Mark 7:24-30

Reaching Beyond Israel (1) – Overcoming Evil

Mark 7:24-30 – Jesus Exorcises a Pagan Woman’ Daughter

With the incident that was to follow Mark began a series of activities of Jesus on pagan soil, explicitly contrasting Jesus’ openness and the exclusiveness of some of the Pharisees. The reason why Mark laboured the point was probably to educate his own struggling community. The restrictions placed on Jesus’ ministry by the limitations of his own humanity did not apply to Mark’s community of disciples, who had between them the time, energy and resources to minister beyond the confines of Judaism.

The geographical location was important. The disciples failed to reach Bethsaida in their boat. Jesus now took a journey on foot over the border into pagan territory. The move followed the confrontation with some Galilean Pharisees and some Jerusalem scribes. 

It may have been that the death threats mentioned earlier had become more ominous. Whether some Pharisees were still plotting with Herodians was not clear, but certainly Jesus had moved out of the territory under the control of Herod Antipas of Galilee. The fact that he wished to remain incognito may have been significant.

In the cultural climate of the time no woman had any right to approach a man on her own initiative, and a conversation with a Gentile woman was beneath the dignity of any self-respecting Jew. To fall at a man’s feet would have been an appropriate approach for another man requesting a favour. A man had his own honour and, by voluntarily abasing himself, he engaged the honour of the other. But a woman had no honour to bargain with. The approach of the Gentile woman would have been regarded as an outrageous flouting of Jesus’ honour.

Jesus’ response to the woman sounds inexcusably offensive to the modern Western ear. It would not have seemed inappropriate in the Jewish world of the time. As a spontaneous response it picked up perfectly the attitude of Jews to Gentiles. In the common vernacular of the day, Jews commonly referred to Gentiles as dogs. Whatever about that, the refusal to respond to obvious human need seemed uncharacteristic of Jesus.

The underlying theme of bread continued to run through the story. The food of the children was more accurately the bread of the children – the word children being a not uncommon reference to the Jews, the children of Israel. The issue of who could share the bread – who could belong to the community of disciples - was significant.

Jesus had a strong sense of mission to his own people. Being human, his energy, his time and emotional capacity were limited. He could not do everything. So he responsibly restricted his mission to his countrymen.

The woman obviously had spirit. She was not deterred by Jesus’ effort to brush her off. Her concern for her daughter was stronger than any sense of humiliation. Her response was immediate as well as insightful. To contradict a man already dishonoured was to compound the dishonour even further. To outwit him would be for him to lose face even more. However, as Jesus would ask of his disciples later in the narrative, he was prepared to make himself the “least” of all. And, as things turned out, her argument made sense to Jesus.

Jesus changed his mind. The insight of the woman enabled him to see beyond what he had seen before. She had challenged his assumption. His thinking had been spontaneously “either/or”. She had led him to see that it could, at least on occasion, be “both/and”. He could still keep his mission to Israel as his life’s priority, but that did not rule out his activity in Gentile territory, even if he was careful not to allow the Gentile mission to take precedence.

The breaking-in of the Kingdom into the life of the girl was the result not just of the action of Jesus but of the faith and concern of the mother as well. As in so many other similar incidents, it was a fruit of collaboration. That it was a woman’s acuity that allowed Jesus to broaden his attitude was another significant factor for Mark. That he responded to the need of a young girl was also noteworthy.

Jesus seemed to allow himself to be subject to the same on-going deepening of conversion that he required of his disciples. Jesus was like us in all things but sin. He allowed the questions raised by experience to lead to deeper insight. Conversion is so often a process of recognising unwarranted assumptions, letting go of them, and of broadening attitudes. One’s personal view of life becomes more nuanced and less exclusive.

Next >> Mark 7:31-37