Second Sunday in Lent

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Many a Christian’s sensibilities are wounded when they read the narrative between the Syrophoenician woman and the LORD JESUS the Christ from today’s Gospel Lesson. Who can blame them? After all, this Gentile woman, who had heard about JESUS, left her home, and came to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon to find the LORD and to ask Him, if He would have mercy on her daughter, who, as St. Matthew reports, was “severely demon-possessed” (15.22). Though we do not know what this specifically looked like, we do know that demon-possession in the Gospels was always understood as a dark and deadly condition. — For example, in another place, a man’s son was demon-possessed, and that demon was perpetually trying to destroy the lad by casting him into fire or water. (cf. Matt. 17.14-15) Furthermore, there was another man near the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Gerasenes, possessed by a legion (four to six thousand) of demons. This man, being so persecuted in his mind by these demons was driven mad. So agitated was he, that he lived in a graveyard, naked, and cutting himself with stones. — Demon-possession was and is a dark and deadly condition, but it is not a curse, it is a spiritual plight – a fight for a particular human’s soul. And through the work and ministry of the Person of JESUS the Christ, the ruler of this world, Satan, has been bound up and rendered harmless for those who follow the Way of JESUS. In fact, through His suffering and death on the Cross, JESUS said, “the ruler of this world is judged … the prince of this world is cast out” (John 16.11; 12.31). JESUS’ overthrow of Satan and his minions began long before the Cross, and that is what our Gospel Lesson focuses on today – the Resurrection Life of Christ, before Easter Day. As it was confessed by the Apostles: “GOD had anointed JESUS of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and so He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10.38). — And so our story begins, introduced to us in the parallel narrative of St. Mark chapter seven, we read how a Greek woman, a Syrophoenician “woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about JESUS, and she came and fell at His feet” (7.25). 

Note that this woman had a whole pantheon of Greek gods, stoics, and philosophers to turn to for help, but she came to JESUS of Nazareth instead. Further, this Greek woman did not seek out her medically credentialed countrymen who possessed the methods of the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates – she came to the Itinerant Preacher and Great Physician, JESUS. And if she had the means, we could only assume, like the woman with the issue of blood, this Syrophoenician woman “had spent all her livelihood on Greek physicians, but [her daughter] could not be healed by any of them” (Luke 8.43). — This Syrophoenician woman and her daughter were in a pinch, and they desperately needed help, so, she throws herself at JESUS, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed” (Matthew 15.22). — Thinking of the longing desires of the psalmist, this woman’s heart was in no wise different from King David’s own, who said unto the LORD: “Comfort the soul of thy servant; * for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, LORD, art good and gracious, * and of great mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, LORD, unto my prayer, * and ponder the voice of my humble desires” (Psalm 86.4-6). — And here is the point in the narrative where most people get uncomfortable. After calling upon Him as the Messiah, for that is what the term ‘Son of David’ means, JESUS, Matthew tells us, “Answered her not a word” (15.23).  

Interesting, isn’t it? While many of His countrymen were calling Him a child of Beelzebub and refusing to believe He was GOD’s Anointed One, this Greek, this Gentile calls out to JESUS by His formal title as the Son of David, the Messiah. One would think that JESUS would be thrilled to finally find someone that took Him seriously. — Yet, He answered her not a word. Nevertheless, JESUS’ silence deterred not the woman one bit; instead, she “kept begging3 Him to cast the demon out of her daughter” (Mark 7.26). — She was so persistent, that even the disciples lost their patience with the LORD. — If he was not going to address her or her needs, they said, then “Send her away, for she cries out after us [incessantly]” (Matthew 15.23). — And then, what must have seemed an eternity, JESUS finally spoke, explaining Himself to both the disciples and to His Greek solicitor: “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (St. Matthew 15.24). — Why did He say this? 

