The Goodness of God in an Unfair World
Today, Pastor Michael is in Mark and speaking about the goodness of God is greater than the unfairness of the world.
Jesus only traveled outside of Israel a few times in His life. This is one of those times. He is in Tyre, a deeply Gentile place during His time; today, it’s a city in Lebanon.
He enters the town quietly and goes into a house. A lady comes into the house uninvited. Lots of flags going off here, as she was a lady, a Gentile, and a Syrophoenician (a Phoenician from Syria), so this lady was NOT the typical person that would approach a rabbi.
This woman is shouting and talking about how her daughter needs healing from an evil spirit. She needed a miracle this day. The woman had heard that Jesus was in town and did everything she could do to get to Him!
The lady falls at the feet of Jesus and calls him Lord, a big deal, and recognizes him as such. She also called Him the Son of David, a very powerful title! She recognizes him as Lord and Messiah.
Jesus says to the woman, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” This is an easily offensive statement at the time because dogs were unclean.
This wasn’t an insult but, rather, a test.
The lady replied back, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
Jesus replies to her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
She believed the goodness of God was greater than the unfairness she had received.
Will you trust God when life is unfair?
(CSB Study Bible Notes) His words, because of this reply in Matthew’s account focuses on the greatness of the woman’s faith (Mt 15:28).
Verses can be found in Mark 7: 24-30.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.