TEXT: Mark 7:24-30

SUBJECT: Meeting the Lord #7: Syrophenician

The story begins with our Lord traveling north from Galilee to the frontier of Tyre and Sidon. The cities are not part of Israel, but are well known to the people of God and universally hated.

Our Lord has gone there on vacation. If the Jews mob Him everywhere He goes, maybe He can find some rest in a Gentile city. But "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head". No sooner does He get there than a pushy woman barges in on Him, demanding a favor.

Who is she? She is a "Greek, a Syrophenician by birth". "Greek" stands for her culture--Pagan and corrupt. "Syrophenician" is her heritage--proud, greedy, cursed by God.

Never has a less worthy person come to the Lord Jesus. If you think Matthew the mobster was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet!

What does the woman want? She wants the Lord to help her daughter who is demon possessed. "Cast out the demon, Lord!" No reply. "Lord, cast out the demon!" Nothing. "Please, Lord, cast out the demon!" Blank stare. She "keeps on asking" Him. He keeps on ignoring her.

But she won't take "no" for an answer. She keeps pestering Him, till He speaks at last. But what He says isn't what she hoped for: "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs".

At first glance, the words are quite offensive. But thankfully, we have commentators to explain them away. A. H. McNeile says the Lord spoke these words with humor and tenderness. R.T. France saw a twinkle in the Lord's eye. Others think "little dog" is sort of a "pet name" (no pun intended), a playful and friendly term.

Try as they might, the commentators can't take the edge off the word, "dog". Its every use in the Bible is a bad one! Deuteronomy 23:18 has it: "You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord...for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God". When he saw David, Goliath roared, "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?" Speaking of Shimei, David's soldier asked him, "Why should this dead dog curse my Lord, the king?" Peter wrote of "the dog returning to its own vomit". And John saw heaven shut up against "dogs, sorcerers, murderers, whoremongers", and so on.

Our Lord has called the woman and her people "dogs". And just as a man won't take food from his children to feed the dogs, our Lord won't take time away from the needy Jews to help this dirty Gentile. That's what He says; that's what He means.

The woman understands. But instead of going away in a huff, she replies, "Yes Lord, but even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs".

She's right. No man would starve his family to feed his dogs, but what about the table scraps? They're fit for dogs. And that's all she wants. She doesn't demand the prime rib, she's after the bones and gristle and fat.

Our Lord is impressed. "For this saying, go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter".

When she gets home, her daughter is well. Jesus Christ has done it again; His word is triumphant.

That's the story. What does it mean? Two points should be made in passing.

The story reminds us that our Lord is a universal Savior. "He came to His own" people, the Jews. It was they who "saw Him, touched Him, heard Him, and handled Him with their hands". Yet He is not a local Messiah. Another woman calls Him "The Savior of the world". And she is right; He is. "When the Son of Man is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself"--Jews and Gentiles, male and female, rich and poor, young and old, sick and well. "There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus".

Is this narrow-minded or bigoted? Not at all, for Jesus Christ is willing to save everyone who comes to Him in faith--Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, Agnostic, Roman Catholic, Reformed Baptist, you name it! Like His Father, Jesus Christ is "No respecter of persons"; He welcomes any and all. That includes you.

Earlier we found Him "eating with sinners". But here? He's "dining with dogs". If you're a dirty, stinking, flea-bitten, foaming at the mouth mongrel with bad breath, come to Christ; He has something for you too.

The second point I made last week, but will mention it again: In a woman, "a meek and quiet spirit is, in the sight of God, very precious". But it's not the only quality He wants in them and approves of. This dear lady has acute powers of reason and language. And is not criticized for using them. Has God given you a good mind? If so, use it. Has He given your wife or daughter a good mind? Let her use it, too--with your blessing!

These are lessons worth learning, but not the one Mark is trying to teaching. Of all the things he might have recorded about our Lord, why did he choose this one? We needn't guess, v.29 explains: "For this saying, go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter".

What saying? This one: "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs". These words got the woman the favor she wanted.

Why? Not because they're magical words, of course. But because of what they reveal of her. What's that? William Hendricksen says "faith". If he were expounding Matthew's account, I would agree with him. But he's not. Mark is making a different point.

What is it? Think about it: Our Lord calls her "a dog" and she concurs. What would make her agree with that unflattering assessment? One thing: Humility.

The meaning of the passage, therefore, is this: "God gives grace to the humble".

The references are Proverbs 3:34 and I Peter 5:5. The Syrophenician's story illustrates that principle.

The lesson is worth laboring. Nothing is less wanted than humility--after all, it's humiliating! Nothing is more needed. Of all the things a rich man might have given to God, he knew only one thing mattered--"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit--a broken and contrite heart, these, O God, You will not despise".

How does this apply to us? Two things can be said.

First, it tells us what the barrier to faith truly is. Why doesn't everyone believe in Christ? Here's why: Because believing in Christ means humbling yourself. It means telling Him you're as rotten as He says you are. That you deserve eternal punishment, and that you can't do a thing to get out of it. David wrote,

"That you may be justified when You speak,

And clear when You judge".

Faith is a "narrow gate". Think of a sinking ship with a portal that corresponds precisely to your measurement. It is so tight you can't get through with anything--no baggage, no souvenirs, no clothes. You have a choice: Will you drown holding onto your things, or drop them and live? The choice is not hypothetical.

The world is sinking under the wrath of God. There's a way out, though: faith in Christ. If you take it, you must drop your self-sufficiency, your good works, your baptism, your heritage, everything must go! What will you do? The choice could not be more stark: "Whoever desires to save his life (with its things) will lose it, but whoever loses his life...will save it. What would [you] give [up] in exchange for your soul?"

Why didn't the Pharisees believe? They saw the same miracles the disciples did; heard the same teaching; saw the same example; and so on. Why didn't they turn to Christ en masse? It was their pride: "How can you believe who seek honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from God only?"

Here's the deal: Drop your pride and receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the second place, we learn how highly God thinks of humility. This shouldn't surprise us, for when He joined the human race, what sort of man was He? He was "meek and lowly of heart". What kind of people did He condemn most often and sharply? Was it not those "who trusted themselves that they were righteous, and despised others?" With what kind of people did He associate? Weren't they "the poor in spirit"--people who knew they had no claim of God's favor? What did He most disapprove of in His disciples? Was it not their vying for the top places in His kingdom?

If God abhors pride, we ought to as well. And not just in others, but chiefly, in ourselves. We ought to look for it, to find it, and to mortify it by God's grace. If we're so proud that we can't find our pride, we ought to ask God to point it out to us: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; see if there are any evil ways in me, and lead me into life everlasting".

If the Lord loves humility, we ought to "humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God". God give us the grace to do so. For Christ's sake. Amen.