"And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, 'Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered and said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.' And He said to her, 'Because of this answer go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.' And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having departed." (Mark 7:24-30)
Someone once remarked, "Life is just so daily." Indeed it is. There is nothing so routine as the routine. And nowhere does that routine manifest itself more than in the daily living of our lives.
It is my privilege to have two teenagers. Raising teenagers can be at the same time rewarding and exasperating. Teenagers are involved with life. And they have little tolerance for the routine. One of my daughter's favorite expressions of disdain when we propose an activity which is not quite to her liking is, "Dad, that's so Booorrring!"
Unfortunately, much of life can be boring as well. As we go through our daily routines, we learn to live with a certain amount of monotony. In fact, not all that is monotonous is bad. The beating of your heart is monotonous, but who would do without it? Breathing is monotonous, but I, for one, am not willing to give it up. Eating can be monotonous, especially in fast food restaurants. No matter what they do to it, a burger is a burger is a burger... I hope.
But occasionally, breaking through this monotony is something which arrests our attention. We are all privileged to have those rare moments when life becomes thrilling and we are excited. We all have those things which push our "hot button." We all experience those rare moments which surprise and delight us.
Have you ever wondered what grips the Lord's attention? What is it that He is excited about? Our text today reveals precisely the answer to that question: God is excited about faith. Faith always gets our Lord's attention. If you want to get through to God, faith will do it.
The account is of the Syrophoenician woman and her encounter with Jesus. Matthew's Gospel records the delighted exclamation of Jesus regarding this encounter with her. He said, "Oh, woman, your faith is great." This woman got His attention. She exhibited a faith in which Jesus delighted. As we look at this passage today, let her living example of faith reveal to us a faith that not only pleases God, but a faith that receives His grace.
"And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter." (vv. 24-26)
We see, in this woman, a revelation of faith. It is the kind of faith which caught our Lord's attention, and with which He was impressed. She becomes the living example of this faith. And if we look closely at her, I believe we will see a faith which can be ours as well.
Our text says that the Lord had come into the region of Tyre. This was a Gentile region, and as such, was abhorrent to many of the religious Jews. Jesus had already encountered their hypocrisy and had confronted them with the vanity of their tradition. The Jews were so worried about ceremonial uncleanness that they missed the weightier matters of the Law. To those Jews, this Gentile region was unclean as well. Add to that, this Gentile woman. Being both a Gentile and a woman were double strikes against her. The Gentiles were referred to as dogs by the pious and self-righteous Jews. And women were even lower in their estimation.
Yet, this woman came to Jesus because she had faith. It was a special kind of faith. It was a faith born out of need. She had a sick daughter. Actually, the text says her daughter was demon-possessed. Because of that, this woman was compelled to flee to Jesus as the only hope for her daughter. She had a need, and she believed Jesus had the answer.
It seems that God uses the situations of real need in our lives to draw us to Himself. It's true that whenever things are going well in our lives, when there is no apparent need, that we become rather self-sufficient. It is as if we have all things under control and don't need any help from anyone. This self-sufficient spirit can actually hinder our relationship with God. Sometimes it takes a real need to arise in order to turn our attention back to the Lord.
Because of her need, this Syrophoenician woman came running to Jesus when she heard that He was in their area. Faith was born in her because of her need.
She not only had a faith born out of need, she had a faith which resulted in action. When she heard Jesus was in town, she came to Him. In other words, she acted on her faith in Christ. She came and fell down at His feet and asked Him to intervene on behalf of her daughter, to cast the demon out of her. The tense of our text indicates that she not only asked once, but kept on asking. Actually, she was pleading with Jesus. Her appeal was passionate. She was definitely involved in doing something about her faith.
Faith resulting in action is the only kind of faith that is real. James tells us that "Faith without works is dead." If our faith does not lead us to act, we're simply fooling ourselves. What we claim to be faith is not faith at all. It may be a misty sentimentalism, but it is not faith. True faith, biblical faith, leads us to action. The idea that we can divorce faith from action, that we can make it simply an intellectual thing, is foreign to the Scriptures. When faith, true faith, comes to birth in our hearts, it moves us to do something about it. That's the kind of faith which we see demonstrated in this Syrophoenician woman. It's the kind of faith which always catches the attention of Jesus.
This woman was not only a revelation of faith; she was an illustration of persistence. Indeed, persistence is one characteristic of true biblical faith. Many times in the Scriptures, we are exhorted to be persistent with God. We are exhorted to pray and keep praying, to ask and keep asking, to seek and keep seeking, to knock and keep knocking. Persistence is a characteristic of true biblical faith. We have the story of the widow and the unjust judge, which Jesus gave as an illustration of the need for persistence in prayer. Persistence is a quality highly valued by the Lord. We see it here in this woman. She came to Jesus and kept making her case. Over and over, she pled with the Lord to do something for her daughter. Her appeal was passionate and persistent. And, I'm sure she caused a ruckus. In Matthew's account of this incident, we are told that the disciples were bothered by the persistent pleading of this woman to the point where they asked Jesus to send her away. I'm sure when your daughter is demon-possessed and your last hope is before you, that you do not care very much for protocol. This woman was desperate, and she was committed to do whatever it took to get help for her daughter.
