Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: A Mother’s Faith

Mark’s emphasis is on the fact Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

That Jesus came into the world announcing the Kingdom of God, He healed the sick, He cast out demons, and He died for our sins, only to rise from the grave victorious on the third day.

Traditionally, Mark (or John Mark, as he is sometimes called) wrote this Gospel account from Rome, around the late 40’s to early 60’s.

Basing much of it off the preaching and teaching of the apostle Peter.

And Mark writes His Gospel account in such a way so as to bring understanding not just to any Jewish person who may happen upon it, but for every Gentile reader as well.

He will often explain certain Jewish customs or rituals so that the Gentile reader understands.

For Mark, it is imperative that the Gentiles be able to receive the truth of Christ as much as anyone.

Though he acknowledges that Christ came to Israel, first, then to the Gentiles, Mark clarifies Christ did not come exclusively for the nation of Israel.

So this story we’re about to read is included in Mark’s account, as well as the Gospel of Matthew, and nowhere else in Scripture.

So let’s read beginning in verse 24.

Some modern thinkers try to make this whole passage about race, even to the point they say Jesus is being racist towards this woman.

This story actually has very little to do with race, or current social agendas, and more to do with faith.

In fact, I’d suggest it has to do with faith that moves us closer to God.

Thesis: Before we ask God to move, we have to be willing to move towards God.

Intro: We so often want faith that moves mountains but what we really need is faith that touches the heart of God.

Faith that God gets excited about!

Matthew’s account has Jesus’ answer slightly different:

This woman found herself at the mercy of God, and she falls at His feet, in faith begging Him to do something that will change her circumstances.

Today, many people feel this way.

No, your circumstances may not be the same as this woman, but your pain and your hurt is just as great and just as real to you.

And you’re at the mercy of God, because He’s the only one who can change the situation, and you’ve gone to Him in prayer, time and time again, and nothing budges, nothing changes.

Faith in God may not change your circumstances, God is not your genie.

He is a sovereign King.

We can’t just declare and claim our way out of problems, that’s not what God’s word tells us.

Faith in God may not change your circumstances, because it doesn’t change God.

It’s not meant to.

It’s meant to change you.

A prayer offered in faith to God will change us, it will change our will to His will, it will mold us, bend us.

Notice in this text Jesus never once tells this woman “No.”

Jesus carefully chooses His words and redirects her, until finally the woman’s full faith, her full heart are on display and that’s when Jesus says, “Great is your faith!”

But how does she get there?

How does she get to this point?

There are 3 things I want us to see in this Syrophoenician woman’s faith today, that she had determined humility, urgent persistence, and a desperate focus.

She had Determined Humility

Jesus wants to finally get away with His disciples - He has been trying to do this since Chapter 6, when they went away and He ended up feeding the 5,000.

(Mark 6:30)

They still haven’t had that “retreat”, that get away to unpack from the disciples’ little, short-term missions trip.

So Jesus decides to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon - now most translations say Tyre, but verse 31 will make it clear they’re in the same region of Sidon, so it’s included here in the ESV translation.

To go to the vicinity of Tyre was to go to a Gentile region.

In the time of Isaiah, it was a city built on trade, and the prophet had said their time of destruction was going to come - we see this take place in Isaiah 23.

There were still some hard feelings towards this region by the Jewish people.

Josephus - the Jewish Historian - describes the Tyrians as “notoriously our bitterest enemies.”

They’d had a good relationship, historically, with Herod the Great, but that’s certainly not a good commentary on them.

Their economic relationship with those of the Galilean region only benefited those of Tyre...

The people of Galilee would have resented Tyre and Sidon, so for Jesus to go there may have been offensive to his own people, which tells us this is a deliberate trip - he truly wants to get away.

But just like previous attempts, Jesus is not going to be left alone for long.

And this also tells us He has become even more famous far beyond the Jewish regions.

Now stop for just a second, because we’ve covered his popularity quite a bit to this point, but think for a moment as to what this means for Jesus.

Those of you with kids, when the constantly bombard you with things they need, questions, the “Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom,” and you want to just scream, “GO ASK YOUR DAD” you kind of get a hint as to how Jesus feels at this point.

He has difficulty getting away from people.

There are times He tries, but His heart breaks for the people because he sees them and (Mark 6:34) .... he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

In our text today, though, Jesus purposefully goes away from the people of Israel, He wants to be alone with His disciples, to talk to them, likely to prepare them for his crucifixion and their future ministries.

So he enters someone else’s house, perhaps a friend of a friend, a relative of a distant disciple, we’re not told, and Jesus and the 12 go in hoping to just have a day or two of peace.

To be clear, Jesus does not want to be found, yet as we’ll see, this woman finds Jesus.

That takes determination.

When Jesus does not want to be found, He’s proven to be hard to find.

Remember chapter 1?

They looked everywhere for Him until they find Him.

In the same way we’ll see this mother do the same thing.

Verse 25...

“But immediately” - immediately is one of Mark’s favorite words.

We’ve seen him use it often.

Mark’s Gospel is a fast paced account.

It’s the Greek word “euthys”, and it means “at once”, or “straight away”.

In other words, as soon as Jesus got to town, she heard about it and ran to find Him.

Again, in Matthew’s account she comes crying, and asking Jesus to do something, but it appears Jesus almost ignores her.

“Jesus, send that woman away, her crying is getting awkward.

It’s embarrassing us.

Look, she’s kind of getting on our nerves.”

Yet Jesus says nothing.

Mark’s account tells us she threw herself down at Jesus’ feet.

This is a sign of humility.

She shows her determination in finding Him, but she displays her humility in her posture.

She falls at His feet.

Why?

Because her daughter had an unclean spirit.

A demon.

We’re not told what the demon did to her daughter, what abuses she had suffered, if it had just caused an illness or seizures, or worse, but it drives this mother to seek help.

She’d likely tried doctors, she’d tried priests in the temples of the idols they served in her region, but then word reaches her of a Jewish Rabbi, a carpenter, who isn’t afraid to touch lepers, who speaks to the unclean spirits and they flee from His presence.

And she says, “My deliverer has come.”

She doesn’t go to Jesus and demand, she doesn’t go to Jesus and declare, or name it and claim it, she goes to Jesus and she simply falls at his feet in humility.

And in her determination, she will not get up until Jesus hears her pleas, until He promises to do something.

In the same way, we have to ask, are we determined to fall at the feet of the Savior and pray until He changes the situation or changes us?

Remember that popular song from a few years ago,

“Lord move in a way that I've never seen before

'Cause there's a mountain in the way and a lock on the door

I'm drifting away, waves are crashing on the shore

So Lord move, or move me”

This woman understands this.

In her humility, she determines to move toward God.

To get on her knees before Christ and cry out, “Lord move.”

In fact, in Matthew’s account, he writes: Matthew 15:25 “But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.””

Lord, help me.

I do not know of a more powerful prayer.

Remember, when Peter was drowning, when he had walked on the water with Jesus and just for a moment lost his focus, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30)

Some of the most powerful prayers are so humble, yet determined.

“Lord, help me.”

“Lord, save me.”

“Lord, you know.”