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Mark 7:24-30 Breaking Barriers 5.12.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, this morning, we're going to look at the Syrophoenician woman in Mark chapter 7. Allow me to read our text, Mark 7, verses 24 to 30, and then we'll pray and begin. Mark chapter 7 and verse 24, it says, And from there he, referring to Jesus, arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.
• 0:25
  But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. And the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 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, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
• 0:52
  And he said to her, for this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. And Lord, we pray again a blessing over the hearing of your word. We pray that the teachers of this church would divide it rightly. God, that this church would be filled with and founded on sound doctrine, proclaiming your son, Jesus Christ, and his dominion over evil.
• 1:24
  We're so thankful, God, today for the faith of this woman, the woman of great faith. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, what would you be willing to do for your child? When Hallie was pregnant with Pearson, our firstborn, I was nervous. We were in our mid-20s. I had, to that point in my life, never changed a diaper. I'd never been around babies. I'd never babysat. I had never worked in the church nursery.
• 1:57
  I honestly, to that point, I was 25 years old. I had never really even held a baby before. I was especially nervous as the day drew nearer because I thought, and I'm honest here, and I don't even know if I've ever told Hallie this, but I honestly thought fleeting thoughts of what if I don't like him? I honestly wondered, do parents just automatically like their kids? I had been around some parents who seemed like they didn't.
• 2:31
  And I thought, you know, maybe it's not the parents' fault because I had also been around some of their kids. And I thought, you know what? I wouldn't like you either. And then I met him. He was enormous when he was born. He had a full head of hair, which I was thankful for. Honestly, the first time I saw Pearson, the first time, I knew that I would die for him. I would stop a train for him. I would jump in front of a bus for him. I would take a bullet for him.
• 3:10
  In that moment, I thought I would lay down my life for you. Yeah, my nervousness was put to rest. I need not wonder. I like him. Our series the last few months has been a study of some of the more difficult statements that Jesus ever made, the hard sayings of Jesus. And we have said that Jesus said a lot of things that were hard to hear, either because they were difficult to understand and so hard to explain, or because they were easy to understand, but hard to apply.
• 3:46
  And this morning we come to Jesus' conversation with the Syrophoenician woman and a statement that needs some explaining. Difficulties surround this passage. This particular passage is actually a request from a man here in our congregation who rightly said of this sermon in his email to me as he requested it that this passage has been a tough pill for him to swallow for many years. He said he believes God to be an intimate,
• 4:17
  interested, patient, kind, forgiving, long-suffering, and willing Heavenly Father. And yet, he said, Jesus' flippant statement to this desperate mother seems calloused and heartless. Now, certainly problems abound in this text. Some commentators I've read this week even believe this passage to be a glimpse into what they call, and I quote, the brutality of Jesus.
• 4:47
  And I must respectfully but wholeheartedly disagree. Is God the bloodthirsty tyrant that some believe him to be? I think the answer is a resounding no. And if it's no, then what do we make of Jesus' initial refusal to help this poor woman's daughter? Let's begin in verse 24 of our text. And notice the setting of this conversation. Verse 24 says, and from there, now there would be...
• 5:17
  He had been, Jesus had been on a preaching and healing circuit through Jerusalem, the capital city of the nation of Israel. What was a hotbed of religious and political activity, much of it negatively directed at him. And it says, and from there he arose.
• 5:38
  and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Now Tyre and Sidon were in the north. They were north even of Galilee. They were north of Israel's borders. North even of the Old Testament tribal allotments of Israel. So Jesus is escaping to the north. This would have been modern day Lebanon. Okay, so when you think of your world map, that's what we're talking about. Into the north, Tyre and Sidon, into the region that was known commonly then.
• 6:08
  As Phoenicia, he went there because he was tired. I think he was beyond tired. I think he was exhausted. He had been teaching and teaching and teaching and teaching by the thousands. And within those thousands, every single time there were opponents of his ministry. Throughout the gospels, the scriptures say that they were trying to trap him in his words.
