Sunday Sermon - June 21, 2026 - Gospel of Mark 7:24-30 - A Woman of Faith

 After Jesus words with the Pharisees and his teaching on the subject of defilement, Jesus wants to get away from the Jewish establishment, and the only way to do that is to do outside of the territory that they control. Jesus had spent most of his time among the Jewish people, His one encounter with a group of Gentiles was when He was dealing with the man who had the legion of demons inside of him and went into the herd of pigs. That encounter with the Gentiles was not a positive one, in fact they ran Jesus and the disciples out of town. But in an attempt to escape the crowds and the attention of the Jewish leadership, Jesus takes Himself and his disciples northwest.

Mark 7:24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.

Tyre and Sidon are to the northwest of Galilee well outside of the control of the Jews leadership and while they are quite the distance from the places that they have been preaching and teaching, there are still Jews in the area, and the fame of Jesus has reached the Gentiles. The people of Tyre and Sidon are pagans, Greeks who had established themselves there since the days of Alexander the Great. But even going a great distance from where He had been, Jesus is still known, and word has gotten to the locals that this rabbi from Galilee has been heading in the direction of the town. So no matter how they may have tried word got out, and because of it, uninvited guest would arrive.

Mark 7:25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.

Mark 7:26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

Mark gives us some important details, the woman has a daughter and the daughter is possessed, and this woman has managed not only find out who Jesus is, but to find out where He is in the town. Everything about this tells us the level of desperation that this woman has.

So let’s breakdown all the obstacles she is having to overcome.

She is a woman, and in the 1^st century AD, woman were only slightly higher than a slave, and if the slave was a man and a good slave, the woman would slip below him. A woman openly asking around and seeking assistance for her daughter would have been unheard of.

Second she is a Gentile, but not just any Gentile, she is a Syrophoenician as described by Mark for our Roman reader to give him a contact of more location, but for the Jew, which we find this account in Matthew, she is a Canaanite, a Philistine, the enemies of the Hebrews. She is not just any old Gentile, she is one of the most hated group of people.

Third she is not a believer. This woman has little if any knowledge of who Jesus really is, does not have any real knowledge of Judaism, she knows nothing about the Messiah what it means.

But here is what she does know. She has heard the stories of Jesus, his healing people, casting out demons, feeding thousands and raising a dead little girl back to life, if those stories are true, then she had found her man.

Mark 7:27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Yes, you heard that right. Jesus called her a dog. Jesus says that His people, the children are supposed to get the blessings from Him, and for Him to give that which is due to His people to people like her is not right.

In the eyes of a Jew, she is a dog.

But wait, this is Jesus, you know Jesus loves the little children all the children, Jesus the person who just loves everyone and lifts everyone up, and never ever says anything bad or negative about anyone (even though last week this same Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites),

Well Jesus is not being very Christ like is He? Now if you are upset because Jesus called this woman a dog, allow me to help you with your emotions right now.

Did Jesus call her a dog. Yes, there’s no reason to sugar coat this. I have read some commentaries that try to soften this text by saying that the Greek word here means a family pet, or puppy, umm that is still a dog. So let’s accept the fact that Jesus called the Syrophoenician woman a dog, it happened, come to grips with it. And if that upsets you, here is the reason that you should not be upset.

The reason you are upset is because you are reading a 1^st century text about a conversation that deals with the cultural norms and practices of a 1st century people in a 21st century view. We call this Presentism. I take my cultural norms, standards and practices and force them onto a 1^st century people, and when I do that I become offended by the actions and attitudes of a people who lived 2,000 years ago and I want them to think like I think, and act like I act, however they do not, what offends you does not offend them.

The fact is that in the 1^st century the Jews saw that anyone who was not a Jew was inferior to them, but was not just the case for the Jews, the Romans believed they were superior, the Greeks believed they were superior, in fact each group believed themselves to be superior and everyone else as inferior. So when Jesus says to the woman, it is not right for me to extend the blessings that I am due to give to my own people to you, for doing such a thing, would for me to take the bread that is meant for my children who are hungry and in need of food, to you who in my sight is a dog. Jesus said this in the context of His culture and in the norms of His time, He was not being mean, He was not being hateful, or trying to offend her, He said what anyone else would have said to her, my blessings are for my people, not for others, because anyone who is not of my tribe is not worthy of my blessings.

Now notice what she says.

Mark 7:28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Yes Lord the woman acknowledges what Jesus said, and in fact agrees with the statement, she does not get upset, she does not attack Him for her calling dog. Why?

Because if the shoe was on the other foot, and it was Jesus coming to her for help, guess what? She is saying the same thing to him.

Now notice the next thing she says, Yes Lord I am a dog in your eyes, but even the dog eat the children’s crumbs.

Do you hear what she is saying? I am a dog, and as a dog I do not need bread, your crumbs are sufficient. She is like look I do not need the entire theological background of the Jewish religion and the prophecies of the Messiah, I do not need all of that, what I need is what I know of you, and what I know is that you are going through these towns and countryside and people are listening to your teachings, and you are healing them not only physically but spiritually, and right now my daughter whom I love more that life itself is tormented spiritually, so because I believe what others have told me about you, that is sufficient for me, I believe that the mere crumb of knowledge that I have of you is enough to come before you and beg you to help my daughter.

This woman did not demand that Jesus prove His abilities, this woman did not demand that Jesus prove that He had the authority, she wanted none of that nor did she need any of that.

Why? Because there are times when in desperation when all we have left is that crumb of faith. Most of the early Christians went around with a crumb of faith, they did not have a complete Canon of Scriptures, heck the vast majority if they had one could not read it. But what they had was the consistent teachings of the Word of God. These folks did not have a robust theological view of God and Christ, but what they did have they believed completely, and God judges us by the light He has given us.

This woman, this woman of faith, had only the crumbs, the oral word being spread about Jesus, and when it came time for her to come face to face with the one who could see her child free, she took that crumb of knowledge, and she stepped out in faith, having no physical proof of anything Jesus had done, as Paul said, she truly walked by faith and not by sight. She stepped into His light and humbling asked, acknowledging that she was not worthy of Him, and yet she still came in faith.

Mark 7:29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.”

Mark 7:30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

What was that statement? Lord, I do not need the loaf of bread, your crumbs are sufficient.

Are the crumbs sufficient for you, or are you demanding that God give you the whole loaf? Lord I am not willing to trust you completely unless you prove to me. There are many out there today, demanding that God give them an entire loaf, and even if He did, they would ask, is this white or wheat?

We need to be like this woman of faith, an outsider a sinner desperate for spiritual healing, and hearing the voice of the Spirit of God that speaks through His Word into our hearts, that with just a crumb of faith I can be reconciled to God.

Darin Bracy is the pastor at Yorktown Baptist Church in Yorktown Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, their daughter Harper Darin's other daughter Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Basic Baptist Guy