Eye Dilation And Disorientation

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On Wednesday, after everybody left uh from Soma School, I made my way to the eye doctor. Um, my eyes are showing signs that I'm getting older. Uh and I needed an expert opinion on my malady. Uh so I am a new patient. Right. So when when a doctor has a new patient, they're gonna run them through all the potential tests so they can actually understand what is happening with me and my eyes uh and what's going on in my head. By the way, um they did look at my eyes. They said, you don't need bifocals for another few years. And and right as I was feeling real good about myself, uh, he said, uh, it's pretty clear there is damage, and uh you are gonna need them soon. Dang it. I thought I could go longer. So nope, I'm getting older. Um so they they dilated my eyes. And I haven't had this done in years. Who has had their eyes dilated when they go to the doctor? Okay. They they prep you, right? They try to prep you and they say this is going to be a thing for us to be able to see what is going on in your eyes. However, it is going to make it feel really weird when you are done. So, what they told me, bring your sunglasses, bring your sunglasses so that you can counteract the light, because everything is going to be bright and it's going to be very difficult for you. That I was expecting. What I was not expecting, and which they definitely didn't tell me about, was the fact that afterwards, my my far-sightedness was just fine, but my nearsightedness, I couldn't focus on a thing. And it was like, it was really disorienting. And and hilariously, I went on after the appointment trying on glasses. And she was like, So, how do you think they look? I'm like, I don't know. I can't see myself very clearly. I think there's there's a blob and a face, and and nope, this isn't working. And so when I got home, they told me that it was gonna like take 90 minutes to be writed, and it took like four hours for me to be writed, and I just felt so off. Um everything was disorienting, right? The things that I expected to look or be a certain way that were close to me, it just wasn't, it wasn't happening. And I was really, really out of place. Our

The Kingdom’s Movement In Mark

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series through Mark called and has been this movement. It's about the movement of God, and then the movement of God through his people across all the pages in this world. Jesus said in Mark 1 that the kingdom of God had come, and story after story after story after story is illustrating this arrival, not just its arrival, but its expansion. The story that we're in this week, that Andrew so kindly read, it doesn't seem to be that momentous in the canon of stories that we've covered. Your blink, your initial reaction, and yes, that is an intentional Malcolm Gladwellian eye joke that I worked in. Uh your your thought, your first reaction might be the story's kind of lame. Right? It's it's quick. Happens, done. Let's move on to the next one that seems more exciting. Uh worse, your initial reaction might be that this story makes Jesus kind of look like a jerk. So is Jesus sitting at the far-sighted view, and you can see him clearly and you understand what is going on? Or for the time being, is Jesus up? Have your eyes been dilated? Is Jesus in the near view where you can't focus on him? And what is happening in this story just is confusing and unsettling, and it doesn't make sense with the Jesus that you know. I'm hoping as we go through this story together that he is clearer. And the simple story is a perfect example of the rapid expansion of the kingdom of God moving outward at an astounding clip. So let's go. All right.

