Dogs and Deaf
Series—Mark: The Real Jesus
Mark 7:24-37

Series Big Idea: Mark’s gospel is the most concise biography of Jesus.

Big Idea: God is perfect, His timing is perfect, and His plans are perfect.

Do you trust God? We all know the spiritual, Sunday morning answer to the question, but what about Monday morning? If you’re like me, you are fully of questions for God, and most of them begin with “why?” It’s rather audacious to think we could understand anything better than the Creator of the universe. It’s okay to ask God questions. You can be real with God. I encourage you to pour out your heart to God…every day. He can handle it…and all of life’s trials.

Although we occasionally have topical sermons, most of the time we go verse-by-verse through the Bible, something known as expository preaching. We start with the text and ask three questions of it: What did it mean? What does it mean? So what?

When we go through books of the Bible—as we’ve been doing with the book of Mark—it’s tempting to skip over difficult passages or those texts which may seem less interesting or relevant. I must confess the seventh chapter of Mark is not my favorite chapter in the Bible, but as we’ve seen the past two weeks, there are some important things Mark wants us to know about Jesus. As we finish the chapter, we see two different encounters with Jesus. The first is with a Gentile woman and the other with a deaf man.

Let’s dive in…

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. Mark 7:24)

Tyre is a city in Lebanon and is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on the planet. This is the only biblical mention of Jesus leaving Palestine.

Why would he want to hide? There are several possibilities:

• He wanted to avoid the crowds who wanted to use Jesus for their own purposes
• He needed to get alone with his followers/disciples and teach them
• He was simply tired and needed some privacy and rest

Jesus was led by his mission, not the crowds. He knew what to do and did it. God is perfect.

Jesus is arguably the most famous person to ever walk the face of the earth. He was on a mission to change the world, which he surely did. Nevertheless, he had an agenda, a plan, an intentional strategy for doing so. His mission was to seek and save the lost, not necessarily gain the biggest crowd as quickly as possible. In our culture, we assume the more fans and followers the better, but building a social media platform is different than transforming humanity!

I used to think the only thing that mattered was the “what.” I’ve becoming increasingly concerned about the “how of a situation.” It’s been said that timing is everything, so the “when” is also vital in any action plan.

So another reason Jesus may have not wanted to find him is it wasn’t the right time for him to go public.

God’s timing is perfect. He’s never late, though rarely early. He knows when to act.

This was true for Jesus and his ministry. It’s also true when we pray. Can you trust God’s timing?

In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. (Mark 7:25)

Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in demons? They are both real, spiritual beings. Demon possession is real. We discount it in our hyper-scientific culture, but you don’t have to travel far around the world to see the supernatural world on full display. There is an unseen, spiritual dimension to reality. Angels and demons are mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible.

She falls at the feet of Jesus. She’s desperate. She loves her little daughter, yet this demon was wreaking havoc. She needs an exorcism.

Demons are real. Demon possession is real. But God is greater. Hallelujah!

The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. (Mark 7:26)

She’s a Canaanite. She’s not Jewish. She’s a Gentile. Last week we talked about the huge tension between Jews and Gentiles. It is at the heart of Jesus’ response.
“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (Mark 7:27)

What? Does Jesus call this woman a dog?

There are a few different understandings of this metaphor. Some have suggested the children refers to Jesus’ disciples and the bread is his ministry, his teachings. It likely is a reference to the Jewish people. Jesus was a Jew and his first priority was to the Jews. The dogs refers not to women, but the Gentiles.

There are two Greek words for dogs. One is a negative word that we might call an ugly creature or a violent dog (like the two German Shepherds who bit me when I was a boy). Jews would sometimes use this scavenger dog word to describe Gentiles. The word Jesus uses here, though, refers to a household animal. We love our children. We love our pet puppies! Is there a priority? Yes, but both are loved.

Jesus is not always fair, but he loves equally.

John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus. There’s an old song which says Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. He died for every child—and every man and woman—who responds to his invitation to follow him, to make him LORD, to surrender control of their lives to their Creator and the one who proved his love by laying down his life on the cross…and rising from the dead, conquering sin and death.

But Jesus is not always fair. Just look around! We’ve all been given different gifts, childhoods, opportunities, and talents. Hundreds of people followed Jesus, but his focus was on a dozen…and really on three: Peter, James, and John. How do you think the other nine felt when they heard stories of Jesus and his best friends?

Our culture emphasizes fairness and equality, but listen…you don’t want fair. You don’t want to give you what you deserve. You and I deserve death and eternal punishment for our sins. Without Jesus we’re hopeless, lost, and separated from God. The scandal in Christianity is not God’s judgment, but God’s mercy. The scandal is an innocent, holy, perfect God was killed for selfish, arrogant, rebellious sinners like us. The most unfair thing in the universe is that God loves us…and proved it. It’s like Dave Ramsey says when asked how he’s doing: “better than I deserve.”

I don’t always understand God and how He works, what He’s doing. I have many questions for Him, but I know I’m loved, I know Daddy knows best, and the rest is faith, it’s trusting that the God of the universe understands reality better than I do.

