#31 A Little Doggy at the Table
Series: Mark
Chuck Sligh
October 18, 2020
NOTE: PowerPoint or ProPresenter presentations are available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives
TEXT: Mark 7:24-30 – "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. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. "
INTRODUCTION
I like this thought posted by Mike Atkinson in his daily email humor list some time ago.
“If you can start the day without caffeine; if you can get going without pep pills; if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains; if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles; if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it; if you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time; if you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when through no fault of yours something goes wrong; if you can take criticism and blame without resentment; if you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him; if you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend; if you can face the world without lies and deceit; if you can conquer tension without medical help; if you can sleep without the aid of drugs; if you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics; then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.”
I like that because it helps explain our text today. One use of the word dog is as an offensive slam against someone. When someone says, “You’re a dirty dog” or uses the derogatory term for a female dog, they don’t not mean it as a compliment; they’re insulting you. But another use of the word dog is when we refer to it as man’s best friend, as described in what I just read—loyal, true, faithful, loving, playful—even if a pest sometimes.
Today’s text will make a little more sense if you realize that this distinction was true even in Jesus’ day. Today we’re going to look at the story of the Syrophoenician woman, so without further ado, let’s jump right in.
I. NOTICE THAT IN VERSE 24 WE SEE A NEEDED RESPITE. – “And from there he arose, and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and wanted no one to know it: but he could not be hidden.”
We’ve been noticing how Jesus was progressively broadening His influence. First, He ministered in the local province His hometown was in; then to larger Israel, ministering to Israel Himself as well as sending His apostles on a special ministry trip; and then He went to some largely Gentile areas of Israel.
Verse 24 tells us that he went to Tyre and Sidon, the first time He stepped foot outside the actual borders of Palestine. Though this area was populated by many Jews, historically it had been bitterly antagonistic to Israel, and was noted for its paganism in violent opposition to the one true God of Israel. Tyre had been the home of Jezebel, who in Elijah’s day almost overthrew the Northern Kingdom with her pagan prophets and practices.
Mark tells us that Jesus did not want anyone to know where He and His disciples were. He had apparently arranged to stay in a house where He and the disciples could get a brief rest from the constant needs of the crowds and from the opposition they were facing from the religious leaders and to have some time to teach His disciples in private. But Mark tells us that their time of rest and recuperation was short-lived because Jesus could not be hidden.
II. IN VERSES 25-26 WE SEE A RUDE INTERRUPTION. – “For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth; and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.”
This woman came to Jesus out a desperate need. Her daughter was possessed by a demon. Mark doesn’t tell us her age, but nothing in the Bible seems to indicate that demon possession is common or accidental. It’s when people purposely submit themselves to the realm of satanic influence that they become vulnerable to demon possession. Being in such a paganized area, she may have become involved in witchcraft or pagan ritual activities which could made her vulnerable to demon-possession.
The mother didn’t care how her daughter had become possessed…she was just frantically desperate that her daughter be released from this awful oppression. So she kneels before Jesus as a sign of respect and humility.
Both Mark and Matthew take special note of the ethnicity of this woman. She is called a Greek, but this was a term generally applied to GENTILES by culture and religion. She was born in the infamously pagan area of Syria-Phoenicia. This woman, born in a pagan region, and now living in a pagan area bows before Jesus and begs Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
The last person in Mark who fell at Jesus’ feet begging Jesus for help was Jairus in Mark 5 whose daughter was sick to the point of death. But there is a world of difference between Jairus and the Syrophoenician woman.
• She was a woman, which was perceived as an unfortunate, subservient position in both Gentile and Jewish cultures, while Jairus was a man with all the privileges he would have in a patriarchal society.
• She was a gentile from a pagan background; Jairus was A Jew, the right nationality as far as the Pharisees were concerned.
• She seems to have been a woman of no importance, while Jairus held a highly respected position as the president of his synagogue.
• Her daughter was demon-possessed, suggesting that she had dabbled in the black arts, while his daughter was sick, which was awful enough, but carried no moral stigma.
From the standpoint of the snooty religious lot who opposed Jesus at every turn, this woman was unclean and unworthy of even being acknowledged by Jesus. Yet no matter how great Jairus’s qualifications and background were, he had no advantage over her to Jesus. Despite all their differences, both Jairus and the Syrophoenician woman found fulfillment in Jesus because Jesus cares nothing about human STATUS, but He does pay attention to human NEED. She could bring nothing to Jesus in the way an observant Jew could, but like Jairus, she brought two things to Him: a desperate need and an unfaltering faith.