Why Food Laws Drew Borders

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Verse 24. Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. Mark lets no dust settle on any story at any point in the book of Mark. All right. So in the previous set of verses, Matt Parker covered chapter 7, 1 through 23 last week, uh, well, Jesus kind of embarrasses the hypocrisy of the religious leaders because they were focusing on all the wrong things in their service of God. Um, there was an earlier version of this sermon where I was really excited, and I ended up trying to re-preach Matt's great sermon because I enjoyed it so much and it was so impactful for me. Instead, I'm just going to recommend you go and you watch it, re-listen to it, be encouraged. It's great. In that passage, towards the end of the passage, Jesus has been asked by the disciples to explain all the things that he just told the Pharisees and the other religious leaders. The reason they're asking it is because it sounded like Jesus was diminishing, he was putting down what they had been taught for their entire life was most important. So Jesus said these things aren't important, but they're like, but all of my life I've heard these things are important, and now I'm confused. Jesus, can you help? So verse 18. Are you so dull? He asked, by the way, Jesus, what a that's quite incisive. That one hurts. Are you so dull? He asked them. For it doesn't go into their heart, but into their stomach, and then out the body. This is a really important final phrase. In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. All right, food in that culture was life, not just Jewish culture, all the ancient Near East. What you ate, who you ate it with, how you went about consuming the food, it impacted who you were and how you were seen by others. To that point in history, food was a really big distinguishing factor between the Jews, God's chosen people, and the not Jews, right? The Gentiles, the nations. Um, faithful Jews, they only ate clean food. This is the food that was laid out in the laws that said you can eat it when you eat it in a certain way, when it was prepared rightly, when it was washed, all the all the things. Um, anybody who ate unclean food was themselves unclean. And do you know what also made you unclean? Not just eating the unclean food, but then touching somebody that was unclean. So if you touch somebody that was unclean, you were unclean. So faithful Jews not only stayed away from unclean food, but also unclean people. They would keep clear of areas that were obviously full of unclean people because that would have a bad effect on them. The unclean people were all over the region of Tyre. All right. So our story starts with a shocker. Jesus is going into the land of the unclean. He is intentionally putting himself in a place where his cleanliness is going to be affected. Now, there's a map. It's a small map. We're trying to make it big. Um, I'm not really sure how clear it's going to be. So up in the top, you can see kind of about two-thirds of the way up, you can see the little whitish-blue portion. That is the Sea of Galilee. Most of the things that we have been talking about have happened around the Sea of Galilee or in the Decapolis region, which you can see is the orangey stuff. Tyre is 35 kilometers northwest. Tyre and Sidon, they will show up next week as well. So we are well out of Israel and we are into a place that is filled with a whole bunch of non-Jews. Jesus, if he didn't mean what he said there about foods not making people unclean, then he would have avoided it. He would have absolutely avoided the region of Tyre. Instead, he knows that what comes out of a person, the things of their heart, that is the unclean thing. And if Gentiles aren't made unclean by what they eat, then Jesus isn't going to be unclean by being among them. So just at the start of this passage, in a few words, we are already seeing that Jesus is practicing what he preaches. He believes it. He knows that it's true. Now, before we go on, Jesus is already showing us what life in him looks like.

Jesus Walks Into Unclean Territory

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The kingdom of God, right? This movement of Jesus, it knows no bounds. There isn't a place or a people that don't deserve to hear this good news, this healing of the king. Want you to take a second. Listen to this question. We're going to take a second to reflect. Who are the people or what are the places that you feel you just can't go to them? Who are the people and what are the places that you feel you just can't go to them with this news about Jesus? What is it about them that makes you shy away? Take a moment. Who are the people and what are the places that you feel you you just can't go to?

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Hold them at arm's length. For Jesus that didn't exist.

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And he goes straight, straight into what other people would say, enemy territory. He goes right there. All right. He is going to the area of Tyre. We have already seen Tyre and Sidon mentioned in the book of Mark. Mark chapter three, Jesus is preaching. This is that one scene where he's on the boat and they've kind of pushed the boat out because the people are like pressing in too much on Jesus. So Jesus is on a boat preaching over the water to the people who are on land, and he is telling them about the kingdom of heaven, that it is here. He is doing healings. It's all happening. In the crowd are the people of Tyre and Sidon. It lists them that they are present. And then Jesus finishes his teaching and he tells all of them don't go telling everybody about this. Keep it under wraps. And what we're going to see is the people of Tyre and Sidon did not listen to Jesus. They actually went back home telling absolutely everybody that they could about this man who taught about the kingdom of God and who healed. And we know that because of Mark 7, 24. Let's go back there to the second half. Jesus entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet he could not keep his presence secret. Everybody knew he was there. Everybody had heard tales. There is this miracle worker, and he is coming. He's here. Right? Jesus has wanted to get away to rest with his disciples now for like a chapter and a half. We keep reading, which in West Village is like a month and a half. So uh Jesus keeps trying to get away. He keeps trying to get rest with his disciples, and he keeps showing up, and people are like, hey, there's that guy. We want to be with this man. We want to be with this miracle worker because everything he says seems to move me. And he keeps healing and he keeps healing and he keeps healing. Jesus couldn't go far enough because the kingdom of God had already advanced. The movement of Jesus, the word about who he is, had already made it well outside Israel. And these people wanted what he had. They wanted to experience that all the sad things were coming untrue. The broken were made whole, the oppressed freed, the wounded healed. He'd done all of these things with his hands, and these people wanted to be in his presence. He could not be hidden. Jump to verse 25.