God’s plan was to begin with the Jews, but not stop there. In the first book of the Bible, it is revealed that,

Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. (Genesis 18:18)

Not Jew only, but Jew first. Is that fair? It doesn’t matter. It’s God’s plan…and you’re in it!

By the way, Jesus said,

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:31)

Could this apply to the order of the Jews and Gentiles?! Today, Gentiles are not dogs, but rather children alongside the Jews.

This woman doesn’t go away and give up. She presses in.

“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” (Mark 7:28)

She knows God’s love is not exclusively for the Jews, even if it begins with them. Children and dogs both get food…at the same time. She just wants a crumb, a small miracle, a simple expression of grace.

Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” (Mark 7:29)

He performs a miracle. It’s already done!

Jesus is impressed with her faith…and tenacity. What about you? Do you pray once and give up? It’s okay to be real with God. Jesus never scolds her for persevering. He praises her for it. Often our prayers are not answered on-demand. God’s timing is usually different than ours. He loves to hear you pray. I believe your voice is the most beautiful sound in the universe to God. Really.

I love my kids. I love it when they text. Calling is even better. FaceTime is better still. The best is when we’re together, in person. I love my kids. I love interacting with my kids. God does, too. He wants us to engage, to ask, to persevere, to pour out our heart.

It may seem like God is playing hard-to-get, hiding, or just ignoring you, but I assure you He’s at work. He hears you. He’s responding, but His timing is not always ours. While we get impatient and want everything now, He’s got all the time in the world. Literally. He’s at work in us as well as through us, refining our character, teaching us, and writing a story on our hearts that usually takes many decades to tell.

Ask…and keep asking. It will be worth it. It was for this woman. The demon left her daughter. Her prayer was answered.

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (Mark 7:30)

Have you given up on God? Have you quit praying that prayer? Have you put your faith on auto-pilot? Are you just going through the motions, defeated by disappointment with God? I want to challenge you to persevere, to keep praying.

Years ago, someone gave me a beautiful image of a giant parachute hanging from the ceiling like a big bowl. He said when he prays, he imagines writing his prayers on paper and placing them in the parachute. Each prayer causes the parachute to get heavier and heavier until it eventually bursts. It might be that your next prayer is the one—after hundreds or thousands or millions—which will lead to that breakthrough. Don’t give up!

Mark continues with a different story in a different place with different people.

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. (Mark 7:31-32)

Jesus was gaining a reputation as a healer. Who doesn’t want free health care?! Here’s a deaf man who could hardly talk, and his friends beg Jesus to heal him.

After he took him aside, away from the crowd, 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!”). (Mark 7:33-34)

Is this how you’re supposed to heal, Jesus? Does he really want your spit in his mouth?

We like formulas. Pray these magic words and all of your dreams will come true! Jesus heals different people differently. In the case of the woman’s demon-possessed daughter, he didn’t even meet the girl, he just declared her healed. With this man, he takes him away from the crowd and sticks his fingers in his ears and tongue to open them with one word.

Jesus’ plans are always perfect, even when they seem odd.

At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. (Mark 7:35)

No speech class is required. What a beautiful miracle. Then Jesus does something that would drive any public relations director crazy.

Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:36-37)

Was Jesus using reverse psychology, telling the people to be quiet in hopes that they would rebel and spread the word of his amazing power? I used to think that, but I believe Jesus was sincere. As we saw earlier, he had a mission, a timetable, a plan. He needed to disciple his…disciples. There were sermons he needed to preach, people he needed to encounter. He knew the sooner he became famous, the sooner the religious leaders would want him killed.

The prophet Isaiah said,

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. (Isaiah 35:5-6a)

The Messiah is here!

God is perfect. (what)
God’s timing is perfect. (when)
God’s plans are perfect. (how)

Yet we have the audacity to ask why. We question the Creator of the universe. And He’s actually ok with that, so long as we don’t give up…so long as we engage with Him.

Matthew records Jesus saying,

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

This doesn’t mean we always get what we want, and it certainly doesn’t mean we get it when we want it, but we are encouraged in more than one place to ask, to seek, to knock, to engage with God. He wants us to pray. Yes, He knows what we want before we ask, but He wants us to ask. Every good Dad loves to give gifts to his kids, but they don’t want to be a vending machine. They want a relationship.

So What?

Perhaps the message in both of these stories is to ask and keep asking. You can analyze the woman’s story and compare children and dogs. You can discuss the irony of a loud crowd trying to help a man who couldn’t talk followed by the man talking and Jesus telling the crowd not to talk.

God sees you. He knows your name. He knew you before the creation of the universe! He saw you in your mother’s womb. He knows the number of hairs on your head (or how many used to be on your head!). He sees every tear you cry and every smile on your face.

God hears you. He hears every prayer, every word. He listens, too. He cares.

Do you trust God? Do you trust His plans? Do you trust His timing?

I know it can be hard. I’ve been praying for years for things, for people, for healing, for reconciliation. I don’t understand why it’s taking so long, but I’m seeking to trust God. Instead of why, I’ve been asking, “What are you up to, LORD?”

God is perfect, His timing is perfect, and His plans are perfect. God can be trusted.

Prayer: I believe. Help me in my unbelief.

You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.

Tags: Trust, Healing, Gentile, Jew, God's timing, God's will