Have you ever prayed for something and immediately doubted that God would answer the way you were hoping? How many of us question our worthiness when making requests of our holy God? There are many of us who have had the message of works drilled into our hearts to the point that we’re often paralyzed with insecurity because we haven’t performed all that we’re told we should be performing. We might think Who am I that God would do this thing for me? Perhaps you recently stumbled by making a poor choice and now you know that God isn’t going to answer you favorably.
In the last couple weeks, I’ve shared about the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears (Luke 7:36-50) as well as the woman who was brought to Jesus to be stoned (John 8:1-11). The names of these women were not recorded, but their messages packed a punch to the gut of works-based-religion. Today, I want to introduce you to another unnamed woman whose story gives us yet another peek at the heart of God. Please take a moment to read Matthew 15:21-28.
This woman, another woman in the New Testament that has no recorded name, is described as a Syrophoenician woman. She is described as a Gentile – or Greek – of the Syrophoenician race. She was Syrian from the Roman part of Syria – she represents someone from a geographical area that is between the Jews and the Greeks. Of all the ways she could have been described, she is described as being physically between borders. She could have been described as a Gentile, but there was significance in describing her as between borders.
This woman was also a mother and she needed help for her daughter.
As a mother of 5, I can honestly tell you that it’s heartbreaking when your child is sick or in pain and there’s nothing you can do that will help. There are debates on whether or not this instance of being possessed by an evil spirit was actually demon-possession, but if I were to compare this to the vast issue of mental health, then you might have a better picture of what this mother was up against.
Having a child suffering from depression, having a child physically hurt themselves… a child attempting suicide. If we could, we would do anything to bring healing to our child. And that brings us back to the Syrophoenician woman.
This unnamed woman only belonged with other people who didn’t belong. She wasn’t a leper, but to the Jews, she was a nobody. For her to not only approach, but to chase after Jesus – begging Him to hear her – was bold, courageous, and done out of a mother’s desperation. She wasn’t a Jew. There was nothing she had done that earned her an audience with the Son of God. But she still followed after Him, pleading for Him to listen.
I used to struggle with this passage. I couldn’t understand why Jesus would turn someone away when He had healed people without prejudice. But take a look at the same story written in Mark 7:24-30. Jesus was withdrawing from Israel for solitude. He wanted no one (referring to the crowds that were always following Him) to know where He was. But He could not go unnoticed. This unnamed mother noticed Him, chased after Him, and fell at His feet.
Again, I still struggled. So, Jesus wanted a rest, but He had a reputation for healing on the Sabbath! A girl was unwell, possibly hurting and in pain, and this desperate mother had found the One who could fix it. She just didn’t have the right pedigree or the right timing. But that doesn’t sound like Jesus, does it?
There’s so much lost in the great cultural divide as well as the translation gap (it’s all Greek to me is a valid statement in many instances of reading the New Testament). Typically, calling someone a dog in those days was an insult, but Jesus wasn’t insulting her by calling her this. The derogatory meaning of dog was referring to the stray dogs of the streets (associated with uncleanliness, unrighteousness, and sin), but there were other dogs that were house pets in the culture of the Syrophoenician woman.
While she accepted the identity of dog – at least to a point – she positioned herself as being accepted because she saw Jesus as her Lord. In one sentence, she stated that she was under His authority, she was wanting to be fed by Him, and that as her Master He is responsible for feeding all in His household. She’s communicating that as a member of the household – even as a dog – she’s not asking for a handout but is waiting with expectation for her Master to take care of what is His.
Wow! Did she first examine herself to make sure she was worthy of that inclusion?
Do we? How often have we heard this passage taught and walked away with the notion that we only deserve crumbs?
The story of this unnamed woman has hit me differently after studying it more. Not just because I’m a mother and have had sick children. Not just because I’ve been deliberately focusing on learning Jesus to be my Source for all things, but because I’m also between borders – and if you’re a follower of Jesus, you are, too.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:16 NIV
While we are not considered dogs hunkered under the Master’s table for any little crumb we can catch, we often see ourselves this way. We might assume that there will be mealtimes that come and go without anything dropped and that means we have to go without. But I hope you understand this: we are not dogs, but rather we are the children sitting at the table.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:12-13 NIV
If God so takes care of the dogs that are under His authority, how much more so will He take care of His children?
This unnamed woman, someone who was between borders, boldly trusted the supply of her Lord. We need to boldly trust God as our Source, and this woman showed us that it’s absolutely possible. God doesn’t need to be reminded that we’re His – we need the reminding. Take some time to see God as your Provider, your Master – your Lord. Visualize it. And start asking Him to take care of you without doubting that He will.