When we enter into the heart of Mark 7, we see Jesus begin to operate outside the defined limits of Israel or Judea, both culturally and geographically. In healing two people Jesus' shows that the scope of God's kingdom is much broader than we might imagine at first. In fact, God's kingdom isn't about restoring the political fortunes of Israel, but instead about reconciling all of creation with the God who created it.
In the first case, that of the Syro-Phoenician woman, we see that faith can be found in a variety of places. Jesus' contemporaries would not have chosen a woman, and especially not a Gentile woman as a model of faith. And yet, here she is, in a way anticipating the universal nature of Jesus mission. When she asks for Jesus blessing in the life of her daughter, he first responds by saying "let the children first be fed." While the gospel is for all, it was first for the Jew, and Jesus' statement implies that the moment for the Gentiles has not yet arrived. The woman's response opens up an intriguing possibility, when in her own way she asks if the moments must be sequential? Would Jesus healing of this woman impinge on the Jews and their ability to hear the good news proclaimed? This is what the woman means when she says "yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." In a profound way, this woman was expressing faith not just in Jesus, but in the fact that His mission is to bring salvation to all. Eventually the disciples themselves would come to embrace the universal aspect of Christ's mission. Paul would say when writing to the Romans that, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16) When preaching to a group in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas would say that "it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles." (Acts 13:46) The position of this woman's story between the two feeding miracles, one performed for a group of Jews, the other for a group of Jews and Gentiles, points to it beginning a new phase in Jesus ministry. The occurrence of the words "bread", "eat", and "satisfied" echoes the first feeding miracle, and foreshadows the second. The exchange between the woman and Jesus also serves to demonstrate that God is never distant. The woman's daughter is healed without Jesus touching her, or even explicitly saying anything to heal the girl. He governs reality so that by simply stating that it has happened, the little girl is in fact healed. Even more remarkably, the woman's faith extends so far as to allow her to trust in His word when he tells her, "go your way, the demon has left your daughter."
Jesus' second encounter is with a deaf-mute man. Those with disabilities, those shunned by society, are allowed to approach Jesus. In fact, His compassion for and ministry to them is a hallmark of His identity as the Messiah. When speaking of the time when the Lord would restore the fortunes of Israel, the prophet Isaiah says "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shout for joy." (Isaiah 35:5-6) It is a tragic irony that those of Jesus' day were looking for demonstrations of military might, when they should have been looking for gestures of kindness and compassion, accompanied by signs of healing and restoration. Indeed, Jesus' actions were meant to be a way for Him to enter the man's world, and communicate and sympathize with Him. The author of Hebrews would take note of Jesus' compassionate demeanor when he wrote that "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15) Notice the response of the crowd to this miracle, when Jesus brings words to the mute and hearing to the deaf. They say, "he has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." In the original Greek, their statement bears a striking resemblance to one in Genesis from the account of creation: "and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31) Jesus does more than save us spiritually, he also restores us physically. By restoring sight and speech, Jesus is putting things back the way God intended them to be from the start, and in the process showing that God's future for us is brighter and grander than we ever imagined.
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