• 6:37
  forcing even cripples in front of him to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. You can imagine him gingerly walking through all of this ministry. And even then, when he would retreat to a friendly home, even his disciples did not understand what he was talking about. And he'd have to go back and explain again to them what he was saying. He was going and going and going and going nonstop. And so he decided that he was going to go to the north.
• 7:07
  into Phoenicia and take a break. Continue in verse 24, it says, and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, and yet he could not be hidden. So Jesus, seeking rest, withdraws to this Gentile province on the coast, I think, thinking that he would find an area where nobody knew who he was, where nobody knew where he was.
• 7:39
  But even there, the text says he could not find a moment's quiet. If you're taking notes, our sermon this morning has two points. You'll notice in verses 25 and 26, the Canaanite woman's request. And then you'll notice in verses 27 to 30, the compassionate Savior's response. And so let's look at the first one, the Canaanite woman's request in verse 25. But immediately...
• 8:05
  A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. And the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Now we know that different people do things different ways. Cultural differences, in my opinion, are wonderful. I have, as I have traveled around the world, loved seeing and learning new places.
• 8:34
  But we also know that cultural differences are funny. What may be very acceptable in one place can be very offensive in another. If you guys are old enough to recall that in 1992, our then president, George H. Bush, while visiting Australia, famously tried to give the peace sign. You guys remember this? So holding two fingers up in peace, but instead accidentally did it with his palm facing him, which...
• 9:04
  in the land down under apparently is equivalent to our middle finger. There are all kinds of pictures of him, and if you can imagine, a president stepping off the plane and doing that caused some problems. His son, George W. Bush, while giving a press conference in 2008, was mildly attacked by an Iraqi reporter who stood up and threw his shoes at him. George W. Bush later said that was the strangest thing that had ever happened to him.
• 9:40
  But in Arab cultures, the bottom of your shoe is horribly offensive. To even accidentally direct the bottom of your shoe at someone while crossing your legs is a serious blight. Would probably get you thrown out of their home. You guys can probably recall the very vivid memories we have of that massive statue in Iraq as Saddam Hussein was deposed. And they pulled that statue over all of the people taking off their shoes. You remember this? And smacking the statue with their shoes. And that's what they were doing.
• 10:10
  It was meant to be offensive. The nation of Ecuador, traditional tribal peoples will promise their sons and daughters to each other based on the quality of that family's ability to produce a certain alcoholic drink called chicha. Chicha is made by chewing up bits of fruit and then spitting that gooey pulp into a container where it is allowed to ferment. You wait a couple of months and then drink up.
• 10:44
  It is one of the grosser things I have ever tried, but it was pretty good. And so I'm sorry, Pearson, your betrothed to some young gal in Ecuador. You know, in America, we have funny things too. We remove our hats out of respect when we enter buildings, when we pledge to the flag, when we pray. But Jewish tradition was exactly the opposite. They go without a hat, except when they pray.
• 11:22
  Then they cover their heads out of reverence for God as a tangible picture of their submission to him. These, among many, many, many others, cultural expectations create a sense of do's and don'ts, which must be followed if you would avoid disrespecting the people you are addressing. You have a son wearing a hat when he's pledging allegiance, you tell him to take it off. It's offensive. When he's praying, you take your hat off. Unless you're Jewish, then you put your hat on.
• 11:56
  It's completely the opposite. But we've got to learn these cultural expectations if we don't want to offend the people that we're with. Now, as we look at the Syrophoenician woman, who has been deemed the woman of great faith, we will observe that she breaks every man-made cultural barrier that could be broken in order to bring her daughter to Jesus. Now, here's what I mean. Matthew's gospel gives the parallel account of this same event in Matthew chapter 15. And in verse 21, it calls this woman a Canaanite.
• 12:28
  This woman could have traced her lineage back several thousand years to some of the first people ever to inhabit that region. Some of the earliest archaeological civilizations on record were from the Canaanites. The earliest written alphabets were from the Canaanites. And some of the earliest opponents to God's people were the Canaanites. The line of people that this woman drew her heritage from.
• 13:01
  When the people of Israel under Joshua were told to conquer the promised land, it was the Canaanites they were to depose. When they failed to do so, it was the Canaanites who were allowed to stay and who, if you read Joshua's account, became an idol-worshiping snare to God's people. Do you remember that? It was this people. And so now, imagine a Canaanite woman imposing herself upon the Lord and his disciples. She had no credentials.
• 13:31
  She was a Gentile, pagan, woman of Syrian descent from Tyre. According to Jesus' apostles in Matthew 15, she was an outsider. In fact, in Matthew's account, the apostles actually come to Jesus and ask Jesus, really more tell Jesus to turn her away, get rid of her. Get rid of her, Lord. She won't leave us.
• 13:55
  Alone, you can imagine them in their self-righteousness, even in their own minds, going back to the time of Joshua. And Lord, the mistakes they made, we will not repeat. We will not cohabitate with Canaanites. We will not compromise with Canaanites. We will not do that. Lord, get rid of her. She's a bother to us and to you. According to Jesus' apostles, she was outside the covenant of God.
• 14:25
  and therefore outside of the blessings of God. And on top of that, she was the mother of a daughter who was demon-possessed. Canaanite custom would have been for this woman to go to the temple of Eshman. Eshman was the Canaanite god of healing. She should have gone there, and she should have presented a sacrifice. Perhaps instead, she could have gone straight to the top of their deities, Baal or Baal himself.
• 14:58
  The God that we have all heard of. He was their God of gods. She could have beseeched his mercy on behalf of her daughter. But instead of going to a temple, she made her way to a house. And not just any house, but the one in which Jesus sought to escape the crowds. She came unclean. She came disqualified. And now she was interrupting the Savior's rest. She was creating a cultural faux pas.
• 15:29
  She was breaking every barrier that could be broken. She was committing every social no-no in the book, but she didn't care. And why? Because she was a mom. A mom whose child was in need. Timothy Keller says this. He says there are cowards, then there are regular people, then there are heroes, and then there are moms.
• 16:02
  He goes on, moms are not really on the spectrum from cowardice to courage because if her child is in jeopardy, a mom simply does what it takes to save them. Her normal personality is irrelevant. She will do whatever it takes. And praise God for moms who bring their kids and grandkids to Jesus. And if you are one of those, then don't give up.
• 16:33
  I know that some of you, because I have talked to some of you, I know that some of you feel like you are walking that road by yourselves, that you don't maybe have the support that you'd like to have in your home. Some of you live in a home that is spiritually one-sided. Your family is here because of you. And let me just encourage you. I don't want to say anything disparaging about any man in this room, but if you are one of those moms, then can I encourage you, don't give up.
• 17:04
  The text this morning says nothing of this woman's marital status. For all we know, she had a husband. Where was he? In that moment, it didn't matter. She had taken it upon herself to bring her daughter's need before the Savior, and she would leave blessed. Her daughter would find healing because of it. And you'll notice in verse 26 that it says that she
• 17:32
  begged Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter. She begged him. The Greek word there is in the present progressive tense. What that means is that she begged and kept on begging relentlessly, unceasingly, please, Lord, please heal my daughter. Matthew's account in verse 22 says that she cried out in a loud voice saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.
• 18:01
  My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. She's begging. She is crying out. Alistair Begg says the cries of the needy are at their apex in the cries of a mother for her child. What cry is greater than that one? You guys ever, anybody in here ever sponsored a child, maybe from World Vision or Compassion International? You guys ever done that? Our family has.
• 18:32
  Can I just ask you honestly, when you walked by the booth, when you heard the charge, you walked by the booth, you're looking at all the little profiles, all the little cards, would you have been inclined? Would you have been as inclined to sponsor one of them if they were full grown men, right? This is Otis and he's 43 years old and he lives in Omaha, right? And you're $500 a month. We'll go to, you're like, wait a minute. No, there's no way I choose that guy.
• 19:07
  This is Brandon. He's 33. He lives in his mom's basement, spends most of his time on the Xbox. But for your $29 a month, no way. This is Blanca. She's five years old. She lives in Quito, Ecuador. She's never been to school. She can't go to school because there is no school. She can't drink clean water. She's sick most of the time because the pump they need, they dug the well, but they have no water pump. It's $400.
