The Children's Bread to the Dogs?

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The New Testament refers to all of us who are outside of the physical descendants of Abraham as Gentiles. The Greek word for Gentiles is the same word that the Greeks used for non-Greeks. The word literally means pagans. Pagans.

In the first century, the time of Christ, those of Jewish descent had a great deal of contempt for Gentiles. One of the prayers of a Jewish man, that he prayed each day, was this: "God, I thank You that I am not a Gentile, a pagan." If a Jewish person in the first century married a Gentile, the family had a funeral for that Jewish person. And for a Jewish person to enter the house of a Gentile rendered him completely unclean. He had to go through a process in which to again be able to go to the synagogue or to the temple.

We were considered, many of us - most of us here were considered pagans. Heathen. It's hard for us to conceive what it would be like to live in a world like that, but that was the world into which Jesus came. That was the reality. But Jesus is about to change all of that, and He will do so through an interaction with a nameless Gentile woman.

The story is recorded in Mark's gospel, chapter 7, beginning in verse 24: "Jesus got up and went away from there 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 [a pagan], 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; 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 left."

Now, if we're honest with ourselves, as 21st century readers of this story, at first this story catches us a little off guard. This isn't really what we're quite used to seeing from Jesus. It seems a little cold, in 21st century terms, maybe even a little embarrassing. It's possible, you might even conclude from this story, that Jesus had some kind of racial prejudice that caused Him to be reluctant to help this Gentile woman.

But as you'll see, nothing could be further from the truth. You have to read the individual statements here in their context. You have to read what comes before the discussion (you remember about what's unclean and not unclean we've looked through together), what comes after it, and that is, Jesus' extensive ministry for several months in primarily Gentile regions. Put that in its context and it's clear that what's happening here is Jesus is making an important point about His ministry to His disciples, and to all of those who would encounter Jesus and His teaching in the future, including us.

This isn't about His reluctance to help a dear Gentile woman in trouble. In fact, it's obvious from the dialogue that's recorded for us here, that the most important issue in this account isn't the woman's daughter at all. Instead, the most important issue here is Jesus' response to a pagan, Gentile sinner.

It's important to look at the context and see the relationship that this paragraph has to Jesus' entire ministry. These events that we just read transpired during the last full year of Jesus' ministry. It was the Passover of 29 AD to the Passover of 30 AD when He would be put to death. This is the third full year of His public ministry. This year is composed of the end of His Galilean ministry, probably about the first month of this year, then the training of the 12, about six months of the year, and then the final part of the year in and out of Jerusalem for the three feasts. We talked a little bit about that this morning.

This final year is, for the most part, a time of sinking popularity and Jesus constantly avoiding Jewish areas in favor of Gentile areas. At this point, Jesus' methods and His approach changed dramatically. Instead of seeking crowds, He focuses on His disciples in private. Instead of constant miracles, He seeks to downplay His miracles. Instead of open teaching to tens of thousands of people, He resorts to parables. Instead of concentrating His ministry in Israel, He focuses more on Gentile territories and Gentile cities.

Before this, Jesus has been mostly in Capernaum and Galilee. He's been among crowds, and He's been teaching about the kingdom. After this, He's mostly in Gentile territory, among His disciples, and teaching His disciples about what's coming in the cross. You can see that in a number of passages as they unfold in this gospel. So, Jesus is changing the emphasis of His ministry at this point. And this new approach began with His interaction with a most unlikely person, an account that makes it clear to us the nature of Jesus' ministry to pagan, idolatrous Gentiles.

John records for us, here in these verses, three affirmations about the nature of Jesus' ministry to Gentiles. I want us to look at these affirmations together because most of us live in this account. Most of us here are Gentiles. We are non-Jewish. And we live in these words. So, let's look at it together. Let's see what Jesus affirms.

First of all, John lets us know that Jesus initiated a Gentile ministry. Jesus initiated a ministry to Gentiles. From the beginning, God's point in choosing Israel was not to have them His own and then ignore the rest of the world. That was never God's plan. He didn't choose Israel to be His own little people and ignore, then, everyone else. As John Calvin said, "At no time certainly did God shut up His grace among the Jews in such a manner as not to bestow a small taste of it on the Gentiles."

