Here are a few thoughts on prayer, inspired mostly by the interaction between Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30). Let me say at the outset that this is by no means meant to be a manual on prayer. There are many good books on prayer, such as the one by Tim Keller. This is just looking at one particular aspect of prayer.
Let’s begin by reminding ourselves of the story. As often happened, Jesus was seeking some solitude, and so had entered a house in Tyre. However, as usual the people still managed to find Him. One of these was the Syro-Phoenician woman, whose daughter was possessed by an impure spirit, she enters the house and pleads with Jesus to drive out the demon from her daughter.
It is worth noting that this incident comes immediately after the one where Jesus castigates the Pharisees for being so obsessed with their traditions (Mark 7:1-23). The Pharisees knew so much, had such a reputation for being devout, yet what they ended up doing was setting aside the Law of God for the sake of their traditions (Mark 7:9). This woman had so many apparent disadvantages. First, she was a woman! What could anyone possibly learn from her? Then to make matters worse she was Greek, not Jewish. Yet we see that she was actually closer to God than the Pharisees would ever be.
Now Jesus does not adopt a direct approach, nor even a “loving” approach (Mark 7:26), “loving” here defined in our shallow Western terms. Jesus points out that it is Israel first. He has come first to the children of Israel. He even then uses the common derogatory term for Gentiles, “dogs”, that was used by the Jews. Now, this does not mean that Jesus approved of this term! What He is doing is drawing faith out of the woman. He is reflecting the common attitude, asking her why she still believes that He can do something for her, given the prevalent attitude in society, and that He is the Jewish Messiah. Being “nice” is not always the best way to win people over!
The woman then refers to Jesus as Lord, and gives a very clever answer (Mark 7:27). “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”. First, she is not to be deterred. This is something that all of us should take hold of. Elsewhere Jesus commended persistent prayer, even cheeky prayer. Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord. God likes persistence! Then she knows that what she is asking for, while it is obviously big in terms of her life, in terms of all that Jesus can do is just one more miracle. In that sense it is no big deal!
Jesus approves of her reply. Sometimes prayer is an interaction with God. We sometimes say that prayer is not a matter of persuading God or changing His mind, but more a matter of Him changing our minds, and to a large extent this is true, and it is vital that we do not view prayer as a slot machine. However, sometimes prayer involves wrestling with God, and from a human perspective it might seem as if we have indeed “changed God’s mind”. If we could view it from an eternal perspective this won’t be what happened, but from our limited perspective this will be how it seems. We need to appreciate the limitations of seeking to interpret eternal matters from our limited temporal perspective. If we do not do this then prayer, or any other aspects of the Christian life, can become very sterile and stale. Indeed, if one was to take a purely logical approach, one could say that God already knows what we need (which He does), therefore there is no point, or no need, to prayer. But we know this is wrong, for God is forever exhorting us to pray!
Finally we should note that the woman’s “cheek” worked, for Jesus told her that the demon had left her child, and when she went home she found that it was so.
Prayer is an interaction between God and a man or a woman, and sometimes that interaction can take a most irreligious form, and can seem to involve a tussle with God.
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