How to Approach Jesus
Psalm 149:4
“The Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.”
I. A Woman With Every Disqualification
The Setup — Mark 7:24–26
Jesus retreats to Tyre, Gentile country and historically Israel’s enemy, wanting to go unnoticed.
She finds him anyway.
Mark stacks four disqualifications on top of each other:
- A woman
- A Gentile
- Syrophoenician, from Tyre
- Mother of a demonized child
She walks in uninvited, falls at his feet, and keeps on begging.
Mark 7:24–26
“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 impure 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.”
II. Crumbs From the Table
The Exchange — Mark 7:27–29
Jesus responds with a parable. The key word is kynaria, Greek for household puppies,
not street dogs. This is not contempt. It is truth about the order of redemption.
She gets the parable instantly. Every insider in Mark misses it. The outsider sees what the insiders cannot.
She concedes her position fully and asks from it anyway.
Mark 7:27–29
“‘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 the dogs.’ ‘Lord,’ she replied, ‘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.’”
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone
who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
III. Which One Are You Carrying In?
The Three Postures
Pride: “I deserve this.”
The Pharisees. Credentials, rule-keeping, quiet resentment when the prodigal gets the party.
Grace and pride cannot share a table. Pride leaves hungry.
Despair: “I don’t deserve this.”
Agrees with God’s assessment, then withdraws. Despair is pride wearing a different costume.
It still makes the conversation about me. Despair leaves hungry too.
Faith: “I don’t deserve this. I’m asking anyway.”
Holds both truths at once. Concedes position. Refuses to withdraw.
The only posture that actually receives anything from Jesus.
Luther: Simul iustus et peccator — at the same time righteous and a sinner.
Not one then the other. Both, simultaneously, always.
Keller: “We are at the same time more wicked and flawed than we ever dared believe,
and yet more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope.”
IV. The Preview and the Feast
Pentecost Connection
This woman is the trailer for Pentecost. The first Gentile in Mark to come to Jesus on nothing but faith,
and walk away with everything.
The crumbs under the table became a feast for the world. The table is bigger than anyone thought.
Bernard of Clairvaux:
“It is only when humility warrants it that great grace can be obtained. When you perceive that you are being humbled,
look on it as the sign of a sure guarantee that grace is on the way.”
Sermon Resources
“She does not demand a place at the table; she asks only for a crumb. And in doing so,
she demonstrates the kind of faith that opens the kingdom to all who know they have no right to enter.”
William L. Lane
“Thus a Christian person is righteous and a sinner at the same time
(simul iustus et peccator). He is at once a beloved child of God and a beggar who has nothing in himself.”
Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans (1515–1516)
“This woman did not argue with Jesus. She did not get angry. She humbly, boldly took him at his word and said,
‘Yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs.’ That’s faith. Faith takes its place under the table and trusts the Master’s heart.”
John Piper
“By calling her a dog, Christ seemed to shut the door against her prayers. But she was not discouraged;
and this was a remarkable proof of her faith. … She therefore receives this repulse, not as a sentence of death,
but as a warning which humbles her pride, and yet does not extinguish her confidence.”
John Calvin
“Jesus is not calling her a ‘dog’ in the modern sense. He uses the diminutive word kynarion—a house pet,
a puppy. But even so, he is putting her in a lesser category. And she accepts it. She does not say,
‘I’m not a dog!’ She says, ‘Yes, but even the dogs get crumbs.’ She takes his parable and works inside it.
That is the great secret of faith: you don’t have to deny your unworthiness to receive his grace.”
Tim Keller
7:24–30 Faith of a foreigner — Mark 7:24–30; see Matthew 15:21–28
Mark continues the theme of “impurity” with the story of a Gentile person. In a sense it is a missionary story.
Jesus was seeking a place of quiet in a Gentile region, but he could not escape notice.
A Greek-speaking local woman came, begging that he would drive out an evil spirit from her daughter.
Jesus’ answer was probably quoting a popular proverb, and therefore was not being as harsh as it sounds.
The emphasis is on the first part of the sentence. While Jesus was on earth, his mission was first to Israel.
After the cross, the turn of the Gentiles would come in the universal mission so dear to Mark.
The woman’s faith was great and so was her persistence, for her need was great.
She accepted that she had no right at this stage to claim God’s grace, but simply threw herself on his mercy,
turning Jesus’ parable back in his direction. Such faith was rewarded.
It is a miracle of grace that Gentiles share in all the promises of God made to Israel.
It is easy for us to presume on our position.
Alen Cole
“The good news is that in the overflow of mercy and grace that comes to us from the hands of God,
though we should be satisfied with crumbs, He is not satisfied with giving us crumbs.
He has lavished His grace on us.”
R. C. Sproul
Key Thought:
“You don’t approach Jesus with clean hands. You approach him with empty ones.”
Pastor Samuel Sutter