In Exodus 19:6, God tells the nation of Israel, in that wonderful event where He affirms the constitution of the nation Israel at Sinai, He says, "[Here's your mission] and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests..." What does that mean - a kingdom made up of priests? What is a priest's role? What is a priest's job? He is an intermediary between God and man, the people he represents. The people of Israel were to be an entire nation, as it were, of priests. They were to mediate God to the nations of the world.

This becomes clear throughout the Old Testament. Here's one of my favorite passages in Isaiah 49:6: "He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.'" Here, not only is He talking about Israel, but primarily He's talking about the servant who would come, the Lord Jesus Christ. The mission was always, you'll notice here, that through Israel the Messiah would be a light to the nations, so that His salvation would reach to the end of the earth. Even Jesus' ministry has already reached beyond the ethnic descendants of Abraham. Here in Mark, you remember, He went to that area on the southeastern corner of the Sea of Galilee called the land of the Gerasenes, where He dealt with the demoniacs.

But although there had been those exceptions in Jesus' ministry, it's still fair to say that His ministry, to this point, had been almost entirely to the Jewish people. But here, in the text we're looking at, Jesus Himself initiates a change. Notice verse 24: "Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre."

Now, Tyre, is a Phoenician city, about 30 miles west southwest - I'm sorry, west northwest of Capernaum. Today, Tyre is in the country of Lebanon. Here is a map. You can see with the flow of the flow of the land there, the Mediterranean, the great sea, on the upper part. You see the Sea of Galilee toward the north. The Jordan River runs through, down to the Dead Sea there on the south. And if you follow the arrow, there's Tyre - that entire green area up there, in that upper portion is land of Phoenicia. You probably heard about it in school. Used to be thought that that's where alphabet had originated. There's still a lot of debate about that. But that's Phoenicia.

It was to this region – we don't know that He went to the city of Tyre, we just know that He went to the region of Tyre, and He takes His disciples to this Gentile region. The question is, why? Why did Jesus leave Galilee and come to an almost completely Gentile region? Several answers have been suggested. One is that He wanted to escape the sort of growing hostility, the plotting of the Jews to get Him, to gain some rest for Himself and His disciples. Another is, He wanted to look for a more fruitful mission field.

I think the third idea is probably the most likely, and that is, Jesus wanted, initially, to go there for a rest and some time with His disciples privately, but then to begin a concerted, intentional ministry to the Gentiles. I think that's obvious because what happens next. When He leaves Tyre - He goes to Tyre, the rest of the verse says, looking for solitude. But when He leaves the region of Tyre, He spends the next several months in largely Gentile areas.

You'll notice on the northeast corner of the Sea of Galilee (that purple region) - that is a Gentile region. He leaves Tyre (the green area up there - Phoenicia) and comes down and is in that region. And then in the Decapolis, still over here on this side of the Jordan, the east side of the Jordan and Perea, He's going to minister in these primarily Gentile areas for the next several months. So, it seems clear that while He goes up to Phoenicia for a time of rest with His disciples, He's also going to begin ministry to Gentiles. It was clearly not His plan to get away, remain hidden, return to Israel, and just ignore the Gentiles forever. So, Jesus took his disciples to this Gentile area, planning in the near future to begin a concerted ministry to Gentiles.

But first, He intended to have some uninterrupted time with His disciples. So, verse 24 says, they went into a house - probably the rented house of a stranger. There's no indication that this is one of His disciples who had this home. It's probably just a rented house, borrowed from a stranger. And He wanted no one to know. But even outside of Israel, that proved to be impossible, so that even that far away from His ministry headquarters in Capernaum, news of His presence spread. Look at verse 25: "But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet."

How did this woman know about Jesus? Well, look back in Mark 3. Mark 3:8. Here, Jesus is in Capernaum, His ministry headquarters on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. Verse 7 says, "Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon [that's Phoenicia], a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him." So, word about Jesus had spread up to Phoenicia. Now, we don't know if this woman had come down with this crowd to Galilee and had heard Him teach or someone she knew had, but somehow, she heard and knew of Jesus. Somehow, she knew, and she heard that He had arrived in her hometown. You know, I think I have to agree with William Hendrickson who writes, "Jesus Himself, because of His great love of sinners, allowed this discovery to take place." - Jesus making Himself available.

