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[Editor's Note: This is part one of a three-part article by Dr. James Barnes]
The Jews of the N.T viewed Gentiles as outcasts, separate from the purpose of God, aliens from the covenants of God, cursed, under divine judgment. But it was the intention of God to be the God of the entire earth, to ring the globe with the glory of His salvation to be the light of all the nations according to Isa. 49:6. But the Jews did not believe that. But in I Jn. 4:14 Jesus is identified as the Savior of the world. Salvation has always been intended to be to the world. Israel was never intended to be the end of God's saving purpose but a means to the end. The reason our Lord came to Israel was to bring salvation to Israel so that Israel could be the means by which the gospel is given to the Gentiles. Yes, to the Jew first (Romans 1) but then to the Gentiles. Salvation was never to be an isolated event only for the Jews. There is only one true God. There is only one true Savior. There is only one true salvation. All other religions are but damning religions. Thus we come to this significant story in Mark 7:24-38..
Jesus is leaving Israel and making a deep foray into Gentile territory. He is in the last year of his ministry. The Jews have rejected him. There are not a lot of Jewish believers. Most have rejected him. The Pharisees and Sadducees hate him. There is a national rejection and a cry for his death is coming. So v.24 says Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyre. The region of Tyre would be the county known as Phoenicia which had two famous cities, Tyre and Sidon. Two coastal cities about 20 miles apart. They became famous in history because they were conquered by Alexander the Great. Jesus went there, not for a day, not for a few days, he was there awhile. It was a long trip. He had walked 120-150 miles. But there was to be no great teaching events, there is the healing of this woman's daughter, the feeding of the 4,000, the healing of a blind man and a few more healings, but when compared to his other trips, very little happened. It was but a teaching ministry to his apostles. The rejection of Israel is fixed so Jesus begins to intensify the training of the 12. It was to be a private tour with the focus being sure the apostles understand what was about to happen. It was to be a preview of what was to come when the gospel goes to the ends of the earth. It is a personal affirmation from Jesus that salvation is not only for the Jews. But v.24 says they could not escape notice.
Jesus was coming to town with 12 guys. He was deep into Gentile territory but they still knew who he was. Mark 3:7 says a great multitude from Galilee and Judea and from the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon followed him. They knew what he was capable of doing so they were following him around the region. The word about this miracle worker had spread. In fact Jesus said if the miracles that had been done in Capernaum had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. Perhaps the woman we are about to meet was one of those who had been in Galilee. Perhaps she was numbered among the crowds that were following him.
Let's meet this lady in v.25. After hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, immediately came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Gentile. Matthew says she was a Canaanite. Bad enough to be a Gentile, worse to be a Canaanite. The Canaanites were cursed by God and they were supposed to be exterminated. There shouldn't be any Canaanites left. So she is a vestige of the cursed race and a Syrophoenician race.
What does that mean? Phoenicia was the name of the country but under the Roman general Ptolemy it was annexed to Syria. So Syria and Phoenicia become one and the inhabitants were called Syrophoenicians. So first of all she was a woman, secondly she was a Gentile, thirdly she was a Canaanite, and fourth she was a Syrophoenician. In the city of Tyre was where Jezebel had lived and it was where the worship of Baal had originated. She was corrupted by Baal worship and by the gods of the Romans. The Romans worshiped the god Astarte who was the goddess of beauty and the goddess of the moon. So the residents of this city were engulfed in idolatry. This woman had everything going against her. She was an outcast, a reject; lower than the Jewish tax collector. For her to come to Jesus, in the minds of the Jews, was a discredit for Jesus even allowing her in his presence. But she comes and she has a problem. She kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Matthew tells us the demon was an unclean spirit. In a sense all demons are unclean spirits.
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Dr. James Barnes has pastored the White Memorial Church in Milroy for 25 years. The church is located on 68 S. Main St., Milroy.