Reading I
1 Kgs 11:4-13
When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,
as the heart of his father David had been.
By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians,
and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,
Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD;
he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.
Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab,
and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites,
on the hill opposite Jerusalem.
He did the same for all his foreign wives
who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon,
because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice
(for though the LORD had forbidden him
this very act of following strange gods,
Solomon had not obeyed him).
So the LORD said to Solomon: “Since this is what you want,
and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes
which I enjoined on you,
I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.
I will not do this during your lifetime, however,
for the sake of your father David;
it is your son whom I will deprive.
Nor will I take away the whole kingdom.
I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David
and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Gospel
Mk 7:24-30
Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.
Meditation: Mark 7:24-30
It’s no secret that in many ancient cultures—Israel included—women were treated as second-class citizens.
But that’s not the way God saw women, and today’s Gospel reading makes that point abundantly. The Syrophoenician woman who interceded with the Lord on behalf of her daughter is just one of many women in the Bible who showed extraordinary faith and received awesome blessings from the Lord. Two other women—also pagans—who stand out are Rahab, a loose woman of Jericho, who gave aid to the Hebrews on the eve of battle, and Ruth, a Moabite, who demonstrated great faith in God and devotion to her Jewish mother-in-law.
While Jesus made it clear that his mission was still focused on the Jews—the Gentiles would come later—the Greek woman in today’s reading persisted. His initial rebuff didn’t slow her down. Instead, she restated her request and reaffirmed her belief in his power to heal. Again rebuffed, she answered with a self-effacing persistence: “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps” (Mark 7:28).
What happened next should be underlined and highlighted in your Bible: Jesus healed her daughter! Did he capriciously change his mind? Don’t bet on it. He acted the same way he always did when he was confronted with persistent, humble faith. He simply couldn’t resist! Recall the hemorrhaging woman, whose faith caused Jesus to stop in his tracks and search her out. Her conviction that Jesus had the power to heal her gave her the boldness to touch this holy man—even though her condition rendered her ritually unclean. Think, too, about blind Bartimaeus, sitting by the side of the road and crying out: “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me!” (Mark 10:47). Again, Jesus stopped what he was doing and healed him.
None of these people had impressive credentials. Some of them weren’t even members of the chosen race of Israel! But they all stand together now, telling us that we too can approach Jesus in our lowliness. He is a gracious Savior who hears everyone whom the world considers insignificant. Never give up hope!
“Kind and merciful Lord, how is it my small faith can move your hand? Though I am undeserving, work your wonders now in my life and in those for whom I pray.”
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