Now, notice there's no mention in this passage of this woman's husband. It's possible that he was a pagan, had no interest in a Jewish teacher. It's also possible that this woman was a widow. But regardless, she found herself in a desperate situation.

Mark tells us, in verse 25, that she had a little daughter. It's a diminutive - a little daughter, young daughter. And this woman was demon possessed or demonized. We've already studied that. She was under the power and control of a demon. We're not told, here, how this affected her. In Mark 9 (excuse me) we will be exposed to a young boy who's controlled by a demon and the results were disastrous to his physical well-being. We're not told how she suffered, here, only that she did suffer.

In fact, Matthew tells us that when this woman saw Jesus and His disciples, she "began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David..." It's very interesting expression, isn't it? She recognizes Jesus. Possibly, she had encountered Him on a visit to Israel. But regardless, He's been pointed out. She knows who He is, and she begins excitedly shouting at Jesus.

She also understands who He truly is. Notice she calls Him "Son of David". It's interesting, in Matthew's gospel, he uses this expression eight times in reference to Jesus. It describes Jesus as a descendant of King David. It was an expression that came to be used almost exclusively of the Messiah, who would be a mighty warrior and king, and a descendant of David. So, it's likely, from what she says here, that she has come to believe, living in a pagan land, that Jesus is Israel's Messiah.

Notice this remarkable woman also acknowledges that she doesn't deserve anything from Jesus. She shouts out, "Have mercy on me." She just wants Him to be gracious, to be merciful.

But her immediate concern is really not about her. It's about her daughter. Again, in Matthew's gospel, he adds this that isn't in Mark's account: "... my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. But He [that is Jesus] did not answer her a word." This is very unusual. Jesus appears, here, to ignore this woman. We've never seen Him do this before in anywhere in the gospel record. We'll talk about why in just a moment. It does become clear though, right away, that Jesus intends to help this woman and her daughter.

But He also has something He wants to teach. And I think the primary audience isn't even this woman, it's His disciples. Remember the attitude that they would have had inherently towards Gentiles? In fact, you see their attitude come out in Matthew's gospel because in Matthew 15:23, "His disciples came and implored Him [Jesus] saying, 'Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.'"

Jesus begins to show His own tenderness toward this woman by not sending her away as the disciples have urged Him. Instead, He initiates a conversation. Jesus now speaks to her, and His response gives us a fascinating glimpse into His earthly mission, while He was here. Matthew 15:24: "But He answered and said, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" In response to the disciples' suggestion that Jesus answer this woman's request, Jesus says, "[Listen], I was sent..." Obviously, He knows He's on a mission from God. "I was sent by the Father for a very specific purpose. Jesus' whole life is committed to this purpose: "I was sent", Jesus says, "for the spiritual salvation of the physical descendants of Abraham - Jewish people who are lost and in need of a Savior." And that was Jesus' mission. That's why He came.

Leon Morris writes, "During His time on earth, Jesus didn't go to Athens. He didn't go to Rome or Alexandria, indeed, to any of the places we might have anticipated. Those were the power centers of the ancient world. He didn't go to any of those places." Morris goes on, "Apart from very occasional trips like this one, which did not interfere with the discharge of His mission, He spent all His time in Galilee and Judea. There are mysteries here that we cannot solve. But, while Jesus came to make that atonement for sin which would mean salvation for people in any place throughout this whole wide world, He did not come to engage in a worldwide mission of healing or the like. His earthly mission was to Israelites, here described as 'lost sheep'." Jesus said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's the focus of My earthly ministry."

As we saw this morning, obviously, there was much more than that intended. He intended His death to be for Gentiles all across the world and in every generation. But His earthly time here - those three years, 3 1/2 years of His earthly ministry, were devoted to ministering to Jewish people in His Jewish homeland.

