Episode 19: Gentile Faith

Why would gentle Jesus call a desperate mother a dog?

In this episode, Pastors Steven and Travis tackle one of the hardest sayings in the Gospel of Mark, the encounter with the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24-37, and discover that what sounds like an insult is actually one of the most hopeful moments in all of Scripture. They trace Jesus' deliberate journey to the unclean region of Tyre, unpack why this Gentile woman becomes the only person in Mark to call Jesus "Lord," and show how her gritty, crumb-grabbing faith stands in sharp contrast to the self-satisfied Pharisees. Then they follow Jesus to the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment, where his sighs and strange gestures call all of Isaiah forward, from chapter 35 to chapter 66, as the promise of the nations coming to God begins to come true.

Before turning to Mark, the brothers preview the upcoming PCA General Assembly in Louisville, walking through what General Assembly actually is, how Presbyterian church courts ascend from session to presbytery to assembly, and the headline overtures on the table this year, including the question of women in the diaconate and the partial report on Christian nationalism. It is a conversation about faith that takes God at his word, refuses to explain away the hard texts, and asks the question we keep coming back to every week: so, what about us?