October 22, 2023

Today, as we turn to the story that we face now, which is the story of the Syrophoenician woman, we want to incorporate not just a small amount, but we want to incorporate a large amount of what Matthew includes in his telling of this story and the differences between the two. And by differences, I don't mean contradictions.

What I mean are things that Matthew includes that Mark did not include, things that will be very helpful for us as we. Think through how both Mark and Matthew viewed this episode in Jesus's life. Mark and Matthew and both included, they both included in the same sequence of events in the same chronology of events.

And so we'll be looking this morning at Mark's account. We'll also be looking heavily at Matthew's account and for your convenience, I've gone, gone ahead and printed for you Matthew's account. On the front of your worship notes there, and also for your convenience, because I'm interested very much in your convenience.

For your convenience, I've also italicized those sections that are different. from Mark's account of this, or those sections that are adding information that we're going to particularly focus on. So let's begin by reading the accounts, and I'm going to read them. As I read them, I'm going to synchronize them together, so you can have them both in front of you.

And we'll begin here with Mark's account from chapter 7 and verse 24. And from there he, Jesus, from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know it. Yet he could not be hidden, but immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.

And Matthew adds that she was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord. Son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” Now, the woman was a gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And at this point, Matthew includes an interchange between Jesus and the woman and the disciples that Mark does not include.

So now let's look at Matthew verse 23. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he said to her, Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

But she answered him, Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. And he said to her, for this statement you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. Matthew adds that he says, O woman, great is your faith. Now verse 30 from Mark, And she went home and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

In all of the gamut of human experience, human experience, of course, And this fallen world is filled with suffering. We are living in a time in which the suffering worldwide is no less than so many other times in history. We're living at a time in which there's great suffering in parts of the world that might seem like they're a long ways away from us, but really aren't that far away.

Places like Ukraine and places that are the same geographic locations that the events that we're reading about this morning are taking place. Israel and the land there and the suffering that's taking place. But not only this, worldwide there's so much human suffering and there always has been. But of all of the different types of human suffering, I don't think any human suffering really pulls at the heart strings or really, that's not strong enough, really just grabs the heart and just wrenches it.

I don't think any other kind of suffering does that like the suffering. of an anguishing mother over her child. Is that not one of the most precious, one of the most gut-wrenching types of suffering to see, to see a mother in anguish over the desperate situation of a child? We come to this very type of situation here in the story of this woman who is enduring this terrible series of events having to do with what's called her And so, as we begin this, this morning, let's just begin from verse 24, having the right frame of mind, knowing that we are approaching a story in Mark's gospel that is not only extremely important and significant in the flow of Mark's thought, it's also, as we're going to see as we work through it, a story that's very problematic.

In fact, it's perhaps one of the most, if not the most problematic story in Mark's gospel. But also, as we work through it, we're just reminding ourselves of just the obvious, that we are approaching. In a sense, a sacred passage of scripture, though all scripture, of course, is sacred and holy to us. But this is a passage of scripture that is honoring and looking at desperate suffering of a mother for a child that she cannot help herself.

So beginning from verse 24, and from there he arose and went away. So where did he go away from? Well, the previous story had him in Gennesaret. Now, we have often been careful to observe that the Synoptic Gospels, in particular, Well, all the Gospels, but in particular, Mark's Gospel is not necessarily chronological for us.

The events, as Mark tells them, we shouldn't assume that he's telling these events chronologically. But instead, it's clear that he's arranging the events, oftentimes thematically. But in this instance, I think that we would be right to assume that this section, this series of events is arranged chronologically.

Matthew puts them in the exact same order. All of the, uh, the events going back to the feeding of the 5, 000 through this event, Matthew and Mark put them both in the same order. And as we'll see as we work through this, I think that this also is very logical to see this as the chronological order as well.

So this means that Jesus arose and left this place known as Gennesaret. Gennesaret on the north. This is the Sea of Galilee, about 35 or so miles from the region that is called the region of Tyre and Sidon. So that would have been about a two-day journey. We're told that ancient people would easily cover 20 or so miles a day walking.

So that would have been about a two day, an easy two-day sort of journey for Jesus and His disciples to make from this northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, an area that is partly Jewish but also heavily... Gentile to this area that's known as the region of Tyre and Sidon. So as they come to this area known as the region of Tyre and Sidon, and two verses later, we're going to be told that Jesus encounters a woman who is described as a Gentile and a Syrophoenician by birth.

So Syrophoenician tells of her, tells us of her ethnicity. The Syrophoenician woman telling us of the, the region of the world in which she came from. Syrophoenician referring to the land known as Pharaoh. Phoenicia, and it's called the Syrophoenician territory because that distinguishes it from another Phoenicia known as the Libyan Phoenicia, which would have been on northern, the northern shore of Africa.

Also another area that's known by the name of Phoenicia. So this would have been an area that's far to the north and far to the west of the Sea of Galilee. Again, about 35 to 40 miles or so from where Jesus was previously. It's also called the region of Tyre and the region of Sidon. Mark's readers if they were familiar with Jewish history, they would have immediately become aware or at least become knowledgeable of the fact that Mark is now speaking of a region of the world which the Jews had history with.

There was significant history going back to the region of Tyre and Sidon between the residents of this region and those residents of Israel and Palestine. That history, of course, began in the book of Joshua as the people come into the land and they begin obeying God's command to take over the land.

And they encounter many battles with the people of the land. Many of such would be people that come from this region, this region known as Tyre and Sidon. Furthermore, this is a region that Scripture, particularly the Old Testament, think of Ezekiel. They will often treat this region as oftentimes a, literally a metaphor.

for the rule of Satan here on Earth. At one point, the prophet Ezekiel literally implies that the king of Tyre is Satan himself. So it's, it's a very much a pagan, very secular, very dark area. This area known as Tyre and Sidon would eventually become an area that had some type of an alliance to some degree with both King David and his son Solomon.

You might remember during King David's reign, The King of Tyre was on good terms with David and that, of course, then spilled over into Solomon's reign. If you might remember, in 1 Kings 5, I believe it is, in 1 Kings 5, there's this alliance between the King of Tyre and Solomon in which the King of Tyre is supplying Solomon with timber for all of his many building projects, most especially his own house.

And he's also supplying Solomon with many artisans, skilled artisans for the construction and the building of Solomon's mansion. And then you might remember that the agreement between Solomon and the king of Tyre was such that after the completion of Solomon's mansions and his building projects, that he would pay the king of Tyre with a, uh, payment of a certain number of cities, which he did.

