“24 He got up and departed from there to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, but He could not escape notice. 25 Instead, immediately after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at His feet. 26 Now the woman was Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Allow the children to be satisfied first, because it isnt right to take the childrens bread and throw it to the dogs.”
28 But she replied to Him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the childrens crumbs.”
29 Then He told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.”
Mark 7:24-30
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This passage always troubled me, because Jesus always seemed so unlike Himself. But when I took the Kairos Missions Course, there was an interpretation by one of the main instructors that pointed out the fact that facial expressions and tone don’t get recorded in the text. His assertion was that, since Jesus is trying to teach His disciples about the fullness of the Kingdom -and- since He currently has them in Gentile territory, He is playing a little word game with this woman to try to teach His disciples something about going beyond their expectations and crossing lines they may not have thought to cross in order to reach people.

In their explanation of this account, he explains that Jesus may have had a little twinkle in his eye, and may have been giving little knowing nods to this woman to encourage her to continue on. He was always willing and ready to heal her daughter, but the disciples need to learn a lesson and have their hearts opened. And so He gives the response that they would expect, playing through this scenario with this woman. They needed to see their own heart attitudes on display. This way, they could truly see what it looked like, and hopefully come to understand that the kingdom extends beyond political borders.

That being said, this woman’s persistence in faith is still a central point of this account and stands as an example for us. If something is laid on our heart and we are truly moved by it, we should definitely be persistent in our pursuit of it and our desire to see God move should compel us to press on.

The ‘simple’ act of working out the Great Commission is simple in that it is straightforward, but it is difficult because we are dealing with people who are blind, wandering in a moral/spiritual darkness. If we take the call to GoLove them seriously, then we are going to have to be persistent in our faith and motion. If we are serious about any aspect of our faith, then we are going to understand that nothing is a ‘one and done’ scenario. Reading the Bible once doesn’t fill our daily need for it. Praying once, serving once, giving once, doing anything one time, does not meet the needs of the kingdom. Instead, it is that faith of persistence, daily pressing forward and continuing to seek God and living in obedience to him that stands as evidence for a life of faith.