Mark 7:24-30

Today the evangelist Mark speaks of Jesus driving a demon out of the daughter of a foreigner, a non-Jew.

The evangelist says that Jesus was in a house in the region of Tyre and Sidon. He wanted to escape notice, but a woman from Phoenicia in Syria, who was a non-Jew, came to Jesus, fell at His feet and asked Him to drive out an unclean spirit of her daughter.

At that time, the Jewish mentality despised non-Jews, foreigners and women. The Jews considered themselves "children" (of God) and prejudicedly called foreigners "dogs".

Even though He was the Word of God made Flesh, Jesus was Jewish and grew up in the Jewish mentality. Certainly for this reason, He told the non-Jew Syrophoenician woman that it was not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.

But the foreigner's response to Jesus opened His mind and heart: "The dogs under the table eat the children's scraps". So He answered her beg, and the demon gone out of her daughter. Unfortunately, in our society we still have religious fanaticism, xenophobia, and sexism. It is urgent to overcome despise and prejudice, emphasizing that we are all children of God and that we should be treated with respect for our common human dignity. 

Let us imitate the attitudes of that non-Jew foreigner: she went to Jesus, fell at His feet in faith, presented her daughter's need to Him with confidence, and did not refute Jesus' Jewish mentality, but responded with wisdom and humility. For all these reasons, her beg was answered. 

Let us remember: we don't put out a fire with more fire, but with water. Let us break the spiral of hatred.

Local: Springfield, MA, EUA

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