Now, you can read in a lot of things, but as far as we know neither one of them did (though we don’t know for sure). As far as we know they did not. Now, the girl’s mother demonstrated great faith in Jesus to be able to heal her daughter. We know that. We read that part. The people that brought the deaf man demonstrated at least some degree of faith in Jesus to heal their friend. I find it very interesting that Jesus healed both of these people, not because of their own faith, but based on the faith of others.

READ Mark 7:36-37

Q14, what was the Gentile crowd’s reaction to Jesus healing the deaf man? They were completely overwhelmed with amazement. It literally says, “they were astonished beyond measure.” They had never witnessed anything like this before and probably never would again. They had heard all the stories about Jesus, but now they have seen for themselves what He can do. They cannot help themselves. They go out and proclaim what Jesus did zealously.

The question arose again in class, “Why did Jesus not want the people to tell?” We have talked about that before. Because He knows what the reaction will be. Just like that crowd when He fed the 5000 and they tried to make Jesus their king. That is not why Jesus came. So, He wanted to keep it quiet because knew how the people would react. He wants to keep that truth about Him under wraps until the right time.

So, the reaction to Jesus by this crowd is one of amazement. Those other three reactions to Jesus on the list, we have seen them before in our study of Mark. The first time Jesus visited this same region of Decapolis, the people had been afraid and asked Jesus to leave. Not this time – a different reaction. The Jewish crowds back home in Galilee have been wondering whether Jesus could be the Messiah. That has been the debate among the people – “Could He be?” And, after Jesus calmed the storm, His own disciples had silently pondered “what manner of man could this be?”

So, Jesus continues to do the things that the Messiah was supposed to do, even in Gentile territory. But He is not just the Messiah for the Jews only, is He? He is not just the Redeemer of Israel.   

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). “[The Gospel of Jesus Christ] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [the Gentiles]” (Romans 1:16). Good news, people, right? Like I said, “That’s US!”

Aren’t you glad that Jesus came to save us Gentiles? And that we get to share in the blessings of God’s kingdom? I told my wife Robin, “We are adopted into the family!” Yes, we too can celebrate the fact that Jesus is a Messiah even for us outsiders. That is what we are, aren’t we? We are outsiders. We are not part of that original covenant nation (established in Genesis Chapter 12). But we get “grafted in,” we get “adopted,” whatever term you want to use. And praise God for that!!