From that place he went off to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. 25 Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 28 She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
The district of Tyre and Sidon was in ancient Phoenicia outside of Palestine and was a part of the Roman province of Syria. His fame had spread even to that pagan region (Mk. 3:8) and it appeared that Jesus went there to get away from the crowds not to preach the Gospel; “He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it (v. 24).” A Syrophoenician woman fell at his feet in supplication (v. 25) and begged him to drive an unclean spirit out of her daughter. Jewish writers sometimes referred to Gentiles as dogs (1 Sam. 17:43). Jesus’ apparently harsh reply was an affirmation that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel (v. 27; Mt. 15:24), but Jesus did not discriminate when people came to him to be healed (Mk. 5:1-13). The woman was well aware of the contempt Jews had for Gentiles and their gods, and agreed with Jesus that the children of Israel should be fed first but then the non-Jews could be fed with whatever crumbs were left from the rich feast presented to the Jews. Paul acknowledged that was God’s plan of salvation; “Jew first then Greek (Rom. 1:16).” The woman’s reply also indicated her deep humility as well as her strong faith and belief in Jesus and his power.
Faith and belief are the most important requirements when petitioning God; “But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind (James 1:6).” Mark revealed the power of Jesus and the completeness of the cure of the woman’s daughter by letting the reader know that the child was immediately cured, from a distance, as Jesus spoke the word.
Almighty God, we are adopted heirs of the kingdom like the Gentile woman, and we are confident that you will answer our petitions. Grant us the gift of deep faith and the strength of belief to always turn to you in supplication. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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