The Lord Jesus Christ traveled beyond the boundaries of Israel on two occasions we know of. As a child, He was taken south to Egypt for His own safety (Matthew 2:13-15). As an adult, He trekked north, to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. These cities still exist today in southern Lebanon.
The city of Tyre is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world, and its history is fascinating. In antiquity, half the city was located on the mainland and the other half on a rocky island about a half a mile offshore. This island city withstood every enemy for centuries. As early as Joshua 19, we’re told that the territory for the Jewish tribe of Asher extended northward “to the fortified city of Tyre” (Judges 19:29).
In the days of David and Solomon, King Hiram of Tyre provided cedar logs from Lebanon and skilled craftsmen for the building of the royal palace and the temple in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 7:13-14). Because of its wealth and unassailable fortress, Tyre was one of the great cities of the world.
In the 800s B.C., a little girl—a princess—was born in Tyre who would become arguably the most wicked woman in the Bible—Jezebel, the daughter of Ithobaal I, king of Tyre. She married King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel, bringing with her the vile worship practices associated with the Phoenician god Baal. She battled with her archenemy, Elijah, and was finally killed in the streets of Samaria where dogs devoured her body and licked up her blood (2 Kings 9:30-37).
Tyre continued to grow stronger and richer. But the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Amos, Joel and Zechariah predicted the destruction of Tyre and its neighboring city of Sidon.
Isaiah wrote, “A prophecy against Tyre: Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor” (Isaiah 23:1). The Lord spoke in Ezekiel 26, saying, “I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bear rock” (verses 3-4).
The book of Zechariah implies that the agent of destruction would be Alexander the Great, saying, “Tyre has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.”
Zechariah wrote that in about 480 B.C., and 150 years later it came to pass. Alexander blockaded the city for seven months, then built a massive land bridge over to the island. He destroyed the city, just as the prophets had predicted.
By the first century, Tyre and Sidon were once again strong cities, and they were close enough to Galilee to hear the spreading news about the amazing Jewish rabbi who was healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching the Gospel. Tyre was only twelve miles north of the border of Israel.
Mark 3:7-8 says, “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard about all he was doing, many people came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.”
The Gospel of Luke adds that people “from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon… had come to hear him to be healed of their disease. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing all of them” (Luke 6:17-18).
It’s likely that someone, perhaps a devoted follower from the region of Tyre, said to Jesus, “Lord, You must be exhausted. If you ever need a place where You can retreat from the crowds and rest, I have a large home outside the city of Tyre. It will accommodate You and Your disciples, so please come as my guest whenever You’d like.”
And Jesus took the man up on his offer. So let’s go with Jesus to the region of Tyre, where Jesus entered a house—and the light came on.
Matthew and Mark tell us the story of the unnamed Syrophoenician woman of Tyre. Their accounts are complementary and give the full story when we put them together. Matthew wrote, “Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly” (Matthew 15:21-22).
Somehow this woman knew that Jesus was the Lord and that He could deal with demon possessed people. And she was frantic with anxious desperation for her daughter. Everyone who has children knows what it’s like to worry yourself sick over them. There are times when we pray, “Lord, take me on to Heaven if You need to, but please have mercy on my son or my daughter or my children.” There is no pain like a parent’s pain.
She apparently followed Jesus down the street with her cries. But verse 23 says, “Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her way, for she keeps crying out after us.’”
We believe Jesus went into the region of Tyre to rest and to get away from the crowds. The last thing the disciples wanted was another mob forming in the streets. They entered the house where Jesus was staying, but she followed them right through the door. Mark 7:24-26 says, “Jesus…went into 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.”
When Jesus did speak to her, He said something totally unexpected. It seemed totally out of character for Him. Let’s go back to Matthew’s account: “He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs’” (Matthew 15:24-26).
Mark’s account is similar. Jesus said, “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs” (Mark 7:27).
The better translation of dogs would be puppies. The Greek word here referred to little puppies, not scavenger dogs. Jesus was saying, “My dear woman, My mission is to Israel and to these disciples. That is My first priority, the reason I was sent. The mission to the Gentiles will come later, when I send My followers into all the world. Why should I divert from that plan?”
Jesus was born as the Jewish Messiah to be their long-awaited prophet, priest, and king. He came unto His own, and His ministry was aimed at Israel. Later, after His resurrection, He would send His followers into the world. But the Gospel was to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile afterward. So Jesus told her, in effect, to wait her turn. First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to puppies.
