“And he [Jesus] said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’” – Mark 7:29
Because God made us with a body and a soul, it’s not surprising to learn that they affect one another both positively and negatively. Although modern medicine does not much believe in the healing power of prayer or that sickness and illness in our body can be caused by demonic torment, the Bible paints a very different picture. Specific demonic deliverance miracles Jesus performed through the Holy Spirit include healings from bleeding, epilepsy, deafness, muteness, and blindness (Luke 13:11–16; Matt. 17:14–18; Mark 7:35; Matt 9:22–23, 12:22). The Bible reports seven occasions where Jesus healed someone because of demonic deliverance.
The big idea is that some physical suffering has a spiritual cause and can only be dealt with by exercising God-given spiritual authority, which brings physical healing. We will now study how demonic deliverance restored the health of both a boy and girl as part of Jesus’ ministry in Mark 7:24-30. One Bible commentary states:
The woman asking Jesus for a miracle is an unlikely candidate.
She is a born loser on three counts: She is a woman: social mores discouraged such contact between men and women. She is Greek: the focus here is on her religious status (Gentile). She is of Syrophoenician origin: this identifies her by race, linking her with the OT Canaanites and associating her with the “bastardized religion” of Tyre and Sidon since queen Jezebel’s time. (1)
Jesus’ response is that His ministry was for the Jews, and He would later expand His miraculous work to non-Jews. Her humility and desperation are evident as she kneels before Jesus, begging Him to deliver her daughter. Breaking down long-standing barriers, Jesus brings this woman and her daughter into the Kingdom of God. Her faith is evident, as she fully trusts the power of Jesus to remove demons and restore health. Jesus’ power is manifested from a distance, as He does not travel to the girl but simply heals and delivers by the power of His words. In so doing, “Jesus crosses the many barriers in the way—nationality, religion, sex, tradition—and grants healing in response to faith.” (2)
Just as Jesus extended love and grace to someone of a “lower” social status, who is an unlikely person in your own life that you can show the same compassion for?
(1) Donald English, The Message of Mark: The Mystery of Faith, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 150.
(2) Timothy J. Geddert, Mark, Believers Church Bible Commentary (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001), 169.
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