I'm convinced that that woman, for the rest of her life, she was on her knees thanking God that she met the living Christ, who, by the spoken word, by the giving of a command, didn't even have to go home with her. He said to her, "You can go home. It's okay. Your daughter is healed." What an incredible experience, where Jesus to the unclean. Gave that which is holy and sacred.
Praise God that He doesn't deal with unclean sinners like us, according to what we deserve, but rather according to the riches of His mercy. Hello, and welcome to this Lord's Day edition of Renewing Your Mind. Today we'll be continuing our study in Mark's Gospel with RC Sproul as we consider the account of a Gentile woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter. Let's join RC now for today's message from Mark chapter seven. In today's lesson, we're still in chapter seven, and I'll be reading from verse twenty-four through verse thirty.
From there, he arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hidden. For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him, and she came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek. A Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." And she answered and said to him, "Yes, Lord." Yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs. And then he said to her, "For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter." And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. We've been examining the dispute that took place between Jesus and the religious authorities of his day over the issues of ritual purity, and it's immediately after this discourse on what is clean. And what is unclean?
That the narrative continues with Jesus withdrawing from that region and going purposefully into a region that was notoriously unclean. This is the only time in the record of our Lord's life that He is seen leaving the ancient borders. Of Israel, and going directly into a pagan land, and so we're told that he went to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
Now, what region was that? Tyre was twenty miles to the northwest of Capernaum, where Jesus had been laboring all along in that area. And Tyre was situated in ancient Phoenicia, and it was under the administration in Roman occupation of Syria. But Tyre, if you would like to know of its significance for today, was located in what is now Lebanon. We see the conflict today between the Jews and the Arabs of that region.
In the first century, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus made the remark that Tyre represented the most bitter enemy that the Jews had at that time. It was from that region. That Jezebel came and tormented the prophet Elijah. It was also the region most grossly committed to paganism. I mean, there's paganism and there's paganism, but the paganism in and around Tyre and Sidon in this region.
Was notorious for its wholesale activity with respect to idolatry, and so Jesus goes into this hotbed of idolatry, into this den of rank paganism, trying to find respite from the crowds that are pursuing him. But we read from Mark that he could not. Be hidden. That observation that Mark made then is true today. No matter how much people try to hide Jesus, He cannot be hidden, even in the darkest places of this world.
But there was a woman, whose daughter had an unclean spirit. And she heard about him, and we read that she came, and fell at his feet. The fact that she came and went face down into the dirt in front of him indicates two things. That first of all, she was paying homage to him. She was showing her profound respect to him, even though she didn't know him except by reputation.
But not only is this a sign of homage, but it's also a sign of abject pleading. She's falling on the ground in front of Jesus because, from her perspective, her last hope. For the redemption of her little girl, who has been possessed of a demon, is from the touch of this man who is in front of her.
Now, stop right there for just a second. We've just heard this lengthy discourse about the clean and the unclean, and we've seen. The religious authorities of the clean manifest their unbelief and their unwillingness to pay homage to Jesus, and now, in stark contrast to the unbelief and hostility of the Jewish leaders, we have this pagan woman who is manifestly unclean. Prostrating herself before the Lord Jesus Christ and begging him for his mercy. But notice what she does.
Mark tells us that she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. She doesn't just come and say, "Please, Jesus, heal my daughter." But she's persistent. She's begging. She's asking over and over and over again, recalling to our minds the importunate widow who pestered the unjust judge until he relented and gave relief to her.
So this is a woman. Who is so committed to the rescue of her daughter that she simply will not take no for an answer, and we see that Jesus is not quick here to give answer to her petition. He allows her to repeat it over and over again, and finally, when he does give answer, his answer seems, at least on the surface, To be completely harsh, and insensitive. Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread, and throw it to the dogs." How's that for a compassionate response from Jesus to this woman? Who's beseeching him for relief, for compassion, for saving her little girl?