I think He said this with a smile. But His smile grew even wider when He heard her amazing response. She replied, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
This is the only time in the Gospel of Mark that anyone addressed Jesus as “Lord,” and it was this Syrophoenician woman.
“What an answer!” He said. “I haven’t run into this kind of stubborn faith anywhere in Israel.” Matthew tells us that the daughter back home was healed at that very moment. Jesus commended her great faith and kindly told her to go home because her request was granted. Going home, she found her child lying on the bed, the demon gone.
One commentary said, “[Jesus] saw in the ministry to the woman a preview of the Gentile mission and in the response of the woman a preview of the acceptance of the gospel by the Gentiles.”
Tim Keller has a great observation about this: “Isn’t that amazing? She doesn’t take offense [at the Lord’s words]. She doesn’t stand on her rights. She says, all right. I may not have a place at the table – but there’s more than enough on that table for everyone in the world, and I need mine now. She is wrestling with Jesus in the most respectful way and she will not take no for an answer. I love what this woman is doing.”
Another commentator, James Edwards, wrote: “She appears to understand the purpose of Israel’s Messiah better than Israel does. Her pluck and persistence are a testimony to her trust in the sufficiency and surplus of Jesus: His provision for the disciples and Israel will be abundant enough to provide for one such as herself…. What an irony! Jesus seeks desperately to teach his chosen disciples—yet they are dull and uncomprehending; Jesus reluctant even to speak to a walk-on pagan woman—and after one sentence she understands his mission and receives his unambiguous commendation.”
Our lesson: When you pray with sanctified stubbornness, the Lord answers with sanctifying grace.
Most of us who are followers of Jesus realize we’ve been given twenty-four-hour access to God’s throne through the communication tool of prayer. We’re grateful, yet most of us feel we could pray more effectively and more often than we do.
There are some things the Canaanite woman can teach us.
First, she prayed with sanctified stubbornness. The disciples complained about that, saying, “…she keeps crying out after us” (Matthew 15:23). Even after Jesus chided her, she didn’t give up. She was a mother who wouldn’t be denied, who wouldn’t take no for an answer. That seems to be a quality God respects. There’s a remarkable passage in Isaiah 62 about how the prophet Isaiah continually interceded for Jerusalem and asked others to do the same:
Because I love Zion,
I will not keep still.
Because my heart years for Jerusalem,
I cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her
until her righteousness shines like the dawn
and her salvation blazes like a burning torch….
O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls;
They will pray day and night continually.
Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.
Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work,
until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth (Isaiah 62:1, 6-7 NLT).
This may be the most vivid passage about persistent praying in the whole Bible. Imagine putting the name of your son or daughter or loved one in place of the names Jerusalem and Zion.
Because I love this person I will not keep still…. I cannot remain silent… I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn….I will take no rest as I pray to the Lord, and I will give the Lord no rest until He completes His work.
That’s what the Canaanite woman did. She gave the Lord Jesus no rest until He delivered her daughter. It’s summarized for us in Luke 18, which says we should always pray and not give up.
This is why I keep a little prayer notebook and make a record of the specific things I pray about. It goes back, month by month, for years. When the Lord answers, I put a circle around the number on the left side of the page. During my morning prayer time, I often thumb through the pages and remind the Lord of the as-yet unanswered need.
Second, this woman had someone on her heart. Her prayers were prayers of intercession for her daughter. It’s perfectly agreeable to the Lord when we pray about our own needs, but we can’t underestimate the power of praying for others.
When I was in college, I often heard the name George Verwer. I was in a school heavily committed to the evangelization of the world, and so many of the students had been influenced by George Verwer. His name kept coming up. I never met the man nor heard him speak, but even back in the 1970s he was a legend, the man who had started a global movement known as Operation Mobilization. All these memories came back when I read recently that he had passed away at 84 years of age. Millions of people will be in Heaven because of this man.
When I have learned since is how George Verwer came to Christ. As a teenager he lived in Ramsey, New Jersey and went to Ramsey High School where he was outgoing and popular. Directly near the high school was the home of a woman named Dorothea Clapp, and she prayed for the students of that school. She had no direct contact with the students, but she would pray for every student who walked past her window.