Our Bible versions simply say that this woman “begged” Jesus to cast out the demon. But the tense in the Greek is the imperfect active indicative, which means that she was repeatedly imploring Jesus to free her daughter of this fiendish demon. Matthew’s version of the encounter says that the disciples said to Jesus, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” She would not be silenced; she would not quit; she would be heard, no matter what!
III. IN VERSES 27-28 WE SEE AN EXHIBITION OF FAITH.
In verse 27, Jesus tested this woman’s faith – “But Jesus said to her, ‘Let the children first be filled: for it is not right to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to the dogs.’”
Now this seems like a shocking and quite rude thing for Jesus to say at first glance. But that is not the case at all. It’s true that the Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs, a term that meant they were unclean, since dogs will eat almost anything. The Greek word they used was kyon, the term for the pesky, unkempt, sometimes dangerous mongrel dogs that roamed the streets of cities. So the term they used was meant as a term of derision.
But a different word, kynárion, was used for a pet dog. – It was this term that Jesus used for this woman in this exchange. Understanding this distinction helps us understand what Jesus was saying and why she took no offense. This was a parable for this woman. The “children” Jesus refers to is Israel, and she is the little pet doggy. Jesus was reinforcing the fact that the first focus of His ministry was to Israel. But Jesus wasn’t saying she could never eat the crumbs because she was not a Jew; that she was somehow unclean. Rather, He was saying, “First the kids eat, then the pet doggy; or “I have come first to Israel, and THEN the Gospel will go to the Gentiles.”
But in verse 28, she came back with a clever reply that revealed a persistent faith in Jesus and a deeper insight into who Jesus was than even the disciples had shown. – “And she answered and said to him, ‘Yes, Lord: yet even the kynárion [the pet doggies] under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.’”
First, the woman accepted Jesus’ words by saying “Yes, Lord.” She did not interpret what He said as a slight or insult at all. She understood Jesus’ parable, and she called Him by a term of respect: “Lord.”
Her reply implied to Jesus that the pet dogs get some food AT THE SAME TIME as the children and therefore they don’t have to wait. She was saying that there need be no interruption in His instruction to the disciples, or in carrying out His role to go first to Israel with His message. She wasn’t asking for much from such a great and merciful Lord; all she wanted were some crumbs, some small benefit for her desperate need. She knew in her heart that there was grace enough for both Israel and a Gentile such as her.
IV. FINALLY, IN VERSES 29-30 WE SEE A REWARD FOR FAITH. – “And he said to her, ‘For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.’ 30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon had gone out of her, and her daughter lying on the bed.”
Jesus said, “For such a reply, go your way. Your daughter has been delivered.” What an irony! Jesus tried repeatedly to teach His chosen disciples, yet they could never understand any of Jesus’ parables. They were always so dense and dull in understanding of spiritual truth. This woman, on the other hand, hears one simple sentence from Jesus and immediately understands His mission. And because of it, she received Christ’s wholehearted commendation and the answer to her request.
Mark leaves out part of the account. Matthew adds in Matthew 15:28 that Jesus said, “O woman, great is your faith….” How is it possible for her—a Gentile—to have such faith? In his commentary on Mark, James R. Edwards gives the answer.
“…the woman is the first person in Mark to hear and understand a parable of Jesus. The brief parable of the children and dogs at the table has disclosed to her the mystery of the kingdom of God. She is not distant and aloof, attempting to maintain her position and control. She does what Jesus commands of those who would receive the kingdom and experience the word of God: she enters the parable and allows herself to be claimed by it. That she answers Jesus from “within” the parable, that is, in the terms by which Jesus addressed her, indicates that she is the first person in the Gospel to hear the word of Jesus to her.”
In other words, she understood what even the disciples had not understood and took Jesus at His Word, and her reward was that her earnest desire for her child was granted. Martin Luther says, “She took Christ at his own words. He then treated her not as a dog but as a child of God.”
CONCLUSION
The overarching message of this passage of Scripture is that God honors and responds to faith. We’re taught this repeatedly in the scriptures. Whenever Jesus saw people respond to Him in faith, He healed them or forgave their sins or cast out demons from them. He marveled and was overjoyed when He SAW people exercise faith.