But you might remember that specifically we're told that the king of Tyre was extremely disappointed with what Solomon paid him. So Solomon sort of got one over on the king of Tyre and relations went southward after that. It wasn't long after that. We look around. Oh, around 1 Kings 17, that chapter of Scripture should be familiar to you, not just only from what we just recently read, but that should also be familiar to you if you think back maybe about a year and a half or two years when we spent a good deal of time speaking about the ministry, the life of the prophet Elijah.

And you might remember the region known as Tyre and Sidon was a region that we talked about a great deal because there was this woman by the name of Jezebel, whose father was the king of Sidon. And so Sidon and Tyre was the hometown region of Jezebel, which also tells us something else because you might remember from Jezebel, from studying the story of Elijah, you might remember Jezebel as being a, not just a Baal worshiper, but a fanatical Baal worshiper.

And so this region known as Tyre, The region of Tyre and Sidon was literally the area that introduced Israel to Baal worship. It was the area from which the Jews learned to worship Baal. This was the epicenter of Baal worship. It was steeped in the occult. It was steeped in paganism and witchcraft. And it was the This is the ground zero, so to speak, of Baal worship.

This is the area that Jesus now goes into. But there's something else that's also significant about this region. If you were to look in the map, uh, that's probably in the back of your Bible, or some map of the, uh, ancient lands of, of this period of time, and you looked in that region and you saw the two cities known as Tyre and Sidon, depending on the map that you're looking at, you might look...

Halfway between there and you would see almost exactly halfway between Tyre and Sidon was another place a little bit smaller But this place went by the name Zarephath and that should ring some bells for us because there is a character We just read of her once again known as the widow of Zarephath that we read about in first Kings chapter 17 the widow of Zarephath was this This pagan woman whom Elijah was called, was sent by God to go to the widow of Zarephath, and he goes there.

There's this famine in the land. There's no rain because Elijah has pronounced no rain on the land. He goes there and he encounters the widow of Zarephath. And encountering the widow of Zarephath, he meets her right at the point in which they are literally on their last meal and there's no food in the land.

And after this last meal, they're going to die. And so as the story that we just read earlier, or at least read part of it earlier in this story, then Elijah makes this request of her and he says, yeah, go ahead and make your last meal. But before you eat it, then I want you to make me a portion of it. I want you to make me this cake and serve it to me first, bring me some water first.

And as we remember through that story, that sounds like a quite. I don't know, pretentious sort of demand that Elijah makes upon the widow, but she does it, of course. And then God provides this miracle of the flower and the oil that never run out. Later in the story, we didn't read this part earlier, but later in the story, her son, of course, dies, and then God raises the son back to life through Elijah.

And through that whole process, the widow comes to this dramatic faith in God. She calls Elijah the man of God. I know that you are the man of God. That story, I bring that to mind, because not only is this a story of the very same region that Jesus now is in, But I bring that story to mind because of the remarkable parallels between that story and the present story.

In both stories, of course, Elijah is sent by God to Zarephath. Jesus himself goes to the same region of Tyre and Sidon on his own. He takes his disciples with him. As he goes there, he also encounters a woman. We're not told that this woman is a widow, but we also are not told anything about her husband.

So it would be a likely assumption that she perhaps is a widow. And so she has a daughter. And this daughter is oppressed by a demon, possessed of a demon, which reminds us of the, of course, the story of the widow of Zarephath. Both, in both stories, we're talking about eating some crumbs, some final crumbs, some final breadcrumbs.

In both stories, there is a rather unusual treatment of the woman by the man of God. Elijah treats the woman in a very odd sort of way, asking her to give to him a portion of her final meal before she eats it and dies. Uh, in this story, of course, Jesus treats the woman in a very odd sort of way. We'll talk about that as we go along.

And then, of course, both stories will center around This remarkable deliverance of the child. Elijah, of course, delivers the son from death. Jesus delivers the daughter from demon oppression. So the parallels are remarkable. And only one of those parallels is the parallel of where they are located. This region known as Tyre and Sidon, or the area that shouldn't be far from Zarephath.

So he arose and he went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon and he entered a house. So what house did Jesus enter into? Does Jesus have followers here? Are there people here who are secret disciples of Jesus that are living in the land of Baal worshiping? Most likely not, but instead something really that's not any more than just the fact that Jesus probably rented the house.

As we know in this, these times of in the scriptures, these weren't the times of Expedia. com and, and, uh, Priceline. com and Jesus and His disciples didn't pull out their phones and make reservations on the way to Tyre and Sidon. But instead, what was often times the case was that when someone would need to stay overnight, they would just simply ask around the village or ask around the town who might be willing to rent us space, meaning just a corner of your room, a corner of your house.

We share your table with you. We pay you some money. You put our animals up and that's how it sort of worked. So that's most likely the type of house that Jesus was entering into. Not to say that these were followers of Jesus or they knew of Jesus. But instead, Jesus and his disciples most likely just made accommodations in a house.

So they go into this house and they did not want anyone to know that yet he could not be hidden. So here we come once again to this reality that has been a reality really since the end of chapter one, when Jesus, of course, he has been doing all these healings. He casts out the, or he cleanses the leper.

And you remember from that point when he cleanses the leper, The leper who was the one who was relegated to the outside desolate places in his excitement He doesn't do what Jesus says, which is tell no one he instead tells everyone and then there's this exchange in roles this exchange in places Jesus we're told now has to be in such desolate places because So many people have heard about this the crowds are getting so large and so fanatical about him This has been the story since early on, is that Jesus will have no time alone.

He has gone to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to try to have some time of rest with His disciples, couldn't have it there. Everywhere He goes, people seem to know about Him. And just as we're told here, He did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. Now this What I'm about to say is not the meaning of the passage, but this is, I think, an appropriate application.

And that application is this. In the same way that Jesus could not remain hidden in these days, so also can Jesus not remain hidden now. Jesus will not be hidden. If Jesus resides in your heart, If Holy Spirit has made His residence in you, then it is not possible for Him to be hidden. It is not possible to be a true disciple of Jesus.

And those who know you would have no idea that Jesus has changed you and given you this new heart. In the same way that Jesus cannot be hidden in Tyre, so also Jesus cannot be hidden in your life. So also can Jesus not be hidden in the culture. If He is present, He will be known so he didn't want anyone to know yet.

He could not be hidden now verse 25 and Immediately, but immediately Mark's favorite word. They're a woman whose little daughter now there's a a word there Or a, a use of the word there that's what's known now as the diminutive. Now we've talked about the diminutive before, so we're all familiar with the diminutive.

We don't have the diminutive words in our language. So it's not easy to sometimes describe this. If we were, if we were all Spanish speakers and I was preaching in Spanish, then you would know exactly what the diminutive is. Or many other languages which have... Diminutive forms of words, but we don't have the diminutive.