Now, back in Mark's gospel, look at verse 26. This isn't where this woman was. "Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter." Now, what makes this encounter remarkable is who this woman was. Notice how she's described here in several different ways.

First of all, "the woman". Remember, it's very unusual. It's very unusual for a Jewish man to interact with a Jewish woman. One of the prayers of the Pharisees and of men, as I cited a moment ago, was, "God, thank You that I am not a Gentile." The prayer went on to say, "or a woman." That was their attitude. And yet again we see Jesus' compassion and kindness toward women, treating them with dignity and respect. Here's a woman.

But this woman was also a Gentile, literally, a Greek, a pagan. She was both non-Jewish and had been heavily influenced by the pagan, Greek culture. She was of the Syrophoenician race - that part of Phoenicia that I just showed you up there, controlled by Syria as opposed to the Phoenicia down near Libya in North Africa. She was a native of the region, whose two major cities were Tyre and Sidon.

Now, you may not be familiar with Tyre and Sidon, but the Jews of the first century would have been. They were all too familiar with this Phoenicia. It was from Tyre that Baal worship had been officially introduced into Israel. You may remember the story when the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre, married off his daughter to Ahab, King of Israel. Her name was Jezebel. She came from Tyre. She came from Phoenicia. She married Ahab and, through their marriage and through her influence, she brought Baal worship into Israel in a big way. In fact, you remember, she ended up hiring 450 prophets of Baal on the government payroll of Israel. That's where this woman was from. So, she was not only a woman, she was not only a Gentile, but she was from the area where all of that had been introduced to Israel.

Matthew adds that she was a Canaanite. She was part of that pagan, idolatrous people group that Israel was supposed to exterminate 1400 years before, in the time of the Exodus, and about whom God had warned Abraham 2100 years before. That also meant she was an idolater because the Canaanites were all idolaters. So, it's shocking, really, when you look at this woman and who she was, the first Gentile with whom Jesus initiates His ministry is a woman, a Gentile from Phoenicia where Baal worship came into Israel from, and a Canaanite, which means she was a pagan Idolator. Shocking! His first outreach to Gentiles was not a Gentile man, was not a Gentile man who was a proselyte to Israel and had embraced Israel's God, obeyed Israel's Scripture. Instead, it was a woman who brought - who had bought into all the worst elements of the Greek culture, who was part of a race that had been a scourge to God's people for more than 1000 years, and who is a practicing pagan idolator. It's with such a woman that Jesus initiates His ministry to Gentiles.

Could it be that there is salvation for such a person? Well, according to verse 25, it was just such a person who came and prostrated herself at Jesus' feet. And verse 26 says, "And she kept [on] asking Him..." She just kept saying, "Help me! Have mercy on me. Help me. Have mercy on me, Son of David." She prostrates herself at Jesus' feet. That means, literally, she came and collapsed on the ground, on her face, at His feet. It's an act of humility, of respect, of recognition of His authority, and honestly, it's also an act of desperation on the part of a Mom, who's deeply concerned for her daughter.

By the way, at the risk of over-spiritualizing this passage, can I say that's where all of us as parents need to find ourselves when it comes to our kids. In her case, it was because her child was demonized. In our case, it's because our children are wearing our fallenness and they need to come to know Christ. We need to find ourselves where this woman does, prostrating ourselves in humility, in respect, in recognition of God's authority, and in desperation for God to act on our children's behalf. It was with this pagan Gentile woman that Christ chose to initiate His ministry to Gentiles. He initiated it in that He was there and will continue in Gentile areas for months to come.

A second affirmation that John makes about the nature of Jesus' ministry to Gentiles is that, even as He ministered Gentiles, He reiterated His primary mission. Notice verse 27: "And He was saying to her, 'Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs.'" Now, that's a very troubling verse. How should we understand Jesus' reluctance to help this woman? Well, there are two possibilities. One is, He really doesn't want to help this woman, but He is ultimately persuaded by her persistence.

