Mark 7:24-37, “Jesus Goes Outside Of Israel To Tyre & Sidon And Performs Two Miracles There”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

2. In our last study, we looked at verses 53 of chapter 6 through 23 of chapter 7.

2.1. We looked at the ministry that began immediately after Jesus and the disciples landed in their boat at Gennesaret. The people in Gennesaret hunted for those who desperately needed Jesus’ healing touch and we looked at the miraculous ways in which the people were healed by Jesus.

2.2. Next, we talked about what happened when some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus and were offended because His disciples didn’t follow their rules of ablutions (washings) that were part of the tradition of the elders of Israel at this time. The disciples ate bread without washing their hands first.

3. In our study today, we are going to look at verses 24-37 of chapter 7 of Mark.

3.1. We will look at the only story in the gospels where Jesus went out of Israel proper into Gentile territory. We will look at the first two of three miracles that Jesus performed there.

3.2. We will look closely first at the story of a Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile, who came and implored Jesus that He might cast a demon out her daughter. We will look at the interesting account of how Jesus initially refused to grant this woman’s request. We will analyze Jesus’ motives for doing this, and then we will see how that this woman’s faith was applauded by Jesus, as she importunately comes to Him on behalf of her daughter. We will discuss if Jesus was mean to this woman?

3.1. The Bible Exposition Commentary says the following about how Jesus’ commends this woman for her faith: “It is significant that the two times in the Gospel record when Jesus commended “great faith,” He was responding to the faith of Gentiles and not Jews: this Syrophoenician woman and the Roman centurion (Matt. 8:5–13). It is also worth noting that in both situations, Jesus healed at a distance, suggesting the spiritual distance between Jews and Gentiles at that time (Eph. 2:11–22).”

3.2. We will next look at how at Decapolis a man who is both deaf and dumb is brought to Jesus, and He heals Him in such a miraculous way that the man begins to speak plainly.

4. VS 7:24-30 - “²⁴ Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.” – Jesus went with His disciples to the region of Tyre and He entered a house where He hoped they would not be noticed, but He was noticed, and a woman came to Him and convinced Him to case a demon after her daughter

4.1. The cities of Tyre and Sidon were north and west of Israel, and located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

4.2. The question we have initially is why Jesus went to the area of Tyre and Sidon at this time? And, why did He not want anyone to know where He was? There is certainly more than one reason for Jesus to have done this:

4.2.1. Jesus was tired, and He wanted to rest along with His disciples.

4.2.1.1.We saw in our previous two studies that after the disciples had returned from their intern mission’s trip that Jesus had told His disciples to go away for a time and rest. Yet, they had failed to find rest at Bethsaida Julias as well as when they were later at Gennesaret.

4.2.2. Jesus wanted to spend time with His disciples and teach them using the object lessons of the past as teaching and training points for them.

4.2.3. Finally, as with all of Jesus’ ministry to people, He was reaching out to the people of Tyre and Sidon, they were not finding Him.

4.3. Unfortunately, it was not possible traveling with His disciples to avoid detection, no matter where he went, just as it says here: ‘He could not escape notice.’

4.4. At this point in time, Jesus’ fame had reached far and wide. Everyone knew who He was and had heard that He had healed and cast demons out of many. Wherever Jesus went people would look around for those who needed the healing touch that only He had.

4.5. We see in the gospels that what led most people to seek out Jesus was great sorrow and suffering. People whose lives were buckled by their suffering were willing to humble themselves and come to the One whose fame gave them hope that He might help them. When things are going well in people’s lives they typically do not seek out the Lord, but instead go along on their own way and eat, drink, and be merry, so to speak.

4.6. Mark’s language here seems to imply that this was the only daughter of this Syro-Phoenician woman, and this makes her grief and sorrow for her daughter just that much greater.

