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-
• You can mark it down, in every Bible-believing church, God puts some in that church that He can fill with the Holy Spirit to achieve His will.
• And you can mark it down, in every Bible-believing church the devil is going to put some in that church that he can fill with the evil forces of hell to achieve his will.
Demon possession is very much a problem in today’s church, the problem is, most churches are not willing to recognize it.
This dear mother that came to the Lord had a young daughter that was demon possessed. He controlled her.
Many things in life can hurt us, but nothing in this world can hurt us like our children. When she came to the Lord SHE WAS A HURTING MOTHER! Also, as she came -
II. SHE WAS A HUMBLE MOTHER
Look at verses 25-26, we read, “For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.”
Notice, as she approached the Lord, the Bible says she, “Came and fell at his feet.” She needed help from the Lord, and when she approached the Lord she approached Him in humility.
Illus: John Ruskin said, "I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility."
People today think too highly of themselves. But greatness in a person is just the opposite. There are so many proud people in our society. Many people do not see this as a problem, but with God, pride is a major problem.
(1) WE SEE IT AMONG THE ADULTS
They buy things they can’t afford, trying to make people think they are something when they are not.
Illus: Have you ever listened to some of these financial television shows where people call in with questions on how to get out of debt? About every call has to deal with credit cards. People all over this nation have gone out and bought things they can’t afford, and they are going to spend the rest of their life trying to pay these bills. But most of them bought things trying to make people think they are something they are not!
(2) WE SEE IT AMONG THE YOUTH
Illus: A mother took two young girls to high school. But these two young girls are so proud, they are ashamed of their mother, and request that she drop them off a block from school and they will walk the last block.
(3) WE HEAR IT IN CONVERSATIONS EACH DAY
For example, some folks are so proud, they have to be right. How dare you insult them and imply that someone needs to instruct them to do something differently than the way they are doing it.
Illus: These proud people remind us of the preacher who stopped preaching to become a medical doctor.
A friend saw him several years later and expressed surprise at his career change. The friend said, “I am sure you made the change due to a compassionate reason.”
But he was shocked when he said, "As a matter of fact, not at all," He said, "The reason I made the change was purely economics. I discovered that people will pay more money to care for their bodies than for their souls."
Several years later, the same friend saw him again and discovered that he had left the medical profession to start practicing law. Again he said, "What was your reason for leaving the medical profession?” The man said, "I decided to make the switch due to economics!" The ex-minister, ex-doctor, now attorney said, "I discovered that people will pay more to prove they are right than to care for either body or soul."
That is exactly right! When it comes to proud people, they get very upset if you insinuate they are less than perfect.
Illus: They remind us the young sailor learning to become a navigator. After only a few days of training he now considered himself to be expert in this field. How dare anyone insinuate he was less than perfect.
Aboard the ship at sea, the captain said to him, "Please tell us where we are."
The young sailor made the complicated set of calculations. He wrote down the coordinates of longitude and latitude and handed it to the captain.
The captain studied it for a while, checked his charts, and said to the young navigator, "Are you absolutely convinced that these are the right coordinates?"
• "Yes, sir, I'm absolutely convinced."
• "You know exactly where we are?"
• "Yes, sir."
• "There could be no conceivable mistake in your calculations?"
• "Absolutely not, sir. I've done my best."
• Then the captain said, "Well, then I would suggest you put on a jacket."
• "Why, sir?"
"Because according to your calculations, we are planted squarely at the top of Mount Washington." (Gordon MacDonald, "When Religion Becomes Serious Business," Preaching Today, Tape No. 142.)
There are those among us who are very proud, and no one can tell them anything. They are much to proud to admit they are less than perfect.
But the woman who was HURTING because her daughter was demon possessed, knew that the way you approach the Lord was in HUMILITY, NOT IN PRIDE. Notice, the Bible says she approached the Lord, and as she did, she, “fell at his feet.”
Look at the word “fell”, this is the word Prospipto, (Pronounced as Pros-pip'-to) which means to prostrate oneself.
She knew she did not deserve anything, she came asking for mercy for this daughter that she loved.
The reason people cannot receive anything from the Lord today is because they approach him in the wrong manner.
SHE WAS A HURTING MOTHER, SHE WAS A HUMBLE MOTHER, and also …
III. SHE WAS A HOPEFUL MOTHER
Look at verses 27-28, we read, “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. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.”
This woman was persistent in what she wanted from the Lord. I believe the fact that she fell at the feet of Jesus impressed him. He saw a woman in desperation, but HOW DESPERATE WAS SHE? She was desperate enough to persist!
It is when we get desperate enough that we are willing to humble ourselves and we persist and we will not take “no” for an answer, that we get our prayers answered.
God wants us all to be persistent. In Matthew 7:7,8 he says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
There are some things in our life that are so important to us we must persist:
• We ask and we keep on asking
• We seek and we keep on seeking
• We knock and we keep on knocking
The Bible says, “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Persistence is a quality highly valued by the Lord. We see it here in this woman. She came to Jesus and kept making her case. Over and over, she pled with the Lord to do something for her daughter.
Her appeal was passionate and persistent. She was so persistent that she annoyed the disciples. In Matthew's account of this incident, we are told that the disciples were bothered by the persistent pleading of this woman to the point where THEY ASKED JESUS TO SEND HER AWAY.
Look at Matthew 15:21-23, we read, “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.”
That’s easy for them to say, because it is not their little daughter that was demon possessed. This woman was desperate and persistent. Notice, nothing the disciples said nor what the Lord said kept her from persisting.
Being both a Gentile and a woman were double strikes against her. The Gentiles were referred to as dogs by the pious and self-righteous Jews. And women were even lower in their estimation.
Look at verses 27-28 again, “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. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.”
The Lord’s primary visit to earth at this time had to do with Israel. What the Lord was saying may seem rude, but the Lord wanted to remind her that His coming had to do with the children of Israel in His first visit. And since the pious Jews referred to the Gentiles as dogs, He said, “Let the chidren first be filled: for it not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.”
The disciples had already asked Him to SEND HER AWAY, but still she was HOPEFUL He would help her. Even when the Lord spoke these words she was still HOPEFUL He would help her.
SHE WAS A HURTING MOTHER, SHE WAS A HUMBLE MOTHER, SHE WAS A HOPEFUL MOTHER and…
IV. SHE WAS A HELPED MOTHER
Look at verses 29-30, we read, “And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.”
This woman had faith that Christ could help her daughter. True faith acts. She heard He had come to Tyre and she came to where He was.
• She fell at His feet in humility, requesting help from a Jew who considered her a Gentile to be compared to a dog
• She persisted in asking him for help. The tense of our text indicates that she not only asked once, but kept on asking
Faith resulting in action is the only kind of faith that is real. James tells us that "Faith without works is dead." If our faith does not lead us to act, we're simply fooling ourselves.
She had the kind of faith that moved the hand of God. Look again at verses 29-30, we read, “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.”
Notice, He said unto her, “For this saying go thy way: the devil is gone out of thy daughter.”
What saying is He referring to? Look at what she said when He referred to her as a dog in verse 28, “And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.”
This woman came for help and she got it. She was not going to allow the disciples or insults of any kind to keep her from getting the help she needed. SHE GOT IT!
Conclusion:
I. SHE WAS A HURTING MOTHER
II. SHE WAS A HUMBLE MOTHER
III. SHE WAS A HOPEFUL MOTHER
IV. SHE WAS A HELPED MOTHER
