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The Syro-Phonetician Women
The Syro-Phonetician Women
Have you notice the growing crowds around Jesus, lately.
Many people love him
Many people want his help
Many are curious about him and
But he also has many enemies, just looking for a way to trap him.
to get him in trouble
ultimately to get rid of him.
And the man wants a little break, so he hits the road again
hoping to get some rest
outside of Jewish territory for a few days.
He takes his disciples to the coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon.
There were Greek port cities.
and he finds a house to stay in.
Let’s start reading in Mark 7:23
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.
Someone once said,
You can hide a candle under a bushel, but not the Son.
So what does Jesus do?
Jesus fame had grown so much, that even in gentile territory like Tyre and Sidon, he could not stay hidden.
Oh that our faith and Joy in God was so great that we couldn’t hide it either!
So Jesus went out of town for a little R & R
a little training/ teaching of his disciples
But could he go un- noticed?
NO! Someone say him,
someone told what they say and
word got around.
Fortunately, only one person was interested enough to come looking for Jesus to ask for his help.
That was the Syro-Phoenician women.
25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet.
This women, had a serious problem and she took it seriously.
Her little girl, and we find out she is little in the end
her little girls was demon possessed
And this mom, wasn’t going to take this problem casually,
she hears Jesus
that miracle man of the Jews had come to town and
boom, she is right their asking for his help.
Who was this women?
Is she a jew or a gentile?
Where does she come from?
Mark tells us this
26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
Is she a Jew?
No she is a Greek.
other translations call her a Syro-Phoenician.
Matthew tells about this story too in his gospel, chapter 15
22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
Why did Mark call her a Syro-Phoenician and Matthew call her a Canaanite?
Mark is writing to Greeks, who would know who the Syro-Phoenician were
Matthew was writing to Jews who more commonly refereed to the gentiles around them as Canaanites.
So here is the situation
Jesus is on vacation
Jesus is seeking a little quiet time
And it’s interrupted
by a request to EXERCISE A DEMON.
The would be a big thing for any of us but maybe not too big of a request for Jesus,
even during his “Vacation”
But how does He answer her?
27 “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 the dogs.”
That was probably NOT
the enthusiastic response this mom on a mission was hoping to hear from Jesus.
Matthew records the incident in even worse terms
23 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.”
That was not the kind of interaction we would have expected from Jesus
He ignores this women and
his disciples ask him to send her away!
Wow, is that the kind of story you want to think of when you
look at your What
Would
Jesus
Do
WWJD wristband?
Why would Jesus put this women off, what is he trying to accomplish?
Why would Jesus put this women off, what is he trying to accomplish?
Did He want to be selfish for a moment
because He needed His quiet time?
That is consistent with his other times of having his plans interrupted.
He always seemed to have real compassion and do what he could for people.
Was he waiting to see if the disciples would respond to here need?
Did he not like Gentiles?
No he healed them too, like the demonic from over in the 10 Cities area
Did he not like Women?
No, he started a conversation with the Samaritan women and offered her living water.
Or was he looking for how this mom would respond?
We will get back to that questions but let’s talk about two things first:
Does the unchangeable God ever seem to change His Mind
What keeps prayers from being answered?
To the first question
Does God ever change his mind?
Does God ever change his mind?
Well yes he seems to at times like
On the road to Emmaus, when the risen Jesus walked with 2 disciples, they got to their destination and Jesus acted like he was going farther when they invited him in.
There are times when God appears to be leading one way and is testing us to see what we will do.
The sacrificing of Isaac which God commanded
10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Another place
Moses got sick and tired of God’s people early on in their wilderness days and wanted out of the job.
But God kept his at the job of leading Isreal
Then there came a day where God appears to have lost patience with the Isrealites to and says this to Moses
13 And the Lord said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! 14 Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”
And Moses was then in the role of persuading God to spare the people.
Moses heart had clearly changed and this crisis shows how Moses had changed, then God relents of his intentions.
What keeps prayers from being answered?
What keeps prayers from being answered?
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
We need to believe God for our request.
His Power
His Love
His compassion
3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
We need to have pure motives when we petition God.
8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
That parable is an example of the need for persistence in prayer
There could have been many reasons why Jesus put this women off, as though he didn’t want to answer her prayer.
How would you respond to someone apparently indifferent to your request?
How would you respond to someone apparently indifferent to your request?
The last issue Jesus was dealing with, last week was ......
[pause]
If food made you unclean
And Jesus answer was that what comes out of our hearts makes us unclean
And Jesus answer was that what comes out of our hearts makes us unclean
This Gentile women with her request
and got a clear,
Wait your turn answer!
She could have gushed over
She could have become a fountain of
vile and hateful speech
and she never would have gotten her child healed that day.
But how did she respond?
28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
What did she say
“even the dogs under the table each the children’s crumbs”
The women took Jesus illustration and and put her need there at the table
albeit under the table.
That mother was gracious about her request
She was persistent about her request
Perhaps that is why mark included this story in his Gospel.
And then Jesus response, can you picture him with a big smile on his face, he liked her extension of his parable
29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
The demon was cast out
No laying on of hands
No lighting candles
No walking to her room
Jesus spoke the word!
And it was done.
One more act of faith
One more act of faith
The women was told it was done.
She could have showed doubt and insisted that Jesus come with her
and physically touch her child but
there was no need.
And like the Centurion, she had the faith believe and she went home and her child was healed.
She was restored
She was whole again.
Praise God,
He even does long distance miracles!
30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
If I had used the New King James Bible this morning
you would have seen, not only that the demon possessed girl was a little girl
but also the Jesus talks about little dogs
27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
To me talking about little dogs or lap dogs, sounds a little less harsh then
and through their bread to the dogs!
The women picked up on Jesus phrasing to and also said little dogs
28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”
What have we learned today?
What have we learned today?
Perhaps a new reason why we don’t see answers to prays?
Because GOD is waiting for us to be really earnestly, ask for it, not just casually asking our sugar daddy for things.
By the way, God is not our personal Santa Clause,
Let’s Pray and have communion