A Mother’s Desperation And Trust

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In fact, as soon as she heard about him, Jesus, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. All right, we have covered three verses, and already we've got all the tension built into this story. Jesus, the Jewish rabbi, yay! In a gentile land, oh no. A Greek woman from Syria Phoenicia, double Ono. Her daughter is possessed by a demon, triple Ono. She begs Jesus to heal her daughter. My oh my, what is Jesus gonna do? Right? This story feels a little bit like the story of the woman at the well in John chapter four. Jesus putting himself into a position and a place that was a social no-no. Or in this case, it is an oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Right? He has absolutely put himself in a spot that no Jew would naturally put themselves. Okay, now let's move the tension piece of Jesus to the side. Let's focus on the woman. What does the woman do when she hears about the miracle worker that comes to town? She immediately seeks him out, falls at his feet, and begs. This story is very different, at least I think it's very different from some of the other stories that we've covered so far, because in all of our other contexts, predominantly with the crowds, they're Jewish contexts, right? They're Jewish contexts that Jesus is going into. So whether or not the people believe that he is the Messiah, they have an expectation that there is going to be a Messiah coming. There is a cultural history that they are building from. For this woman, outside of the Jewish context, she doesn't have any of that baggage. She doesn't have any of that expectation. She doesn't have any of that knowledge. All she knows is that her daughter is in need of healing and this man can heal. That is it. She is driven by her need. Like Jairus with his dying daughter, like the bleeding woman who went to touch the hem of Jesus' robe or cloak. Everybody has been seeking healing. Their desperation for those that they love is moving. Their brokenness, or rather the needy state of their loved ones, right? That's the only thing that they care about fixing. When I was studying this, when I was working through it, I have to confess, I felt a little bit of shame reading this story. The passion and the love that this mom shows to run to Jesus is awe-inspiring. And I felt a bit of shame because I was unsure if I had this level of passion and love in my life. That's not saying I don't love Jesus, and that's not saying I don't love my family, right? I do. Desperately. But I start thinking about the other parts of my life. And I feel, at least when I was reading this passage, if I'm being honest or if I'm being too hard on myself, sometimes I can't tell the difference. When I look around at my life, I generally want good things for people who are around me. I want them to be made whole. I want them to know Jesus. But am I this desperate? Am I this passionate? Am I going to be running? Am I, that's poor grammar. Am I going to run with constant desperation to go to Jesus and say, heal, make whole? I love them and I want them to be made whole.

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I long that I long for that to be true of me. Do you want that to be true for you as well? What in your life do you feel that passionate about?

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Where are you angry because you are desperate to have your voice heard by God to bring wholeness? Where in your where in your life do you have that passion?

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Take a moment.

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The

Bread Children And Table Crumbs

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woman, she's come, she's begged, she's on her knees, she respects Jesus, she wants him to intercede, and he says, First, let the little children, let the children eat all they want, he told her. Some of you are honest and you did this. Others are more confident and kind of put it up. Sounds like Jesus is being mean. Now, raise your hand if you don't think that Jesus is being mean, but you have no idea what he's actually saying to make this make sense. That's all right. A lot of others are very happy and confident to say, yes, I'm I'm confused. Um I know that I have heard some from some preacher types, and you can just nod your head as I go through this if you're with me. Um, they said, okay, well, how do we make sense of this story? Well, the Jews knew that they were the children of God. And so the Gentiles, they kind of called them dogs, uh, uh like a derogatory way. And uh they called them dogs because they were outside of God's promises, right? So we've got Jews, they're the children, and the Gentiles, they're the dogs, right? And uh, so Jesus lays out these exact rules, and he's calling this woman a dog like the Gentile that she is. Okay. And furthermore, they say, this connects the idea that the good news is going to first be preached to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, like Paul said in Romans. So thanks, Paul. It may Makes sense. Thanks, Jesus. I get it. What he's really saying is wait your turn, Gentile dog woman. Does that sound like the Jesus we know? Does that actually sound like the type of interaction that Mark is choosing to highlight so that people will see God moving and trust in him? No.

