February 13, 2025

Mark 7:24-30

Early in his ministry Jesus understood his mission as redeeming the nation of Israel, the people of God. This ministry was big enough as it was; it was only later he realized that the mission encompassed the whole world. At this point, while he was trying to spend some quiet time in a house, in Tyre, a Greek woman found him and begged him to drive out a demon from her daughter. Jesus’ response, that the food was for the children and not the dogs, means that he saw his healing and teaching as meant for the children of Israel and not for outsiders. When she replied that even the dogs eat the children’s scraps under the table, her humility opened the way for her daughter to be healed. When she returned home, the demon was gone.

This story means that it does not matter how God’s healing love comes to us, whether through regular channels like a church or through other means outside of religious settings. It also means that it doesn’t matter whether we are “important” or “unimportant,” high ranking or lowly, for God’s love to find us. Sometimes lowest is best for receiving God’s grace.

Once again, in this story it is a woman who stretches the boundaries of Jesus’ teachings beyond the Israelites, like the Samaritan woman, and beyond Jewish laws, like the hemorrhaging woman who touched the hem of his robe. That is all for today.