A sermon delivered by Mary Rathbone in September 2024 about the astonishing faith of the Syrophoenician woman.
In his role as the Messiah, Jesus came to bring salvation to those who believed in him, knowing he only had limited time to do so.
But he had recently attracted quite a bit of attention in Israel.
By feeding the 5,000, he showed he could meet Israel’s needs.
Walking on water illustrated his dominion over creation,
and he reprimanded the Jewish leaders for altering scripture, alluding to his eternal and divine wisdom.
Perhaps to escape further attention, both positive and negative, Jesus withdrew, with his disciples, to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon.
He needed his disciples to understand that he was the Jewish Messiah foretold in the Old Testament.
But despite his miracles, the disciples were slow to fully believe, while some Gentiles had already begun to recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.
Perhaps Jesus went to a Gentile country to see if one of them would confess their faith in front of the disciples, prompting them to think.
The Syrophoenician Woman
The brief conversation between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman might have seemed like light-hearted banter, but the woman cleverly turned it to her advantage.
In St. Matthew’s account, she addressed Jesus as the Son of David and begged for his help with her demon-possessed daughter.
Jesus, who often taught using metaphors and parables, responded with a metaphor:
“Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” he said
meaning his priority was to first help the house of Israel understand who he was.
The woman cleverly replied by asking for, just the crumbs that fell from the table, perhaps this revealed some understanding of his mission?
She may well have had Jewish friends who had explained this to her and was only asking for the crumbs that the ‘children’ had ignored or rejected for her daughter.
The Faith of a Gentile Woman
Jesus perceived great faith in her response. She had acknowledged him as the Messiah and suggested that he might serve whoever he chose to with his time and power in this moment outside of Israel.
When you think of it, it was inspired on her part because she wanted, so desperately needed, some of the crumbs falling from the bread that Jesus was bringing for God’s chosen people.
She had no resentment, no anger about her situation; she only believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, who came to heal people, and for some reason, here he was in her town. So, she sought his mercy for her child.
The Syrophoenician woman became one of the earliest Gentiles to be adopted into the kingdom, as her amazing faith was rewarded when her daughter was instantly healed by Jesus.
The disciples must have witnessed her great faith with astonishment because she was well ahead of the plan.
They were nowhere near ready for Calvary, but this woman was already at Easter, as her daughter was healed.
The Gentile woman broke through cultural norms to uncover spiritual truths.
Cultures Change but Biblical Truths Remain the Same
The important fact to remember is that cultural norms will always change over time;
but the truth of Christ’s gospel remains the same today, as it was then, and always will be.
But if the Jewish people had not accepted Jesus as their Messiah, then the faith could not have developed, as the Gentiles did not have the background to verify his claims.
It could never have happened in any other way than through acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah by the Jewish disciples. Because God is a God of order, not disorder and when we observe any part of his creation we see only order.
he had an orderly plan to bring about the salvation of the faithful through Abraham and his descendants. Faithful Gentiles were eventually to be adopted into that order.
As adopted Gentiles into the faith, our priority today is to deliver the good news of the gospel to the wider world. To all nations, to all creation, to the ends of the earth, as the New Testament says.
What does this mean for us today?
In the New Testament we hear stories of evangelists like St Paul storming towns and cities, and disciples being sent out in pairs to share the gospel.
Today the thought of talking to people, one on one, about Jesus can be a bit daunting for most people, but perhaps evangelism in the world today is more of a group activity?
And interestingly, the Covid lockdown led to an unexpected development in such outreach.
As you will remember churches began streaming their services online, primarily for their congregations to view in safety at home.
We were one of those and have faithfully continued to do so from St Etheldreda’s church where many of you have joined us to worship in church and online.
Every one participating in these services, in whatever way, plays an important part in reaching the wider community.
And over time, we have seen that the number of people viewing online has gradually increased, and we are now reaching a wider community than our immediate two congregations.
This means today we have visitors to our online services from not only our parish, but throughout the country and entire world.
This is modern-day evangelism in action, and all who attend and participate in any way, have a part in it.
So I would suggest, in this way, we, as a parish, are supporting Christ’s long-term plan of spreading the gospel to all nations.
I would say this is modern day evangelism in progress.
Because the logistics are beginning to show more joining us online, both locally and from all around the world.
And just as the Gentile woman broke through cultural barriers to uncover spiritual truths, perhaps we too are breaking through missionary barriers, using modern technology and old-fashioned service and faith.
But, if you feel you can also talk directly one to one with others outside the church, about the hope we have in Jesus and invite them to join us in worship;
Then that would be the icing on the heavenly cake. Amen.
