Mark 7:24-37 "Crossing Barriers with the Gospel"

Mark 7:29   " . . . such a reply . . . "

When one one of my grandchildren hops into my lap and says, "Knock, Knock," I know exactly how to respond. I say, "Who's there?" They will respond with one of the set ups they've learned, such as, "Boo." I will go along with the game and ask, "Boo Who?" To which they will gleefully respond, "Oh, I'm sorry you feel bad." Then they will giggle with delight because they have successfully effected their knock knock joke and pun.

When I read Mark 7:24-29 I recognize a set up. Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman are sharing a learned repartee. They both know the formula for this exchange just as my grandchildren know what unfolds from the introductory statement, "Knock, Knock." Jesus and the woman both know how the exchange will conclude. One says, it is not right to toss the children's bread to the dogs. The other responds, even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs. In this passage we have a wise saying. Probably, it circulated among people who lived along the border and sought ways to connect. This wise saying describes how people with compassion are willing to cross barriers to find and help each other.

The woman came to Jesus in hope of help for her daughter. She understood the barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Many Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs while they saw themselves as the children of God. The Syrophoenician community would have seen themselves as elites and the Jews as peasants. Jesus and this unnamed Gentile woman crossed the barrier and connected through their common humanity and shared compassion for a child in distress.

Jesus opened his ministry to Gentiles. He did not allow the Jewish understanding of themselves as children of God to keep him from caring for a person who was on the other side of the ethnic and religious boundary. The Gentile woman did not allow her status as part of an elite community keep her from humbling herself before Jesus so that she could find help for her child.

This encounter between Jesus and the woman recalls the visit of a Syrian commander named Naaman to the home of the Jewish prophet Elisha. When Naaman was told to wash in the Jordan river in order to be cleansed of his disease he almost left without being healed. He thought how the rivers of Syria were larger, cleaner and more beautiful than the humble Jordan. In pride he took steps to depart, but one of his advisors pleaded with him to reconsider. Naaman humbled himself, washed in the Jordan, was healed and became a follower of the Lord (2 Kings 5:15). Elisha and Naaman crossed the ethnic, political and religious divide that separated them just as centuries later Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman would cross similar boundaries to bring relief to a desperate child and parent.

How we need wise sayings! We need words that will help us show compassion to one another across the boundaries that separate us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people. We want our thoughts, our words and our actions to bring people to Jesus. We do not want to build barriers that keep people away from him.

Jesus went to the vicinity of Tyre. He left the territory where Jews predominated. He sought a place of anonymity; perhaps, he went to rest. Yet, it was inevitable that he would encounter the needy of that place even though they were not Jews. It was the providence of God. When we have our own providential appointments with those who are different, we want to have our attitude right and our words prepared so that we can, like Jesus, cross every barrier with the Gospel.

Mark 7 Diet Debate

Mark 7:19   “Jesus declared all foods clean.” (NIV)

Mark 7 reports a debate on food. The critics of Jesus charged him with a failure to observe the traditional rules about food and food handling. Jesus answered his critics with the idea that all foods are clean. All foods are eatable. This teaching shocked people. Most folks thought that what you ate and how you ate it were important to one’s relationship to God. Jesus taught that what goes into a person--food--is not so important as what comes out of a person, that is, their thoughts and words and actions.

People today have an obsession with food, too. Americans spend forty billion dollars annually on diet plans. Cooking shows and fine restaurants and gourmet kitchens, as well as the fast food industry, are part of the food world that makes the 21st century just as food conscious as those first century critics of Jesus. People give food a value beyond the simple need to eat to live. Food has an emotional, psychological, intellectual and spiritual meaning to people, now, just as it did when the debate between Jesus and his critics was first recorded.

Nutrition is important. Exercise is important. The Bible teaches the value of both. (See the story of Daniel or take note of 1 Timothy 4:8). The teachings of Jesus do not obviate the value of nutrition and exercise. We are called to be good stewards of our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 

Still, rules about food or exercise or any other external behavior can become an obstacle to spiritual formation. Rule keepers can be filled with anger, lust, envy--all sorts of evil thoughts. Jesus identified a dozen sins that arise from one’s thoughts (verses 21-23) No rule has the power to uproot and remove the source of this evil. Jesus quoted the prophets who made clear that such rule keeping was far from the purposes of God and true worship (verses 6-8).

The Gospel uproots the evil within a person by creating a transformed mind (Romans 12:1-2). This transformation is an ongoing process. As one weeds a garden week by week, so one confesses, repents and receives forgiveness in order to experience transformation of the evil heart. When the Holy Spirit changes the heart then one’s behavior will gradually change, too.

Of course, one danger is that people will hear the critique Jesus made of rules but not hear the Gospel. To abandon rules does not make one spiritual. Licentiousness fails us even more than rule keeping. We want our behavior to change. The issue is how to change, and this change begins in the heart, in the mind, in the spirit. Day by day confession, repentance and the grace of God create a new heart and a new life.

*******

Grandchildren. Sweetie Pie begins first grade this week.We are going to have much to talk about in the days ahead. I remember my own first grade class and teacher. My remembrances of school are happy. I am eager to talk with Sweetie Pie about her impressions of this coming adventure as she grows and learns and makes new friends.