4.7. We now come to the matter of why Jesus appears to be mean to this woman who has a very great need and is in great sorrow over the state of her young daughter? The gospels reveal that Jesus is always compassionate to those who are hurting, why would He now be being mean to this woman? Each time this woman implores Jesus to heal her daughter, notice what Jesus says to her: ‘Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ Though I’m not sure we can be sure of what Jesus’ motives for His reluctance are, we can see some pretty good potential reasons:

4.7.1. In Matthew’s account of this story, we see in Matt. 15:24 that Jesus gave this answer to His disciples when they seemed to be annoyed by this woman shouting to them for Jesus’ help and they wanted Jesus to send her away: Matthew 15:23-24, “²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”” Likewise, in Matthew 10:5 we read that Jesus had told the disciples that on their intern mission trip they were only to go to the house of Israel. In other words, Jesus was reluctant because He knew His ministry was to be to the Jews.

4.7.2. It is also suggested that another reason for Jesus’ reluctance was that He did not want to do any healing at this time because He was seeking rest for Himself and His disciples, as well as a time to teach them. But, He knew that any healing He would perform would disrupt His plan and cause disruption for His disciples.

4.7.3. It has also been suggested that Jesus did not want to cast out this demon because He didn’t want to perform His miracles in the land of the enemy, a Gentile territory.

4.7.4. Jesus sometimes causes the faith of His people to be tested, and the scripture tells us that there is great value in having a tested faith. This woman’s faith was tested by Jesus’ ignoring of her request, but she passed this test and was importunate in making her requests to Jesus on behalf of her daughter.

4.8. Jesus answer to this woman is not as harsh as it seems at first glance:

4.8.1. Notice that though Jesus was reluctant to grant this woman’s request, that His language to her did in fact give her hope, for He says that it is right to give the food the children (Israelis) ‘first’ implying that there would be a time for the Gentiles: ‘Let the children be satisfied first.’

4.8.2. Gentiles were called ‘dogs’ by the Jews, however the word that Jesus uses for ‘dogs’ here in reference to this woman is actually very tender and means ‘little puppies’.

4.9. The tenacity and mental brilliance of this woman is amazing as we look at her response: ‘Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs’. Jesus’ rewarded this woman for this statement by healing her daughter: ‘Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.’

4.10. This woman knew how to get Jesus to grant her request. She humbled herself, calling herself a dog just looking for scraps before His table, and then she was importunate in continuing on seeking Him in regard to her need of her demon-possessed daughter.

4.10.1.If we as Christians will humble ourselves and continue to seek, knock, and ask, the Lord in His timing will answer our request and place His blessing on our lives. We need to see ourselves as unworthy of any of the Lord’s blessings in our lives, and just remain at our Father’s table waiting for the scraps of His blessing and grace to be given us.

4.11. A Commentary Critical And Explanatory sort of paraphrases what this woman replied to Jesus, ‘One crumb of power and grace from Thy table shall cast the devil out of my daughter’. What great faith it was for her to say that a mere crumb from the master’s table would suffice her need!

4.11.1.How we as God’s people need to see our need for just the crumbs that fall from the Lord’s table!

4.12. Matthew in his gospels tells us in Matt. 15:28 that the little girl was healed immediately.

4.13. Matthew in his account of this story tells us that Jesus commended the woman’s faith: Matthew 15:28, “²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.”

4.14. I like what the Bible Exposition Commentary says about this woman’s faith: “Great faith is faith that takes God at His Word and will not let go until God meets the need. Great faith can lay hold of even the slightest encouragement and turn it into a fulfilled promise. “Lord, increase our faith.””

5. VS 7:31-37 - “³¹ Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. ³² They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. ³³ Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”” – Jesus left with His disciples and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee within the region of Sidon, and He healed a man who was deaf and dumb whom the people brought to Him

5.1. Sidon was about 25 miles north of Tyre, and along the Mediterranean Sea. The Wycliff Bible Commentary tells us the path along which Jesus traveled as He went to Decapolis where He healed the deaf and dumb man: “Mark is the most explicit of the Gospel writers at this point. He tells us that Jesus left the region of Tyre and passed through Sidon (so the best Gr. MSS) approximately twenty-five miles to the north, going deep into Gentile territory. Then turning south he passed along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee into the region of Decapolis.”

