And from there he 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. 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. 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 him, “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.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
Comment: Tyre and Sidon were in the area allocated to Israel but right at the northern border and never totally conquered by the allocated tribes (Asher and Zebulun) and is on the coast line in modern day Lebanon just a few kilometres north of the present day Israel/Lebanon border. Jesus obviously in His humanity got tired and needed some time without crowds! But fame has its curses mixed with its blessings and Jesus wasn’t fully alone. In this story, to some, Jesus sounds un-sympathetic and maybe even a bit harsh. The woman seems to be the heroine of this short story! But Jesus came as the Promised Messiah to the Jews and His dealings were mainly with them. I know – He is the Saviour to all who believe! I will tell a short story about myself. I had just ‘rescued’ a kid who had had three limbs amputated after being run over by a train. He was not my patient; he had no relatives and they were about to throw him out onto the street to be a beggar. I begged for him to be allowed to come with me to live with us. On the 100 km journey from the hospital to our home it was raining. He had never been in a car. When the windows were dirty, as we were following big trucks, I used the windscreen wipers and he asked how the water which I shot onto them got there. I explained that I had two little boys under the bonnet and when I gave them a gentle electric shot they pee-ed on the window. He looked at me in absolute horror and then burst out laughing and said ‘Now tell me the truth!’ About 20 years later we are still father/son friends and he has a University degree, although he lives in another country! I suspect that Jesus used the same technique and found out the quality and faith of the Gentile woman! The kid was healed! Praise God.
Proverbs 14: 21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus that You showed Your ‘humanness’ and Your great Love to this woman.
As I read it! 