Mark 7:24-30

Jesus on time management
Mark 7:24-30

In this section of scripture, Jesus has departed to a neighboring region called Phoenicia, and runs into a woman who is Syrian/Phoenician, which means that she isn’t Jewish.  Anyone who wasn’t Jewish, in Jewish terms, was called a “Gentile.”  I sometimes think that the word “Gentile,” to the Jews, might today be associated with other words like “heathen,” “pagan,” or “barbarian.”  They definitely weren’t a part of “God’s chosen people” in the eyes of the Jews.

Jesus, whom we might associate with fairness and impartiality, says something that is quite startling to me as a Christian in verse 27 – He essentially says, “The Jews are my top priority.  I should not be taking care of you (a Gentile) at the expense of the Jews.”  Does this mean that Jesus had that Jewish bias towards outsiders?  Not really – Jesus was dealing with the issue of scope and time management in His statement.  Let me explain.

Have you ever been in a situation where there was way too much to do in way too short a period of time?  I’m pretty sure you have – it’s called “work.”  When faced with a daunting task, your choices are to panic and try to do everything, which means you will accomplish nothing, or you can be wise and use your “time management skills” like organization, breaking large projects into discrete tasks, prioritizing, and delegation.  We know that Jesus had a plan.  Jesus knew that He only had three years to influence others, so He had to limit His scope to gain maximum efficiency.  His chosen scope of influence was the Jews.  Why?  Because the Jews were the most highly trained people in God’s laws, being that they WERE God’s chosen people.  Their learning curve wasn’t so steep.  Jesus could teach these people within the timeframe allowed, and then delegate His authority to them so they could carry out the mission of saving the rest of the world.  Jesus’ statement was eminently logical.

If we read on though, we find that Jesus is not “Spock,” for He still cares for the Gentiles and He has genuine feelings for these people, for He heals the woman’s daughter – FROM A DISTANCE.  Her persistence showed her faithfulness, and God rewarded her.

Here are some points we can make from this:  1) Jesus does care for all people; 2) Jesus has great time management skills; 3) persistence in prayer pays off; 4) Jesus is not a local phenomenon – we can pray for people on the other side of the world (like the Dungan) as intercessors (people who pray for other people who don’t pray) and get results.

If you’ve never thought of time management skills as Godly, or your job as a work for God, maybe now is the time to think of it that way.  If you think that persistence in prayer doesn’t pay off, or that you can’t change the world, you’re wrong.  God rewards persistence; God has no limits; God invented time management; and God loves us Gentiles too.