Mark 7:24-37

Context

This week’s lectionary text from Mark encompasses two distinct healing narratives, each of which has plenty of material for its own sermon. So the first decision for the preacher should be whether to focus on one of the healings or to try to deal with both together, highlighting lessons that emerge as they are considered together. 

Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman is one of the more surprising and difficult passages in the gospels. We find Jesus to be, at least initially, both harsh and offensive. His brusque response to an earnest, desperate woman would seem more warranted were it directed to a conniving Pharisee. And his reference to her people as “dogs” is offensive not by some external standard that we impose on the text,…