A Syrian Phoenician Woman Comes To Jesus For Help Series

How does the gospel of Mark all fit together? It’s all one cohesive message, to answer the question, who is Jesus really? It begins with John in the wilderness proclaiming the entry of the messiah into history.

We see God step into the picture at this point. Then, we see Jesus preaching a message of repentance and faith. He proclaims a new kingdom, the kingdom of God, a new way of living, a new system of society. We see numerous events where Jesus heals someone miraculously, or drives out a demon from someone.

Jesus also begins to teach in parables to the crowds, and confront of the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

We see him doing things no mere human could do, he feed thousands of people by an act of will, he walks on water, he calms a storm by simply speaking to it. We see also that the response to Jesus is very mixed. He is being rejected by some, embraced by others, and it’s clear Jesus is not necessarily the messiah Israel was expecting.

Every event in the book of mark here is written to help us understand as non-Jews, around the world, who Jesus is, and what his purpose was in coming. So again today, we’re going to get more answers about who Jesus is.

Last week we talked about Jesus discussion with the Pharisees about hypocrisy and the heart. Today we see Jesus traveling north from where he was to Tyre. There he encounters a woman from Syria, a gentile.

In verses 24-26 it says, “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. 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. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.”

Jesus ministry was centered for most of his ministry, in a small area called galilee in ancient Israel. He crossed into Samaria at points as well, and would eventually move his ministry to Jerusalem the capital city itself.

But Jesus ministry was to the Jewish people two thousand years ago. That was his target audience. Later, he would command his disciples to take the message to all the nations across the face of the earth. And so it came to be.

So it’s an interesting incident for this Phoenician woman to come and ask Jesus for help. She is a Greek, not a Jew.

Jesus spoke to her, and then she replied. It went like this:

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.”

28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Jesus gives what seems like a harsh response. But, Jesus was often blunt and clear about his purposes. He was sent during his life to the people of Israel. But she gives a clever response, in hopes that Jesus will help her.

Jesus is impressed with her response. In verses 29-30 it says:

29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”

30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”

Jesus doesn’t even have to be in physical proximity to the child of the woman to remove the demon and set the child free.

Time, distance, space, matter, energy, these things are under the control of Jesus, through God the Father, as he sees fit to use it. He is able to, by acts of choice, to manipulate, time, space matter, and energy as he desires.

Can you do that? Can anyone do that? No. Only Jesus.

What does this incident tell us about Jesus? Well, his earthly ministry was originally to the nation of Israel, but, we get a sense here in this event, that Jesus ministry would extend to all the nations, Greeks, Romans, and even Americans today.

But in this passage, we see Jesus in another country, he’s in Phoenicia, he’s probably hiding out for a while in this house to try to let things cool off in Galilee, because word is spreading much too quickly.

God came first to Israel, more so, he founded Israel, through Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Joshua. But eventually, the message of salvation would go out to the entire world.

Next, we see our second incident today, Jesus heads back down to the Decapolis, where he met the man who wandered in the tombs a few chapters back.