5.2. What do we know about this region of ‘Decaoplis’? This was the area where the man among the tombs from which Jesus in chapter 5 of Mark, cast out the legion of demons. After this man had come to be in his right mind he had wanted to go with Jesus and His disciples wherever they went, but Jesus had not allowed this and instead had sent this man to go back to his people and tell of the great things that the Lord had done in his life. This was what Mark had written about this man: Mark 5:19-20, “¹⁹ And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”

5.3. The people in the region where this man was from had previously asked Jesus to leave their area after he had cast the legion of demons out of the demoniac among the tombs and the demons had gone into 2,000 swine who then jumped into the sea and were drowned. Now, we see that because of the faithful witness of this man out of whom the legion of demons had been cast, that the people are excited to see Jesus in their area, and they bring to Him a man who greatly needed healing.

5.4. We know this man was deaf, but was dumb such that he could not speak at all? Commentators vary on this. Wycliff Bible Commentary says the following about this, “The extent of the impediment of speech is debatable. Mogilalon may be used of one who is completely mute, but its literal meaning is speaking with difficulty. The statement of 7:35 that he spoke plainly seems to indicate that previously he had not been able to speak clearly. However, the exclamation of the people in 7:37 was that he made the speechless (Gr.) to speak.”

5.5. We see in the gospels that Jesus did not follow the same formula in each of His healings. In fact, He employed various means for performing these. Sometimes He just spoke the word, sometimes He laid a hand on someone, once He spit in the dirt and put the clay in a blind man’s eye. In each instance, Jesus used the means that He knew would stimulate the person’s faith. In this case, the man being healed was deaf, and either could not speak at all or had a major impediment to his speech.

5.6. Why did Jesus do what He did here in healing this deaf and dumb man?

5.6.1. The Bible Knowledge Commentary states the following about the technique that Jesus used her to stimulate the faith of this deaf and dumb man: “In healing this man, Jesus used sign language and symbolic acts (which Mark did not explain) that uniquely suited the man’s needs and caused him to exercise faith. Jesus took him aside privately (cf. 6:32) in order to communicate one-to-one with him apart from the crowd. By touching his ears and tongue, spitting (on the ground) and looking up to heaven (to God; cf. 6:41), Jesus conveyed what He was going to do.”

5.6.2. The Bible Exposition Commentary says this about the way in which Jesus healed this man: “Jesus took the man away from the crowd so that the healing would be private and the man would not become a public attraction. Since the man was deaf, he could not hear our Lord’s words, but he could feel Jesus’ fingers in his ear and the touch on his tongue; and this would encourage the man’s faith.”

5.7. Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord meets each of us right where we are at, and knowing our name and all about us and how to draw us to Himself, increases our faith?

5.8. What an amazing miracle of healing this was for this deaf and dumb man. Mark tells us here about how this man’s healing was immediate and complete: ‘he began speaking plainly’.

5.9. Note here how the people of Decapolis spoke about what Jesus did in healing this man: ‘He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak’.

5.9.1. We in the church ought to beseech the Lord that He do incredible works in people’s lives so that the people in this rebellious world will be astonished at the great things that the Lord has done, and come to Him for salvation..

5.10. Notice here that Jesus sighed before He healed this man. There has been much discussion about why Jesus may have sighed in this way:

5.10.1.It seems most likely to me that Jesus sighed because He had compassion for this man having seen how he was suffering the ravages of the sin of man. Jesus saw sin’s effect and how greatly this man had suffered.

5.10.2.Jesus also sighed in Mark 8:12 when the people of Israel asked Him for a sign.

5.10.3.In John 11:33 and the raising of Lazarus from the dead, Jesus sighed and wept before the tomb where Lazarus was buried as He felt compassion for the people because of their grief.

6. CONCLUSIONS:

6.1. We as Christians need to be humble like this Syro-Phoenician woman and remain at the Lord’s table seeing ourselves like a dog waiting for scraps, unworthy of any of the things that the Lord gives to us.

6.2. We as Christians need to learn to be importunate and come to the Lord and continue to knock, seek, and ask until the Lord in His mercy and grace grants our request.

6.3. Lets ask the Lord to do such great and marvelous miracles in our midst that the people in this world will be astonished and be drawn to Jesus as Savior and Lord.

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