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And you all agree because you laughed. This is a very unsettling, dilated, close reading to me.

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If we take it like that. The notion of Jesus going out of his way to shut down somebody, exhibiting trust and faith in him, seems off. It seems off. All right, so let's keep reading to make sure we have all of the pieces so we can kind of put them together to make sense. Verse 28, Lord, she replied, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. The woman's response does not read like she has been verbally backhanded. I would go as far as to say that she received Jesus' words as a culturally appropriate analogy. She totally gets what he meant, and then she responded with understanding and wit and faith. So, how do we get there? The children in this case, let me take one sidestep. Reading lots of commentaries or other people's thoughts, not everybody has fully agreed on how to take this passage. Again, I'm telling you, I grew up hearing preachers say the same thing that I told you, and many of you probably have as well. So there are some people that think it's this way, and other people think it's that way. I am going to bring what I understand to be my understanding of this text that makes it make sense. I'm also not saying I am God and I have it right. You can disagree with me. Dig in, we can talk about it. I think that's exciting. Okay. The children in this story, if you will, in Jesus' analogy, they're not the Jews. They're the disciples. The disciples were with Jesus needing rest, needing not to engage, needing not to be active in the tiring work of the kingdom. They were the children needing the food and rest that Jesus would provide. The woman was there seeking healing. She was in need. She was asking for attention and at first blush. She would take time, effort, and engagement away from the disciples because Jesus would be leaning in, re-engaging, just like he's done before. Like I said, for a chapter and a half, he keeps trying to get them rest and he just keeps jumping into the work of ministry. If the disciples were the children, you can be like, oh, I can, I can see that. That technically still leaves her as the dog. And come on, Jesus. Really? Okay. The dogs that would be underfoot and nearby while eating weren't the big yard dogs that were disdained in that culture, Jewish or Gentile. The dogs underfoot and nearby while eating were the small beloved house pets. They were welcome at the table with the family. Parents in this situation, all right, kids at the table, parents at the table, small beloved dog near the table, under the table. Parents would be bad parents if they denied their own children food, took food from them, and gave it to the dog under the table. In that situation, denying their child's portion for the dog would be bad parenting. Right? The Syrophoenician woman goes along with Jesus' analogy, seeing that he hasn't called her a name and he hasn't cast her out of his presence. She finds herself in his analogy, and she replies. She replies that she has no intention of taking anything from the disciples or asking Jesus to raise her above them. No. She relates to Jesus that everybody can have what they need from his hand. Everyone can get their fill from Jesus. No one lacks. She doesn't approach Jesus as the miracle worker to do tricks for her. She doesn't take Jesus away from his purposes or his disciples. She comes to him as Lord. And she trusts that he is enough for them and for her. He alone can bring rest to his friends while also healing this woman's daughter's demon problem. The Syrophoenician woman exhibits her faith in a massive way in one short phrase. Jesus, you have enough and you are enough.

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I can get by on your scraps because that's enough.

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We're going to pause for one last time.

When Prayers Feel Unanswered

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Is there somewhere in your life that you need all that Jesus has to bring wholeness? Is there somewhere in your life where you need all that Jesus has to bring wholeness?

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Okay, do you have that in your mind? That one thing, that one place, that one person that you need wholeness? Now hold that in your mind.

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Have you ever prayed about that thing before? Have you taken that broken place that you need healing and gone to Jesus and it's still not better?

