Monday Memo 1271: Pressing Through

The Syrophoenician Woman — Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28

Several years ago, I wrote a series titled The Power of Purple, in which we examined the lives of women in Scripture to see what they could teach us about purpose. That series eventually became a book by the same name. There are, however, many more women in the Bible whose stories have something to teach us, along with some women from the first series whose lives contain lessons we didn't have the opportunity to explore. So this week, we're beginning The Power of Purple, Volume 2, with 26 more lessons from women of purpose in Scripture.

Let's begin with a woman whose name we don't even know. Mark identified her as a Greek woman born in Syrian Phoenicia, while Matthew described her as a Canaanite. What we do know is that her daughter was suffering terribly from demonic oppression, so when this mother heard Jesus was nearby, she went to Him for help. Matthew tells us:

A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us” (Matthew 15:22-23).

Send Her Away

I've always been intrigued by this encounter because Jesus seems unusually harsh with this woman. First, He didn't answer her. Then His disciples urged Him to send her away. Finally, when she continued to press her case, Jesus said, “It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26).

That doesn't sound like the Jesus we know from the rest of the Gospels. He welcomed people others rejected. He touched lepers, received children, ate with sinners, spoke publicly with women, and ministered to Gentiles. Why, then, would He treat this desperate mother in such a seemingly dismissive manner?

I have a thought. I can't prove it, but I wonder whether Jesus was teaching His disciples something through this encounter. They had already revealed their attitude: “Send her away.” She was a woman and a Gentile, two strikes against her in the prevailing culture of the day. Perhaps Jesus was allowing the disciples to hear what their own hardness sounded like when expressed out loud. Was He exposing their attitude toward people they considered outsiders?

I've even wondered whether Jesus winked at the woman, smiled, or gave her some other indication that said, in effect, Stay with Me. Play along. Let's show these men something. The text doesn't tell us He did, so we can't say that happened. Yet there was obviously something about His response that did not drive this woman away. Instead of being offended, she entered into the exchange.

She Played Along

Mark records Jesus' words this way: “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” (Mark 7:27). Notice the word first. Jesus didn't say there was nothing for her. He was stating the priority of His mission to Israel.

The woman didn't argue with Him. She didn't protest the comparison or demand that He treat her with more respect. Instead, she took His illustration and used it to make her case: “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs” (Mark 7:28).

I love that response. She was quick, courageous, and perceptive. In a sense, she played along with Jesus. If He was talking about children, dogs, bread, and a table, then she was perfectly willing to stay with His metaphor. She didn't need the whole loaf. She didn't even need a slice. A crumb would do because she understood that a crumb of God's power was more than enough to meet her daughter's need.

There is also no indication that she became angry or bitter because of how she was being treated. She had come for something, and she wasn't going home without it. She pressed through the silence of Jesus, the resistance of the disciples, and the prevailing attitudes of her day concerning women and Gentiles.

Press Through

There will be times when you also have to press through attitudes and traditions that have determined what someone like you is supposed to do, where you are supposed to go, or what you are permitted to have. Those attitudes may concern your gender, age, education, race, background, occupation, or some other label people have placed on you. You can spend your energy being angry about those attitudes, or you can do what this woman did and keep moving toward what God has for you.

That doesn't mean injustice and prejudice don't matter. They do. Yet this woman refused to give the attitudes of others the power to determine her outcome. The disciples wanted her gone, but she hadn't come to see the disciples. She had come to see Jesus. She knew where her answer was, and she kept pressing until she received it.

Matthew tells us how Jesus finally responded: “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted” (Matthew 15:28). I suspect Jesus was delighted to give her what she had come for. Perhaps the entire exchange was designed not only to draw out her faith but also to expose the disciples' hardness and enlarge their understanding of who could receive God's grace.

Mark adds one final detail. Jesus told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter” (Mark 7:29). She had no visible evidence that anything had changed. Jesus didn't accompany her home, lay hands on the girl, or perform some outward sign. The woman simply took Him at His word, went home, and found her child delivered.

That's faith.

What attitudes or obstacles are standing between you and something you believe God has for you? Have you allowed someone's opinion to convince you that you don't belong at the table? Have you become offended and walked away when perhaps you needed to press in? And are you waiting for abundant evidence before you will believe what God has already said?

This woman didn't need a seat at the table. She knew there was enough of God's power in one crumb to meet her need. She pressed through what appeared to be rejection, refused to be offended, exercised her faith and intelligence, and went home with what she had come to receive.

Perhaps it's time for you to do the same.

Purpose principle: Don't allow an obstacle, an attitude, or someone else's limitation of you to become God's final word for your life.