Scripture Reading:

Mark 7

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Chapter Notables:

1. Jesus teaches on where evil comes from - verses 1-23

2. Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman; the bread and the crumbs - verses 24-30

3. Deaf and mute man healed - verses 31-37

The Table Or The Floor | Lemuel Ayudtud

When we eat bread we normally don’t think about the crumbs. Crumbs are for leftovers. Depending on how good the bread may be, we can find ourselves picking up the crumbs and eating those as well, but that’s not the main thing, right? However, whatever is in the crumbs is what the bread is made of.

Jesus meets this Syrophoenician woman who needed, better yet requested, her daughter’s deliverance from demon possession. Obviously, this woman had heard of Jesus and knew if there was anybody that can help her, it would’ve been Him. The issue with her was that she was outside the Jewish community. Syrophoenicians were Gentiles “apart from God”. The Jews had no dealings with them so to ask Jesus for a miracle was overstepping the societal boundaries at that time. But it didn’t matter.

The woman was not concerned about societies rules and regulations during her time. She was focused on the healing of her daughter. So when Jesus kind of implied that she was a “dog” it didn’t matter to her. She understood what the norms were, but she was pressed for the healing over daughter.

How often do we get sidetracked from the focus of who Jesus is into who we are in the world? How often do we get confused because we see what others think as opposed to what the Lord can provide? Some of us may miss what God has for us because were too concerned about unimportant things. This Syrophoenician woman should’ve been highly offended by what Jesus said, but her feelings were not the focus. Her need was greater than her feelings.

We have to be careful in the way we put things in order of importance in our lives. We have to make sure that who God is and why we are in Him are greater value than any feelings or emotions that we may have attached to any aspect of our lives. We cannot allow pride or our sense of personal importance to detract from our need or to sway our focus from the work of God. There have been many people who lost their place in Christ or in the church because they put their emotions more important than the mission of doing God’s work.

Being in Christ is the most important thing. Doing the work of God is a great value for us. No matter if we are packing up chairs, or teaching a small group, or calling somebody to help them, or “simple” or “unseen” activities we do for God those are of great value.

The Syrophoenician woman is our example of faith in focus. She believed in Jesus’s ability to deliver her daughter from demons; her faith made her focus on the deliverance rather than the delivery. So when Jesus told her, “The bread is made for children not for dogs,” she was able to pivot and say “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off the table.”

See, we may not get the top billing. We may not get the primary attention. We may not be highlighted or applauded, but we understand that the power of God is radiating even in the small things. We may not get the bread, or the big piece of the pie, so to speak; but as long as we are in the vineyard of God, we’re going to receive the reward that comes from trusting Him.

Our faith is not based on how people treat us or even how we are viewed by others. Our faith is based on the power of God to perform the work He has promised He will perform for us. As much as our pride desires for the whole bread, our faith has got to be resting in the fact that God can use the crumbs.

Like the Syrophoenician woman, we can’t be offended if we don’t have big stages or big platforms to speak from. We can’t be offended that sometimes were overlooked or, in our own perception, undervalued. We cannot be offended that no one knows our name. We have to have faith in focus. And no matter if Jesus hasn’t done anything huge for us, if He hasn’t done any magnanimous thing, if it seems that He is overlooking us and lifting someone else, those things don’t matter. Again, the most important thing is that we’re in the work of God and that the same power that rose Jesus from the dead resonates in us. It doesn’t matter if we’re seated at the table eating the bread, or licking up the crumbs the falls on the floor, the same ingredients that is in the bread is also in the crumbs. Our faith then is the determinate virtue. To God the gap between the table and the floor is bridged by the focus of our faith.

Lord, teach me to believe in You. Help me to keep my eyes on the things that matters the most. Guard my heart that I may not be distracted by vanity. Help me to focus my mind on You. Let my faith be grounded in Your promises for me rather than where I may be in the eyes of people. I pray this in Your Name, Jesus, amen.