So in order to translate the diminutive, what we usually do is put that word little in there because that's what it's saying. It's saying something that's a little version of that. So if I were to use the diminutive word. Of chair, it would mean a little chair, a small chair, a, a miniature chair, so to speak.

But in scripture, we come across, in the New Testament, we come across this form of words. They're always nouns, these form of a noun that's known of as the diminutive. And oftentimes Greek scholars will call it the affectionate diminutive, because that's precisely what it is. Because it's not necessarily communicating the idea of something that's a smaller version of the bigger version of it, but it's communicating the idea that also comes across our English translation, the idea that not only is this small, but it's also precious.

It's close. It's dear. It's the little daughter. In the same way we use the same phrase, you know, you might say, my little girl or my little daughter or my little boy. And by that, you don't only mean that their stature is smaller, but you also mean that they're precious and that your affection for them is strong.

And that's exactly what Mark is saying here, that there was this daughter and not only was it just a daughter, it was the little daughter, it was the precious daughter. But immediately there was this woman who had this precious little daughter who had an unclean spirit. And immediately she heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.

Now the immediately there is describing, or it's modifying, her coming to him. It's not modifying her hearing of him. But what Mark is saying is, as soon as she heard of him, she came. As soon as she got word Jesus was there, she came, she hears of it, and then drops what she's doing, and then immediately she goes to Jesus.

It reminds us of what we've heard about so often already in Mark's gospel, that when Jesus is heard of, when he's coming, think of Jairus on the shore waiting for Jesus to return. Or so many others, when she heard of him, immediately she goes, now, how does she hear of him? How does she know about him? Has Jesus's fame spread all the way to Tyre and Sidon?

And for that, we would say, yes, it has. Apparently so. If we were to think back to Mark chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, we read there of a great crowd that followed Jesus from Galilee and Judea. from Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. So as early as chapter 3, the crowds that are following Jesus are made up of people, at least some of which are people from this region of Tyre and Sidon, which means that word of Him has reached that far.

And word reaching that far has meant that some people have been drawn to make that. Long journey down to Galilee. So, word of Jesus has reached that far. So she hears of Jesus and immediately hearing of him, she comes and she falls down at his feet. This, this sign of submission, this sign of humiliation, this sign of desperate need, this falling at his feet.

Now who was the last person who fell at Jesus feet? Remember? That would have been Jairus. Now Jairus and this woman have a couple of things in common. One would be of course their desperate need, their urgent need. Two would also be of course that the need revolved around Their little girl. In that story, we also are faced with the diminutive, Jairus's little girl.

So their need is desperate. Their need is urgent. Their need is centered upon their little girl. But that's where the similarities stop. Because the contrast between Jairus and this woman could not have been more drastic. This woman is a resident of the heart, the epicenter. of Baal worship. She is a woman.

She is a Gentile woman, we are told. Jairus was not only a man and a Jew, he was the ruler of the synagogue. He was an elder of the city. He was the one who was in charge of the teaching at the synagogue. He was the one who was in charge to make sure that the traditions were followed at the synagogue. His desperate need over his little girl's situation Drove him to fall at Jesus's feet.

Here we see a Gentile woman who has grown up and lived her whole life in the middle of Baal worship. And yet the need of her little girl drives her to Jesus and they both come and they fall at Jesus's feet. This woman whose little daughter had this unclean spirit, she heard of him, she came to him. And notice what drives her to Jesus is that her precious little girl is possessed.

By an unclean spirit or a demon. Now, I know that this seems like a story that's going to be a story about an exorcism. And there is of course an exorcism that takes place. But this really isn't a story about an exorcism. This, the exorcism aspect of the story, the casting out of the demon is really secondary to the story because this story is really about the woman.

And it's really, as we'll see as we go along, more about the disciples than anyone else. But the need that this woman has, the situation that drives her to Jesus, just think with me for a minute. We don't have to use very much of our imaginations to put ourself in a place of empathy with this woman. Yes, this took place some 2000 years ago, and yes, it took place in a culture that was so different and so strange to us.

But beyond that, this is really not hard to just imagine a loved one in such a situation as this, to be possessed by the demonic. Now, in scripture, how do we know that people are possessed of demons? Jesus knows who is possessed of demons because He, of course, is the Son of God. But how do we, how does the reader know when we are encountering someone who is possessed of demons?

As compared to someone who is not possessed of demons. The only way that we know in scripture of those who are possessed of demons, besides the narrator telling us, is in the manifestations. In the outward manifestations of what happens to those who are oppressed or possessed by the demonic in the Gospels.

And those manifestations are anything but pretty, aren't they? Think of the most recent encounter with the demonic that we had in Luke's Gospel. Of course. The man known as Legion. Of course, he was one who represented an extreme possession of the demonic. He was possessed of so many demons that they called themselves Legion.

But nevertheless, the manifestations of his life are consistent with what Scripture shows us happens to those who are possessed of demons. The screaming, the agony, the mental and emotional torment. Remember, he would scream out night and day. Remember, he lived among the tombs. He would cut himself. He was driven to such measures of physical strength and such measures of just anguish that we're told he would break the chains.

They would chain him, and he would break those chains and wrench those chains loose. Long ago, they could no longer keep clothes on him. The state of mind, as we talked about this man back in chapter five, the state of mind was horrendous. What a human tragedy, what a picture of absolute human agony. Now this mother has this precious little girl, we're not told of her age, but this precious little girl who is manifesting some of the same kinds of symptoms.

And she is unable to help her in any way. She lives in the land of Baal. Who is she going to go to? A priest of Baal? A priestess of Baal? A prostitute of the Baal temple? Who is going to help her? She can't cast the demon out. There is no truth present in her culture. There is no church in her culture.

There's no representation of the living God in her culture. Her situation is utterly hopeless. All she can do is just watch her little girl destroy herself and be destroyed by these dark, hideous, evil beings. So driven to the utter despair, she comes to Jesus and she falls at his feet. Now, the woman was a gentile.

Now the word that Mark uses there is not the typical word for Gentile. The typical word, there's two that are often used to, to, that are translated Gentile. They're the words that we get our word nations from, or the word that we get our word ethnicity from. This is neither of those words. This is the word that we get our word Hellenistic from.

Literally, the, it means Greek. So, I sort of wish our English Standard Version had translated it literally, because literally that's what it says. The woman was Greek. So what that speaks of is not only her cultural affinity, but also her language. She was a native Greek speaker. So the interchange that is to follow quite possibly took place in the Greek language.

There is no reason whatsoever for us to be surprised by the fact that Jesus quite, quite possibly spoke Greek as well as Aramaic. Aramaic was his native language. That's what he spoke from day to day in Galilee. But there would be no reason for us to be surprised that Jesus probably was also a Greek speaker as well.

