I know that it’s only a little after 11 a.m.—but, are you hungry? This morning, I want to tell you about a woman who lived during Jesus’ time who was very hungry. But, all she got was “crumbs.” As it turned out, those “crumbs” were exactly what she needed. Her story is told in both Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospels (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30). Before reading the story, a little background information is helpful. Jesus had been preaching in Capernaum and around the areas of the Sea of Galilee. There, He had been ministering exclusively to the Jews. Despite Jesus’ tireless efforts to reach them, the Pharisees were not particularly receptive to Jesus’ message of repentance. Nevertheless, Jesus kept attracting large Jewish crowds and was preaching on a daily basis. Over the course of time, this constant preaching became exhausting, and Jesus and His disciples needed a little break. So, they headed outside Jewish territory for the only recorded time during Jesus’ ministry for some well needed rest and recuperation.[1] Mark’s Gospel tells us what happened then:
24 From there He [Jesus] 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. 25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 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.” 28 And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs." 29 Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter." 30 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)
This region of “Tyre and Sidon” where Jesus and His disciples sought rest should be familiar to us today. It has been in the news almost constantly for the last few months or so. This region is now part of the modern-day nation of Lebanon. It is where the fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah has intensified in the past weeks. Back in Jesus’ day, Tyre and Sidon were within the Roman province of Syria that was once part of ancient Phoenicia.[2] Jesus had hoped that His entry into the “pagan land,” would be undetected. But, somehow word got out that Jesus was there, which was music to the ears of an unnamed woman. Although the Scriptures refer to her as being “Greek”, we need to understand what that meant as applied to her. If you came from a nation or people-group that had been defeated by the Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, and you were influenced by Greek culture, then you were considered a “Greek.” But, she was actually no more Greek than you or I—for this woman was actually born there in the Province of Syria in old Phoenicia. Hence, she is generally referred to today as the “Syro-Phoenician woman.”[3]
There are two things to keep in mind here. First, she was not a Jew; rather, she was a Gentile. And, second, she had a problem that only Jesus could address—namely, her daughter had been taken over by an “unclean spirit.” In other words, the daughter was demon-possessed. Let’s first think about her Gentile status. Then, we will move on to Jesus’ initial comment to her—for His response to her pleas is probably one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. The woman approached Jesus with awe and respect, for it tells us that “she came and fell at His feet.” It is clear from this that she had heard He was a prophet and a man of God. Yet, her faith in Jesus seems to have gone much farther than merely thinking of Him as only a holy man. But, how could this be? She was a lowly Gentile who did not have the benefit of all the religious teachings and “head-knowledge” of her counterparts—those Jewish male, scribes and Pharisees who had been raised hearing the Law of Moses. Not only that, within the culture of her day, her status was the lowest of the lowest—for in that male dominated society, she was just a woman. So, how could it be that she reacted to Jesus in the way that she did? The answer lies in the simple truth that no one—whoever they are, or wherever they may be—has any excuse when it comes to knowing and accepting God as their Creator and Sustainer. Everyone, whether they will admit it or not, actually knows (or should know) the Truth about God. In this regard, Paul said:
19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively; God has put this knowledge in their hearts. Romans 1:19 (TLB) 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. Romans 1:20-22 (NLT2)
Make sure that you understand this: As human beings, we are ALL wired with the instinctive knowledge that we are responsible to a Supreme Being. With that being the case, there is not a person on this planet who can honestly say they never realized that God exists. And so it was for the Syro-Phoenician woman. She knew in her heart that there is One True God. And, when her eyes beheld Jesus, she knew He was the Son of God.
But, we are left with the question of how she found Jesus. In other words, how was she drawn to this one man out of all the people in Phoenicia? And bear in mind, that Jesus had secretly come to Phoenicia—seemingly making it all the harder for her to find Him. Yet, God assured her, as He assures us today: “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV) And further, Jesus Himself explained this in John’s Gospel when saying: “People cannot come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them to Me; and I will raise them to life on the last day.” John 6:44 (TEV) For those who earnestly seek God (in other words, they “HUNGER” for Him), God will draw them to exactly where they need to be to find Him. The problem is so few truly seek Him and so many resist His call to them. That’s not a problem with God—it’s a problem with humanity. Within today’s Christian context, G. K. Chesterton articulated the problem well when he stated: “The problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.”
