Our scripture passage for this evening comes from Mark, chapter 7, verses 24 through 30. So if you will turn there and give your attention to God's Word. Mark, chapter 7, starting with verse 24 through 30. Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it. Yet, he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. First, let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, she replied, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Then he told her, for such a reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter. She went home and found her child lying on the bed and the demon gone. Now as we read this account, we might be a little surprised. I know I was, I think, when I first read it. And maybe we're even offended or embarrassed by what Jesus says, his initial words. His rebuke to her request, it seems so harsh. How can he say this? What does he mean by this? Now as we look more closely at his words and at this whole account, we will see that not only is his rebuke proper for this point in Jesus' ministry, in God's redemptive plan, but in fact it highlights God's grace. His grace to undeserving sinners like ourselves. Alright, so how do we see this? Well, let's start out with her stirring request. We have Jesus at the beginning of this passage traveling to Tyre. And this is his farthest journey into Gentile regions, going towards the coast, towards the Mediterranean. But why does he make this journey? Our text doesn't explicitly tell us why it is. We're not even told if his disciples were with him, though most likely they were if we look in the parallel in Matthew. But what we do know is this is not a publicity trip. That's explicit. He entered a house, and he didn't want anybody to know about it. Jesus was not here to openly preach and teach. Now, some commentators, and I think rightly, argue that what Jesus is doing here is attempting to find a spot for him and his disciples to rest. something that we see mentioned back in chapter 6, verse 31. He tells his disciples in 6.31, Then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. But if we follow in that account, we see they did not find rest there. Instead, it leads to the feeding of the 5,000. And there is no rest coming further. In fact, Jesus is just overwhelmed by people coming to him, especially coming to him to be healed. So if we look at the end of chapter 6, starting with verse 53, we can see, when they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages, towns, or countryside, they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. So, it's not hard for us to see why Jesus and his disciples might need some rest, why they were tired. Why they would go somewhere far from Galilee to try and hide, to rest. And yet, Jesus is not able to rest. He's not able to hide. His fame has already spread this far into Gentile regions. And as soon as the word got out, this woman heard of it, and immediately she came, came running to Jesus. And why is she rushing to Jesus? Well, we're told she has a little daughter, a little daughter who has an unclean spirit. And she rushes to Jesus and she falls at his feet. And as we see this, there's some parallels that Mark is making with an earlier story, the story of Jairus, when he came rushing to Jesus because his little daughter, the only other use of little daughter, was sick. And he fell at Jesus' feet. So, we are wondering, what is this woman? Who is she? What does she want? And Mark doesn't leave us in suspense here. Instead, we're told that she is not a Jew. And that's basically the point of the description given. In verse 26, we read, the woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. So Mark calls her a Greek, but then he adds that she was born in Syria Phoenicia, the region where Jesus has gone. And so he's using Greek here not as a term of her nationality. She wasn't from Greece. She wasn't born in Greece. Greek was a term for Gentile. She was not a Jew. She was outside of God's chosen people. And so now the contrast with Jairus is great. Jairus is a man. He is a Jew. He is even a synagogue leader. And who is this woman? She's a Gentile. She is a woman. And she comes begging Jesus to cast out the demon from her daughter. She's imploring him. She will not be denied. And this can be seen even more clearly in Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 15, verse 23, where finally the disciples turn to Jesus and say, send her away, for she is shouting at us. So what will Jesus do? When Jairus came and pleaded with him, Jesus got up and left and went with him to go and heal his daughter. how will he respond to the stirring request of this Gentile woman? Jesus refuses her request. And he refuses it with a rather stinging rebuke. Now, some interpreters of this passage have argued that Jesus is not denying her request here. He's merely testing her faith, seeing what she will answer. And they say, you know, she passes this test, and so she gets what she requested. But there's no indication of that in the text. And Matthew's account, again, makes it even more clear, I think. Jesus is refusing this woman's request. He's telling her no, though not in so many words. And this is not what we expect. Both the fact that she refuses and the way he refuses shocks us. Why won't he cast out this demon? Earlier, we had seen Jesus in Nazareth in Mark's Gospel, and he was not able to do many miracles there, but that was because of their lack of faith, their rejection of him. But this woman, she seems to be exhibiting faith, at least faith that Jesus can heal. So we need to ask, why did Jesus refuse her request? And so let's look again at his rebuke in verse 27. First, let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Jesus is here speaking in a parable. So we need to ask, what do the various elements of the parable represent? And it seems fairly clear that the children are Israel, the Jews. And the little dogs, or as the NIV has, just dogs, are the Gentile woman and her daughter, or we could generalize it as the Gentiles. And the bread is Jesus, his ministry. So