All People Are Clean

"Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre... Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race.”
Mark 7:24, 26 

Just before this encounter, Jesus had declared that no food is unclean in itself. Now He makes the same point about people.  

The religious culture of His day had built a wall between clean and unclean, between Jew and Gentile, between insider and outsider.  

Jesus walked into Tyre and tore that wall down. 

The gospel has never discriminated.  

It was given to the Jews first, yes, but it was always intended for every tribe, tongue, and nation.  

This woman's healing was a preview of the Great Commission. It was Jesus saying, loud and clear: no one is beyond the reach of grace. 

This matters for how we think about our neighbors, our coworkers, our communities.  

The church is not a club for the spiritually put-together. It is a field hospital for everyone who knows they need help.  

When we start drawing lines about who belongs and who doesn't, we contradict the very gospel we claim to believe. 

Anyone can come to Christ.  

Everyone is loved by Christ.  

That is not a slogan. That is the story of Tyre. 

Identify someone in your world who feels like an outsider, whether at church, at work, or in your neighborhood.  

Take one step this week to make them feel seen and included. 

Prayer:

Jesus, You crossed borders to reach people others had written off. Give me that same heart. Help me to love well across every line that divides us. Amen.