Furthermore, note that no one has the excuse that they were never offered the opportunity to come to God with the same reverence and awe that the Syro-Phoenician woman showed to Jesus. Why is that the case? Again, the truth of this comes from Paul who, when writing to the Gentiles in Rome, pulled from the prophecy of Isaiah and explained: 12 “And in another place Isaiah said, ‘The heir to David’s throne will come, and He will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their HOPE on Him.’” [Paul continued:] 13 “I pray that God, the source of HOPE, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you TRUST in Him. Then you will overflow with confident HOPE through the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.” Romans 15:12-13 (NLT2) “For HIS HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS TO US deep in our hearts and tells us that WE REALLY ARE GOD’S CHILDREN.” Romans 8:16 (TLB) This woman sensed all of this in her heart. And, when she finally saw Jesus, she placed her HOPE and TRUST in Him. In other words, she had FAITH IN JESUS even though she didn’t have the benefit of hearing about Isaiah or Paul.
Now, that brings us to that part of this Scripture that so many have misunderstood. The woman bowed down before Jesus and prayed that He would cast out the demon from her daughter. The misunderstanding of many today comes from misinterpreting Jesus’ reply. In Mark 7:27, Jesus told 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.” What I just read comes from the New King James Version. The word “little” in describing “dogs” does not appear in most of the other major translations.[4] But, the New King James Version follows the Greek language more closely and is the preferred translation in this case. Being from Phoenicia, this woman would not have been familiar with Aramaic which Jesus would have spoken when preaching to the Jews. So, Jesus spoke to her in the Greek language which was then considered the international language of the day.[5] It is important to understand what Jesus was saying when he spoke to the woman in Greek. There are two Greeks words that can refer to a “dog.” One Greek word used for “dog” was “kyōn” (κύων, pronounced koo’-ohn).[6] This word referred to those dogs of the ancient world that were generally despised as feral animals that fed on carrion—i.e., “road-kill.” If someone called you a “kyōn,” they would be referring to you in a spiteful and derogatory manner. Jews despised Gentiles and often called them “kyōn” or “nasty, wild dogs.”
But, Jesus did not use “kyōn” for “dogs” when responding to the woman’s request. Rather, He used a different Greek word which does not have a derogatory meaning. In Mark 7:27, the word Jesus used for “dogs” was “kunarion” (κυνάριον, pronounced koo-nar’-ee-on). This refers to “little dogs” that were domesticated, lovable little pet puppies.[7] So, Jesus wasn’t speaking rudely or in a harsh manner to this woman at all. Rather, He was making a point that encompassed God’s plan of salvation for all people—Jews and Gentiles alike.
You see, according to God’s will, the Good News of salvation through Jesus was delivered to the Jewish people first. They already knew the One True God through the Law of Moses, the prophecies and the Psalms, and the rest of the Old Testament. It is disappointing that the Jews, as a whole, failed to respond to Jesus as they should have. They already had the spiritual background that put them in an excellent position to share God’s plan of salvation with the rest of the nations—in other words, to the Gentiles worldwide. That was the divinely ordained commission given to Jesus by God the Father.[8] Even after Jesus’ ascension, this continued to be the pattern for the missionary work by the early Church. Paul reflects this when he said: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: FIRST FOR THE JEW, then FOR THE GENTILE.” Romans 1:16 (NIV)
So, when Jesus told the woman, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs,” He was simply stating the order in which He was directed to deliver God’s message of salvation. The “children” represented the Jews; the “little dogs” represented all of us Gentiles. And yet, Jesus was doing more than stating the preferred sequence for saving humanity. He was also probing the depths of this woman’s faith. In fact, her faith must have been encouraging to Jesus, for He’d seen so little faith among the Pharisees and Jewish religious leaders. And so, Jesus was moved with compassion at the woman’s pleas. He was impressed by her persistence in delivering her repeated requests to Him. In fact, Matthew’s Gospel says that she was so persistent, that the disciples became fed up with her. They asked Jesus to send her away because her repetitive pleas were getting under their skins.[9] But, Jesus could see in this woman the attitude of the psalmist who said: “I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.” Psalm 16:8 (NASB) Now, that she’d found Jesus, her eyes were persistently fixed upon Him. Despite all that was against her, SHE WOULD NOT BE SHAKEN!
