By Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Mark 7:25   A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” 29 And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.

Jesus’ attitude and language used in this narrative can be shocking to the reader. How can our Lord and Savior treat anyone like He this pagan woman in the narrative? She wanted her daughter to be cured. Instead of immediately helping her, Jesus calls her a dog, thus insulting her. Was Jesus forced to confront His own prejudice? But how can the savior of the world, whom God sent for all, have any kind of prejudice? Is this a Markian example of showing us that Jesus was human? No. The woman taught Jesus a lesson, that He must drop all earthly prejudices and offer mercy to all, which He does. 

Because of His change in attitude, the story of Jesus’ encounter with a Gentile woman and curing her daughter teaches us that Jesus’ love and grace are available to ALL people, Gentile, Jew, immigrants, the undesirable, and the unwanted. Unfortunately, throughout the history of the Church, too ften the  reverse has occurred. For example, in many churches, Jews are not received with gladness but rather with antisemitism. Not only are Jews steered away but so are people of different races. The motto of such a church is this: “Jesus is available to everyone, just not in our church.”

A better approach is to realize there are people in the world who are searching for Jesus. It is the responsibility of a church, its members, and all those in the Christian community to greet these people and help them in their journey to seek out God. Jesus’ grace and love are indeed meant for all people. It is the responsibility of the disciples of Jesus to help others find Him. The woman in Mark’s narrative knew that she wanted to find the LORD. Her benefit was that she recognized the Messiah.

The mini-parable of the dog tells us there are people we know who are searching for God’s love and grace. Instead of ignoring them, like one does when the dog sits at the dinner table, one must embrace that person and introduce him or her to the love of God through Jesus.

Sadly, I have experienced in the church what the woman faced in Mark’s account. I am a Jew who came to accept the offer of forgiveness of sin through the acts of Jesus Christ. In other words, I believe that Jesus is the way to Heaven. For the Church, that should be a time of rejoicing! Instead, I ran into antisemitism in 7 different churches. Even as the pastor of 5 churches there was always someone (usually a lot more) who disliked me because of my heritage.

Another example of failing to minister to all was at one of the churches I served. I was told that I was not permitted to evangelize people in the lower-income apartments in the town. Why not, I asked? The answer was, “We don’t want their kind here.” I found this response to be shocking. Naturally, I knocked on doors in the apartment complex and invited the people to know Christ. The church people were not happy with me.

Jesus came to save the world! Also, we must remember that Jesus was NEVER A CHRISTIAN. That’s right!! Jesus was a devout Jew who wanted to reform His religion. He selected twelve Jews to be His disciples who took spread the Gospel among the people of Israel and surrounding areas. Jesus appointed a Jew named Paul to take the Gospel out into the world. For any Christian believer to reject another person for any reason is an unchristian act. Jesus came for the world!! Remember that the next time a person enters your church or circle of believers whom some might consider undesirable. Jesus came for that person also.

May the LORD bless you in your learning and studying of His Word.

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

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