Hebrews 11:6 reminds us of the importance of faith to God: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”
There are two things in this passage I think God wants us to see about faith:
• First, faith APPROACHES JESUS BOLDLY.
Jesus and the disciples needed a time away from the crowds and the controversy and then this woman crashed the party. She wasn’t presumptuous (she showed humility), but she was undoubtedly bold. She was bold because her need was so great.
Hebrews 4:16 invites us to approach God this way by saying this: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
“In time of need”—Maybe that’s our problem. Our prayers are timid because we lack a sense of desperation. Pastor David Dykes often says that God always meets you at your P.O.T.D., which stand for “Point of Total Desperation.” Sounded out, P.O.T.D. sounds like “potted.” We often have to be a “potted person” before we can seek help. I think God brings us to these points of desperation because He knows some of us are so hardheaded that we will only seek Him in times of desperation. Are you desperate enough to cry out to Jesus?
• Second, notice that faith PERSEVERES.
This woman begged Jesus repeatedly to rescue her daughter. Matthew adds something that Mark doesn’t. As she was repeatedly crying out to Jesus, Matthew 15:23 says, “But he did not answer her a word.”
Now why would Jesus do that?—Jesus was testing her faith. John C. Maxwell said, “A faith that has not been tested cannot be trusted.”
HOW does God test our faith? — In the crucible of trials. James says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” This woman was going through the worst trial in her life, but because of it, she sought out Jesus. And when He wasn’t immediately responsive, she kept on asking. She was persistent; she didn’t give up. Jesus didn’t answer her request because He got tired of hearing her ask; He answered her because her persistence showed the reality of her faith.
We’re often being tested in our faith without our even realizing it. We go through trials and struggles, and we think God has it out for us, when all the while, He’s testing our faith.
1 Peter 1:7 says, “so that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it is tested with fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
Illus. – There was a true incident in which a young man named Bill was being interviewed by a mission agency to serve as a missionary. He was going to be interviewed by a retired missionary. The retired missionary contacted Bill and told him to arrive at his home in Wisconsin for the interview at 4:30 in the morning.
Bill traveled to Wisconsin—in the middle of winter with deep snow— but he arrived at the home of the retired missionary before 4:30 AM. At 4:30 he knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked again—no answer. He stood there, blowing on his hands and running in place to keep the blood flowing to his toes.
Finally, the retired missionary’s wife opened the door. Bill said, “Good morning. I’m here for the interview with your husband.” She said, “Yes, come inside and sit in the living room. He’ll be down soon.” Bill sat down on the couch. Five o’clock rolled by, then six, then seven.
Finally, at about 8:30, the old missionary came into the room and shook the young man’s hand. He said, “Have you read the missionary orientation book?” Bill said, “Yes, sir.” The retired missionary said, “I have a question for you. Can you spell the word ‘Bible?’” Bill was taken aback, but respectfully he spelled, “B.I.B.L.E.” The retired missionary stood up and said, “That concludes the interview. Thanks for coming. We’ll let you know what we decide.”
As Bill left, he was baffled. He thought that he must have made such a poor impression that he didn’t even merit a full interview. So he was surprised a week later when the mission board called him in. When he arrived, the retired missionary told the board, “I have tested this candidate in every area necessary and he passed.”
Bill interrupted and said, “Excuse me, sir, but I don’t think you really tested me at all.”
The old man said, “On the contrary. First, I tested you for diligence. Anyone who would travel to Wisconsin in the middle of winter has a streak of determination that every missionary needs…. “Second, I tested you for punctuality. I was awake and saw that you arrived before 4:30 AM. Every missionary must make the most of their time…. “Third, I tested you for patience. I had you wait for me for over four hours and you didn’t complain about waiting. Patience is one of the most important characteristics of a successful missionary…. “Finally, I tested you on humility. I knew that you had studied the manual and were prepared to answer many questions. I asked you a simple question any third grader could answer. Yet you didn’t seem offended; you simply answered the question…. “You passed the test of diligence, punctuality, patience and humility. Congratulations, Bill, you’ve passed all four tests!”
When you’re going through a trial, like the Syrophoenician woman did, don’t assume that God is picking on you or that He is judging you for a sin, though you should examine yourself for that possibility. But just as often, He is testing your faith, and your prayer of trust in Him in the midst of your trials is meant to show you the genuineness of your faith and to strengthen that faith through testing. So when you get to the “P.O.T.D.”—the Point of Total Desperation—cry out to God in faith.
