The Mystery Of (Un)answered Prayer

THE MYSTERY OF (UN)ANSWERED PRAYER—Mark 7:24-37

Many people have had the experience of praying—passionately, even desperately—and not receiving the answer they were seeking. That can be confusing, even troubling, and we naturally ask, “Why?” Was God not listening? Is he not able to do what we ask? Does he not care? Do we not have enough faith? Were we asking for something that was not good for us or others?

Unanswered prayer is a mystery—a mystery beyond our limited comprehension as humans. Yet there is a deeper mystery—a hidden mystery of prayer. The mystery is ANSWERED PRAYER.

Why is that a mystery? Think about it: Every request we make is a request for God to change the course of history. For us, it seems simple: We pray to win the game, beat the cancer, and make our world better—but all of those prayers would change the course of history. The answer to those prayers seems simple to us, but sometimes we don’t know all that we are asking God to do.

The mystery of answered prayer is that God cares enough to fit our requests into his perfect plan for the universe and beyond.

That seems abstract, and two stories from Mark 7 bring it down to earth.

READ Mark 7:24-27.

This is a story of prayer—a passionate plea for Jesus to use his divine power to cast out an impure spirit, a demon. The woman is desperate, and every parent understands her desperation: This is her daughter, and her daughter is deeply troubled, possessed by evil.

Jesus is able to do what she asks; he often cast out impure spirits. He doesn’t lack power and authority over evil, and he doesn’t lack motivation; he hates evil and loves releasing people from its power.

So for the people in the room, Jesus has no reason not to immediately do what she asks. We identify with them; for we have sometimes felt the same way; we think we know exactly what God should do.

Yet the people in the room do not know the bigger picture. They don’t know how disruptive the woman’s request is.

(project a map of the area) Jesus had left Galilee to go to the vicinity of Tyre, in modern-day Lebanon. Why there?

Early in his ministry, Jesus healed many people, and crowds followed him wherever he went. This caused problems. The crowds in Galilee were attracting the attention of the religious authorities in Jerusalem, putting Jesus’ life in danger. Jesus would eventually be killed, of course, but before he died, he needed time to train his 12 disciples. The apostles, who would lead a church of thousands, were not yet ready; their minds were dense and their faith was weak. Jesus needed to spend quality time alone with them.

In almost every chapter, Mark’s gospel mentions the crowds that gathered around Jesus. Mark 6 tells us that Jesus took his disciples by boat to a solitary place, only to be thronged by such a large crowd that he fed 5000 hungry people. In Mark 8, Jesus again has to deal with a crowd in the wilderness—this time feeding 4000 people.

Chapter 7 comes between the crowds of chapters 6 and 8. Jesus leads his disciples out of Galilee into a gentile area, away from the messianic fever of the Jewish crowds. There, “He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it.” His plan was to spend some quality time with the twelve disciples.

The woman is oblivious to all of that, just as we might be unaware of how our prayers affect other people and God’s eternal plan.

***Suppose I pray for rain for my garden, and God sends rain. The raindrops that fall originated hours and days ago, and answering my prayer might involve redirecting the jet stream and weather fronts. The consequences of those changes are way beyond my pay grade: If God sends rain to sustain my garden, the same rain might also spoil an outdoor worship service where someone would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.**

Jesus has a good reason not to give this woman what she asks for. Still, his words seem harsh: “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

Why does he say that? The people in the room think they know. Jesus is a Jewish rabbi, and this gentile woman is breaking protocol by coming to Jesus to ask for help. Jews sometimes referred to gentiles as “dogs,” and for most of them, Jesus was just saying what they were thinking.

Maybe Jesus was just saying the quiet part out loud, but I think it was something else. I think Jesus was telling a parable—a parable about the plan of God to save the world.