Rending the Veil Part 5: The Syro-Phoenician Woman

 Mark 7:24-30

From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 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.”

And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

Before this account, in the beginning  of chapter 7 in Mark, Jesus had been in Israel disputing with the religious leaders of the day about ritual purity. The passage we come to now, we see Jesus purposely going into the region of Tyre and Sidon. This would have been considered an unclean area because it was where gentiles lived. This is the only time in Scripture that Jesus withdraws from Israel, to go to a gentile land because His ministry was primarily to the Jews. Beforehand as well as disputing with the religious leaders, Jesus had also been rejected in His own town of Nazareth, feeding five thousand hungry men plus women and children, finding out that His cousin John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod and healing sick people, therefore by going into a gentile country He was seeking out rest and solitude from the pressing crowds. 

Tyre were the enemies of the Jews, at that time, and they were very idolatrous but that was where Jesus went to seek out this rest and solitude from the crowds of people who followed Him around. Even in this gentile land Jesus couldn't be hidden from someone needing help from Him. v24 From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. 

This non Jewish woman had heard about Jesus and the miracles He had performed. Her young daughter had an unclean spirit living in her and this mother wanted her daughter to be healed. She came to Jesus and fell at His feet, despite only knowing about his reputation she comes and pays homage to Him, she respects and honours the Lord. She also came pleading to Him because He was her last hope of healing for her young daughter. 

Previously the Jewish leaders, of Jesus' day, who spoke about ritual purity and cleanness didn't pay homage to the One who had come to redeem Israel, but here is a gentile woman, considered unclean by the Jews of her day, throwing herself at Jesus' feet, pleading with Him to heal her daughter. 

She was persistently begging Jesus to free her daughter from the unclean spirit - she definitely wouldn't take "No!" for an answer. Jesus didn't answer her straight away and when He did it seemed like a harsh response “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” What a surprising thing for the loving Lord Jesus Christ to say, but there is a reason for this. 

Breaking this down: 

• The children: Jesus' ministry was primarily to the children of Israel. So He was saying it wasn't His first mission to go to the gentiles (it is not good to take the children's bread), it was to the Jews. He was to care for them first. 
• The little dogs: in the ancient towns and cities there were feral dogs who roamed around and were a nuisance, they weren't pets, they were scavengers, feeding off dead bodies, and other unpleasant things. These aren't the dogs Christ is talking about. In the ancient days, there were household dogs - ones which had been domesticated to be pets and companions. They weren't feral and scavengers, they were fed the left overs after a meal, but any scraps which do fall on the floor during the meal, the dogs were allowed to eat those - these are the kind Jesus is talking about.  

The woman's response to Jesus' statement isn't one of disgust at being called a dog, but she says "Yes, Lord!" She knew that she had no prior claim to Jesus' mercy, teaching, ministry, but she was satisfied with what she had - the crumbs (metaphorically speaking). Even the smallest crumb is all she wanted. The woman knew who she was before Jesus and Jesus answered her request. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day had no faith in Him, they wanted to argue, they saw Jesus as a threat to their positions, not as the Messiah who had come to redeem them. A mere gentile woman (being a gentile and a woman definitely weren't pluses in those days) had more faith and trust in the One who had come to Israel than His own people had. 

The woman was happy with crumbs, but Jesus gave her much more than that - He healed her daughter from the demon and He showed her who He was, despite her not being from the House of Israel! Can you imagine her response when she arrived home and there was her young daughter fully healed? We aren't told how she reacted but we can guess what it was. 

If we come to Jesus, He gives out of the abundance of the storehouses of His grace. He isn't a miser, He gives and He gives. In fact, He is so loving and merciful He gave His own life that many may dwell with Him in eternity and eat of the marriage supper of the Lamb. 

Although Jesus initially came to redeem Israel, His salvation is for all who will call on His name, asking Him to forgive their sins and wanting Him to be Lord and Master over their life! He changes lives from the inside, we get a new heart (soul), we are new creations in Him! 

So far we have seen: 
Jesus heal an unclean woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years
Jesus raise a young girl from the dead
Jesus raise a young man from the dead so that his widowed mother could have her son restored
Jesus heal a young gentile girl of an unclean spirit.

There is no one outside of the love of Christ.