Indeed, she was persistent; but her persistence was tempered with humility. She did not come to Jesus in arrogance. It is certain that she knew who she was and what the Jews thought of her. Now, she was coming to a Jew and presenting her case before Him. While she may have been loud, I believe that she exhibited a certain humility of spirit. She fell at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging Him as the Messiah. She took the position of a worshipper as she, in effect, prayed for her daughter. Her humility is further exhibited by what follows.
"And He was saying to her, 'Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered and said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.'" (vv. 27-28)
Jesus finally responded to her by pointing out that He had come for the sake of Israel. This is made clear in Matthew's account. Israel was God's chosen people. They were the children of God. He reminded her of that fact, and of the need for the children to be fed first. To do otherwise, He said, would be like throwing all of the good food to the dogs. The term Jesus uses for "dogs" is a diminutive term in Greek. It refers not to the scavenger dogs, which were despised in Israel; but to the little, pet, house dogs, with which the children played.
When Jesus had given His explanation, the woman was anything but offended. Here we see a glimpse of her true humility. Her response was "Yes." She accepted Jesus' characterization without bitterness. Obviously she knew that the Jews referred to the Gentiles as "dogs" with contempt. Yet, Jesus had not used a term of contempt, but rather a term of affection. Nevertheless, the message was clear: Israel had to come first, and the Gentiles after that. Her response was to receive Jesus' estimation of her. And she was not put off by it. This was a picture of humility. Whatever place Jesus would assign to her, that would be her place, and she would accept Jesus' estimation of her situation.
Here indeed is a picture of persistence tempered with humility. But it is also a picture of persistence turning difficulty into opportunity. This Syrophoenician woman not only accepted Jesus' estimation of her; she used His estimation as a ground for her argument. She said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." In other words, she recognized that the food had to go the children first. But she also recognized that even the children toss a few crumbs to their favorite pet under the table. She wasn't asking for much, just a small touch of the Master's hand. So she came and made her case, humbly but effectively. She turned her difficulty into opportunity. She refused to be defeated by an apparent closed door. In fact, it was not a closed door. She saw it as a door of opportunity to walk through.
Jesus Himself gave her the hope she needed. When He said that the children must be fed first, He implied that after them, others would be fed. After all, where there is a first, there is a second. Would this woman see that by faith and latch onto the hope He had offered her? Indeed she would. And that is what caught Jesus' attention. He remarked to her that she had great faith.
"And He said to her, 'Because of this answer go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.'" (v. 29)
Because of the persistence and faith of this Gentile woman, she received the answer to her prayer. I can only imagine the scene which must have occurred whenever she got back home.
"And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having departed." (v. 30)
I'm sure there was a jubilant celebration around her household because of the deliverance of her daughter. I can only imagine the kind of release this woman must have felt to have her daughter back. It was a glorious time of faith fulfilled. Jesus had set her free.
Finally, we see in this account a manifestation of grace. Jesus' ministry was a redemptive ministry. He had come not to condemn but to deliver. The very fact that this woman came to Jesus at all would indicate this.
In Jesus' action we see that grace is revealed in God's purpose. God had a purpose in His redemptive plan. There was to be the offer of His grace to His chosen people Israel. They were to be first. But as we have already stated, where there is a first, it follows that there will be a second. Even so, there was the outstretched hand of God to a lost people. We see His grace in that outstretched hand. His desire was to heal and deliver Israel. He wanted them to turn to Him so He could have mercy on them. He did not want them to suffer, but to be made whole.
God has a purpose in grace for you as well. He has a divine plan for your life. Can you see the hand of God working in your life? I hope you can. Let me assure you that God is at work in the circumstances of your life to bring you to Himself. If we will submit to His plan for us, we will find that His grace is real.
But not only is God's grace revealed in God's purpose, God's grace is received by God's mercy. In fact, everything we receive from God is by faith and because of His mercy.
Jesus answered this woman's request because she expressed faith and because He had mercy on her. He will do the same for us too. The Bible says that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. We can't work our way into heaven. Our works, however noble and mighty, are simply not enough and perfect enough to make the difference. Unless our righteousness is as the righteousness of Christ then our righteousness is not good enough. That excludes all of us. But by faith we can receive the righteousness of Christ. By faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, we can receive God's grace. Grace is unmerited favor. It is forgiveness for sin when we deserve condemnation. And this is exactly what Jesus offers us if we will surrender our lives to Him.
This woman can teach us a great deal about how to approach God. We must approach Him in faith - a faith that acts. We must be persistent, yet humble. We must look a difficulty as an opportunity for God to act, and refuse to be turned away. If we do these things, we will be the recipients of His mercy and grace.
Whatever your need, Christ not only has the answer, but is the answer. If you will come to Him in faith, you will begin to experience the mighty work of God in your life.
God's grace is sufficient for your needs. The Bible teaches us that God will supply everything we need for life and godliness. That means that He will give us the power to live for Him. We can enjoy eternal life in the future and abundant life here and now. With an offer like that, how could anyone refuse? It is my prayer that you would not.
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