Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark.

Our text this morning will be .

This morning text provides us an important lesson about faith.

What comes to your mind when people say you need to have faith?

Now when people talk about faith today, that is a very vague term isn’t it.

People will say, “I have faith that things will work out.”

Or just have “faith in yourself”.

Or just “believe”.

When people talk about faith today, they are not definite or specific about what that actually means.

Even Christians can be vague about the word faith.

Have faith in Jesus, although true and necessary, becomes a cliche where many even in the church do not not what that looks like.

In fact, there is a whole movement of heresy called the Word of Faith movement.

If you just have faith, God can do the impossible, whether provide money for the bills, or miraculous healings, and cure all your ills and problems.

It is possible to have a profession of faith, but not a genuine possession of faith.

It is a possible to declare the faith, but not have the faith.

It is even possible to have faith in error or one’s own idea of God which is idolatry.

And the passage we come to today fleshes out the type of faith that amazes Jesus.

The type of faith that saves.

The type of faith that Jesus is looking for.

And in today’s passage, we will look at two stories.

Two stories about two people who were in need.

And how Jesus performs two miracles that gives us two lessons.

One lesson of faith, and one lesson on compassion.

Our passage will show us that

I. Faith can Save (vv.

24-30)

II.

Jesus is willing to Save (vv.

31-37)

In other words, we will see that Jesus responds to those who put their faith in him, and Jesus’ compassion reaches out to those in need and those who trust Him.

Recap

To remind you where we have been, we spent the last two weeks in chapter seven with the Pharisees confrontation with Jesus and the disciples.

Mark

The pharisees accused Jesus of eating with unwashed hands and not keeping the tradition of the elders.

Last week, Jesus taught us that corruption is not something that happens outside of us, but something that comes from within.

Wickedness comes from a wicked heart.

Now Jesus turns from the Jews and travels deep into “unclean” “Gentile” territories to retreat from the hostility from the religious establishment, teach his disciples privately, and even preview the future missions of the disciples to all peoples.

And in the first story, Jesus meets a woman with great faith and the second story shows a man with great need.

And we will see in these stories the type of faith that saves and the type of faith that the Lord is pleased with.

Let’s read our Scripture this morning.

I would encourage you to bring a Bible every Sunday if you don’t have one.

I know you have your phone, but it’s nice to be able to flip easily with cross references and follow along with me as we hear, meditate, and listen to God’s Word.

Scripture Reading:

This is the reading of God’s Holy Word.

Praise be to God.

The first story we see in our passage is an unlikely character of great faith.

This woman teaches us that:

I. Faith Can Save (vv.

24-30)

Now when people talk about faith today, that is a very vague term.

People will say, “I have faith that things will work out.”

Or just have “faith in yourself”.

When people talk about faith today, they are not definite or specific of what that actually means.

But we see that as Jesus travels to Gentile regions, the most unlikely person shows us what true faith looks like.

Mark

Jesus now travels to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

Tyre was a coastal city on the Meditarrean sea just about 20 miles northwest of the Sea of Galilee.

This would be the district of Phoenicia, where modern day Lebanon is.

Tyre was not a popular place among the Jews.

The region of Tyre (formerly Phoenicia) had been the home of Jezebel, who in Elijah’s day had nearly subverted the Northern Kingdom with her pagan prophets and practices (1 Kgs 16:31–32).

During the Maccabean Revolt in the second century B.C., Tyre, along with Ptolemais and Sidon, fought on the side of the Seleucids against the Jews (1 Macc 5:15ff.).

The prophets decried the wealth and terror of Tyre (Ezek 26:17; Zech 9:3).

Josephus concluded opprobriously that the inhabitants of Tyre were “notoriously our bitterest enemies” (Ag.

Ap. 1.13).

It would be like if an American traveled to the Middle East either into the heart of ISIS territory or into the heart of Taliban regions.

If you were a Jew, you just do not go there.

Yet Jesus goes.

Why did Jesus enter into a house?

Well, Jesus simply may have wanted to rest from the crowds.

Jesus had long days of ministry with thousands of people flocking to him in Galilee.

He just wanted to get away either to be in communion with His Father like he normally did or to have some personal time with the disciples because he was so busy ministering to others.

Yet he could not be hidden....even in Gentile territories.

And notice a woman approaches Jesus.

The most unlikely person who is in desperate need hears about Jesus and comes to him.

She had a lot of things going against her.

A. She is a woman

In our culture, there have been battles against sexism in the workplace and the demand for equal pay.

Women at times are more qualified and have better credentials than men, yet still get paid lower than some men.

If it is bad today, then it was worst especially in the first century where women were treated basically as property in a patriarchal society.

A woman’s job was just to bear children and maintain the household while in Greek and Roman culture a man could also have concubines and mistresses.

If a woman had no husband, she could be impoverished and utterly helpless in a male-dominated society.

B.

She is a Gentile

Jews regarded Gentiles or non-Jews as “unclean” because they were outside of the covenant people of God.

They were the pagans.

They were the unbelievers who did not believe in the true God of Israel and were steeped into idolatry.

C.

She was a Syrophoencian by birth

Again the prophets of the OT condemned Tyre and these cities for their pride and idolatry.

She must have been raised in a culture that worshipped idols and were enemies of the God of Isarel.

In fact, Matthew’s gospel tells us that she was a “Canaanite”.

The Canaanites were the enemies of Israel and Israel was commanded to exterminate them and drive them out of the Promised Land.

But they became a snare to the people because of their disobedience.

D.

She had a demon-possessed daughter

And not only was she a woman, a unclean woman, who may have been an idolater, she had a demon possessed daughter.

And we learned some important lessons about a faith that can save and a faith that can heal.

Her faith was a desperate faith (v.

25)

She fell at his feet.

Matthew tells us,

She was needy.

People who come to Jesus come to Jesus with real needs and come to the end of themselves.