In Desperate Need

MARK 7:24-37: IN DESPERATE NEED 

Tell us about a time when you were desperate for help. What did you do?  

Today we’ll see how Jesus deals with two people who are in desperate need. 

Let’s read verses 24-30. 

He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre.[a] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but he could not escape notice. 25 Instead, immediately after hearing about him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Gentile,[b] a Syrophoenician by birth, and she was asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

28 But she replied to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

29 Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” 30 When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

When Jesus enters a house in the vicinity of Tyre, why does he try to “keep his presence secret”?  (Probably to get some needed rest, since his previous efforts to do so had been interrupted [see 6:30-34, 53-56].) 

This is an odd and unconventional request that the Syrophoenician woman makes.  (It violates Jewish religious tradition for a woman, especially a Gentile woman, to approach a Jewish rabbi and make a request of him. So in terms of breaking tradition, it is linked with the scene of our previous study.) 

Why does Jesus answer her with what seem to be harsh words?  (This is possibly the saying of Jesus that is the most difficult to understand. I think it’s SARCASM.) 

What do his metaphors of “children” and “dogs” refer to?  (Jews and Gentiles. It was common for Jews to refer to Gentiles as “dogs.” Jesus “was not in any sense recognizing this description as accurate. He desired to see whether the woman was ready to take such a lowly position in order to receive a healing” [Cole 123].) 

Why was the woman undeterred by Christ’s reply?  (F. F. Bruce writes: “What if there was a twinkle in is eye as He spoke? . . . The written record can preserve the spoken words; it cannot convey the tone of voice in which they were said. Maybe the tone of voice encouraged the woman to persevere” [Bruce 111].) Mark Bible Study 29 

Read Mark 16:15

1 Timothy 2:4: States God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Galatians 3:28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

What does she add to Christ’s mini-parable?  (Sure the bread should go to the children, but what of the crumbs they drop as they eat? He need not “be deflected from his main mission to the Jews in order to do something for her daughter” [English 149].) 

In what ways is the Syrophoenician woman a model for us?  (She was humble, she was persistent in bringing her needs to Jesus, and she had faith that Jesus had ample power and goodwill to meet her needs.) 

Read Mark 7:31-37. 

Again, leaving the region of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through[c] the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking and begged Jesus to lay his hand on him. 33 So he took him away from the crowd in private. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, he touched his tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!”[d] (that is, “Be opened!”). 35 Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. 36 He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it.

37 They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Who does Jesus meet in the Decapolis?  (A group of people bringing a deaf man for healing.) 

What is exemplary about these people?  (They cared enough to bring a needy friend to Jesus, and had faith that Jesus could heal him—a good model for our prayer and witness. We saw a similar scene in 2:3-4 where a paralytic’s friends brought him to Jesus.) 

What is the first thing Jesus does with the deaf man?  (“He took him aside, away from the crowd.”) 

Why do you think Jesus did this?  (Jesus didn’t throw miracles into the crowds; he cared for individuals personally.) 

How did Jesus heal this man who was handicapped with deafness and a speech impediment?  (“Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ [which means “Be opened!”].) 

Why does Jesus use this seemingly odd technique instead of simply pronouncing him healed?  (Jesus is communicating his intentions to the man and possibly looking for at least the smallest response of faith from him. “All the actions of verses 33 and 34 were miming his present need, the course of healing, and the manner in which such healing alone could come, in a way which even a deaf mute could understand, i.e., the blocked ears opened, Mark Bible Study 30 spitting an impediment away from the tongue, the upward glance and sigh of prayer” [Cole 124-125].) 

How does the crowd respond to the healing?  (They spread the word of it against Christ’s command. They are “overwhelmed with amazement.” William Lane writes, “Mark intends an allusion to Isaiah 35:5-6” [Lane 268], which reveals the messianic significance of this miracle: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.”) 

Let’s approach Jesus with faith that he can meet our needs, and praise him who “has done everything well.”