Now, folks, this explanation is out of sync with everything we have already learned about Jesus Christ and His heart of compassion. He is always ready to help anyone who comes in faith to Him, even those who don't come in faith, who just come seeking help. This explanation is also out of sync with what follows because Jesus is, here, beginning an extensive ministry to Gentiles. In addition, if this explanation were true, if it really was that He really didn't want to help this woman, that'd be a very unflattering picture of Jesus' attitude toward Gentiles, toward non-Jews. And yet, to whom is Mark writing this gospel? He's writing it primarily to Gentile Christians. So, whatever this story means, it must have a positive message for Gentiles.

There's a second possibility, and the one that I think is more accurate. Jesus knows what He's going to do for this woman, but the conversation is intended to draw out the genuineness of her faith. This is similar to what Jesus did with the rich young ruler but in reverse. His interaction with the rich young ruler was intended to draw out the absence of faith. You remember? At first, in Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler, He sounded like He really believed that man could actually gain eternal life by keeping the commandments. Is that true? No, that's not true. So, why did Jesus do that? Because He was pushing that man to see the real sticking point as to why he wouldn't follow Christ. It was that he loved his belongings, and he wouldn't part with them. So, Jesus engaged him in conversation to lead him to a point, drawing out his heart to show him, in that case, his unwillingness to follow Christ. Here, Jesus is going let us see and let her see the genuineness of her faith.

But there's another thing He intends to draw out in this conversation, and that is, the point He wants to make to His disciples and to us. Now, notice what He says. In Matthew's version, in the parallel passage, Matthew 15:24, He answered her cries for help and said this: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." As I said before, His ministry was specifically to the chosen people of God. That was His mission.

You see this throughout the New Testament. This continues, even in Acts and following. In Acts 3, Peter says, "It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED. For you first [Jewish people], God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways." Peter continued to make the same point. You see it later in Acts.

But even when you get to those epistles to Gentiles, you see it. In Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Romans 15:8: "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, 'THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND I WILL SING TO YOUR NAME.'"

So, Jesus' statement defines the thrust and focus of His earthly ministry. He was, by virtue of becoming man, limited in His humanity to one location. So, in the purposes of God, He began first with Israel. That didn't mean that He had no concern for Gentiles. Jesus says, "It is not right to take the food intended for the children and give it to the household pets." Mark 7:27 puts it like this: "... Let the children be satisfied [notice this word] first..." "Let the children be satisfied first" - in order of time, let the children (that is, the Jews) eat as much as they want. Then the dogs can have what remains.

Now, that sounds harsh to us. It sounds harsh to us that Jesus would liken that woman and, frankly all of us as Gentiles, to dogs. But remember, there's several factors here. One is facial expressions and tone can make this sound very different, less harsh. Again, one commentator says, "She saw in these words His love and tenderness, a compassion and attitude, that even His apparent sternness was unable to hide." Jesus says His primary mission is to the Jews, the children. They need to eat first.

Verse 28: "But she answered and said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.'" Now, this is absolutely remarkable. How often... Jesus has just given her a parable. Jesus has just said, "The children need to eat first and then the dogs." How often has He given a parable to His disciples, and they have to wait and get Him alone, at some point in the future, and say, "Okay, Lord, what did you mean?" This woman, a Gentile woman, pagan, on the fly, picks up what He says, understands the point He's making, and returns in kind.

Notice what she says. She agrees with Christ. "It's true", she says, "the needs of the children come first. But, in every home, the household pets eat the scraps." There are two Greek words for dog. One describes the wild, roaming dogs that were hated and despised. They were scavengers who were in packs, running across the countryside. When people are compared to that kind of dog, it's always bad. This Greek word, however, the one used here, describes smaller dogs. It describes household pets.

When I was growing up, we had a boxer bulldog which was great for a kid because no one ever picked on me in the neighborhood. And that dog ate like a king. You know, we fed it scraps but, occasionally, my Mom - I remember her actually making food for that dog. I'd walk into the kitchen, and she had something scrambling there in the frying pan. "Mom, what do we have?" "Well, this isn't for you." "Well, who's it for?" "It's for the dog." But most of the time, the dog still ate like a king because he got the scraps. Now, I know that's not supposed to be good for a dog, but we didn't know that then. It seemed like it was good for us. Why wouldn't it be good for the dog? And so, the dog got the scraps.

