Jesus and His Reputation - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Mark 7:24-37 NIV

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ “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 the dogs.”

²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

 

 

Reputation: noun

1          a: the overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general

b: recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability

2          : a place in public esteem or regard: a good name

 

As a pastor, and even before becoming a pastor, I had to be mindful of my reputation, I know growing up, we are told not to bend to peer pressure and not to care what other people think of us, but sometimes it matters. Protecting my reputation means I don’t go to certain places all the time or do certain things. I am not the only one who thinks about their reputation, but many pastors that I can think of manage their reputations. Pastors aren’t the only occupation concerned about reputations; people generally think about their reputations. Neighborhoods have reputations; schools have reputations; churches have reputations. Whether we like it or not, community service organizations, fraternities, sororities all deal with reputations. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we all have been on this earth long enough to have done things that give us a reputation.

 

We see reputations at work here in scripture. Jesus was on vacation, but his reputation of healing the sick followed him. I remember the phrase Bishop Jones says, “you cannot retire from God’s work” Jesus went into Gentile country where many people weren’t supposed to know who he was to get away from it all.

 

Jesus was trying to take a break in Gentile country where he thought he would be away from the crowds, yet a Syrophoenician woman approached Jesus because she wanted Jesus to heal her daughter.

 

I like what the Syrophoenician woman did when she approached Jesus; the first thing the woman did in the text was worship. The text says that the woman heard about Jesus, went to him, and bowed at his feet. When we want something from God, how much time are we spending in worship before we ask for what we want? How much time are we using to seek God’s face, or is the only time we talk to God to ask for his hand?

 

In the conversation, Jesus calls the woman a dog; now, some scholars try to say that maybe Jesus was talking about a pet when he referred to her as a dog, but that is not the case, the Greek word Jesus used for a dog is clear. Jesus called this woman a dog as an intentional insult. Jesus intentionally insulted this woman by talking about dogs being under the table. The woman, however, flipped Jesus’ insult back on him.

Even though the dogs are under the table, the woman says they’re still in the house, and this woman was willing to put up with whatever she needed to help her child. The fact that she was a woman and Jesus was a man meant they should not be speaking, the fact that the woman was a Gentile and Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi meant they should not be talking to one another, many reasons why Jesus would not and should not have given this woman the time of day, but she needed Jesus to heal her child.

 

When a parent loves their child, they are willing to do whatever it takes for that child to get healed this woman was willing to put up with an insult as long as her baby got healed let me tell you something here when it comes to my children I have absolutely no pride I have no pride whatsoever if one of my children are hurting, I will do whatever it takes for healing, and that is what the Syrophoenician woman did not care about her reputation she cared about her baby’s health.

 

Jesus heals the woman’s daughter from afar; Jesus saw this woman’s faith saw how she acted saw that she did not care about anyone’s reputation. She healed Jesus healed this woman’s daughter from afar. Jesus does not even have to be in the same room with you to make a difference in your life because he is just that powerful.

 

Jesus then healed a deaf man. I like verses 32-33 because I don’t see myself as an either/or type of person but a both/and type of person. When I look at verse 32, the NIV says “there some people,” the NRSV says “they,” and the NKJV says “then they.” Every translation agrees that other people brought this deaf man to Jesus for healing. The deaf man had people around him who had his best interest at heart, and not only did they care for him, they were willing to do something about it. They didn’t just say, “oh man, that is messed up; I hope you are feeling better, I’m praying for you, they went to the one who could fix it, and not only did they go to the one that could fix it they begged for Jesus to do it. These people were not too proud to beg to get their friend healed. Is anyone begging Jesus on your behalf?

 

I mentioned the two verses because while verse 32 talks about other people helping, verse 33 says that Jesus took the man in private away from the crowd to heal him. There are times when you need others to advocate for you, and there are also times in your life where only you and Jesus will be there to get the work done. This Jesus miraculous healing is not an either/or situation but a both/and. Sometimes you need your people around you, and sometimes you need to do it by yourself; either way, make sure that Jesus is still involved when the work is done.

 

Jesus told the man to keep it a secret, and he tells everyone. There is Jesus’ reputation growing again. Jesus healed someone, then Jesus told them to keep it a secret because he did not want it getting out. Still, it got out anyway when good things are going on in your life that Jesus had a party in you got to tell somebody about it. When I think about the goodness of Jesus and all he has done for me, my soul cries out Hallelujah thank God for saving me. When Jesus has done something good, you can’t keep it to yourself, just like we cannot keep good restaurants to ourselves, good movies to ourselves, good apps on our phones to ourselves, good things that we enjoy we want to share with somebody else. Jesus had healed this man. He could not keep it to himself. The reputation of Jesus kept growing.

 

I would like to think Jesus saw something in the Syrophoenician woman that would be in Jesus himself. The Syrophoenician woman was willing to be humiliated to save her child; Jesus later endured the ultimate humiliation to save all of creation.