GOD had chosen Israel as His kingdom people as He promised to Abraham. (cf. Gen. 12) They were His treasured kingdom that He called and foreordained to take His society of mores, traditions, and rituals to the world writ large. Of the Jews, St. Paul writes: “Unto them were committed the oracles of God … [Thus, the Gospel of JESUS the Christ], is the power of GOD unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and then, also to the Greek” (Romans 3.2; 1.16). — JESUS was not being rude. He was simply abiding by the command of His Father; to bring the Gospel to the Jews first, before taking it to the Gentiles. And so, He answered the woman not a word. 

At this point in Israel’s history, she had not rejected, in full, her Messiah – there was still an opportunity for GOD’s political and religious Israel to accept the Christian Gospel. Thus, JESUS was only doing what He was called to do by His Father, while resisting the temptation to be distracted by other needs and concerns outside of Israel. JESUS’ call before the Cross was to feed GOD’s children first, and to confirm GOD’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before attending to the Gentile nations. (cf. Mark 7.27) JESUS’ demeanor and actions towards the Syrophoenician woman seem callous, but they are only theologically steadfast and faithful.  

And if that were not enough, to add insult to injury to the sensitive modern reader, JESUS, now attending to the woman directly, uses an illustrative analogy to explain His silence, and the illustration is prescient. — In St. Mark’s parallel narrative, JESUS says to the woman, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs” (7.27). — Of course, to the modern ear, this seemingly derogatory language seems harsh — calling the Syrophoenician Gentile both ‘woman’ and ‘a dog’ – what is JESUS about? — The terms were not meant to offend the woman; they were in fact meant to endear her even more to JESUS. The terms the LORD used, in contemporary parlance, were used to engage the woman, and to see if she truly believed what she confessed.  

You see, “JESUS was in the midst of teaching (feeding) His disciples – His children. During a meal, one does not stop feeding the children to feed the house pets the children’s food. JESUS is not attempting to insult the woman with His illustration; instead, He is testing her faith.”¹ We know this because of the woman’s response. — JESUS puts her off, and puts her off, but she persists. The woman begs and even falls prostrate before the LORD, St. Matthew tells us and as the tension of the drama grows, JESUS steps around the woman, ignoring her cries. And then, being very practical with His reasoning for acting the way He does, He gives them all an object lesson. A loving parent always tends to the needs of her child (whom she loves), over and above everyone and everything else in the household. Surely no one would expect JESUS to do differently. Certainly, this woman understands this, as she too has forsaken all for her daughter’s benefit. So, JESUS says, His children are more important than even the cutest of household pets, and He is determined to feed them before He throws their food to the family’s pooch. To this, the woman replies: “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15.27). — Amazing, this woman understood the simplest of truths in the most profound way. She did not deny her status in the Kingdom, being an unclean Gentile, but believing JESUS was the Anointed One of GOD, she trusted that the Master of the House had enough food for His children, AND crumbs to spare. These, this Gentile dog would gladly eat, if the children would not. 

The woman’s spiritual sense is very acute, and we would be wise to make note of her spiritual maturity. First, as our Collect for today says, the Syrophoenician woman recognized she had ‘no power of herself, to help herself.’ Thus, she comes to the MIGHTY GOD, the Wonderful, the Counselor (cf. Is. 9.6), and makes herself very low before JESUS, literally. She then deploys the tactic of Psalm 86 by praying: “Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and hear me; * for I am poor, and in misery … Be merciful unto me, O LORD; * for I will call daily upon Thee … Among the gods there is none like unto Thee, O LORD; * there is not one that can do as Thou doest” (1,3,8). And though JESUS does not answer her immediately, she persists. It is obvious post facto, that JESUS had the power and the will to help this woman’s daughter and to answer her prayer, but He desired to know if she truly trusted Him and would hold out hope that He could do as she requested. — How many times do we back down from a righteous prayer request and lose heart because GOD does not answer us when and how we want Him to answer us? We prostrate ourselves in our hearts before GOD and we implore Him for a good and righteous thing, but not directly responding to our prayer, we lose hope, arise, and turn away from GOD by no longer calling on Him for His aid, assistance, and or direction. — Dear Church, we should never lose heart in our prayers to GOD when our cause is just and compatible with the Whole Word of GOD? For a truth, though the woman was not considered a child worthy to sit at table in the House of GOD, she was not excluded from the House, or even the table – she did not lose hope. For she rightly understood that even the Master allows for His little pets, being humbled aright, to hover about the family dining table, quietly awaiting the crumbs from the Master’s Table that the children knock to the floor. Or Heaven forbid (which was true in Israel at this time), the crumbs that the children throw to the floor, because they do not like the Master’s food, desiring instead, worldlier and more secular dainties.  

