Have you ever been afraid to approach someone?
A professor for help, a coach with a special request, a judge.
Have you ever been afraid?
I think of Dorothy and her friends, the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion
as they step into that long green hallway in the Emerald City,
approaching to the throne room of the Wizard of Oz, the great and powerful Oz,
how they trembled before him, overwhelmed by the pomp and circumstance.
Have you ever felt that way as you've approached others?
Have you ever felt that way about approaching God as well?
Do you tremble to come to him?
Maybe like Dorothy, you feel like God is overwhelming and unwelcoming,
that the God of the universe will have no time for you
and that you have no place and no standing to come before him.
Now, it's also very possible in our world today that you don't feel that way at all.
You may think, Jesus is our friend.
We can walk in whenever we want, invite him to sit down on the couch, have a cup of tea with us.
And maybe, as C.S. Lewis puts it, we are even putting God in the dock.
We don't approach him in fear and trembling.
We ask him to come and prove himself to us.
We put him on trial in our own hearts and minds.
And we approach him with not only boldness, but an arrogance that he has to meet our standards and our needs.
However we think about approaching God this morning, the Bible always comes to challenge us,
to challenge our assumptions.
And this morning, we're going to look at a passage in the book of Mark,
where we see Jesus responding in an unexpected way,
ways that will help us see him more clearly,
and help us to know how we rightly should approach God.
So, we're in a series in the book of Mark.
We're in Mark chapter 7.
We're looking this morning at Mark 7, verses 24 through 30.
I forgot to look that up in the Pew Bibles.
Does anyone have a page number for me?
791?
Great.
Thanks, Melissa.
So, 791, if you're using the Pew Bibles,
we're going to read this passage and pray together.
As you're turning there, remember,
Jesus has been preaching about the kingdom of God is at hand,
and expressing that through his own ministry,
to the people that he's around and with.
And so, with that, let's go ahead and read our passage.
This is Mark 7, starting in verse 24.
And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know,
yet he could not be hidden.
But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed
by an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.
Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth.
And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
And he said to her,
let the children be fed first,
for it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
But she answered him,
yes, Lord,
even the dogs under the table eat,
yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
And he said to her,
for this statement you may go your way.
The demon has left your daughter.
And she went home and found the child lying in bed,
and the demon gone.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning and we ask for your help.
We ask for your Holy Spirit to be with us.
Lord, to enlighten our minds,
to soften our hearts.
Lord, so that we might understand
and receive your word to us this morning.
Lord, help me as I speak,
that I would speak as I ought,
and that we together would sit under your word today.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So as we continue through the Gospel of Mark,
we're looking at these portraits of Jesus
so that we might understand him
and what the coming of the kingdom of God looks like more clearly.
And today we have this,
in my mind,
unexpected account.
We see Jesus
in unexpected circumstances,
we see Jesus responding in unexpected ways,
and we hear Jesus affirm an unexpected faith.
So there's your outline if you're a note taker.
Unexpected circumstances,
Jesus responding in unexpected ways,
and affirming an unexpected faith.
So let's just walk through this passage together.
Jesus is in unexpected circumstances.
This is the one place in the Gospel of Mark
where Jesus actually departs from
the primarily Jewish world of Israel.
He goes to Tyre and Sidon,
which if in your map,
your mental map,
here's Israel.
Tyre and Sidon is modern-day Lebanon.
So it's north and along the coast.
Historically,
this was a place of antagonism
toward the Jewish people.
This was the home,
after all,
of Jezebel,
the wife of King Ahaz,
who led the king
of the northern tribes of Israel
into idolatry
and worship of Baal.
Historically,
it's also true
that this was a place
who,
that allied with
the opponents
of the Maccabeans
when the Maccabean Jewish people
tried to revolt
against the rule
of the Seleucids,
for those of you
who know ancient
Near Eastern history.
So this was a place
where the enemies
of the people of Israel,
the nation of Israel,
lived.
One commentator says,
they represented
the most extreme expression
of paganism,
both actually
and symbolically,
that a Jewish person
could expect
to encounter.
Why did Jesus go there?
Well,
it seems like
he went away
to get away
from the crowds
and to be
in an unknown place.
He was hoping,
remember,
going back to chapter 6,
verse 30,
Jesus and his disciples
have been trying
to get away
to a quiet place.
They've gone
into the wilderness
twice and failed
both times.
The crowd found them
both times.
So now they decide,
and I've done this,
I'm going to go
to a coffee shop
in the middle
of a really busy city
where I don't think
I know anyone
because that's
the best place
to be anonymous
and to hide.
I think that's
what Jesus is doing.
It says he wanted
to be hidden.
He didn't want anyone
to know where he was
so that he could rest.
And yet,
as we see over and over again,
Jesus plans to rest
in that way,
seem to be foiled
by the sovereignty of God.
And a woman walks in,
and Mark makes very clear
who this person is.
It is a woman,
a Gentile,
a Syrophoenician.
Again,
a commentator.
Of all the people
who approach Jesus,
this is the person most,
this is the individual
who has the most
against her
from a Jewish perspective.
The cultural expectation
was that Jesus
wouldn't even see her,
let alone respond to her.
She comes in.
She'd heard of what Jesus
had been doing
in other places.
She falls on her knees
before him,
and she begs him,
please help my little daughter.
She has a demon.
She needs help.
She didn't know
how he would respond.
Did she hope
that she would find grace?
Did she fear
that she would be rejected?
Did she presume
that because he'd done it,
because Jesus had done
these things in other places,
he would do it here?
The text doesn't say,
but it seems like
she came humbly,
and she begged him for help.
And this is the unexpected
circumstances
that Jesus finds himself in.
How would Jesus respond?
Look with me in verse 27.
This is the striking part
of the story, isn't it?
This is not what you expect.
And it's not what you expect
because we've read other stories.
People have come out of nowhere
and encountered Jesus
and engaged Jesus
in remarkable ways.
Remember the woman
that interrupted Jesus
going with Jairus
to Jairus' house.
The woman who was an outcast
and unclean,
though she was Jewish.
And he stops
and he cares for her
with compassion.
Remember Jesus
encountering the man
possessed by a demon
in the Gerasene wilderness.
How he comes to him
with compassion
and comfort.
But here,
it doesn't feel this way,
does it?
Jesus' response,
let the children be fed first,
for it's not right
to take the children's bread
and throw it to the dogs.
It feels off-putting at best.
What we fear
that he's saying
is things like,
this woman is no better
than a dog.
And being dismissive
and rude
and shaming.
Or at least looking at her
and saying,
as a Gentile,
as an enemy
of the people of God,
I refuse you.
That he's going to reject her.
That's what it feels
like he's saying.
But are we right
in that first
uncomfortable read?
Is that really
what Jesus means?
Let's look a little bit
more carefully
at what he's saying.
Because what Jesus
is doing here,
I don't think
is doing that.
Jesus is using
a figure of speech,
a parable,
so to speak,
about the nature
of families.
He's saying
there is a priority.
When we sit down
as a family,
there is food
on the table
and it's for the children.
Right?
And the food
that's on the table
should not be removed
from the children
and put on the floor
for other people
in the family,
the dogs of the family,
who live under it.
The word dog here
is a pretty unique word
in the New Testament.
It is not the normal word
for dogs
and you see in other places
where you see dog
used as an epithet
towards people
in the Bible.
Where you see it
being used
as a derogatory term
like you're a street dog
that eats the garbage
and feeds on corpses
and this is the vision
that some rabbis
had of dogs
more generally
in the world.
But this word
is a different word
than that.
It's the word
for foofy.
You know?
The dog
that sits on your lap.
Every day
for a beloved family pet
who is a part
of the family.
And listen carefully
what Jesus says.
He says,
it's not that the food
never gets to the dog
but there is a priority here.
There is a kingdom pattern here.
Both the children
and the dogs
are a part of the family.
Both of them
are loved
but they are different.
there is a distinction made.
And Jesus here
seems to be using
this parable
to talk about
a broad theme
of the Bible
where there is
a kingdom pattern
of the Jews first
and then the Gentiles.
Why do I say this?
Well,
go all the way back
to Genesis 12.
The very beginning.
God comes to Abraham.
He says,
I'm calling you
to be the father
of a great nation
and I will bless you
and I will make you
into a great nation.
Your children
will be
the Jewish people,
the people of God
and I will bless them
and I will make them
a blessing.
Right?
In you
all the families
of the earth
will be blessed.
And so God
chooses one man
to show
his particular grace to,
one people
to show
his particular grace to,
but also
more importantly
through.
So it's not just
terminal
in his love
for his family,
this people of God,
but through them
to all the families
of the earth.
And so this is the story
of the whole Old Testament.
God raising up a people
to display his glory
and to be a blessing
to the whole world.
And we know
when we read the Old Testament
that they failed
miserably about it.
So we get to Isaiah 49
where the people of God
have completely blown it
and are facing
God's judgment
and God comes along
and he says,
I'm not done.
I'm going to raise up
from among you
a servant,
one whom I'm going
to send.
Says 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.
He is going to do that,
but more than that,
I will make you
a light for the nations
that my salvation
may reach
to the ends
of the earth.
And so God comes in
and he says,
throughout the Old Testament
there is this plan
through this people
to the whole world.
And even in the Gospels,
even as Jesus
begins his ministry,
he does this as well.
In Matthew 10
verses 5 and 6
when Jesus sends out
his disciples,
he says,
go nowhere
among the Gentiles
and enter no town
of the Samaritans,
but go rather
to the lost sheep
of the house
of Israel.
Jesus started
his mission
as a Jewish man
to his people,
the Jewish people.
It was never
the end goal,
but it was
the starting place
for how he was
going to do this.
That God would work
through the Jewish people
to bless the whole world.
Now,
why does he do this?
Well,
friends,
there are times
when we are
standing on the brink
of the mysteries of God.
But if I could propose
a few thoughts,
I have two of them.
One
is that he's going,
he wants to do this
to show the particularity
of his love.
When he chooses Abraham,
when he chooses
a Jewish people,
right,
Deuteronomy reminds us
that it's not because
they were particularly
holy or special
or large
or powerful
or anything,
but so that he might
display the particularity
of his love
so that those
who receive it
might know.
It's not this vague
general sense
that the universe
has a well-being
towards you,
but it's a particular
love of a personal God
towards his people.
And secondly,
it's for humility.
When in that
Deuteronomy passage,
God is reminding
the people of Israel
through Moses,
I chose you
not because
you had anything
in you
that was particularly
lovely
or that you could
ever earn this.
You didn't deserve
my love.
You didn't earn
my love.
You didn't gain it
because you were,
met some standard
of mine.
It was purely
of grace.
And so,
you must know
the walk
of humility
to receive it.
To receive it
not because
you've done anything
to earn it
or to achieve it,
but simply
because I have chosen
to give it to you.
And so,
this is the pattern.
And Jesus'
little parable
about the way
families work
is to confront
this woman
with this reality
because Jesus
is outside
of the initial circle
for the first time.
But notice
that Jesus
is very careful
in the way,
look back with me
in verse 27 again.
I want you to look
with me.
Let the children
be fed first
for it is not right
to take the children's bread
and throw it
to the dogs.
Right?
The children
are to be fed first,
not the children
are to be fed
only.
Right?
Not that the dogs
are meant to be
put out of the room
and would never
gain from this,
but that there
is a priority
that Jesus
is saying here
about how
his kingdom works.
That she has
no claim on him.
She has no grounds
to seek his mercy.
He is not being
demeaning
or rude.
He is trying
to reveal
something in her.
So,
this is Jesus
unexpected response
that challenges us.
What is he doing?
Ultimately,
I think
he's trying
to reveal
something in her.
And this is
our third point.
From this
unexpected word
from Jesus,
he reveals
an unexpected faith
in this woman.
Because the woman's
response shows us
that she understands
what Jesus is saying
far better
than we do.
She is not offended.
Instead,
she engages
with his words.
She recognizes it
and is willing
to affirm the order
and the distinction
that Jesus is making.
She says,
I know I don't have
a right to sit
at the table.
I'm a Gentile,
not an Israelite.
I know I don't
deserve this.
And yet,
thirdly,
you see that she
has faith.
Isn't the kingdom
of God a feast
that will feed us too?
Isn't there a blessing,
a crumb
of your kingdom
that I can get
as well?
R.C. Sproul
said it this way
and I thought
this was just
so well said.
So forgive me
for preaching his words
for a minute here.
She didn't stand up
and protest
and say,
how dare you insult me
and speak to me
as if I were a dog
even if it's a household pet.
I'm no dog,
I'm a woman.
That was not her response.
Her response was,
yes, Lord,
I understand.
I have no prior claim
to your mercy.
I am not numbered
among your children.
I can't jump up
on the table
and feast upon the food
that you've set
before your children.
I don't want that.
I'm satisfied,
Lord,
with the crumbs.
All I'm asking
is that you would
just let one crumb
that falls from your table
come into my mouth
and I'm satisfied.
Heal my daughter,
please.
I know she's not
in your family.
I know she's not numbered
among your children.
We are the dogs
who wait for the crumbs,
but one crumb
is all I'm asking for.
What Jesus challenged
to her,
reveals in her
is both humility
and faith.
This is what we see in her.
One of the reasons
why I think this is so important
is the context.
Remember what Pastor Nick
preached on last week,
and if you weren't here,
let me summarize it.
In verses 1 through 23,
Jesus encounters
the Jewish leadership,
the Pharisees
and the rulers
of the temple,
and he challenges them.
He says,
you think that
because of your pedigree,
because of your righteousness,
because of your external
religious living,
you have a right
to sit at the table of God.
God,
he confronts them
because they saw themselves
as insiders
that had a stake
and a presumption
that they were going
to be blessed
by the kingdom.
And in contrast to this,
as he confronts that,
he says,
no, it's instead
the nature of the heart
that is most important.
It's the heart
that I look at,
not the externals.
And so what I see here
is that Mark
puts these stories together
so that we see
Jesus turning
from this rebuke
on the insiders
to this welcoming
of the outsider
because he sees
her heart of faith.
He has not turned her away.
He has clarified
so that everyone knows,
so that she knows
and her faith
is rewarded.
When you read this story,
it's almost the throwaway
for this statement.
You may go your way.
The demon has left
your daughter.
He heals her
just like he has
so many others
throughout the gospel
of Mark.
And if you're wondering
what in the world
casting out demons
and healing people like,
go back and listen
to our whole sermon series
because we've talked
about that a couple of times.
So I'm not going
to dwell on this today.
But what it does mean
is that the kingdom of God
that you came here
afraid that you might
be rejected,
uncertain as to how
you would be received,
Jesus says,
the kingdom of God
has come to your household today.
The kingdom of God
has come to your daughter
today by faith.
And friends,
is this not what we see?
Is this not what we see
in the rest of Scripture?
For we know that
after Jesus' death
and resurrection,
the kingdom of God
looks different
in new and particular ways.
Right?
So God comes
to the apostle Peter
in Acts 10
and reveals to him
that what he declares
clean is clean.
And he declares
all food's clean.
And he breaks down
the barriers
and the distinguishing marks
of the Jewish people.
And he says,
in this new,
post-resurrection
people of God,
the thing that matters
is faith in me only,
not the law,
not the keeping of the law
because Jesus has come
to fulfill the law
and to then bring the law
into our hearts.
And so he reveals this
so that Jews
as well as Gentiles
have access
to the kingdom of God
without distinction.
And so the apostle Paul
as he writes
to the mostly Gentile
Roman church
in Romans 1
says,
I am not ashamed
of the gospel
for it is the power
of God unto salvation
for everyone
who believes.
Now, first to the Jew,
then to the Gentile,
the order still continues.
There's still this sense
that even now today
the church is built
on the foundation.
As Romans 11 says,
those of us
who don't have
Jewish heritage,
we are grafted in.
We are orphans
that have been adopted
into the family of God
in new ways.
But ultimately,
the kingdom of God
is for all
who come in faith.
And this is the good news
of the gospel
that he shows
an unexpected grace
to us.
Because the fact is,
we are all Jew
and Gentile,
Syrophoenician women
coming.
Because in our sin,
we are all undeserving.
We have no claim
before God
to say,
you must accept us
because these things.
Instead,
in our sin
and our trespasses,
we are enemies of God,
the unrighteous
who need God's cleansing.
And the call of the gospel
is for us to come
in humble,
desperate faith.
and confident faith.
Because Jesus says,
he who comes to me,
I will in no way
turn away.
He wants us to see
that it's of all
of grace.
Some of you
in this room
probably have grown up
with a Jewish heritage.
Some of you
may have grown up
with the privilege
of a Christian heritage.
You may have
neither of these.
And you may have
come out of families
that neither honored
nor worshiped
nor knew the God
of the Bible.
But the good news
of the gospel
is that
the abundant gospel
of grace
is for you.
Jesus has come
and by his life
and his death
and his resurrection,
he has achieved
a salvation
for all who believe.
And we can come
and when we get
to the end
of the Bible,
do you know
what the beautiful
thing is?
We're invited
to a feast.
And there are no dogs
under the table
in this image.
There is a banquet feast
for all to sit in
and to feast
on the grace of God
and the undeserved
love of God
that he has showered
on all of his people.
Right?
You who have no milk,
you who have no bread,
you who have no money,
come and eat.
That's what we read
from Isaiah 55.
And in Revelation,
it says,
come and eat
in the abundance
of the kingdom of God
at the marriage feast
of the Lamb.
Come and taste
that the Lord is good.
We know that we deserve
none of it,
but have it all
by God's grace.
Friends,
this is the good news
that we learn
through this
unexpected encounter.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Lord, I pray this morning
that if we're those
who fear to come to you
because we think
you will reject us
because we're not good enough,
because we fear
that you would know
our uncleanness,
that you would know
that somehow we feel like
we're unacceptable to you,
Lord, I pray this morning
by your spirit
that you would pierce
our hearts
with the reality
of your kindness
and grace.
Lord, and that you would
fill us with a faith
that would
cause us to come,
surrender our lives
to you,
to follow you.
Lord, for those of us
this morning,
Lord, whose hearts
may be hardened,
who might presume
that of course
we are yours
even though, Lord,
in fact we walk
in neither faith
nor humility.
God, I pray you
would pierce our hearts
so that we might
see our presumption
and repent of it.
And Lord, I pray for us
as a community,
Lord, that we would
know the joy,
the joy that the gospel
of grace is for all people,
that we would know
the joy of that
being for us
and Lord,
that we would be
those who embody
that welcome
to others
for our good
and for your glory.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.