We kind of have the same thing going on in our house at a different level now. When our family eats, we ordinarily put our little Shih Tzu in his kennel. And then when we're done eating, we let him out. And he immediately goes over, under the table, where he takes on the role of a Hoover vacuum, sort of sucking up every crumb that he can find.

That's what this pagan, Gentile woman is saying. In a remarkable spirit of humility, that shows how deeply she respects and honors Christ, she says this: "You're right, Lord. I may not be an Israelite. I may not be one of the children to whom Your initial ministry has come. I may not be qualified to receive the thrust of Your earthly ministry. But in a family, the household pets get to eat the crumbs that fall from the table. And I'm like one of them. I understand Your ministry is focused on the Jews, but I'm like a household pet. I'm one of Your disciples. Let me have a few crumbs."

That brings us to the third affirmation about the nature of Jesus' ministry. He's made it clear what His primary mission is. But the third affirmation, here, about the nature of His ministry to Gentiles is this: Jesus authenticated genuine, Gentile faith.

Look at verse 29: "And He said to her, 'Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.'" Matthew says that Jesus said this about her: "Then Jesus said to her, 'O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.' And her daughter was healed at once." William Hendrickson writes, "Jesus fully approved of the woman's perseverance in the three Christian graces of faith, hope and love - faith in Him as the one whose love is broader than the measure of man's mind, hope in Him as the one who was not about to disappoint her, and love for Him who, by the very act of His refusal to turn her away, had already indicated that, though she loved Him, He had first loved her."

Look at verse 30: "And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left." You know, if her words to Jesus showed her faith in Him, and they certainly did, her actions here showed it even clearer. She came as a desperate Mom, absolutely crying out, over and over and over again, to Christ - "Help me! Have mercy on my daughter! Heal my daughter!"

And here she expresses full confidence in Jesus to heal her daughter, even though He didn't go with her to her house, even though He has never seen her daughter, never touched her daughter, He has never spoken a word to the demon. He simply tells this woman, "Go! Your daughter is healed." Great confidence in Jesus' authority. If Jesus tells me it's done. It's done. And her faith was vindicated. When she returned home, she finds the child lying on the bed, the demon having left her. By the way, the Greek verb tense there implies that the demon went away and would never return again.

Remarkably, more than 1000 years before Jesus' conversation with this woman, the Psalms had prophesied that this region of Tyre would one day experience the blessings of the Messiah. In Psalm 87:4, "I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me; behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: 'This one was born there.'" And here, the blessings of the Messiah do in fact reach Tyre.

Now, that's the account. Those are the affirmations. I want us to look, in our last few minutes together, at the three great lessons you and I can learn from this account. First of all, we can learn a lesson about Jesus' ultimate mission - "Let the children be satisfied first." You remember the immediate context of this account? The first part of chapter 7:1-23, Jesus declared the laws of uncleanness null and void, especially the food laws. You remember that? He said the food laws don't exist anymore. Those with the laws that divided Jew and Gentile, even from social interaction. And then in response to that, starting in verse 24, He moved directly to minister to Gentiles. What's the point? Our Lord said, "Don't call food that I've cleansed unclean."

And then He practices the reality of that in His interaction with Gentiles, just as happened with Peter. You remember? In Acts 10, Peter saw that vision? And later he said, in explaining it he said, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean." Our Lord was affirming personally what Peter eventually learned. He taught the food laws don't defile a man. That means your social interaction with Gentiles, that isn't what defiles you. And then Jesus Himself goes into Gentile territory, reaches out to this woman, and begins in the future months to reach out to Gentiles.

Now, why is this section so important for Mark to include? Remember, Mark is writing his gospel to whom? The Romans. Who were the Romans? They were formerly Gentile, pagan idolaters. And Mark is reaffirming here that Jesus came for them too, and for us. That's the lesson about Jesus' ultimate mission. Yes, His first earthly mission and priority was to the Jews, but it wasn't limited there, even shown in His own life. That means we're included. Jesus came for us.

There's also a lesson here about Jesus Himself, about His compassion even for Gentiles. You see it. Even though He uses words that appear stern on the outside as He draws this woman out and draws out her heart, you still see His tenderness come through, His compassion.

