A Conversation With A Phoenician Mother (Can Be Used For Mother’s Day)

This is a conversation between Christ and a Phoenician woman.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HER? We do not know a great deal about this lady, but the Scripture makes it clear:

• She was Grecian woman (Gentile)

• She was a mother

• She was a mother with a serious problem

When she came to the Lord we find that -

I. SHE WAS A HURTING MOTHER

Look at verses 24-25, “And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet.”

In this passage of Scripture, we find that the Lord came to Tyre and Sidon. This was Gentile country. He came to this region for a specific purpose. The Bible said when he arrived He entered a house not wanting His presence known.

Look again at verse 24, “And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.”

Notice the words, “…but he could not be hid.”

WHY DID HE WANT TO HIDE FROM THE CROWDS?

We must not forget that though the Lord was the Son of God, when He came to the earth, he was dwelling in the flesh of mortal man. At this point in His ministry he had reached the place where He was tired and needed rest. When you become exhausted, the Lord Jesus knows how you feel, because He suffered fatigue many times, and this was one of them.

The crowds followed Him wherever He went. He went to Tyre and Sidon, wanting to get away from the crowds of people. He did not want anyone to know he was there. But the Bible says that this Phoenician woman discovered He was there.

Look at verse 25, “For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet.”

When she came to see Him, she came with a burden that was heavy on her heart. She was emotionally upset about her daughter.

We often see people upset about many things these days. It has been said that one of the reasons that some people watch the “Soap Operas” on television is because it is something they can relate to in their lives.

For example, have you noticed that about 90% of the time on these television programs, the characters in these programs are mad and upset about something. You hardly ever see anyone happy, they are almost always angry or emotionally upset about something or someone.

Illus: William H. Willimon, in Christianity Today, said, “I welcome news of the sins of others because it makes my sins appear more normal. Misery loves company.” (William H. Willimon in The Christian Century (Oct. 31, 1990). Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 6.)

It seems like some folks go out looking for something that will upset them. But there were times when we did not go out looking for trouble, trouble came looking for us. This is the case with this mother, the Bible says she had a daughter that had an “UNCLEAN SPIRIT” in her.

Look at the word “Unclean” in verse 25. This is the word “Akathartos” (Pronounced as Ak-ath'-ar-tos) which means they are impure, lewd, demonic, foul, unclean.

We do not know how old this young girl was, but we do know that the word daughter here is in the diminutive form which means she was a little girl. She was demon possessed, which means the devil had taken over her life.

We have a lot of folks today who want to live their life thinking everything is GREAT! In other words, demon possession was something you found in the days of Christ, but not today. No! Demon possession is more of a problem today then it was in the days of Christ.

Some want to live in a pretend world and think that demon possession does not exist, but I am here to tell you the Bible teaches that some folks are demon possessed.

PREACHER DO YOU BELIEVE IN DEMON POSSESSION? I do not know how a pastor can be a pastor and not believe in demon possession, because he meets evil people in the church, and there is no excuse for them to do what they do except they are under the control of Satan. Demon possession is a bigger problem than most folks realize in today’s church.

The devil has men like Saddam Hussein and Asama Ben Laden under his control. But not only that-