Jesus Honors a Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[g] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Interesting story for sure. Last week I was apart of 1000 women Praying event for the Southern Union. There were three of us speaking and we were each to speak about a woman who prayed. One of the other speakers DeeAnn Bragaw chose the Syrophoenician woman. She had an interesting take on a couple points of this story.
1. That this woman even knew that Jesus was there meant that someone was sharing the good news with her!
2. The fact that Jesus said what he did to her, was not for her but for the disciples. Have you ever mimicked your badly behaving children. Like when they are whining or crying for no reason at say 3 years of age and so you cry or whine so they can see how ridiculous they sound. Well DeeAnn suggested that maybe that is what Jesus was doing here. His disciples were not interested in this woman being there. She was all wrong. Surely he wouldn't even give her the time of day, much less heal her daughter for her. So he treats her they way they would.
That is an interesting idea. I have heard others. But let me say this. Perhaps the beauty of this is tenaciousness, her whit, event he fact that she talks back is awesome. Remember in her culture women were to be quiet, and this wasn't just a woman, this was a "foreigner" an "evil" woman, yet she spoke up and you might even say challenged what Jesus said to her. I LOVE that about her! Ladies Jesus is not afraid or unhappy when we speak up, or even talk back. Quite the contrary, he longs for us to be engaged with him. I have a theory about this story. I think because Jesus knew her, he knew she was determined, strong, and would engage with him the way she did. I think he used the opportunity to share with those around, and with the disciples how ridiculous they were being and he chose to take this opportunity with her because he KNEW her.
Sorry guys, but this is a beautiful lesson for the women today. Why not generalize it to both genders? Well perhaps because we are in many ways still in this place. Women are still not heard. Women are still not given the opportunities that men are. Women right now are being hit way harder then men during this pandemic. The inequality is glaring right now in our country. Things have been said about Kamala that would never be said about a man. So unfortunately we still need this to be about women. Jesus over and over again, showed how important ALL women are! Why because he understood how wrong it was how they were being treated. He demonstrated great admiration, great appreciation, great compassion for women. It all spoke to their great value. I am convinced that this is a huge issue that we need to work on. I know it is a touchy subject and even here with you who love me, I maybe miss understood, but I believe that we must start speaking out. I have spent most of my life believing that I can't speak out strongly because I am a woman and therefore it will be not be well received. Well guess what, not saying anything isn't the right way either. Perhaps I will just say this and then we will move on... The way we as a church treat women, African Americans, LGBTQ+ and many others, is a telling about health of our church. Jesus has a message, a healing transformative message for all, and we are all his children. All adopted, all sinners, all ministers, all servants, all with gifts given by the Holy Spirit. ALL! Until we really start demonstrating that we get that! Until our church reflects that, I really don't believe we will be successful in spreading the Good News the way we are called to do. It is in our humility, not our structure that we will be strong. It is in our unity not our rightness that we will grow. Now on to the next story...
Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.[h] 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.
33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
What do you find interesting about this story?
"Be opened!" What a beautiful command.
I believe these two stories together is no coincidence. We see a woman speaking up, and then a miracle where he helps a man to speak and his ears opened.
Why do we see over and over again that Jesus tells people to not tell others what he did?
What is that all about?
What are some of your takeaways from todays lesson?
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