Part of the Family

Mark 7: ²⁴ From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. ²⁵ For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

²⁸ And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰ And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

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“Aren’t you going to stay and eat?’ said one of my friend’s mother. The invitation came as a shock to me as I had not been invited to eat over anyone’s house before.

• It feels great to be invited.
• It feels wonderful to be taken in by someone.
• It feels positively delightful to be brought into someone else’s family.

I do not understand the cultural situation that was going on here. Was JESUS using her words against her when HE spoke of “little dogs” as a comparison to her upbringing? HE spoke of two cultures in analogous terms, one Jewish and the other hers, as if to say “I have a chosen people for whom I serve.” BUT HE does something incredible.

• GOD invited me into HIS family when HE did not have to.
• GOD brought me into HIS family when I did not ask.
• GOD adopted me into HIS family when I did not deserve to be adopted.

Humility is what I get from tis passage. JESUS heard her humble words and answered her request. She begged HIM knowing “No” could be the answer. She may have changed her heart towards insulting others as she took on the label of “little dog.”  A crumb of heaven is better than a feast towards hell.

• Are you insulting others?
• Have you labeled others in a bad way?
• Can you bring people into GOD’s family by serving them today?