The Faith of a Gentile Woman

Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

September 2, 2020

The Faith of a Gentile Woman

And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed,

and the demon was gone.

Mark 7:30

Read: Mark 7: 24-30

Today’s reading continues Mark’s theme of emphasizing Jesus as the Messiah. When Jesus fulfills the request of the Gentile woman, he again makes clear the man-made traditions about what is clean and unclean were being swept away by the Messiah. The dialog between Jesus and the woman underscores the primary task of the Messiah at that time. He came to announce the coming Kingdom of God to Israel. The inclusion of non-Jews in the healing signs of the Messiah points to the reality that the whole world will be proclaimed the Good News of Jesus after his resurrection.

The Messiah is coming as the true King. This was a subversive message to the reigning Jewish king as well as the Roman Emperor. Jesus sought to maintain a low profile so that he could continue his teaching, and, thus, he went to places like Tyre. Mark is reminding us that Jesus was not an itinerate healer or do-gooder; he was the Messiah. The healings and miracles were signs of his messianic authority.

My Takeaway: When I think of Jesus as God’s Messiah, I think of words like power, authority and righteousness. When I think of Jesus, I tend to think of shepherd, savior, friend, comforter. My challenge is to remember he is both Messiah and Jesus.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.