• 19:39
  Like, wait, $400 per person? No, for the whole village. $400 for the whole village, and they can have clean water. You're like, yeah, we'll sponsor Blanca, and we did. She was our girl, and she's in her early 20s now, I think. She was five when we got her. Right? Yeah, of course. Sorry, Otis. Like, we're going to choose Blanca. Can you imagine? Of course. The cries on behalf of needy kids, right? Our hearts break for that. And listen, do you think that our Father's heart in heaven is any different?
• 20:11
  If you're pleading on behalf of your kids, do you think his heart is calloused? Ours are not. The cries of God's people on behalf of their kids in need are not prayers that are quickly and easily cast aside. He listens as we plead for the good and the souls of our children. And when I speak to parents of spiritually successful children and I ask them what their formula was,
• 20:44
  They seem to all say the same thing. I'll ask somebody. They've got children in their 30s and 40s that are living for the Lord and walking with the Lord and advancing the kingdom. And I just say, you know what? What did you guys do? What did you do so that I can also do it? What did you do? And their response is typically the same. They blush. They say that it happened despite them almost every time. And then they say, but we prayed a lot. We did our best.
• 21:15
  And then we prayed a lot. Successful parenting, I think, is pretty well described that way. You do your best, and then you bring your children before the Lord. And isn't that exactly what this woman did? She did her best, and then she brought the needs of her child before the Savior. I've also noticed that successful parents oftentimes must overcome their fear regarding difficult and awkward conversations with their kids. You notice that?
• 21:50
  Successful parents are often the ones who are willing to ask uncomfortable questions of their kids. If you're scared of your kids, it's hard to parent your kids. Having awkward, difficult conversations is part of successful parenting. Many of us, I think, too frequently allow either social expectations or fear keep us from having spiritual conversations with our children. It feels uncomfortable, and so we just avoid it. But whatever you do,
• 22:21
  whatever you would sacrifice, whatever social faux pas you would commit in order to bring your loved ones to Jesus, do it. Do we not see that woman here willing, willing to have the awkward, uncomfortable conversation, willing for the good of her daughter? And if for some of you, there seems that nothing can be done, your loved ones and kids are now grown.
• 22:50
  you no longer control whether they attend church or take communion, then may I encourage you to do your best and then to pray. J.C. Ryle says this, wonderful as it may seem, God is pleased to do great things for souls. He wants to. He is pleased to do great things for souls, especially, he says, when friends and relations are moved to pray for them. Because after all, scripture says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth.
• 23:21
  much. Prayer works. Prayer works, and therefore pray for your kids. J.C. Ryle also says, the day of judgment will show that one of the greatest links in drawing some souls to God has been the intercessory prayer of friends and family. How'd you get saved? Now, our testimonies may not include that somebody prayed for me for years.
• 23:45
  Probably our testimonies begin with whoever shared the gospel verbally with you, but let us not neglect the years of prayer that went into it before that, that we know nothing of. When we get there that day and can see tangibly, I don't know how the Lord will illustrate that for us, but the years and years and years of prayers that went into softening our hearts so that we could receive the gospel, so that the word of God would be rooted and firmly established in our lives. No doubt, J.C. Ryle says,
• 24:15
  The intercessory prayers of friends and families were part of the links in that chain. That's first. The Canaanite woman's request. Now let's look at the compassionate Savior's response. Look what Jesus says in verse 27. And here is the hard saying. 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. What? We'll come back to it.
• 24:44
  She answered and said, 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. She went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Now let me at the outset dispel the myth that the Lord was anything but compassionate toward this woman. Although his response seems strange, the end result shows the genuineness of his love toward her. Look again at verse 30. Did he love her?
• 25:11
  Was he compassionate toward her? Apparently, because she went home and the demon was gone, right? So in case you look at that statement and see harsh brutality, let that be set aside for the sake that he granted her request. She went home, found her child lying in bed and the demon gone. I don't think that when she went home and found her child lying in bed and the demon gone, this woman would have accused Christ of brutality and harshness.