The world in which Jesus lived was a world in which the great majority of people were at least bilingual, if not trilingual. So here, once again, we're reminded ancient people weren't stupid. Ancient people, such as the people that Jesus lived around, almost all of them were but

Fishermen, workers, construction workers, laborers. It was common for people to speak Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin, possibly Greek, possibly even Persian as well. So Jesus, quite possibly, is going to have this conversation in her native Greek language because she is a native Greek speaker. But the woman who was a Greek, a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, we already talked about that, She begged him, and that word begged there is in the imperfect, so literally she begged and begged and kept on begging and kept on begging and didn't stop begging.

She begged and begged and begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Now, let's look over to Mark's account, because at this point, Mark now offers this interchange between Jesus and the woman that is extremely helpful for us. So from verse 23, But he did not answer her a question. Word. That's remarkable.

Jesus apparently refused to speak to her. To my knowledge, there's only two other people, two other instances that Jesus refused to speak to someone. One of those was Pilate when he was on trial and Jesus didn't refuse to speak to him the entire time he was before Pilate. He and Pilate had interchanges, but then there, there came a certain point in the conversation where Jesus just stopped talking.

But the only person that I'm aware of in Scripture that Jesus just outright refused to speak to was King Herod. As King Herod had Jesus brought before him and he wanted Jesus to perform tricks for him, for his amusement, and Jesus just refused to speak to him. Outside of King Herod, this is the only instance that I'm aware of in which Jesus just didn't speak.

This is quite remarkable. He just did not answer her a word. Which reminds us, doesn't it? This should be a helpful reminder for us. God deserves, or God owes no one an answer. None of us could rightly say that we deserve for God to hear us and God to answer us. So it would, it is absolutely arrogant for us to say, God has to hear me and God has to answer me.

Particularly for those who are outside of the redemption family of Christ. God owes no one a hearing. God owes no one an answer. He, of course, hears and knows all, and if you are in the family of Christ, you are assured that every prayer is heard and every prayer is answered. Nevertheless, it is all the grace of God.

He deserves, or He owes no one an answer, but He did not answer her a word. As we're going to see, that, of course, will be temporary. And His disciples came and begged Him. Now the word that Mark uses there, I feel like that the translation begged is sort of overstating it because the word there is just the typical word for ask or inquire or to make a request.

So let's use it that way. So the disciples came and asked Him. Saying, send her away for she is crying out after us crying out there, of course, is also in the imperfect or in the imperfect. So she's crying out and continuing to cry and she won't stop. She won't stop. She's crying out after us. Now, the word there that Matthew uses after us.

It's an interesting word because it's the same word that shows up in places like Matthew 4 verse 19 where Jesus would say if anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross and follow me or places like Mark or Matthew chapter 10 verse 38 or Matthew chapter 16 where Jesus says similar things, if you would be my disciple, you should Come after me, or you must follow me.

Same word here. Perhaps Mark wants to make a connection. Perhaps Mark wants us to make this connection as the disciples are saying, she's crying after us and coming after us or following after us as they themselves have been doing. Verse 24, he answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Verse 25, but she came and knelt before him saying, Lord, help me.

There she's down to the bare bones of the most simple prayer. Just like the request of Peter as he's sinking in the water, Lord save me. She is now at that point of desperation, Okay, whatever, just help me, just help me. She calls him Lord in Mark's account. In a few verses she's going to call him Lord. Do you know who else in Mark's gospel calls Jesus Lord?

No one. No one except Jesus himself on two occasions, but no other person, no other character in Mark's gospel calls Jesus Lord except her. She came and knelt before him, saying, Lord, just help me. Now back to Mark, verse 27, And he said to her, Let the children be fed first. So that word there, fed, Mark uses that word two other times.

He uses it in the feeding of the 5, 000, and he'll use it again in chapter 8 in the feeding of the 4, 000. Both instances, he's using this word specifically to say what the word means literally to not only feed, but to feed to the point of satisfaction. To feed and be full. To fill one up. You can see some other instances in Scripture there in your notes.

But let the children be fed to their satisfaction. First for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it There's another little play on words there that word throw is the word ballo The word cast out when used of a demon to cast out a demon is the word ekballo So it's the same word to throw with the prefix out in front of it to throw out or to cast out a demon So the play on words is she comes here So and she begs him to cast out to throw out the demon and Jesus says it's not right for me to throw out The children's food to the dogs see the play on words there for it is not right to take the children's bread and Cast it out or throw it out To the dogs.

Now the word there that Jesus uses for the word for dogs is you might want to or you might have heard before is the word in the word for dog in the diminutive. So it's not the typical word for dogs or the mongrel sort of mutts that were common in the ancient world. The scavengers, the undesirable sort of scavenger dogs that were not only with scavenging the garbage and whatnot, but they were also threats to people because they could.

become quite aggressive. Jesus doesn't use that word. He uses the diminutive word, which would indicate a canine that would quite possibly be a house pet or something of that nature. So he uses the diminutive form. It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it out to the little dogs or to the pet dogs or to the, to the house dogs.

There's a reason that Jesus will use that word. We'll get to that a little bit later. But Jesus is setting up this comparison and the parable that he just speaks is it's not right to throw the children's bread out to the dogs. The, the understanding of this parable requires the basic understanding that Jesus just, just described something that's not right.

He just described Giving to dogs. That which is the food of the children. So the picture that Jesus is setting up here is again, using the, the word for a household pet dog. And the picture that he's setting up here, he says, it's just not right to sit down at table. You know, we've got the, the dinner made.

Here comes the children. We've called everybody for, for dinner. Everybody sits down. And before any of the children eat, I reach over and take their food and put it down on the floor for the dog. Jesus says, that's just not right. And the whole parable revolves around understanding there's something wrong about that.

There's something not right about taking food that belongs to children and giving it to the family pet. So now I'm going to make an application here that really needs to be made. It's not the main point of the passage, but it's an application that really needs to be made. And if I'm going to step on any toes, I'm going to apologize ahead of time.

It's not my intention to do that. It's my intention to pastor. It's my intention to disciple. And so, the understanding of this parable requires Jesus understands it, the disciples understand it, the woman understands it. There's just something not right about taking what's meant for a person and giving it to a dog.

A great many Christians today Give the world a poor witness. In fact, give the world a blasphemous witness by elevating pets to the status of near people or even above people. There are a great many people who claim the name of Christ. Who have pets dogs or cats or other types of pets and those pets have become so important to them that they have elevated them to the status of Near personhood or even equal to personhood or in some cases more important than people and can you see the connection?