Jesus is refusing this woman, denying her request, saying that for him to heal her daughter would be like taking children's bread and throwing it to little dogs. Who would do that? It's not proper. Israel needs to be satisfied first. This woman has no claim. She has no right for her request. Now we can explore these images that Jesus uses. Why does he use children and dogs? Well, Israel as God's children is a familiar image from the Old Testament. For example, in Hosea 11.1. So we can see the appropriateness of that fairly easily. Now the use of dogs here is a little more complex. In the Old Testament, dogs were often associated with what was unclean. especially because they would eat unclean meat, stuff that was torn, stuff that still had blood. So they were associated with uncleanness. And we have later Jewish writings that compare the Gentiles to dogs in the sense that they are unclean. Now, other times in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament, Dogs are a reference to evildoers or immoral people, especially sexual immorality. And again, we have other examples of Jewish writings that compare Gentiles in this manner. But there's one big difference here in the word chosen. Jesus doesn't use the normal word for dogs seen elsewhere. He instead uses the word little dogs. a diminutive of the word. And when you explore where else this is used, it is often of household pets, not where dogs usually were outside. And also often dogs were strays. So we see from that that probably the comparison is a little different here. And as we look at the parable, Jesus does not focus either on their uncleanness or their meanness. Instead, you know, those elements may be there, but they're not central to his point. Instead, his focus is on priority and right to food. Children come before dogs. And it's not so much because these dogs are unclean, it's because they're dogs. Children come first. They have priority. And so by this parable, Jesus is making the point to this Gentile woman that she has no right to sit at the table with Israel, to ask for healing from Jesus before his ministry to Israel is done. For Jesus to start now the ministry to the Gentiles was not proper. It would be like feeding dogs the bread of children. But we still want to understand, well, why is this so? Why did Jesus rebuke her like this? Well, first we must remember that Jesus is not a miracle worker. That is not his primary task. That is not his primary mission in his incarnation. Instead, his miracles and healings had a very specific purpose. They were to show who he was, that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the promised one, the one looked forward to in all of the Old Testament. And so when Jesus would cast out demons, when he would heal the sick, when he would raise the dead, he was showing that the kingdom of God had drawn nigh, that he had bound the strong man, that salvation was coming to God's people. And we need to remember this when we're surprised at Jesus' refusal. We all too often think of him as this miracle worker who wanted to heal everybody. But Jesus stays focused on his real goal. He did not come to heal all the sick of the world, but to heal the sickness of the world, bringing about salvation from sin and death and hell. So Jesus refused this woman because he is faithfully bringing about God's plan of redemption. And his ministry at this time was to focus on Israel. He came as the Jewish Messiah, the hope of Israel. They were the heirs of the covenant. They were the descendants of promise, and he was not done with his ministry to them. The time of the Gentile inclusion, the proclamation of the gospel to all nations, had not yet come. It was spoken of even in the Old Testament, but now was not the time of fulfillment. And Matthew's account again brings this out even more clearly. We could say where his first response to the woman was, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So this Gentile woman has no right to Israel's Messiah. And this is really the time that Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2, when he is addressing Gentiles. Ephesians 2, verses 11 through 12, he says, Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by those called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. Christ had not yet broken down the barrier of hostility through his completed work. And so those who were strangers were still strangers. They had not yet become fellow citizens. And so Jesus tells this woman, let the children be satisfied first. And here it is worth emphasizing, well, why was Israel first? Was it because they were better people? Was it because they were superior in some way to the Gentiles? No, no, not at all. It was because of God's choice, His promise. He had chosen to bring salvation to the world through the people of Israel. He had promised to Abraham to bring the blessing to all nations through his seed. No, when God chose Israel, He told them it wasn't because of anything in you. In fact, you are the least of all people. It is instead His sovereign choice, whom He loves. No, Israel had no reason to boast. And rather, as we look through the Old Testament, it becomes abundantly clear that they were stubborn sinners like the rest of us, only deserving judgment and grace. so we have seen that jesus's comparison of this gentile woman to a dog was used in a very limited sense not focusing on the more degrading elements we could say of uncleanness and immorality and yet i don't think we should play down this stinging rebuke he was putting her in her place in many ways. She was a Gentile. She had no right to press her request, no ground on which to base her plea. And Jesus pointed it out. You are like a dog asking for the children's bread. And dear people of God, if we step back for a moment, we can see that in fact we are all in a position no different from this Gentile woman. You and I have no rights when we approach God, when we approach Him for grace. Now, I don't mean this because most of us are Gentiles, but in a more general sense, as sinners