A Heart for the Crumbs

Reading through the gospels, we find interesting moments when Jesus was challenged by the ones who claimed to be servants of God and His Law. In Mark 7, we see that the Pharisees and scribes wanted to know why the disciples of Jesus failed to wash their hands before eating bread.

This wasn’t so much a sanitary practice as it was a ceremonial demonstration. It is certainly a good idea to use hand sanitizer,­­­ I would agree. Some things need to be bleached for sure. But that’s not what is going on here in this chapter.

What these religious leaders practiced were things meant to be seen. Any contact with the people in the marketplace could bring something of an unclean encounter. It was a prejudicial attitude. Gentiles, those who were not Jewish, were there to buy and to sell. Interact with one of them and you could be classified as defiled.

Ceremonies, therefore, were manufactured to give the show of righteousness.

Jesus astonished with gracious words. He healed by the power of God. His Kingdom authority was evident in all of it.

And what did these guys want to discuss? Hand-washing.

The Son addressed the true issue with a quote from the prophet Isaiah: “… it is written, This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7).

Faraway hearts do vain worship. They say and do things that sound and appear like honor toward God. They create practices that seem purposeful and right, but they keep people from having a true relationship with God.

Jesus then challenged them for forsaking the commandments, especially when it came to right order in the home. In the name of religion, parents were left without support because their children directed their money to offerings for the Temple program.

Poisons on the Inside

The real problem was on the inside, Jesus said. Clean hands are not hands of love and compassion if the heart is full of the wrong stuff.

The Savior made this point: We are not what we eat. What we put into our mouths does not poison us so much as what comes out of them.

Food goes in and the waste from it goes out. That much should be obvious, Jesus taught. Defilement, was instead a matter of the thoughts and intents that are going on within.

The real poisons of life are these, Jesus said: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).

Into our story comes one who cast all her care upon Jesus. This was a woman who knew just what she wanted to eat. She wanted just a bit of the Bread of Life she’d heard of. See Mark 7:24-30.

This was a woman who knew just what she wanted to eat. She wanted just a bit of the Bread of Life she’d heard of. Share on X

This wasn’t a Jewish woman. She was Syrophoenician, a woman from the region and people group that gave us the evil queen Jezebel.

Still, she followed after Jesus and the disciples anyway. Her daughter was demon afflicted. She begged to be heard for the sake of her girl.

At first, Jesus was silent to her cries. It seemed He was about to allow a great lesson to play out before the eyes of His men. Jesus wasn’t talking to the woman and the fact that she just hung around annoyed the disciples. They asked Jesus to send her away.

He addressed her with a seeming insult, saying His Bread was first for the Chosen, the people of Israel, and not for “dogs.” His comment pointed to the attitude of superiority at work in many hearts for this was how they labeled the outsiders.

This heart was not a vain heart, however. She refused to disappear. She recognized and honored the Son’s mission and purpose.

What she wanted was small and she knew Him. Her great faith was rewarded. “… Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And He said unto her, For this saying go your way; the devil is gone from your daughter” (Mark 7:29).

Jesus had been serving up full course of meals of Truth for all to hear and receive. And when He finished talking, He made sure that His hearers went away with full bellies simply by blessing and multiplying loaves and fish.

A desperate woman desired to taste and see that the Lord was good. She committed her way unto the Lord and she was given the desire of her heart. Jesus answered a faith that was without hypocrisy; He blessed the true heart that worshipped before Him.

The Touch and the Word

Mark 7 finishes with Jesus back in Decapolis, the place where He had sent the legion of demons out of a man. The Son kept stretching the bounds of His ministry. His Kingdom was bigger than the Promised Land. He was expressing a worldwide, all-inclusive purpose.

The people of this region, like the Syrophoenician woman, had been eating up the crumbs left for them. They knew what the Savior could do for those in need. They believed in His power to heal.

A deaf and dumb man was brought to Jesus. The Son groaned over the man’s physical condition. He also had to be thinking of the ones of Israel who refused to hear and who spoke foolishness. Spiritually, their hearts were so deaf and their mouths so dumb when it came to the important matters.

Jesus performed this miracle away from the crowd. He touched the man’s ears and tongue. “And looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said unto him, “Ephphatha, that is, Be opened” (Mark 7:34).

It was the Word that set this man free. He heard and he spoke and those who saw it happen were “astonished beyond measure.” The news of the Son “who has done all things well” spread like crazy, despite Jesus’ instructions to tone down their talk about Him.

And yet there were still those who wanted to argue over hand-washing. Could I be like one of these? Yes, I really am like one of them at times. It is easy to get sidetracked by stupid issues because we just can’t help ourselves.

I have to purpose to let God search me again and again. I need the Spirit to illumine my darkest corners. My heart can grow polluted by wrong attitudes and thoughts. I could be so deaf and so silent about the things that really matter – judgment, mercy, and faith.

It doesn’t take much to bring me back into order. I just need some crumbs from the Master’s table. I just need to seek His touch upon my life. I just need to hear the Word of Truth.

With these things I am delivered to shout and to sing and to tell the news to everyone.