Between how the woman recognizes? Yeah, that's of course. Everybody sees that's not right It's not right to take something from one of my kids and give it to a dog as though they're equal The recognition of that tells us something that all of us should instinctively know, and that's that we were made in the image of God, and the Genesis creation account tells us that God created the animal kingdom to serve us, not the other way around.

And so, we all see this, you see this too. You see the people that'll get out of their car and they'll have a stroller, and put a dog in the stroller, roll the dog inside, and we all chuckle because that's so ridiculous. Or the people that put gas in their car and they can't manage to walk inside and pay for the gas without having their puppy with them.

Brothers and sisters, God created the animal kingdom to serve us. And if you have elevated your pet to such a status that you cannot survive five minutes without that pet, then guess who's serving who? Guess who is really the God? Guess which one is really the idle. So I know it's a tangential kind of application, but it needs to be made.

It's made with no one in particular in mind. Uh, there's those in the room, but this message, it'll be heard on other platforms. It'll be, uh, seen in video on other platforms. I don't know who may or may not hear this, but if you need to hear this, then hear this well. God made the animal kingdom to serve us, not the other way around.

And when the children of Christ serve the creatures, Not only is something backwards, but something is now idolatrous. And the very meaning of the parable hangs on the fact that the woman recognizes that. That's backwards. Yeah. The children's food isn't given to dogs. If anything, it's the other way around.

Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Jesus also here is alluding to a certain salvation order. That salvation order, he says here, he almost, it's almost like he leaves a crack in the door. The door's just opened just a little bit. Let the children be fed first.

He doesn't say let the children be fed only. And let the, let the dogs, let the pets of the family start. He says let the children be fed first. So He's alluding here to a certain salvation order that the Scriptures will present to us in places like the beginning of Acts where Jesus says, Go into all the world.

You're to begin in Jerusalem, and then Samaria, and then the ends of the world. Or for, uh, also for example in Romans chapter, Romans chapter 1 and verse, uh, 16. Or I'm sorry, uh, yes, Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first.

And then to the Greek, or then to the Gentile. Okay, so there's a certain order that God has established. Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews. He was a Jew. He came to the Jewish people. He came to His own, and His own had to reject Him before this salvation order or this salvation model then went to those who were the non-Jews.

Okay, so there's a certain step there, and the first step was to the Jews, and then the second step was to the non-Jews. So he says, let the children be fed first here, alluding to that order. That order of salvation, of course, culminates at the death of Jesus, because until Jesus dies on the cross, until the atonement is made, the door for the Gentiles is not really swung open yet.

But you remember at the death of Christ, what happens at the death of Christ? The tur the curtain, I'm sorry, the curtain is torn in two. And we're told that that symbolically, metaphorically now means access to God is now open. So at the death of Christ, at the atonement that Christ makes, the door for the Gentiles is then thrown wide open, which is the story of Acts.

But at this point, Jesus is still alluding to this salvation order. And the order is, let the children come first. But she answered him, verse 28, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. This is a remarkable exchange that takes place between Jesus and this woman. I know of no other interchange between Jesus and another person that's quite like this.

This woman is witty and she's clever. Let me just show you her cleverness. She uses three diminutives. So we've seen two already. Mark used the first one when he said her little daughter. Jesus used the second one when he said It's not right to throw the children's bread to the little dogs. She now uses three.

So let me just, let me read it literally, and you'll see kind of her wit, or her cleverness come, come through. So Jesus said to her, It's not right. Uh, Let the children be fed first. For it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. But she answered, Yes, Lord. Yet even the little dogs under the table eat the little children's little crumbs.

See that? Even the little dogs under the table eat the little children's little crumbs. So she answers Jesus with this witty sort of answer, but what we really aren't noticing here so much as her wit, what we're noticing is She put herself into the parable. She enters into the parable. She understands the parable.

Yet even, even the little children, even the dogs, the little dogs, eat under the table of the little children's little crumbs. Verse 29, And He said to her, For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter, and that's the perfect tense there. So he's left, it's done, it's over. He has left your daughter, and she went home and found the child lying in bed, and the demon, again, perfect tense, gone.

So Jesus casts out the demon. This is one of two instances in which we are clearly shown that Jesus performs a miracle. In which he is not in proximity for. He's not even there. The other was the healing of the centurion's servant. But in this instance, the demon is cast out, and the demon is cast out at what point in the story?

We don't know. The demon is cast out when Jesus speaks a word, when Jesus raises His hand. The demon is cast out when Jesus wills it. At some point in the interchange, Jesus desired The demon gone, and the demon was gone. So at some point, Jesus thoughts, his will, his wants, his desire was that this demon now be gone, and the demon is now gone.

As we are, have now reached the end of the story, we are left not with a lot of answers, are we? In fact, we're left with a lot of questions. In fact, we're left with so many questions that this text will, of course, take us at least two Sundays to work through. But what we want to do now for the remainder of our time this morning is just face the questions that we're left with directly on.

Because the questions that we're left with, this again is a problematic section of Scripture. If you didn't sense the problems as we read through this, then either you weren't paying attention to what's being said, or you really don't know Jesus. Because if you know Jesus, if you know His reputation for compassion, if you know His boundless grace, if you know His empathy, particularly His empathy towards women, then you had to have read the story to say, this just doesn't sound like the Jesus I know.

So we're left all with all kinds of questions and questions even beyond that the questions really start with why is Jesus even here to begin with? Why does Jesus leave? the land of Galilee to go deep So we have a lot of questions to contend with, and that's just what I want to really do for the remainder of the time this morning, is just deal with the questions so that we may understand the text and understand what Mark is saying, taking that understanding into the following week as we begin to apply some of the things that We have learned in the passage.

So the first question to ask is, why does Jesus go there to start with? So much has been written and much has been said in explanation of why Jesus may have gone there. And oftentimes it's speculated that Jesus is still trying to seek rest. For his disciples, remember this goes back to when they went across the Sea of Galilee, they were seeking some rest, they needed some recuperation time, they didn't get it there, they came back to that mob at Gennesaret, didn't get any rest there, and so Jesus and his disciples are still trying to find some rest.

Now if they're going to get some rest from the Pharisees and from the crowds, Where are they going to find it? Tyre and Sidon. So maybe that's why Jesus knows His disciples are sort of at the end of their rope. They need some time away. So many will speculate that that's why Jesus went there. I find that to be very unfulfilling, very unsatisfying, that Jesus travels 35 miles one way for rest for His disciples when they really get none anyway.

Others have speculated, well, Jesus is carefully keeping His hand on the temperature. And there's some truth in this, because Jesus is like the master cook. You know what it's like when you put a pot of water on the stove to boil, and you know how there's that little sweet spot of maybe one or two or three degrees that's the difference between Maintaining a rolling boil and boiling over, you know how just, just a little quarter of an inch on the dial there will boil the pot over?