before God, fallen sons and daughters of Adam. Apart from God's work, both Jews and Gentiles are like this woman. We have no claim to God's grace. We have no basis for our plea. In ourselves, we are like dogs trying to sit at the table. God didn't have to act. He did not have to save. He did not have to bless. Is there anything in you, anything in me that compels him to do so? No, in a very real way, this stinging rebuke can apply to you and me. But then we come to this woman's surprising reply. Is this woman offended by Jesus' rebuke? Comparing her to a dog, how dare he? No, she doesn't dispute the statement, his comparison. In fact, she basically affirms it. But yet in it, she finds a way for her request, a way to continue to cling to Jesus until he blesses her. Because she takes his parable and presses it, you know, in a way that Jesus didn't originally mean, but she uses the same images to press her case. Now, as we mentioned, Jesus uses the word little dog, not the common word for dog. And the common word, as we said, referred to the big dogs, the ones who are kept outside, the ones who are often even strays. But the little dogs were often house pets, ones who could come indoors or who were even kept indoors. And this woman uses this distinction in her reply. You've compared me to a little dog, and I don't dispute that. I have no right to steal the children's bread. But where are the little dogs when the children are eating? They're under the table, eating the little crumbs dropped by the children. And we all know how many crumbs children make. So she is not trying to steal the children's bread. She is just looking for crumbs. What a surprising reply. She hasn't balked at Jesus' parable. Instead, she has shown humility. She correctly understands it, and she turns it to her advantage. Even these little dogs get their scraps. That is all she wants. And we shouldn't miss the irony here, too. Jesus, in the book of Mark, is constantly speaking in parables to the Jews, and yet they never understand. Even the disciples have to continually ask Jesus, what did you mean? And yet here this Gentile woman understands. She has shown more understanding than the learned of Israel. She has had ears to hear something that could only be given by God. And likewise, as we read through the Gospels, were shocked at the disciples' lack of faith. They see Jesus feed 5,000, and then in the next moment when he tells them to feed 4,000, they don't know how it's going to happen. But this Gentile woman, she has amazing faith. Amazing faith in Jesus' power to heal her daughter. Her faith is so great that she knows it will only take but a little crumb. And our Savior, Jesus Christ, who earlier when he went away to rest, saw the crowds coming and had compassion on them. Here again, he has compassion. Compassion on this woman. And he grants this woman's request because of her response. Her response, which had showed humility, understanding, and faith. She had no right or claim, and yet Jesus showed her grace and mercy. But Mark doesn't really leave us at the end of this account to marvel at this woman and her faith. But again, he focuses our attention on Jesus. For how does Jesus answer this woman? He just tells her, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter. Who is this? Who can cast out a demon in an instant without even saying a word, without confronting it face to face? No need to travel like he did with Jairus' daughter to go see her. What power Jesus has. What authority. And this woman goes out and she finds it all as Jesus has said. Now as we stated earlier, Jesus was on a specific mission in his earthly ministry. And yet, in this account, we can see this future Gentile mission already breaking in, as it were. The crumbs already going out. And this is really carrying on the pattern that can be seen in the Old Testament. As often, God's blessing to Israel flowed out even to its neighbors, those who would join themselves to his people. And after Jesus' death and resurrection, the doors would be opened wide. The call to repent and believe would go to the whole world. And yet as we think of the gospel, the call of the gospel going out, we cannot forget Jesus' rebuke. For if we stumble over His rebuke, we will stumble over the Gospel. For the Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be accepted by those who say, look at me. Look what I've done. Look at my works. I deserve this. I have a right to God's grace. No, those who place any confidence in themselves, Those who are offended when God declares to them, you are a sinner, you deserve eternal damnation. They cannot accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. And God does rebuke us in this manner throughout His Word as we read His law, His perfect righteous demands, no matter if it's from the Ten Commandments or from the New Testament. In many ways, we are put in our place. We are shown to be sinners so that our only option is to humbly look to God for grace. And we need this week by week so that our pride, our own self-importance, which so easily creeps up, is beat back down so that our eyes can again solely focus on Jesus, our Savior, the one who has not only paid for our failings to keep the law, but has actually kept it for us. And we need this regular reminder, not so that we question our faith, but so that we can have true confidence, true assurance, and true peace. For if my actions, if my works play any part in my salvation, either to earn it or to keep it. Oh, what a wretched man I am, for I know my sin, my uncleanness ever clings to me. No, instead we must all cry, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace, foul eye to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die. Let us pray. Dear Lord, your grace is so great. And we see it is so great when we see that our need is so great. And so may we continually, may we constantly turn to you for our assurance. Put no confidence in the flesh and rejoice in the work, the finished work, the finished work for us of Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.