MINISTRIES

We learn about Jesus from many sources. One of them is the Bible's book of Mark. Its first verse tells us it is about "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." As Christians we know that, but in Mark's account others do not know who Jesus is because, as it says, the book describes the beginning of the good news.

About halfway through the book of Mark there is a story of an encounter between Jesus and a Syrophoenician woman. The importance of Mark telling us her ethnic heritage is to let us know that she was not Jewish - in other words, as Mark says, she was a Gentile. At this point in Mark's gospel, Jesus had taken his ministry to Gentiles only once, and they had "begged Jesus to leave their neighborhood." Later, he told his band of disciples that "in any place they are not welcome" they should leave. So Mark is saying that Jesus left the Gentiles because they asked him to go away.

When speaking to the public, Jesus usually phrased his message in the form of stories. That was also true in his interaction with the Syrophoenician woman. She asked him for a miracle to save her daughter. Jesus responded in story form by saying, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the little dogs." The meaning of Jesus' response was that his power (the "food") was for the Jewish people ("the children") and not for the Gentiles (the "little dogs"). But she persisted in her request for help by saying, "Sir, even the little dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." So she was respectful to him, and she even phrased her plea as a continuation of his story. Jesus responded by not only saving the woman's daughter but by also changing his ministry. He immediately went to Gentile territory and began repeating there the same sorts of healings and other miracles that he had been providing to Jewish people. Mark is letting us know that Jesus' message is now for everyone. At Allison we believe that. Whatever your background might be, if you are not currently part of our congregation we welcome you to join us in learning about Jesus and what faith in him can do in our lives.