Jesus left Galilee, a Jewish region and went to Tyre, a Gentile region. “Tyre represented the most extreme expression of paganism, both actually and symbolically, that a Jew could expect to encounter. From a socioreligious perspective, Jesus’ visit to Tyre universalizes the concept of Messiah in terms of geography, ethnicity, gender, and religion in a way entirely unprecedented in Judaism.”¹ Jesus truly is the Messiah for all people, not just the Jews.

The reason Jesus went to Trye was due to opposition from the Pharisees and Antipas. Remember how I told you how the religious leaders were constantly looking for something to accuse Jesus of. By going to a Gentile region, the Jewish religious leaders were less likely to follow him there. He needed some down time.

In Jesus’ first encounter, He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet.

I went to the school district’s main office this past Monday to meet with the director of a program the church has sponsored this past school year through our benevolence program. There is always the possibility that somebody that knows me might see me there and acknowledge me. On Monday that was not the case. A woman I did not know approached me and greeted me as Pastor White. Unbeknownst to me our paths had crossed somewhere in the city, probably at a church, where I was on program. If I can’t fly under the radar when I am in public, it shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus couldn’t either.

Jesus’ reputation preceded him in Tyre. Once recognized, a woman, the mother of a young daughter, approached Jesus, fell at His feet, and begged Him to drive out the impure spirit that possessed her daughter.

Since the Gospel of Mark was written to a gentile audience, he made sure to describe the woman. She was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia.

“This woman illustrates in the most unmistakable way the truth of the previous encounter with the Pharisees that if foods are not unclean, then neither are people! It is reasonable to suspect Peter as the source of this story, whose later experience with Cornelius reinforced the truth of this encounter: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right. (Acts 10:34, 35)²

Listen to the exchange between Jesus and the woman. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Did Jesus refer to this woman as a dog? Yes, but as a pet that is allowed in the house. The woman understood Israel’s privilege, and that Jesus’ provision for the disciples and Israel was not only sufficient, but the surplus was abundant enough to supply her need. “When dogs eat crumbs from the table, they do not rob children of their food; they simply eat what is theirs from the surplus of the children.”³

The second encounter has Jesus leaving the vicinity of Tyre and going through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee, and entering the region of the Decapolis. Remember, the first time Jesus was in the region of the Decapolis, He cast a legion of demons out of a man. He sent the man now in his right mind to the Decapolis to tell the people what God had done for him. Jesus was run out of the region because of the people.

Now on this second visit to the Decapolis the people were welcoming, and requesting Jesus heal yet another. It would appear the man Jesus cast the legion of demons out of was an effective evangelist, preparing the way of the Lord.

Some people brought to Jesus a man that was both deaf and who could hardly talk. The people begged Jesus to place His hands on the man and heal him, and He did. “This miracle is only recorded by Mark and would be especially appreciated by his Roman readers, since the “ten cities” region was like a “Rome away from Rome.”⁴

When Jesus cast the demon out of the woman’s daughter, He didn’t go to the woman’s home, He said, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

But in the case of this man who was deaf and could hardly talk, Jesus took him aside from the crowd. He did that so the man’s healing would be a private matter and would not become a public attraction. The man couldn’t hear, so he couldn’t hear what Jesus said, but he could feel Jesus’ finger as He touched the man’s ear, and the man could see Jesus spit on his finger then touch his tongue.

“In touching the man Jesus repeats his radical identification with needy, and sometimes ritually unclean people. Love seeks intimacy, and the touch of Jesus is a tangible prelude of the fellowship that believers experience with Him through faith.”⁵

After Jesus touched the man’s ears, and spit and touched his tongue, He spoke the word Ephphatha (Ef Fa tha), which means “be opened, be released, and the man was healed.

The first time Jesus was in the Decapolis and cast out the legion of demons into the herd of pigs, He told the man He had healed he could not go with Him (Jesus), but to go home and tell the people what the Lord had done for him. This time, “Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

“The command to silence to both Jew and Gentile is a reminder that knowledge of Jesus by his wonders alone is inadequate knowledge. Adequate knowledge of Jesus — and hence proclamation about him — must await the revelation of the ultimate mystery that can come only through suffering and the cross. The command to silence in verse 36 is clear and blunt; it is not a suggestion, and it is not ambiguous. Nevertheless, like the Jews, the Gentiles also break it. For all their differences, in this respect the Jewish and Gentile response to Jesus is remarkably similar. The great differences between Jews and Gentiles on points of law, purity, and ethnicity fade before the truly human question and most significant issue of all, which is the question of faith in Jesus.”⁶

The third encounter is the result of the Gentiles failing not to speak about Jesus healing the deaf and mute man.

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

Some modern scholars assume the feeding of the four thousand to be a doublet of the feeding of the five thousand. A doublet is defined when the same story is told twice. When we look closely at these two feedings of large crowds, there are similarities between them, but there are also differences.

From the feeding of the five thousand found in Mark the sixth chapter:

• The crowd had been with Jesus one day.
• The disciples came to Jesus concerned about the people having food to eat.
• Jesus asked the disciples to find out how many loaves they had.
• Five loaves and two fish.
• The people were told to sit down on the green grass in groups of hundreds and fifties.
• Jesus blessed the loaves and the fish, and the disciples distributed the food to the crowd.
• After everyone had eaten and was satisfied, twelve basketfuls of pieces were gathered.
• This feeding took place in Galilee, a Jewish region.

Let’s compare the feeding of the 5000 to the feeding of the four thousand found in Mark chapter 8.

• Jesus brought his concerns for the people to his disciples.
• “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
• The feeding took place in a remote area thought to be in Gentile territory.
• Jesus asked the disciples how many loaves do you have, they said seven. There were also a few small fish.
• Jesus told the crowd to sit down, He gave thanks for the loaves, broke them into pieces and had the disciples distribute the pieces. Jesus prayed over the fish, and they were also distributed.
• After everyone had eaten and was satisfied, seven baskets full of pieces were gathered up.

Jesus left Galilee with His disciples to get away from the constant negative encounters from the Pharisees and other religious leaders. They entered a Gentile region for some quiet time only for Jesus to have three significant encounters with the Gentiles. Jesus’ responses in these encounters reveals His compassion for the Gentiles.

“There is a lesson here for the people of God in every age, that its enemies are neither forsaken by God nor beyond the compassion of Jesus. On the contrary, the Gentiles, like others “a long distance” away, are the objects of Jesus’ compassion. The difference between the Jews’ response to the Gentiles and Jesus’ response can be seen in Mark’s concluding phrase, “And [Jesus] sent them away.” The Greek word for send away is apolyein. It means to dismiss or get rid of, the Jewish response or it means to release or liberate Jesus’ response, who satisfies the hungry outcasts and liberates them.⁷

Study Questions

1. Describe an encounter you have had that blessed someone.
2. Why did Jesus leave Galilee and go to a Gentile region?
3. Why was Jesus easily recognized when He went to Tyre?
4. Was Jesus being mean when He told the woman, “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
5. On this second visit to the Decapolis Jesus’ presence met with a better response than his first visit, why?
6. What did Jesus do to heal the deaf-mute man? What was the significance to what Jesus did?
7. Why did Jesus tell Jew and Gentile not to spread to others how He had healed the sick?
8. Because the people disobeyed Jesus and shared about the miracles He did, a large crowd gathered, Jesus had compassion on them and taught the people. What crisis happened?
9. How did Jesus handle the crisis?
10. What are some of the differences between the feeding of the five thousand, and the feeding of the four thousand?