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How do you feel about that? Do you feel rejected? Do you feel abandoned? Are you hurt? Are you sad? Are you angry?

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If you have brought it to Jesus and he hasn't stepped in in the way that you expected, have you gone the other route and then tried to take it into your own hands and make it happen and find a fix? Because right now he has failed, and I guess I'm gonna have to do it myself. I'm gonna go out in a limb and say you still haven't solved it, right? You took it into your hands, it's still broken, it's still problematic. I want to invite us to let our eyes readjust so that we can see Jesus as he really is. Jesus remains right here, arms open, as the one who can heal all that is broken in this world, including you.

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Including me. He's always enough.

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He's always able. Trust. Have faith. Reach out again and again and again. He is the Lord who has all the bread and all the crumbs that you need. All that your family needs, all that your neighbor needs, all that your coworker needs, all that your barber needs, all that your boss needs, your friend needs, he is all you need. Jesus is enough. Verse 29. And then he told her for such a reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter. She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone. I love this. Jesus' response to her rebuttal is so kind. He was pleased by what she said. He saw her faith. She trusted him. Right? She un in her statement, she trusts him. And Jesus sees this. And in return, what does Jesus do? Does he do a big demonstrative sort of healing? Is there any fanfare? Does he tell her she needs to do X, Y, and Z, and then her daughter will be healed? Does Jesus even leave that place and run over to where her daughter is? He does none of it. Jesus does none of it. He tells her, oh, your urgent request, it's taken care of.

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All done. Your daughter's in the clear. You can go home now.

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Jesus is able to go back to his disciples. And they didn't have to engage in anything. They get Jesus for rest and peace.

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They are whole. And the woman goes home. And there, the formerly tortured child is chilling in bed. From Jesus, she was given rest and peace.

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She was made whole. When our vision returns, and the distance assessment matches our close reading, Jesus, he's not mean. He's enough. He is Lord. He is sovereign. He rules over all things. He's also kind and he's gracious and he is near. He is able to heal. He is patient and he's enough.

Reflective Prayer And Sending

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As the band comes up, I want us to take a moment to prayerfully reflect. I want us to pray into some of the things that we may have encountered today. So I'm going to ask three questions. And then we're going to pause and pray after each question. Our first question In digging into this passage, in hearing more about who Jesus is and what he's done, what did you hear about who Jesus is? What did you hear about who Jesus is? I'm going to invite you to move it from the facts of what you heard in your head, and I want you to turn it to prayer. Go to Jesus and ask him, Jesus, what did I hear that was honest and true about you? Take this next moment. Go to Jesus. Jesus, what did I hear that was honest and true about you? And then I'll jump back in for question two.

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For our second question.

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What did I hear about myself that was encouraging or maybe even challenging? All right, like again, let's pray that we can go to God and ask him to reveal what we need to either be reminded of or to be challenged by. So take this next moment, go to God and say, what did I hear that I need to be encouraged by? Or what did I hear that I actually need to be challenged in? Go to Jesus.

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Go and pray and listen.

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Our final question is a simple one, but it might not be simple to do. I'd like for you to pray and just ask God, how should I respond? If I heard this about who you are, Jesus, and I was reminded or challenged about who I am. Take it to God and say, Lord, what do you want me to do with this? How should I respond? As you pray, it could be personal, right? Jesus, I understand this about me, and this is the response you are asking from me. It could be a communal prayer. Lord, I feel you are challenging me to respond and encourage my missional community for us to collectively step into a new place or minister to these people or love better. Go to the Lord, open-handed. Lord, how do you want me to respond? Listen for his voice. I'll close this in a second. Jesus, I thank you so much for your presence, for your word, and for always, always, always being enough. Lord, give us the faith to see you as you are, like this woman did, that she knew she could be healed by you. Give us the trust to lean on you for all of it. And Lord, whatever you revealed today. Don't let us leave this place and forget it. Remind us of what you are calling us to, and remind us that you are sufficient to give us the strength to act. You are our Savior. And we love you. In your name we pray. Amen.