Jesus says, "Let the children eat first. You don't take the food that is meant for the children and give it to the dogs." Several years ago, a feminist scholar. Wrote an essay giving a scathing critique of Jesus' response to the Syrophoenician woman, saying that his insensitivity and harshness was so severe on this occasion that he so demeaned this woman, in typical chauvinistic fashion, that he so insulted this poor woman. That he transgressed all of the boundaries of courtesy, and crossed the line even into slander, and that this text is Exhibit A that indicates that Jesus was not sinless, because surely on this occasion he sinned against this innocent woman. That he so demeaned and insulted by calling her a dog, might hasten to add that one of the worst insults you could give to a person in that region in antiquity was to call them a dog, because dogs were for the most part not the fluffy, warm puppies that are household pets that we enjoy, but they were.
At the very best, scavengers at time fear all. They would feast upon garbage, on carrion, and even devour corpses. They were the filthiest animal in the towns, and the worst insult you could give a person was to call them a dog. Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, said, "We don't give our pearls before swine. Neither do we take that which is holy and give it to dogs." Now, if Jesus committed a sin in his treatment of this woman, that's the end of his sinlessness.
And if Jesus had a single sin, He didn't have what was necessary to atone for his own sin, let alone to atone for ours.
So what I'm saying here, dear friends, is nothing less is at stake here than our own salvation. With respect to how Jesus treated that woman, if he sinned against her, then he is no savior, either of her or of you. Or me, but again, we have to raise the question: Did he, in fact, sin against her?
Now, a couple of things that have to be seen. Notice that in the translation that I read to you, the word "dogs" was qualified by the adjective "little." That's because in the Greek here, the word for "dog" is rendered in the diminutive sense.
So that what Jesus talks about here are small dogs that are at the table in somebody's house.
Now, in addition to these scavenging dogs that you find outside eating the carry-on and so on the garbage of the city, there were domesticated dogs in antiquity. The little dogs that were brought into the home. And functioned as household pets, but the principle in the home was, you could feed the animals from the table and give them table scraps, but only after the rest of the family has already eaten.
Now I like that principle. I have dogs in our house. And in our house, with respect to our dogs, we have three ironclad rules. You might want to adopt these for your own household if you have pets. The first rule is this: we don't feed our dogs human food.
They have carefully prepared, nutritious dog chow that is what we provide for them.
So the first rule is no human food. We don't always obey that rule, however, and so since we are a little bit lax in our obedience to that rule, we have rule number two, and rule number two is if we are to give them human food, it must never ever be given to them from the table. Because once you start giving food to dogs from the table, they will anticipate that and become a nuisance as you're having your family meal.
Now, most of the people in our family have been able to adhere rigidly to rule two. One of us, however, has even found it difficult to maintain the second rule. Maior culpa. There are times when our dogs look at me so longingly that I cannot resist giving them food from the table. Thereupon, she who must be obeyed has issued rule number three, and she has said, "If you must feed the dogs from the table." At least wait until dinner is over, and everybody else has left the table.
Then you can sit there and give them some scraps.
So that my dogs know very well, they're not allowed to take anything from the table, and if they're going to be fed from the table, they have to wait patiently until everybody's finished.
Now that's a nice. Way to run the household. We have three rules. You pick them, the one you want. But there's another unspoken rule, and it was the rule in the Jewish household, and that was this.
That suppose, while the dogs are dutifully and obediently waiting until the family has eaten before they are allowed to have any scraps whatsoever, if during that time inadvertently some food should fall from the table, then it was reasonable to allow the dogs to eat those scraps or crumbs. That inadvertently fell from the table, and so what Jesus is saying to this woman is, the children eat first, and he's referring to the children of Israel, and he's clearly saying my ministry has a priority. I didn't come here for ministry. My ministry is to take care. Of the children, the children of Israel.
Not to give the food that is designed for the children to the little dogs. And notice what she says. There's no feministic protest here by the Syrophoenician woman when he says we feed the children first. And not the dogs. The woman says, "Yes, Lord." Now, how much of the pejorative idea of dog is incorporated in Jesus' statement?
