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 Syro-Phoenician 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.”
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.-Mark 7:24-30 (NKJV)
Then Jesus went out
from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out
to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is
severely demon-possessed.”
But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples
came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel.”
Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
And she said, “Yes,
Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’
table.”
Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be
to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.-Matthew
15:21-28
I have included both of the
accounts of this story, one from Matthew, and one from Mark, because they have
different details, both important.
The first thing to notice
about this passage of scripture is that Tyre and Sidon seems out of the way, at
least to me. I believe He is being led
by the Spirit of God, so He is not just randomly deciding where to go. It often seems like He travels to
specifically meet specific people.
When looking at this
passage, I think we need to keep in mind the character of God and what we
already know about Jesus. He was often
moved with compassion. We know He loved
the people because He tells us later on. The Bible also says God is love.
So, He travels to Tyre and
Sidon which is north of Galilee and on the coast. The Bible says “He entered a house and wanted
no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.” Why would He want no one to
know it? The Bible doesn’t say, so we
can only assume. Maybe He wanted to
rest. Maybe He was just waiting on her.
A woman comes and finds
him. The Bible says her daughter has an
unclean spirit. Some translations say an evil spirit. The Bible also says her daughter is
young. Some translations say little.
And she hears about
Jesus. It sounds like the story of thewoman with the issue of blood. She heard
about Jesus too.
When she comes to Jesus she
falls at his feet and calls him “Lord.” Only people who were expressing faith
in Him called Him Lord. She keeps asking
Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
It seems as though she had to ask Him more than once. Matthew’s Gospel says
He doesn’t answer her. Why would he do
that?
This is an interesting
interaction between Jesus and another person that we haven’t really seen
before. We have to remember who Jesus
is, what His purpose was, and what God is like when reading this passage.
He tells her it is not
right to take the children’s bread and throw it to little dogs. And she says back to Him,
And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little
dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”
Then Jesus commends her for
her great faith, and tells her the demon has left her daughter. She is only one of two people that it is
recorded as having “great faith.” What
caused her to have “great faith?” Well, I believe it was because she knew even
a crumb could save her. God’s mercy and love and power are so grand that it
doesn’t require a big grandiose show. It
just requires a belief from someone to tap into that power and receive all that
He has for us.
We also know that Jesus
Himself is called the Bread of Life. He
is the Manna from Heaven. During the Lord’s Supper, He takes bread and breaks
it and says it is His body. His body was
broken for us so we could have life and healing is a part of that life. And it only takes a crumb.
Beth
*I have written about this woman before as part of a series called Women in the Life of Jesus. If you would like read that post, go here.
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