Jesus is the perfect cook. He's keeping His hand on the temperature. He wants the water to stay boiling. Why? Because He came to die. He came to be killed. He does not want the hatred against Him on the part of the religious leaders to cool. Because he is here to be killed. Nevertheless, Jesus is keenly aware of his father's timing.

And he does not want this pot to boil over too soon. And it's still too soon. And so he knows that King Herod would kill him if he could. Because King Herod sees him as John the Baptizer reincarnated. He knows that the Pharisees are plotting to take his life. And so where could he go to let the temperature cool a little bit?

Tyre and Sidon. Because you know what? The Pharisees aren't going to follow him there. He can go to Tyre and Sidon and he can do all the miracles he wants up there. The Pharisees are not going to go up there and bother him. So some have speculated, Perhaps he goes here to just let things cool a little bit because it's not time for the pot to boil over yet.

And I think there's, there may be some truth to that as well as a little some truth to the aspect of some rest for the disciples. But for me, both of those explanations are ultimately So why is Jesus going here? That really kind of couples together with the bigger question of why does Jesus treat the woman so uncharacteristically?

Jesus, who is the incarnate God, who is love. Jesus, who is the manifestation of the God that we have made note of this before, that the New Testament has the word for compassion that it reserves only for Him. Because He is the embodiment of compassion, and sympathy, and caring. And Jesus, again and again, we have seen, it's almost like He just can't resist Himself.

When He sees someone in need, He must go to them. Particularly if those People who have that need are outcasts. The outcasts of society, particularly if they're women. You need only read through the Gospel of Luke to just see what a special place Jesus had in His heart for the woman who was oppressed, the woman who was the widow, the woman who was disenfranchised.

Now Jesus encounters a woman who has a very real and a very desperate need. Yet He treats her as though He doesn't care for her at all. Why? Why does He not just

Well, I think it's helpful to start by just reminding ourself of why Jesus did not answer her request right away. What could have been, what could have been some of the reasons that were not the reason why Jesus didn't grant her request right away? Could it be that Jesus, well, could it be that Jesus didn't care for her?

That somehow this woman was a turnoff to him, that somehow he just didn't have empathy for her. And once again, that would be utterly uncharacteristic, wouldn't it? Perhaps it was because the woman didn't ask him properly. Perhaps there was something about her request. And we know we can rule that right away.

We'll rule that out immediately. Because the woman's request is textbook perfect. She submits herself at Jesus feet. She comes to Jesus believing that He not only can help her, but is willing to help her. And she expresses a certain faith, a certain belief in that. She subjected herself to Jesus feet and yet he doesn't answer.

Could it be that perhaps Jesus didn't have the power to heal in the land of the Gentiles here? Perhaps he was so far from Israel that he just didn't have power there to heal. And of course we know that's not the case. Because when Jesus decides to cast the demon out, the demon is gone. And Jesus wasn't even in the presence of the girl.

Perhaps Jesus was just tired and worn out. And he was just too exhausted. He'd healed too many people. Jesus just needed some time. And in His tiredness and His exhaustion, He just didn't have it in Him to heal one more person. Well, that doesn't hold any water, does it? Because in the most excruciating moments of His life, as He literally hung from the cross, He was still caring for people.

So we know that Jesus never reached any point of physical or mental exhaustion that He could not care for people.

Why was this? Was it perhaps that Jesus was fearful that, or Jesus was concerned perhaps, that any miracle that He performs in this land of Baal would be wasted? That the people wouldn't respond, the people wouldn't believe anyway? Such as what was the case in Nazareth? That's not the case either. If you remember in Matthew's gospel chapter 11, Jesus speaking to Jewish cities there, the Jewish cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, He says to them, You know, if the miracles that I've done here were done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have believed.

So Jesus Himself there acknowledges if He had gone to Tyre and Sidon and performed the miracles like He did in Chorazin and Bethsaida, they would have repented. So it's not a matter that any miracle performed there would not have been effective for his ministry. So what are we left with? Why does Jesus treat her in this way?

So much ink has been spilled, page after page. If you read the commentators about this, page after page. is written in attempts to explain this, that all follow basically the same, well, I shouldn't say the same, one of two or three lines of thought. All of them attempting what I would see as the same goal.

And here's that goal. It's the goal of alleviating Jesus of the awkwardness. of not responding to this woman as we would expect him, page after page. And here are the main ways that that's gone about. Number one, oftentimes commentators will seize upon the fact that Jesus uses the diminutive form, this little dog, and they'll say, well, Jesus didn't really call her a dog.

He called her a little dog. And that's really the key to understanding what Jesus is doing here. He, he didn't, he didn't insult her with this form of dog. It's just to just call her this dog, which is how Jews refer to Gentiles, Jews, every Jew referred to every Gentile as a dog, and Jesus really isn't using that same word.

And there's some truth that Jesus didn't use the same word, but I don't know. Is that satisfying to you that he called her a little dog instead of a dog? He called her a house pet instead of a scavenger dog. That's not really, That's not really relieving Jesus of any of the awkwardness of how He treated her, is it?

If you are attempting to relieve Jesus of the responsibility of not treating this woman in a loving manner, you didn't really get there when you center on the fact that He called her a house pet dog instead of a wild dog. Others will say, well, really the answer here is... The fact that we don't know Jesus's tone of voice.

We didn't see his facial expressions. We didn't see his body language. And so apparently there was something about his tone of voice. Maybe he said this with a smile, with such a winsome look on his face, and with body language that let the lady know that I don't really think you're a dog, but let me just sort of have this little banter, this exchange between us two.

And it's quite surprising how many, Responsible Bible expositors will take that explanation. Those whose treatment of the Scriptures is reliable will oftentimes take the explanation to say, well, we didn't hear His tone of voice, and there had to be something in His tone of voice that explained all this.

Charles Barkley, for one, not the basketball player, but the other Charles Barkley, will say that for certain, we know that there was a twinkle in Jesus eye that told this woman that He really did love her. To which I would say, really? We know that for certain, and how do we know that for certain? Because it's not in the text.

Neither is his tone of voice in the text. Neither is his body language in the text. Alistair Begg, to whom I listen to regularly and I respect a great deal, will say the same thing. The answer is in how Jesus said it. Really. I don't think so, Dr. Big, because here is a fact of biblical interpretation.

Nothing in Scripture, nothing in Scripture requires for you to know the tone of voice it was spoken in, in order for you to know the meaning. How do we know that? Because the Scriptures don't give us the tone of voice. And God will not give us the Scriptures that require something to understand them that we're not given.

The Scriptures are perfect in every way. They give us everything that we need for godliness. And if we needed to know Jesus's facial expressions, we would have been told them. So the meaning of what Jesus says is not wrapped up in how He said it. There is something about the words He used.

The third, I guess the third tactic to try to relieve Jesus of this tension is to say that what Jesus was really doing was he was really drawing her faith out from her. Jesus saw that she had faith and she knew she had faith, but Jesus wanted her to step out on that faith. He wanted her to act on that faith and he draws that out of her with this little banter back and forth.

And he knows that her faith will respond to that banter positively and respond by saying, Yes, I will cling to this hope that you will do this and that you're willing. And so some will use that explanation to try to alleviate Jesus of this responsibility. The problem is, If that's what Jesus was doing, this is the only time He does that.

There is no other instance in which Jesus is encountering a person with small faith or weak faith, and His tactic is that. In fact, His tactic is the opposite. Think of Jairus, who came to Jesus in a very similar situation, with weak faith. What does Jesus say to Jairus? Believe, believe, or think of the, the father who comes to Jesus and says, I believe, help my unbelief.

Or think of the disciples in the boat as they say to Jesus, Jesus, do you not care? We're about to die. And Jesus says, what happened to your faith? Nowhere else is Jesus's tactic to say, let me pretend that I'm not going to answer your request in order to draw your faith out of you. So I find that unsatisfying too.

In fact, I find it quite remarkable that the answer is so easy to see, and so few see it. Because we can see exactly why Jesus goes here, and exactly why He has the interchange with this woman in the way that He does, simply by following the first rule of biblical interpretation. And what's the first rule of biblical interpretation, besides, of course, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit?

The first rule of biblical interpretation is context, context, context. Context. Always follow the context. If you don't follow the context, you will always risk distorting the scriptures. Context is always important. So if we let the context inform us, we will be led down the right path. Now our Bibles, we are blessed with Bibles that our editors, our Bible editors, have served us by giving us Lots of subheadings and I'm thankful for the subheadings in my Bible because the subheadings in my Bible Let me easily find passages that I don't always know exactly where they are I can know within two or three chapters maybe and I can turn to those two or three chapters and the subheadings will draw me and they'll suck me in and I'm so I'm so I'm thankful for that But those subheadings are also a stumbling block Because what the subheadings can do, and you don't even realize they do this, the subheadings lead you into thinking of the Scriptures as independent little separate sections of Scripture.

that stand independently. And when you want to turn to the Scriptures, you can just turn to a subheading and just jump right in because they're all freestanding independent passages, and they're not. And the subheadings will fool you into thinking of the Scriptures like little independent chunks. So we must always remind ourselves The subheadings were not written by Mark.

So if we take those subheadings out and we remind ourself of the context, in fact, let's go back in the context. Let's go back about five or six episodes. If we go back about five or six episodes, and we start reminding ourselves of what Mark has been showing us. The answer will be very forthcoming. So five or six episodes ago, Jesus sent out the disciples for the first time, two by two.

And as he sent them out, what did they encounter? They encountered choices. They encountered decisions. Because as they went out with this gospel message for the first time, they are the ones Jesus is delivering this message without Jesus there with them. For the first time, they're not standing on the sidelines listening to Jesus, watching Jesus heal people, listening to Him teach people.

For the first time, they are the ones doing the speaking. And as they're doing the speaking, they're encountering people that are listening, and people that aren't listening. Furthermore, they are doing this in the same region, the region of Galilee, which is a region that's inhabited by only, not only Jews, but also Gentiles.

And so they are faced for the first time with this question as they are there on the street corner in the city gates and they're telling about this man, Jesus, whose two villages over, they themselves are faced with the question as they're talking and there's Jews gathered around them, but then over there behind there's a couple of Gentiles listening.

What should I do? Should I speak to them? Should I address them? Or are they not to hear this at all? What about those who seem disinterested? How do I navigate that? How do I address the Gentile who has questions about Jesus? So they're faced with that for the first time. Then comes the episode of the beheading of John the Baptizer.

But then after that, Jesus says to them, Let's go away. Let's go and rest. We need some time away. They cross the Sea of Galilee, find no rest. But instead, what do they find? They find a situation that they utterly and completely misunderstand. We know that because that was the impetus for the storm that night.

The storm that night was for the purpose... of their misunderstanding because Mark specifically says to us, this is happening. They were terrified because they didn't understand the loaves. So, right after being sent out, they then try to go away and get some rest, they don't get any rest, but then they're faced with this situation in which they just don't comprehend the message and the ministry and the person of Christ.

And their failure to comprehend Put them in that situation in which Jesus revealed himself to them, okay? Then they come ashore to Gennesaret. They get out of the boat to the crowds and the people, and they're flocked and mobbed by people. And then comes the controversy of the Pharisees. Which isn't new, but it's now revived as the Pharisees come up once again from Jerusalem to say, Why are your disciples not following the ritual laws?

Why are your dis or not the laws, the traditions. Why are your disciples not following the ritual traditions? And that whole controversy, remember it was a big deal. The big deal in that passage was... These people are defiled. These things are defiled. These foods are defiled. And the whole, the whole point was, Jesus was to say, that's not defilement.

Defilement doesn't go in you, defilement comes out of you. And remember all of that was preparing us, of course, because Mark, Mark tells us, thus Jesus declared all foods clean. All of that was about this deep-seated way of viewing people, particularly the Gentiles, who were a defiled people. Remember all that?

Now, with the subheadings gone, immediately on the heels of that, Jesus says, let's go to Tyre. Immediately on the heels of that, Jesus takes them 35 miles into the heart of defiled country. He takes them into a land that in a real sense was more defiled even than the Decapolis. With the herds of pigs and the tombs and the unclean man.

He takes them into the core of Baal country. What did they find in the core of Baal country? A woman who understands his perils. You get it? Do you know who is the first person in Mark's gospel to understand his parables outside of his explanation? This woman. No one else in Mark's gospel has understood his parables without his explanations until her and these disciples who couldn't understand.

Remember, to you has been given the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, yet they still needed Jesus to explain everything to them. And the whole fact that the storm really was the result of their failing to understand who Jesus is and what His mission is. Now Jesus says, let's go to Tyre. They get to Tyre and what do they find in Tyre is the only person in Mark's gospel who does understand.

And furthermore, she is a Gentile and she is a woman. The Pharisees would not allow a woman to sit at a rabbi's feet. Which, by the way, sheds a new light on the whole story of Mary and Martha and how Mary sits at Jesus feet, right? Because the Pharisees would not allow a woman to sit at a rabbi's feet.

