Mark 7:24-30 "From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre..."

“From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone” (Mark 7:24-30).
 

Comment:

This passage is challenging indeed for people who believe that Jesus was always and fully the Christ, from his birth through his resurrection. How could this teacher of infinite, unconditional and universal love be so cruel and judgmental to a mother in distress?   But Jesus was not born in full Christ awareness; he was fully human and fully divine—as we are—and his coming to that realization was a process—as it is for us. The fact that he was able to manifest his Christ Nature so completely that it became his entire identity does not mean that he was immune from the process of remembering our spiritual Truth and learning to express is through our human identities that engages us all. Here, I think, we see Jesus learning an important lesson about his spiritual power and purpose: It was to be more universal than he had ever imagined. His assumption was that his purpose was to awaken the Jews of his own world. Now comes a Greek woman from the region of Tyre, and it is from her refusal to be turned away that he becomes aware of just how universal his message, and his ministry, were to be.   So Jesus did not get everything perfectly right all the time. He learned and grew, which makes him all the more powerful an example for us. We, too, are here to learn and grow in spiritual awareness and expression. We won't get everything right the first time. What's important is that, like Jesus, we remain teachable—willing to recognize an error choice and correct it so that our spiritual process can continue to unfold.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed