A little grace and a little faith equals an abundant life.

Mark 7:24-8:10 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, 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.

³¹ Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. ³² They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. ³³ Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

8 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, ² “I feel compassion for the ^[i]people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴ And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” ⁵ And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶ And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people. ⁷ They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ About four thousand were there; and He sent them away. ¹⁰ And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.

Today’s text says:  Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.  But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  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.”  But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”   And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”  And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.   As I read and meditated on this account, I couldn’t help but to wonder how different the outcome may have been if the Syrophoenician woman lived in our present culture which focuses on offense.  What if rather than moving past the offense of being compared to a dog and continuing to pursue what she really wanted, the woman had challenged Jesus, claiming racial discrimination? She may have won a social or moral victory. She may have persauded others to condemn Jesus for His unkind words, but would she have gained what she truly wanted? Instead, she was focused on what her daughter needed. She pursued healing not vindication. She didn’t argue for equality. Her faith told her that all she needed was a little bit of Jesus power, She didn’t need equality in the eyes of man, she needed grace from the heart of God. Jesus responded to her faith. Jesus healing the woman’s daughter even though she was not worthy is a perfect example of God’s grace to all of us. None of us deserved to have Jesus die on the cross for our sins. He didn’t do it because we were worthy. He didn’t do it because we were born in the right place. It is because of God’s great love and grace. Like the Syrophoenician woman, we too need to not focus on what we think we might deserve, but rather know that whatever we receive from God is more than we deserve and all that we need.

The text continues saying:  In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them,  “I feel compassion for the ^[i]people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.  If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.”  And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”  And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.”  And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.  They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.  And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.  About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.   What impressed me when I meditated on this account was not the miracle of feeding thousands of people with seven loaves of bread. It was not that they actually had more left over after everyone ate and were satisfied. What impressed me was that when faced with an impossible situation, Jesus sought a solution. He asked the disciples: “How many loaves do you have?”  When we’re faced with an impossible situation, we too should look not at the circumstance, but at the source of the solution. Surely Jesus could have called bread down from heaven. God provided bread for the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness. Jesus wants us to work with Him. He wants to take the little we have and multiply it to accomplish what needs to be done. When we face the impossible situation, we should begin by going to the Lord and presenting all that we have. In John 14:12-14 Jesus says:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”   In Matthew 11:29-30 He says:  “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”   When we partner with Jesus; when we give Him the little that we have, He will do the rest. Together we will do the works that he did and we will have rest. The burdens we face will seem light because Jesus will do the difficult things for us. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says:  “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."   If we will take the little that we have and combine it with a little faith in Jesus, He will multiply it and together we will do the impossible.

Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, may I never seek what I deserve, because I deserved death. Instead like the Syrophoenician woman, may I seek only Your grace. What You have given me is more than I deserve and all that I need. When I face the impossible may I faithfully give all that I have, believing by faith that You will multiply it to accomplish all that is needed. A little grace and a little faith equals an abundant life.   Amen.