You also see His amazing authority. Think about what Jesus does here. He casts out a demon from a distance, without a word. He just wills it to be so. And He tells this woman, "Go home. It's done!" What amazing authority! What amazing power! What is there in your life that Jesus can't handle?

You also see His willingness to receive even utterly pagan idolaters who will turn to Him in faith. We'll meet this woman in heaven. Jesus Himself praised her faith, delighted in her faith in Him. She, who was one point, an absolute idolator, worshipping stones, images, involved in Canaanite practices that God had commanded His people to purge the land of 1400 years before. It's an amazing lesson in Jesus' grace.

And you know what? That's very good news because that's all of us. As John Calvin said, "The human heart is an idol factory." Before you came to Christ and, frankly, it's a struggle even now, isn't it? But before you came to Christ, you and I, we all were idolaters. There was something that had displaced the true position and role of God in our lives. Our hearts are an idol factory. Here's how Jesus responds to repentant idolaters.

There's a third lesson and it's a lesson about saving faith. As I showed you in Matthew 15, Jesus commends her faith. In fact, He says her faith is great. Why? Look at the attributes of this woman's faith.

Her faith was persistent. She would not be turned away. She just kept coming. She just kept crying out. She was, in the words of Jesus, she was one of those who was taking the kingdom by force. She wouldn't be turned away. Her faith was a persistent faith and that honors God. As Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is [that is, not only that He exists but that He's all He claims to be] and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." She believed that and she wouldn't turn loose of Christ even though, at first, He appeared to rebuff her. True faith is persistent faith. Or can I use a theological word? It is persevering faith. It is faith that hangs on. Why? Because Christ is hanging onto us.

True faith is humble faith. How many of us would have been stung by Jesus' words if He had said to us, as Gentiles, "You're like a dog. You're like the household pet. You're not one of the children." And yet, this woman never blinks at it. In fact, she embraces it. She says, "It's true, Lord. That is who I am. I realize my position. And yet, even the household pets get to have at crumbs." True faith is always a humble faith. It comes to Jesus as a beggar. It comes realizing we deserve nothing from Him except the eternal wrath. It comes clinging and hoping, realizing that whatever we get will be grace.

True faith is also completely trusting. It is reliance. And this woman reflects this. Think about what she did. As a desperate Mom, she leaves Jesus and returns home. Why? Because she's fully confident in Jesus' word. If Jesus said He was going to do it, then she believes it. He'll do it. This is true faith. Luther writes, "This woman took Christ at His own words. He then treated her, not as a dog, but as a child of Israel. Although she may have been a Gentile, she had the heart of a true Israelite. She humbled herself under Jesus' authority although the Scribes and the Pharisees would not. She understood Jesus' parable better than the disciples understood any of His parables."

Bottom line, folks, is it doesn't matter who you are, what your background might be. If you will come to Jesus like this woman came to Jesus, He will receive you. I love what He says in Matthew 11: "[Come] Come to Me..." This is an invitation to salvation. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden... You tired of trying to make it on your own? Tired of trying to earn God's favor? Tired of trying to achieve your own way and into God's presence? "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Rest for your souls. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [be My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS." That's Jesus' invitation, not only to the people of Israel, but to even Gentiles like us.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for the grace that You displayed in Jesus to this woman. Father, we thank You for it because it reminds us that this is how You respond to us. We see, in this encounter, ourselves. We too are not part, by nature, of Your chosen people - many of us here. Lord, we are not those who could claim to be the focus of Jesus' earthly ministry. And yet, in many ways, we are because You are gracious, because You have extended Your grace to the nations. You intended that Your Servant, Your Son, would be a light to the nations and Your salvation for the ends of the earth. Father, we thank You that, even in Christ's ministry, we see that reality as He goes to the pagan land of Phoenicia and responds to this idolatrous, Canaanite woman. We thank You, Father. Help us to believe in Christ, in faith, as she did. Help us to believe that He will receive us, even as He received this woman. May our faith be every bit as persistent, every bit as humble, and every bit as complete reliance on Christ and His word. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen!