Take a few deep breaths to center your heart and your mind as you prepare to meet with God.

Meditation

Unlike what I always heard about the streets of gold in eternity with God in Revelation 21:21, they are not there to show how monetarily rich God is: they are there to show how much better God is than riches. When we see God face to face and live with Him forever, gold is only worth the bottom of our feet. Take a moment and think about God’s unsurpassed worth and value.

Teaching

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter. Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone. (Mark 7:24-30)

I’ve heard the phrase, “I would take a bullet for this or that person” so many times, but I once heard a pastor take it a step further by asking if that same drive applies to sacrificing something mundane or social. They said, “Would you take a public embarrassment for that person?” Sacrifice is a tricky thing because our culture glorifies someone’s choice to “make the ultimate sacrifice,” but the sacrifice they’re referring to is the last decision the person sacrificing has to make, where people who sacrifice their pride may live in perpetual shame for the rest of their lives.

The question that this passage wrestles with is this: how much would be too much to sacrifice for the sake of trusting God? Jesus is the Jewish Messiah–the savior of the Jewish people. The Law given to the Jews reflects their need for a savior, and their prophets foretell Jesus’ arrival and saving work. God’s covenant people–the nation of Israel–is God’s landing pad for his restoration of all creation, but what they’ve communicated to the nations around them is that God is coming to save them and them alone. Jesus generally abides by this Jew-first mentality, knowing that He will clearly speak later about how this saving work from God is going to flow to the whole world, but this woman, this outsider, this Syrophoenician doesn’t know that. She doesn’t know if he cares much about non-Jewish people. Culturally, she doesn’t even know if He will acknowledge her speaking or look her in the eyes. But she trusts that if He is who He says He is, He has the power to cleanse her daughter of an evil spirit.

Her decision to come to Jesus in the first place is commendable, whether she was motivated by faith and bravery or by fear for her daughter and immense care, but for some reason, Jesus doesn’t immediately give in to her request. I don’t know if he looked disgruntled, brokenhearted, or joyous when she asked this of Jesus. I don’t know if Jesus was testing her faith for her sake or drawing her real faith out for His own disciples to see. Nevertheless, Jesus uses cultural norms and standards of His day to challenge her faith in seeking Him out, saying that His specific mission was to the Jews first, meaning that He would come back for people like her later. This didn’t cause her to falter in the slightest. This foreign, outcast of a woman speaks her desperation to receive whatever Jesus has to offer. Just like the old hymn goes, “what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” This woman is relentlessly begging and pleading for scraps of Jesus’ healing, crumbs of Jesus’ life-changing presence, and drops of the change Jesus brings, because that would be enough. Without the prompting of Jesus’ teachings on how He is the bread of life (John 6) or the living water (John 4), this woman, who has only heard rumors of the man Jesus, throws her whole life and the life of her daughter at his feet. 

Examination

Psalm 73 says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” Our priorities and value structure are best shown by where our time, money, and energy go. Take a moment and ask yourself what your time, money, and energy say are the most valuable things in your life.

Now, ask God to help you think of ways to reorient your time, energy, and money toward Him, even if it means doing the same things you do now for God’s sake.

Memory Verse

In a spirit of desperation toward God, mutter Mark 7:28 to yourself all throughout your day today.

“Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” (Mark 7:28b)