As a Gentile in Israel, a non-Jew was considered unclean and no better than dogs. The woman understood this, and yet, her desire for the LORD and His grace was so sincere, she was not above scavenging around the table, crowded with JESUS children, hoping for a few crumbs from Christ. — Those who are conscious to themselves that they deserve nothing will always be thankful for anything from JESUS’ Table. Such souls as these know that there is none like unto the LORD. The Syrophoenician woman’s humility and her daughter’s need made her glad of the LORD’s crumbs. — And if our heart-attitude is like this woman’s heart-attitude, THEN we will be prepared for the greatest of GOD’s mercies, too. — The most meager of Christ’s blessings are precious to a hungry believer — the very crumbs of His Body are the Bread of Life to the weary and heavyladen.”² — If we come to the LORD, trusting not in our own righteousness, but expressing that we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs from under His Table, we will find that GOD’s property is always to have mercy. (cf. 1928 BCP, 82). Persistent, yet respectful – enduring without domineering – always aligning ourselves, our souls and our bodies with the Whole Word of GOD, we can expect to hear what the Greek woman, the Syrophoenician, heard in today’s Gospel Lesson: “O woman (lady), great is thy faith: be it unto thee as thou wilt” (Matthew 15.28).  

“The Gentile woman does indeed, have great faith! The woman’s faith (initially ignored by JESUS and detested by His disciples), had broken through the waiting period before the Gospel went out to all nations of the world. By her persistent, respectful, and hope-filled-faith, the Greek woman gathered crumbs from under the Table of GOD and was able to give them to her distressed and oppressed daughter.  

Dear Church, we have just crossed the threshold of the Second Sunday in Lent, and we have four more weeks before Palm Sunday and then another before Easter. — Obviously, at this point in JESUS’ ministry, when the Syrophoenician woman sought Him out, the disciples (and perhaps JESUS too), were not yet ready for Calvary and the Cross. Nonetheless, this seemingly irredeemable Syrophoenician woman, with her desire for crumbs and the hope of the healing of her demon-possessed daughter, refused to wait until Easter Morning – she believed in the Resurrection Life of Christ, now! — ‘Thou Son of David, LORD, have mercy upon me; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.’ — Weeks before the reality of the thing, this woman is already insisting upon Easter – the time when the children of the Master are all alike by their faith in the Messiah – Jew and Gentile. All can pull up a chair and feast, one with another, on Christ’s Sacred Life – His Bread and Wine – His Body and Blood. 

Now, how about it? Are you ready for Easter too? I am.  

Those who are conscious to themselves that they deserve nothing will be thankful for anything from the Table of the LORD JESUS. For even the dogs gladly eat of the crumbs which fall from their Master’s table. Easter draweth nigh, brothers and sisters, and I implore you – insist upon it now! Let your faith break through, though it may seem He has other business to attend to – don’t lose heart and give up – JESUS is listening — He is always listening to those who have hope unto faith in Him. ‘And from that very hour, her daughter was made whole – O woman, great is thy faith.’ And her daughter was made whole from that very hour” (Matthew 15.28). In the Name of Son of David, JESUS the Messiah, our High Priest and Friend, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, now and ever and ever. Amen.  

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1 Nelson NKJV Study Bible, “fn. Mark 7.27-28”, (New York: HarperCollins Publishing Inc., 2018), 1447-1448.  
2 Henry, Matthew. BlueLetterBible.org. “fn. Matthew 15.27.” Accessed 27 February 2026. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Mat/Mat_015.cfm?a=944001