This demonstrated great faith on her part because, on the surface, it appeared that a great deal was against her. Her race was against her—for she was a lowly Gentile. Her gender was against her—for she was a mere woman pleading for mercy in a man’s world. The disciples’ cries were against her as they begged Jesus to send her packing.[10] But, none of this mattered to her. She loved her daughter and had found the One in whom she could place complete trust in meeting her needs. Her attitude anticipated Paul’s expression of faith when he later wrote: “In view of all this, what can we say? IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?” Romans 8:31 (TEV)
And so, she didn’t take offense at Jesus’ comment that placed her among the “little puppy dogs” who must wait their turn in line after the Jews to partake in Christ’s salvation. While this was the sequence for delivering God’s Word—first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles, Jesus’ love was then, and is now, available to everyone—especially the vulnerable little puppies of life. If we could have only seen the expression on Jesus’ face when He spoke to her, we might better understand why this woman gave such a hopeful response.[11] While His disciples’ faces may have displayed contempt for the woman, the expression on Jesus’ face may have been more sympathetic than we realize. In fact, it appears that her hope climbed even higher when Jesus made His reply. His words spurred her on to show the quality of her strong faith. And so, she countered: “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s CRUMBS.” Mark 7:28 (NKJV)
Why did this reply impress Jesus so much? Well, in saying this, the woman expressed, for all to hear, something that Jesus had been trying to get His disciples to understand. He told them that even a little faith as small as a mustard seed could move mountains.[12] And now, this woman taught them that even the tiniest crumb from the table of Christ is sufficient to meet our every need. That was the kind of FAITH that impressed Jesus! Matthew’s Gospel tells us Jesus replied: “‘Woman, YOUR FAITH IS GREAT. Let it be done for you as you want.’ And from that moment, her daughter was healed.” Matthew 15:28 (CSB)
This woman’s words and actions were completely aligned with a true understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus revealed Himself as the Bread of Life. He assures all those who place their trust in Him that they will never be “HUNGRY” again.[13] During His ministry, Jesus would appear before many great, wealthy and powerful men. Jesus offered His “Bread” to all of them. For example, He offered it: To the “rich young ruler,” to Caiaphas the high priest, to Herod Antipas—the king, to Pontius Pilate—the Roman governor, and even to Judas Iscariot—the vile betrayer. But, none of them, to their eternal regret, accepted the Bread that Jesus so graciously offered. Why?—because they weren’t HUNGRY for the Bread of Life that only Jesus can give. But, the unnamed woman craved the mere Crumbs of Jesus’ Truth. She may have been unnamed in the Scriptures, but her name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.[14] Her faith in Christ set her free in a way that those faithless men would never know.[15]
What about you? Are you HUNGRY for the Word of God? In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus said:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (CSB) Do you want to be filled? This morning Christ offers you, not mere crumbs, not just a slice, but the WHOLE LOAF OF HIS MERCY AND GRACE. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. He yearns for you to let Him in to dine with you.[16] The question is: Will you let Christ set His table in your house? What a Heavenly Feast He offers to you!
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to commit your life to Jesus Christ. Give up the stale bread of this world and start a new and lasting diet on the Bread of Life. Or, if you have known Christ, but your hunger for Him has been fading, don’t let that continue. If you do, you may find yourself spiritually starving and not even realize it. We need to take a lesson from the Syro-Phoenician woman and realize it’s better to be a “little dog” in Christ’s Heavenly Kingdom, than a “dead-dog” in the kennel of Hell. But, what Jesus has prepared for you is nothing like a kennel for dogs. He has a mansion of glory awaiting those who eat of His Bread and drink of His Cup.[17] God’s Word assures us: “Blessed is everyone who will eat Bread in the Kingdom of God!” Luke 14:15 (NASB) Won’t you follow the breadcrumbs of Christ to the Gates of His Heavenly Kingdom—and enter His Great Feast. If you will do that, rested assured YOU’LL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN!
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
September 8, 2024
©2024 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] R. C. Sproul, “The Syro-Phoenician Woman,” Ligonier Ministries, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/sermons/mark-syro-phoenician-woman [accessed Sept. 4, 2024].
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] For example, the NASB translation has Jesus saying in Mark 7:27: “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” The following translations also omit the word “little”: NLT2, TEV, TLB, NIV, NASB, ESV, NET, KJV, CSB, HCSB and NRSV. Only the AMP follows the NKJV in stating “little dogs.”
[5] Kenneth S. Wuest, Volume 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 152.
[6] James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2965".
[7] James Strong, Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary, (Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2952". See also: New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, (Anaheim, CA: Foundation Publications, 1998), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "2952". See also: Warren Wiersbe, Be Loyal (Matthew), (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 54.
[8] Kenneth S. Wuest, Volume 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 152.
[9] Matthew 15:23 “Then His disciples urged Him to send her away. ‘Tell her to go away,’ they said. ‘She is bothering us with all her begging.’” (NLT2)
[10] Warren Wiersbe, Be Loyal (Matthew), (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 55.
[11] George W. Knight, A Simplified Harmony of the Gospels, (Nashville, TN: Homan Bible Publishers, 2001), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 112.
[12] Matthew 17:20 “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (CSB)
[13] John 6:35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.” (CSB)
[14] Revelation 21:27 “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (CSB)
[15] John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (NIV)
[16] Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (NASB)
[17] 1st Corinthians 11:26 “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup you are retelling the message of the Lord’s death, that he has died for you. Do this until he comes again.” (TLB)
John 14:2-3 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (NKJV)
Topics: Faith