One of those students was George Verwer, and starting in his sophomore year she prayed for him every day as he walked past her house on this way to and from school. She even asked God to turn that boy into a missionary. “Lord, make him a missionary,” she prayed.
One day she sent many of the students copies of the New Testament through the mail, and George later said he read it off and on.
In the Spring of 1955, a friend invited George to go into New York City with him and to attend a Word of Life event with Jack Wrytzen. The special speaker was Billy Graham. The event was held in Madison Square Garden, and that evening George Verwer responded to the invitation to come forward and proclaim Jesus as Lord of his life.
He came back to school for his senior year and was elected Student Council President. He used his position to distribute 1,000 copies of the Gospel of John. When he had the opportunity of speaking to the entire student body, 120 students prayed to receive Christ as Savior. And that was the beginning of a life of endless evangelism. Later George gave Dorothea credit for his conversion, saying she had put him on the Holy Spirit’s hit list.
When God lays someone on your heart and you begin praying for that person, you don’t know what’s going to happen. But the Lord laid them on your heart for a reason.
Third, the Canaanite woman teaches us to pray with humility. She wasn’t offended or put off by what Jesus said.
One of the great prayers of the English was written by Thomas Cranmer in the first Book of Common Prayer. It’s based on this story in Mark, and over the centuries millions of people have prayed it as they came to observe the Lord’s Supper. It says: We do not presume to come to this Your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Your table, but you are the same Lord whose [nature] is always to have mercy.
If all we ever receive are the crumbs under the Lord’s table, how blessed we would be. And yet, He treats us as children. Jesus said, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you…. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?” (Matthew 7:7-11 NLT).
Finally, the Canaanite woman can help us learn the famous “Jesus Prayer.” I first learned about this prayer by reading a book by Elisabeth Elliott, and I was confounded I had never known of it before. It’s not a large part of Protestant tradition, nor even so much a Roman Catholic practice. It comes from the Orthodox branch of Christianity. It came out of the practice of the desert fathers, the monks of the fourth and fifth centuries.
The Jesus prayer is only ten words in the English and seven words in Greek or Russian: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy On Me.”
Many Orthodox priests suggest praying this prayer while sitting still, repeating the words, and synchronizing them with the rhythm of breathing—breathing out each of the three phrases. Doctors pray this prayer before surgery. Students pray this prayer before exams. Families pray it in times of danger or distress.
Eddie Lyle, the President of the missions organization Open Doors UK & Ireland, wrote about spending time with his friend, Father Abdullah, a monk in the Syrian Orthodox Church. One evening the two men took a walk along a span of the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon. Father Abdullah said the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church had asked him to lead a team of archaeologists to a holy site in northern Syria to rescue artifacts and treasures before ISIS warriors destroyed them. Just as they crossed into Syria, their convoy was stopped by a group of hooded men.
We were blindfolded,” said Father Abdullah, “and taken to a hideout. There, they imprisoned us underground, and they interrogated us ruthlessly…. We spent every day and night in complete darkness. The only way that we knew who was still alive was when we prayed together and recognized each other’s voices…. Every day, there were summary executions—another member of the group was killed…. The killings continued until there were only four of us left.”
“The killings continued until there were only four of us left.”
Then a rescue plan was initiated by the Syrian Special Forces, on the direct orders of President Assad. Their ordeal was brought to a sudden end. Obviously, some high-level diplomacy had taken place.
I heard myself asking him a question like no other I have ever asked: ‘How did you pray under the hood?’ He paused and looked at me. ‘Do you know the Jesus Prayer?’ he asked. ‘It is one of the oldest prayers in Christendom. Let me teach you.’ First, he prayed in Aramaic, Jesus’ own earth language. It is more melodic than Arabic. Then he prayed in English, for my benefit: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God. Have mercy upon me.’ ‘This prayer saved me,’ he told me, ‘and it has a special place in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Now you pray it.’ And so I did: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God. Have mercy upon me.’
Do you know where we get the Jesus prayer? It’s from this Canaanite woman. She prayed, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Matthew 15:22). She is one of a handful of people who made this their prayer in the Gospels. And I recommend it to you: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me.”
Somewhere in the vicinity of ancient Tyre, near the pristine coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the house of a friend, Jesus encountered a woman with a desperate need who would not be denied. And under that roof, the lesson went forth and it descends down through the ages to your home and mine.
When you pray with sanctified stubbornness, the Lord answers with sanctifying grace.