And that was a Jewish woman. This is a Gentile woman. And yet the Gentile woman comprehends what they haven't. Not only does she understand it, Jesus tells this parable about her. The parable is about her. Because Jesus uses these common terms. The Israelites commonly thought of themselves as the children of God and they commonly thought of Gentiles as dogs.

And so Jesus is telling the parable about her. She understands it and then enters into the parable to answer Jesus with His own parable. Do you see how she gets it? Yes, Lord. But even the little dogs can eat of the crumbs that are the children's crumbs.

Jesus travels to this Gentile land to encounter a woman who understands what they haven't understood and has faith that they don't have. Do you remember? Jesus, don't you care? We're about to drown. What happened to your faith? Oh, you of little faith. Do you really think that you were going to drown with me in the boat?

Now they encounter a woman who believes And she believes the three core things that we've talked about all along. All of those who come to Jesus believe these three, these same three things. He is able to help me, He is willing to help me, and He will make Himself accessible to help me. All those who have come to Jesus believe those three things.

He is able, He is willing, and He will make Himself accessible. She believes those things so resolutely that she cannot be rebuffed by Jesus harsh answers.

So who is Jesus doing this for? There may be some truth to the fact that Jesus is giving her opportunity to show her faith. And to strengthen her faith by answering him in this way. There may be some truth to that. But this little exchange between Jesus and this woman is not for the woman's benefit. You know whose benefit this is for?

This is for the disciples benefit. Could it be that these disciples still had a corner of their heart, a part of their heart, that as these Pharisees came up and they said, Jesus, why aren't you following the traditions? Could it be that part of their heart said, yeah. Why don't we? Could it be that part of their heart still said, Yeah, these, these Gentiles do sort of give me the creeps.

I'm, I'm a little bit uncomfortable with what we're doing with all these Gentile people and how, how we're going about all this. Could it be that Jesus took the disciples here? In order for them to witness an exchange in which Jesus will use words that they have heard their whole life and phrases that they've heard their whole life.

And Jesus will use those words and phrases so that those words coming out of His mouth to them will sound like they absolutely don't fit. You ever had that happen? Some sin that you have in your heart or some way of thinking that you have in your heart? And then someone else who's not a slave to that same sin?

We'll verbalize that and coming out of their mouth, it just doesn't sound right. You ever had that happen to you? Could it be that that's what Jesus is doing? Could it be that Jesus's words and Jesus's silence to the woman is really for the disciples to see that and to see what hypocrites we have been and how we need to think of this woman differently?

I think so. One of the reasons I think so is because let's look to Matthew's text now. You'll have to turn back to the front of your notes back from Matthew chapter 20. I'm sorry about chapter 15 verse 23 But he did not answer her a word and his disciples came and begged him saying Send her away for she is crying out after us.

You know what I hear there I hear zero sympathy for the woman Jesus is Taking the stance, so to speak, of having no sympathy, but out of the mouth of deci of the disciples. They have no empathy for her. They are tired of her. They are sick of her. She is like the demon possessed woman that followed Paul around Philippi, where Paul just turned around and cast out the demon.

They're like that. They're saying, Jesus, she is a nuisance. Will you make her go away? But then notice the next verse, verse 24. He answered. Here's the question. Who did Jesus answer?

Who does Jesus speak the following words to? I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Who is Jesus speaking to?

The last person to speak to Jesus in the story was the disciples, not the woman. And Matthew doesn't say, turning to the woman, he said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus says those words to the disciples.

Lord, send her away. She is such a nuisance. Make her stop. Make her go away. And I think Jesus turns to the disciples and says, all right, fellas, what would you have me to do, fellas? I was sent only to the lost house, lost sheep of the house of Israel. What should I do? As though to put it back upon them, as though to say to them, first of all, to show them, He doesn't answer her.

She pleads. He doesn't answer her. He then says to them, as she's going on, Please help me, Lord. Please help me. My daughter, she's possessed of a demon. Please help me. And the disciples say, Jesus, make her go away. Jesus turns to them and says, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

You want me to rebuke her, guys? You want me to make her leave us alone? What do you think I should do right here? So here's the question. Was Jesus sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? What do you think? Yes or no?

He said it. That's what he said. Was he lying? Was he being deceptive? Was Jesus sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? It depends. You say, what a cop-out answer. No. It depends on what you mean by Israel.

If what you mean by Israel is that political nation whose capital was Jerusalem, who was ruled by the Roman Empire, who had borders and laws and taxes. If that's what you mean by Israel, no, Jesus was not sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Even the Old Testament could not be more plain and more clear than that.

Genesis 12 and verse 6, in which God says, I will bless all people through you. All nations will be blessed through you. Isaiah 42, where God says to His Son, It's too small of a thing for you to be a light only to the house of Jacob. I will make you a light to all the nations. And dozens of other places.

If you mean Israel, if by Israel you mean, political Israel, or those who ethnically identified as Jews, those who follow the circumcision laws, the dietary laws, the sacrificial laws. If that's what you mean by Israel, then no, Jesus was not sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But if by Israel you mean what the New Testament means by Israel, as Paul says in Romans chapter 9, when he says, That for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all who are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.

This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, meaning ethnic Jews, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. So if by Israel you mean the people of God, if you mean the called people of God, then yes. Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Jesus was not sent to any but the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Those are not my words, those are his.

And so the question to the disciples really is this. Is this woman an Israelite?

That's what he's asking. Is this woman an Israelite?

Here is a woman who comprehends what I say. Remember the parable of the soils? How does she comprehend what Jesus is by the work of the spirit?

She comprehends what he says, and she has faith. And Jesus asked them, is she an Israelite or not?

Have we come all this way to rescue one of my sheep or not? Is this what Jesus meant in John 10 and verse 16? And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.

You see, Jesus makes this. Journey into Tyre and Sidon for the same reason that Elijah made his journey into Zarephath to rescue one of God's sheep. But in the rescue of that one sheep, Jesus brings the disciples along with him so that they may see that the hypocrisy and the hatred in the heart of the Pharisees that has to some degree infected the disciples.

They must expunge that. They are to be the foundation of the church. And for them to be the foundation of the church, they must know what true Israel looks like. They must lose all the vestiges of thinking of certain groups of people as unclean and defiled and off limits. They must lose all of that way of thinking.

And to show them this, Jesus takes them to Tyre and a true Israelite comes before Him. And instead of granting her request right away, He has this interchange in order for the disciples to be led into understanding. Wait a minute. How can this woman be defiled? How can this woman be an unclean, defiled person when she understands my master and she has faith in my master that's even stronger than mine?

I must rethink how I see people, I must rethink how I think of other people, and Jesus understands that must happen for the foundation of His church.