Small Crumbs of Great Faith

Mark 7:24-37

A Gentile Shows Her Faith

24 From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. 25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."

28 And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."

29 Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."

30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

Jesus Heals a Deaf-Mute

31 Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. 32 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."

35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

Jesus could not enter a house and remain hidden; immediately someone knew and a chord converged on the place He stopped at.  Here is was in a house somewhere between Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21) on the Mediterranean Sea coast.  There a Greek woman pleaded with the Lord of the Jews to heal her son from an intrusive demon.  She fell at His feet in worshipful submission and begged Jesus to tell the evil spirit to leave her son, but He pointed out that He had come for the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24-25) as God’s chosen people and not the foreigners whom the Jews considered unworthy.  He told a one sentence parable of sorts that the children of God’s people needed to be fed with bread first and not thrown to the dogs hanging about for scraps.  This wise woman had greater faith than many in Israel because she replied that even the little dogs such as her eat them fallen crumbs which the children let fall to the ground as if she knew her unworthiness but still begged for whatever He would spare to meet her needs.  Jesus was moved by her great faith (Matthew 15:28) and cast the demonic spirit out of her daughter straightaway in answer to her faith that trusted He was both able and willing to do so.  From there Jesus journeyed to the Sea of Galilee through Decapolis.  Someone there brought to Jesus one who was deaf and could hardly speak and begged Him to help.  The Lord who formed man out of the dust of the earth as recorded in Genesis 2:7 (not ‘star dust’ as some would have you believe in this godless age) touched the man’s ears and tongue to restore that which had been closed to both hear and speak as originally designed in Eden’s garden.  At the word of the Christ the man’s faculties were made whole again and he spoke normally as others do.  Jesus told those witnessing this wonderful work to keep it to themselves as to test their faith, and they exercised their own faith to spread the news far and wide as He expected.  The testimony of so say we all was, “He has done all things well” as they witnessed the deaf given the ability to hear and the mute the ability to speak (Isaiah 35:5-6, Luke 7:22) as told the Lord God would do long before He would come to walk among us.  These small crumbs of faith trust that the Lord Jesus Christ is willing and able to restore our bodies and souls by reconciliation of mercy and grace through the gospel of the kingdom of God.  May we always display such simple trust in His word given to us to live by which He gives everything that is needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).