Chapter # 7 Paragraph # 2 Study # 3
June 28, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: When desperation was mixed with humility, Jesus responded.
Introduction: In our last few studies we have seen that Mark had an "accountability" thesis driving his choice of words. There was a reason that Jesus departed from "the land flowing with milk and honey" that was overpopulated with diseased and demonized people whose focus in life was "personal relief from their pains". There
does come a time with God when He removes Himself from those who only see in Him a "power-worker" whose task in life is to make their physical experiences more pleasant. The biblical standard of what pleases God is a "faith" that says "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (
Job 13:15 compared with
James 5:11 with a background in
Job 19:25). Thus, Mark records that Jesus "departed into the regions of Tyre" and withdrew into a house with a desire to remain undetected. However, with his focus upon "accountability", Mark declared how well known Jesus was in those regions. When men "know", they become more accountable than they who have not been given clarity of knowledge.
Now, with "accountability" as a major thesis, we read of a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit. Under this "accountability" reality, she responded to her "hearing of Him" by coming to Him. When she got to Him, she fell prostrate at His feet. At this point, Mark interrupts his record of her desire to give us two facts about her: she was a "Greek"; a Syrophoenician by genetics. With these two details in our minds, Mark tells us that she asked Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
What did Mark desire for his readers to understand from these words?
- I. First, That There Is A New 'Focus Of Attention" Within This Context.
- A. Mark presents this new focus by using the strong adversative "But".
- B. Then, after alerting us that he is about to tell us something that we would not normally expect, he tells us that he expects us to "lock onto" the unexpected event.
- 1. This is the intent of the word "immediately".
- 2. This word has been used already by Mark 29 times.
- a. It is used in the New Testament in a total of 60 verses.
- b. Mark is the majority user (in 41 of the 60 verses; the next greater user is Luke who used it 3 times in his Gospel and 4 times in the Book of Acts).
- c. Mark's use focuses upon the basic idea of "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line" which was his meaning in his first use in 1:3 where he quotes Isaiah's insistence that the people "repent" and make the Lord' s paths "straight").
- 1) Some of the uses of "immediately" in the New Testament refer to "the shortest distance in time".
- 2) But Mark uses it metaphorically so that his meaning is "the next most important content in his record upon which he wishes his readers to focus their attention": his "point" is much like Jesus' "Get this" in 7:14 (which they did not "get", and He removed Himself from their midst).
- II. Second, This New Focus Of Attention Concerns A Woman Whose Little Daughter Is Possessed By An Unclean Spirit.
- A. This "unclean spirit" (of 7:25) is called a "demon" in 7:26.
- 1. The focus upon "uncleanness" is a focus upon the condition of being unacceptable by God by reason of behavior that is detestable.
- 2. The focus upon "the demon" is a focus upon the maliciousness of this dominating spirit in its intent to destroy.
- B. The woman is pictured as responding in a positive way to her "accountability" in regard to Jesus and His message through "hearing".
- 1. The woman "...having heard..." and "...having come..." prostrated herself at His feet.
- a. That it was a "woman" reminds us of the first time Mark focused upon a "woman": 5:25 and 5:33.
- 1) Both of these "women" are in dire straights.
- a) The former has been plagued by a continuing bleeding for 12 years.
- b) The latter has a "little daughter" (Mark's only other use of this descriptor is in 5:23 where Jairus' attitude toward his daughter is that she is "little" -- even though 12 years of age); a use of words that forces us back to the "point" of the record in chapter five.
- i. That "point" is that "faith" is the only legitimate response to accountability.
- ii. The "woman" is delivered because of her "faith" and Jairus is told to "keep on believing" even after his daughter it reported to have died.
- 2) Both of these "women" fall prostrate at Jesus' feet.
- a) The former one is a Jewess and she only falls prostrate after she is "found out" by Jesus for "stealing a healing surreptitiously".
- b) The latter is a "Greek" as a "Syrophoenician" and she falls prostrate as soon as she gets to Jesus.
- i. She is a "Greek" by culture, whose "wisdom" hasn't done her a whit of good.
- ii. She is a "Syrophoenician" by genealogical descent (a "hybrid" Gentile with the bloodlines of Syrians and Phoenicians mixed in her: a "reject" by normal Jewish thought and a "dog" even in Jesus' eyes).
- b. This woman acts upon what she has "heard" and comes to Jesus.
- 2. This "woman" understands her "lack of standing" in Jesus' eyes: thus, her first act is to fall prostrate at His feet.
- III. This "Woman" Asks Jesus To Cast The Demon Out Of Her "Daughter".
- A. This is in harmony with the reputation of Jesus from the very beginning.
- B. In this, this "woman" is like the leper of chapter one: if You are willing, You can deal with my leprous uncleanness.
- IV. Mark's "Point".
- A. He expects us to be "shocked" by the record of a mixed breed woman having the audacity to seek Jesus out to meet her need.
- B. He also sets us up for the even greater "shock" of the record that Jesus fulfilled her request.
- 1. This, though, should not be a "shock", given His focus upon "repentance" wherein a person brings his/her "need" to God with some level of expectation that He will meet it.
- 2. Also, the "repentance" in Jesus' message is tied to "faith" and Mark's presentation of this woman is deliberately tied to the "faith" thesis in the context of the first "woman" in his record.