We leave for further debate. But whether that pejorative connotation is great or infinitesimal. It didn't bother that woman. That woman didn't stand up and protest and say, "How dare you insult me and speak to me as if I were a dog? Even if it's a household pet, I'm no dog.
I'm a woman." That's not her response. Her response was, "Yes, Lord." I understand. I have no prior claim to your mercy. I am not numbered among the children. I can't jump up on the table and feast upon the food that you set before your children.
I don't want that. I'm satisfied, Lord. With the crumbs. All I'm asking, just let one crumb that falls from your table come into my mouth, and I'm satisfied. Heal my daughter, please.
I know she's not in your family. I know she's not numbered among the children. We are the dogs who wait for the crumbs. But one crumb is all I'm asking for. Do you see the difference between this woman and the Pharisees?
This woman wasn't in there fighting for her rights. Or for her dignity. She knew who she was. Notice how many times in the Bible, when people come before the living God, they identify themselves with the lowest forms of life or of animals. I am a worm, O God.
I'm not a man. I have no claim. On the sweetness of your grace, because your grace is just that gracious, and every crumb that you bestow upon me is one I receive as an unworthy servant. And yet, dear friends, the true believer savors every. Crum, that comes from the hand of God.
And the good news is that in the overflow of mercy and grace that comes to us from the hands of God, though we should be satisfied with crumbs, He is not satisfied with giving us crumbs. He prepares a table before us. He has appointed us to attend a banquet in heaven. He has established from the foundation of the world the wedding feast of the Lamb, and has given to each of us who are in Christ Jesus an invitation to that feast, where we won't have to wait until. Dinner is over.
Before we get our portion, and the woman engages Jesus in a battle of wits. Here he says, "Yes, Lord, I understand that the dogs have to wait until after dinner. But during the dinner, they can still eat if crumbs fall. Just give me a crumb. That's all I want." Jesus hasn't found faith like that in Capernaum.
He hasn't found faith like that among the Pharisees or among the rabbis. The rabbis had a saying that to eat with an idolater is like eating with a dog. And this woman comes from a land given to idolatry, but Jesus. Permitted her to eat, dear friends. In that encounter, and what happened afterwards, I'm convinced that that woman, for the rest of her life, never complained about a single word that Jesus spoke to her.
It wasn't in her heart to describe our Lord as harsh and insensitive. Demeaning or sinful, but to the rest of her life, she was on her knees thanking God that she met the living Christ, who by the spoken word, by the giving of a command, didn't even have to go home with her. He said to her, "You can go home. It's okay. Your daughter is healed." What an incredible experience, where Jesus to the unclean gave that which is holy and sacred.
Notice also in the New Testament that we who are Gentiles are the Wild olive branch that has been grafted into the tree of Israel. In terms of redemptive history, we are the dogs. Israel are the children. But because the children refused the gift of the Father to them, the Father gave that gift now to us. Who had no claim upon it originally?
Would any of you trade in the crumb of your salvation for anything in this world? Because that crumb is at the same time the pearl of great price. He gave it to the Syrophoenician woman. He gives it to you. What a remarkable display of humility to come to Jesus, knowing she deserved nothing, simply pleading for His mercy, and yet receiving the crumb of salvation.
May our Father help us to see ourselves in the light of His holiness, and to receive with gladness what He offers in His Son. I'm so glad that you've joined us for today's episode of Renewing Your Mind. You can continue exploring the riches of Mark's gospel today by requesting Dr. Sproul's expository commentary. You'll receive the ebook edition of this resource when you donate to Renewing Your Mind today.
Just go to renewingyourmind.org to give, and we'll add it to your learning library in the Grow app. After Jesus touched a man who was mute, the tongue that could not speak was set free to glorify God. Join us next Sunday as we conclude our study in Mark's Gospel by considering how this miracle points to an even greater reality. Here, on Renewing Your Mind.