• 25:40
  Right? I don't think she thought that. And so we probably shouldn't either. But this is nevertheless a weird thing to say. Let us not forget that much has gotten lost, I think, in our ability to read the body language and tone of Jesus' response. We don't know what his body language was. We don't know what his tone was. There's a reason. We don't text anything important.
• 26:04
  Right? Because you can't understand tone. You can't see tone. There is a reason that emojis exist. They're our best effort to communicate tone. In case you don't know that I'm joking when I say this, here's what my face looks like. It is a perfect circle and it is canary yellow. Right? We are the most jaundiced people on earth. They never make any sense to me. I don't use them. Right? Waterfalls coming out of my eyes. I don't get it.
• 26:35
  There's a weird kissy face with a heart and it's attached to my cheek. I don't understand. This is what my hands look like and I'm wearing a party hat. Okay. William Barclay says this. We can be sure that the smile on Jesus' face and the compassion in his eyes robbed the words of all insult and bitterness. If there was any there, Jesus was not harsh or brutal. Let us also remember as we consider this statement that in this statement there are references to covenants.
• 27:09
  to the primacy of the Jews as gospel heirs, to the very purpose of Christ coming to earth. He was not being disparaging toward her or her children. He instead wanted to ensure that the woman had come with a proper heart, and he wanted to ensure that his disciples, who were harsh toward her, that they would leave with the proper heart. And so what did this statement accomplish? I think two things. First,
• 27:37
  Jesus' response was a test of the woman's sincerity. You know, many in our culture, and I believe this to be a universal human condition, not just Americans, but many in our culture make requests with a sense of expectancy rather than with a sense of humility. Many come feeling like you owe them something and so are put off when they don't receive what they've asked for. But this woman's response was so humble.
• 28:10
  And so, well received. She claimed nothing. She knew that she deserved nothing. She had no intention of squeezing her way into the covenant promise of God. That's not what she was saying. It was common Jewish vernacular at the time of Jesus to refer to the Gentiles as dogs. And so he throws that out there. I think he wanted to know what she thought. And her response is perfect. It was perfect.
• 28:43
  Jesus, I'm not saying that you should take the food away from the kids and give it to the dogs. Can you imagine in your own home, you take food away from your son and daughter and give it to the dogs? Nobody would do that. But she says, but don't also forget that when the kids are done, the dogs eat the scraps. You do put the plate on the floor. Don't forget that a good master of the house doesn't forget the dogs. Don't forget the puppy, right? First, it was a test of her heart and she passed.
• 29:14
  But second, it was also a response and a rebuke to the apostles' prejudice. Now, in this encounter, we catch a glimpse of what Jesus intended by sending out his disciples to the ends of the earth. The Pharisees assumed and expected that the Messiah would be focused on them exclusively. They were the only ones on the inside. And it turns out that this statement was not peculiar to the Pharisees.
• 29:43
  Matthew's account in verse 23 of chapter 15 even records the disciples commanding her away. They had no time, nor did they have the heart for such an outsider. And very frequently Jesus was asked to perform miracles even. Because the Jews deemed someone worthy. Remember this? Luke chapter 10. The centurion's servant. He's a Gentile. But the Jews go on his behalf.
• 30:12
  and say, we think you should do this miracle because we believe he's a good man. Can you imagine Jesus standing there like, well, okay, if you think so, no. And yet over and over, Jesus broke down these false religious expectations, these cultural barriers. He did it over and over and over. Jesus would ensure that not only would this woman leave blessed, he knew she would, but that his own disciples would leave with an understanding that he claimed that he came to bless the whole world. You know, today,
• 30:45
  is Mother's Day. And we praise God for this example of what I believe to be a typical mother. She is a woman willing to do anything, to endure anything, in order to bring her needy loved ones to the Savior. And may we follow her example. Lord, we thank you for this exchange that we can learn from between your son and this woman. And we pray, God,
• 31:16
  that we would receive the same type of generosity and grace from the Savior. We who deserve nothing and are not part of the covenant, but God, because of the blood of Jesus and the new covenant, part of your kingdom. And Lord, may we leave blessed in the same way. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. And amen.