Three More Miracles

Mark 7:24 After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre.

While he was fully God, he was also fully man. While he had a desire to help anyone with a need, he still had to have rest for his physical body to function. He chose Tyre, an ancient seacoast town in Phoenicia. It is located in modern day Lebanon, about 50 miles south of Beirut. In the first century world, Phoenicia was North and East of Galilee.

Unable to Escape Notice

When he went into a house, he did not want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.

I think Jesus just wanted to go to the beach and hang out for a while and recharge his batteries. No chance. He was much too famous and popular to escape notice, even when he went out of town. Earlier in his ministry, people from Tyre had heard of him and what he was doing in Galilee. Many had come to see and hear him.

25 Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him and came and fell at his feet.

While on vacation, a woman came and fell at his feet. Her daughter had an unclean spirit. Because of his reputation, she came to Jesus with the hope that he could heal her daughter. She assumed a position of subservience and worship, falling at his feet.

Jesus Broke with Tradition

Jesus broke with traditions concerning foreigners and women. Earlier in his ministry, while in Samaria, a woman came to a public well, called Jacob’s Well. Jesus spoke to her. She was surprised because she was a Samaritan and a women. Jews did not use any thing in common with Samaritans or speak to women. Here, in Phoenicia, this woman came to him.

I am certain it was a bold move for her to come to Jesus. She was certainly aware of his reputation as a healer. She was also motivated by concern for her daughter. By this time, people were likely aware that Jesus treated women with a dignity not common for the time. This would have given the woman the opening she wanted to take.

The Woman Came Boldly

26 The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

She had a simple request, “Cast the demon out of my daughter.” We have no information about the daughter’s symptoms. We only know it was caused by a demon, specifically an unclean spirit.

The demoniac at the tombs in the region of the Gerasenes was also possessed by unclean spirits. His symptoms were hanging around tombs in the presence of dead bodies, unusual strength, cutting himself and crying out loudly. It is possible the daughter had some of these symptoms. They could have been different. The only thing we know for certain is an unclean spirit was present in her.

Jesus Tests Her Faith

27 He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.” 28 She answered, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus, at first, did not answer her request. He treated her the way a typical Hebrew man would treat a foreign, Greek woman. He made an insulting allusion, indicating she was a dog. He said helping her was equivalent to depriving God’s children of food. I believe he was testing her. He wanted to see if she had faith.

She responded with a wise statement, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Her answer indicated she did have faith. She passed the test.

I imagine Jesus may have smiled and laughed at her statement. It was, indeed, a statement of faith. She acknowledged his ability to heal.

The other question in her mind, the other test of faith, “Is he willing?” She acknowledged his ability. Now, she put his willingness to the test. In Luke 11, Jesus spoke of a man going to a neighbor at night asking for bread because a friend had come and he had nothing to feed him. At first the neighbor refused, but later he relented because of the man’s persistence. This woman persisted. Again, she passed the test.

Persistence is an important aspect of faith. Real faith does’t ask once and give up. It keeps asking and asking until the request is granted or until you get a clear no.

Jesus did not go to her home or see her daughter. He said, “The demon has left your daughter.” It was done. The woman went home and found her request was fulfilled.

Moving on from Tyre

31 Then Jesus went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.

Through with his season of rest, Jesus returned home next to the Sea of Galilee. He probably didn’t think of it as a vacation in the way we think of a vacation today. The culture of his day had a different view of work, rest cycles. There was no artificial lighting. No electronics. They operated their lives by the sun and the seasons. There were times of work and times of rest related to the sun and the seasons. The profit motive that runs virtually everything in America did not exist in the same way. Profit was necessary, but it was not the primary reason for business to exist. While I have called it vacation, that is based on a modern outlook. In that day, seasons of rest were taken for reasons that are different from the reasons we take vacations today.

Healing a Deaf and Mute Man

32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 33 After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. 34 Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). 35 And immediately the man’sears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly.

Wherever Jesus went, he was healing people. For him, it was not special. It’s what he did. Here he took the man aside privately, put his fingers in his ears, spit and touched his tongue. Another time, he spoke and healed. Other times, people touched his garment and were healed. He never seemed to heal the same way twice.

No Pattern of Ministry was Intentional

I believe there is a reason for not have a set pattern of ministry and healing. If he had used a consistent pattern, we would turn the method our orthodoxy. Churches rise over methods. The Methodist denomination got it’s name from having recognized methods of spiritual growth and practice. Each denomination has distinctives it use to identify itself. That may be the reason Jesus varied his method nearly every time.

We need to be careful not to confuse patterns with truth, orthopraxy with orthodoxy. Paul addressed a division in Corinth. Some said, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.” Denominations started early. Paul corrected them for dividing themselves up in this way.

Jesus Orders, Do Not Tell

36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more. 37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Mark 8:1 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples and said to them, 2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4 His disciples answered him, “Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” 6 Then he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So they served the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well. 8 Everyone ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 There were about four thousand who ate. Then he dismissed them. 10 Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.