In the seventh Chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we begin to see the cost of Jesus being human. To this point in His ministry, Christ has been the very epitome of love. When Jesus continually tried to retreat from the crowds and they would follow Him to the lonely places and the homes that he slipped into, He taught them many things, healed the masses and cast out evil spirits. It's obvious that He was often tired, continually pressed upon by crowds of people from all over the region and constantly hounded and challenged by the Pharisees who had been plotting for some time (since Mark 3:6) with the Herodians to kill Him.
To make things worse, in Mark 6:1-6 we find that Jesus returns to His hometown, only to find that He isn't welcome there and that the people in his hometown, "took offense at Him." (Mark 6:3) Things were so bad that, "Jesus said to them, 'Only in His hometown, among His relatives and in His own house is a prophet without honor.' He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. And He was amazed at their lack of faith." (Mark 6:4-6)
Think about that for a moment. Jesus was continually hounded by the crowds and by the Pharisees. We've seen again and again how he would try to slip away, only to have the people follow Him. When Jesus began using a boat to escape the masses, the people learned to run ahead to meet Him where He landed. (Mark 6:33) Every time Christ let His guard down (for instance, when He and the disciples were trying to eat in Mark 7:2), He was challenged by the Pharisees. We don't know why Jesus returned to His hometown, but He was firmly rejected there in what was perhaps the one place He hoped he could relax just a little.
Even after His own disciples were sent out in pairs and worked miracles without Jesus at their side, they still lacked faith. What's more, they had witnessed Jesus performing countless miracles in their presence, including feeding a crowd of five thousand people with five loaves and two fish only a short time before. (Mark 6:30-44). In Mark 6:45-52, after the disciples were "terrified" when they saw him walking on the lake, Jesus still responded with a gentle, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." (Mark 6:50)
Imagine that you were completely human, yet fully divine. You had all of the challenges that we face as human beings, yet were filled with the love of God. In other words, you knew how you should act in the face of constant demands and adversity, but making the correct choice still would have taken a toll on you. It would have been made that much worse by people constantly wanting something from you, others (Pharisees and teachers of the law) continually challenging you and your teachings, and your own disciples completely missing your message, even though you had demonstrated the heart and power of God in their presence countless times. Any of us, being completely human, would have begun to crack around the edges. Our responses would have been a little less godly and little more human.
And we see that begin to happen to Christ.
In Mark 6:24-30 (a passage that is also reflected in Matthew 15:21-28) Jesus had "entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet He could not keep His presence secret." (Mark 6:24) Once again, Jesus has tried to slip away from the people and once again He is found out. "In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter." (Mark 6:25-26)
We've seen Jesus in similar situations. Remember the leper in Mark 1:40-41? ("A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.'") Once again someone has come to Jesus, fallen to their knees, and begged Him for help. When approached by the leper, "Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man." (Mark 1:41) We would expect Jesus to respond in love to the woman as well. The situation is almost identical. The only significant difference is that she's a foreigner.
Christ's response?
"'First let the children eat all they want," He told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.'" (Mark 7:27)
The exchange is made a little clearer in the Gospel of Matthew.
"He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.' The woman came and knelt before him. 'Lord, help me!' she said. He replied, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.'" (Matthew 15:24-26)
I have seen and read many explanations for this passage, the most common being that Christ was testing the woman's faith. To this point the woman had demonstrated a massive amount of faith. She not only fell to her knees and begged Christ to heal her daughter, a clear demonstration that she believed Jesus was her daughter's only hope and that Christ was capable of healing the girl, but Matthew 15:23 clearly shows the woman's persistence. ("Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came to Him and urged Him, 'Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.'")
We saw when we looked at the second chapter of Mark that Christ was a deeply emotional, incredibly passionate individual. This is the Jesus who, when praying at Gethsemane will utter the words, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." (Mark 14:34)
So what happened in this passage?
Jesus, for the first time, acted for Himself instead of acting out of love. The disciples asked Christ to send the woman away and He did so. Being a foreign-born woman, He told her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." (Matthew 15:24) When she fell to her knees and begged Him to help her, "He replied, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.'" (Matthew 15:26) The woman responded to Christ's dismissal by saying, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." (Mark 7:28)
And in Matthew 15:28, "Then Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour."
Christ wasn't saying, "Well, you passed the test, your child is now healed." Toying with a parent over a child's fate isn't godly - it's sick and malicious. Jesus was very clearly moved by her faith, not because she passed His test, but because, even though Jesus responded from His own needs and not in love, the woman still believed He could help her daughter.
We'll see more of this change in the spirit in which Jesus ministers in subsequent chapters. In Mark 7:9-13, Christ addresses the issue of denying your family in the name of God. "But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother." (Mark 7:11-12) In other words, Jesus is saying, "You need to show love and that love needs to begin with your family." Yet, by Mark 10:29-30 He is clearly telling them that they will be blessed if they leave their family in order to serve God. "I tell you the truth,' Jesus replied, 'no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."
In the chapters to come we'll see Jesus curse a fig tree because it didn't have any figs (Mark 11:12-14) even though it is clearly pointed out that, "When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs." (Mark 11:13) He'll enter the temple area and will turn over tables and drive out money changers and merchants who were selling doves there. (Mark 11:15-17) Even in one of the few instances where He heals or casts out evil spirits, Jesus complains about the masses saying, "How long shall I put up with you?" (Mark 9:19) Christ's pure manifestation of love is gone and even His compassion has faded. The energy Jesus manifests not only causes infighting among His disciples (Mark 9:33-37; 10:35-45), but the disciples rebuke people for bringing children to Jesus. (Mark 10:13) What's more is that Christ's own ministry is effected. Jesus has to try twice to heal a blind man (Mark 8:22-26), and Jesus no longer continually draws the masses to Him, but is able to meet alone with the disciples on multiple occasions rather than being constantly surrounded by crowds who were drawn to Christ and the love He embodied.
And from the point that Jesus curses the fig tree, Jesus only teaches. There is no mention made anywhere in the Gospel of Mark of Christ healing anyone or casting out evil spirits from that point forward.
At issue here is not the divinity of Christ, but the spirit in which Jesus conducts His ministry. The passage where Christ curses the fig tree is a clear demonstration that He was no longer completely manifesting love. Jesus was hungry and wanted to pick some figs. However, it wasn't the right time of year for there to be figs on the tree, so Christ found only leaves. Jesus, completely focused on Himself, responded with, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." (Mark 11:14) Later, Jesus and the disciples approach the tree again. "In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!'" (Mark 11:20-21)
By this point in His ministry, Christ knew that He would die on the cross. However, there's a problem with that. Love, due to its nature, can never fail. Although He was fully man, Christ manifested love so perfectly that He was also fully divine. To kill Christ in this state would be to kill love. It was literally impossible for Christ to be crucified as long as He was the very embodiment of love. Filled with love and compassion, Christ constantly worked miracles, healed the sick and ministered to the masses. After His focus shifted, He only taught. He still had His miraculous power as clearly demonstrated by His ability to wither the fig tree. However, He had lost sight of love.
To die, Christ could not be the embodiment of love. This wasn't a conscious choice on His part, but rather the fulfillment of prophesy. As the perfect embodiment of love, Jesus could not be killed, so His focus needed to shift to something other than love. In subsequent weeks we'll look closer at that shift and understand it's nature and its implications to Christ's ministry.
This does absolutely nothing to shake our faith. What it does is give us an understanding of the power of love. Love is so powerful that, in its purest, all-encompassing form, not even death could harm it. To fulfill His calling, Christ's focus had to shift. There was no other way for Him to be crucified.