Moms in the Bible–The Syrophoenician Woman

This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 64, “Moms in the Bible–The Syrophoenician Woman”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/moms-in-the-bible-the-syrophoenician-woman

This month’s episode on Moms in the Bible focuses on the Syrophoenician woman. Her story is found in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 with each account providing detail for the story. I am going to read to you the combined story.

“Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, a Canaanite. She was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”  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 him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”

In this account, we see that Jesus had retreated from Israel to the northern cities of Tyre and Sidon, away from the controversy between him and the pharisees. The passage says that he hoped to be unnoticed, but clearly that was impossible. His reputation had spread even to this Gentile land and a desperate woman heard of it. Matthew emphasizes that she was a Canaanite, meaning she descended from the long-time enemies of Israel. Her people did not worship the God of the Israelites, yet here she is, seeking help from the Israeli teacher. I love this story! She models for us faith, persistence, humility and confidence.

Look at the way that she identified Jesus. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.” This was an incredible declaration from a Gentile woman. She somehow knew the Scriptures and not only that, she expressed faith that Jesus was the offspring of David, the promised Messiah. The disciples themselves had not yet declared Jesus as Messiah. We find Peter declaring, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” a chapter later in Matthew 16. While people had been wondering about his identity since Jesus healed a blind and mute demon possessed man in Matthew 12, to my knowledge, this Gentile woman was the first in Jesus’ adult ministry to boldly declare him as the Son of David. What faith she had. To believe he was the Messiah and to believe that he would care about her and her situation. She recognized his power and also his goodness. 

Because of her faith, she was persistent in her mission. She had heard the stories and believed them. He was her only hope at that moment and she was going to do everything in her power to secure his help. The phrase “she was crying” in the original language implies over and over and over again, and this was loud crying. No wonder the disciples started to get annoyed with her. Here was this woman following after them, yelling at the top of her lungs, and Jesus said nothing to stop her. By being so loud and so persistent, she was completely ruining their efforts at going unnoticed. More than that, as John MacArthur says in his commentary, “In the minds of the Jews, no self-respecting rabbi would ever allow a Gentile, especially an idolatrous woman, to remain in his presence.” The disciples were ready for Jesus to send her away.

When Jesus finally addressed her, it seemed as though he was doing what the disciples were asking of him. Yet she heard something in his tone of voice or saw something in his face, desperately aware that he was her last hope, that she would not be dissuaded. At his response, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” she went and knelt at his feet.

Here her persistence was blended with her humility. She did not let her pride get in the way of her task and become insulted by his response. She simply lowered herself before him and asked for his help. This makes me think of the song lyrics, “I lift my hands up, lay my whole life down, my whole life down before you.” She brought all of her and all of her hopes to the feet of the one she deemed Messiah. Then she lowered herself even more, for she declared that all she sought were the crumbs from the Israelites’ table. What she was asking for would change her entire world but she recognized that it was but a morsel in light of Christ’ power. Like the bleeding woman who knew that all she needed was to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe, the Syrophoenician woman reached out in faith with her words, just the leftovers please.

Moved by her faith, Jesus gave her what she asked. At that moment, her whole life was changed for her daughter was healed. What I love about the conclusion of this story is that “she went home” after what Jesus said. In that moment, she had no proof, she had no guarantee aside from the words of Christ that her daughter was healed. She believed that what he said was true. She not only believed that he was capable of healing her daughter but that he did it. Sometimes that is my hang up. “God, I know you can. I just don’t know if you will.” Not this mama. She clung to him in persistent faith as long as she needed to, and she walked away from him in confident faith when it was time to. 

All of this was about her daughter. This was her mama bear moment. She was fighting for her daughter’s life. She was advocating for her healing. She was doing all that was in her power to see her daughter helped. She fixed on her solution, the Savior of the world, and she did not give up until he healed her daughter. In her story, we bear witness to this mama’s intercession, a faith filled, persistent, humble intercession. May her story remind us to come on our knees before Jesus in prayerful boldness on behalf of our children. To advocate on their behalf with the one who holds them in his hands and loves them far more than we ever could. To bring their needs, their hopes, their fears, and ours for them to the only one who can truly do anything about them. As we learned from Hannah, and now we see again with the Syrophoenician woman, let us lean into the sovereignty of God with faith that he will answer and rejoice when he does.