Woman Of Tyre A Mother’s Faithand Dog Food Series

Lucy Webb Hayes was one of the greatest mothers to ever live in the White House. She

was the wife of the 19th President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, who was

elected in 1877. She was the first college educated first lady of the United States, but

more important, she brought to the White House a deep Christian faith. Daily it was

hallowed by family prayers, and she departed from the custom of serving alcoholic

beverages. She said, "It is true I shall violate a precedent, but I shall not violate the

constitution, which is all that, through my husband, I have taken the oath to obey.

Because of her stand she was dubbed, "Lemonade Lucy." It was a small price to pay

to be the mother she knew God wanted her to be. She explained to a friend, "I had three

sons just coming to manhood and starting out in society, and I did not feel as if I could be

the first to put the wine cup to their lips." She had two smaller children, and three sons

who had died in childhood. She had a powerful impact on her children, and on the whole

country, because of her leadership in Christian women's organizations. The Lucy Webb

Hayes Training School for Deaconesses in Washington is named in her honor. The poet

John Greenleaf Whittier said of her, " her presence lends its warmth and health to all

who come before it; If woman lost us Eden, then such as she alone restore it."

There is much truth to what the poet says, for Godly women, and especially Godly

mothers, have played a major role in God's plan to restore man to the beauty of Eden.

From Mary, the mother of our Lord, all through Christian history it has been true that

the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Most of the great men of God that

changed the course of history, and whose influence never dies, were men who had Godly

mothers. Men like Augustine, or John Chrysostom who, even though they lived over

1500 years ago, have their sermons yet in every library right along with those of Billy

Graham. Men like Bernard of Clairvoux whose mother taught him early to love Jesus,

and 500 years later, Martin Luther said of him, "Bernard loved Jesus as much as any

man." Now over 1000 years later we still sing his love song, Jesus The Very Thought Of

Thee.

We could go on for hours praising the powerful influence of mothers in history, but

even though it is true, it will not have the impact on us that our text can have, for in this

text we see Jesus confronting one of the most amazing mothers of all time. Jesus never

complimented anyone in a higher way than her, and yet she was a nobody. She was not

the wife of a great man, or the mother of outstanding children. We don't even know her

name. Her only claim to fame was her faith, for it was great, and it was motivated by her

love as a mother.

Here is a mother whose life and love has a message for all mothers, for all mothers

cannot raise children in the White House as a national example, and all mothers cannot

raise world famous preachers, but every mother can, like this mother, see to it that their

children get God's best for them. In her case God's best was only dog food, as we will

explain, but it was enough, and because of her success her story is made known around

the world by both Matthew and Mark. We want to examine the characteristics of this

famous nobody of a mother, for though she is very unique her story is instructive for us

all. First we observe she is,

I. A COURAGEOUS MOTHER.

Her very approach to Christ took courage, for she was a Canaanite woman. If you

know anything about the Old Testament, you know that her people were the hopelessly

wicked people the Jews were commanded to destroy, and drive out of the promise land.

She was a descendent of these hated enemies of the Jews. She was a Gentile from the

area of Tyre and Sidon, two of the most godless cities of antiquity. Yet in spite of this

background, she had the courage to come to a band of Jews and cry for help. She heard

stories of what Jesus could do, and she believed Him to be the Messiah of Israel.

Just as a lovely lily can grow out of a putrid pond, so here is a woman of fantastic faith

and compelling courage coming out of a corrupt society. She had one strike against her

before she started, but she had the courage to start because of her love for her daughter.