Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

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.

There is a tradition in both the Old Testament (Abraham in Genesis 18:16-33, Jacob in Genesis 32:24-26, and Job) and the New Testament (Luke 18:1-8, Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:5-8, Philippians 4:6) illustrating persistence in prayer and wrestling with God. Sometimes these passages paint God as reluctant (as in the friend being pestered for a loaf of bread at midnight in Luke 11:5-8). In many New Testament stories, we see people, driven by what they know of Jesus’ character, defying social convention and decorum by calling out to Jesus.

Today’s Gospel passage falls into this tradition. Mark identifies the woman as an outsider while simultaneously giving her a voice, wit, and agency that would have surprised first-century hearers. Mark leads us to admire the woman while also starting to question the system that makes her an outsider. Her persistence and appeal to Jesus, knowing his character, bring an expansion of grace beyond systems and conventions that would limit it.

Like this woman, may we too have the courage to undertake the audacious, gritty, honest protest – the kind that God desires of us – to break through any boundary on our part that separates us from God’s grace and mercy. This courage comes from knowing God’s character and recognising that God’s grace and mercy are not limited by any convention or worthiness.

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