Trying to follow Jesus was hard because so many people were following Jesus. Sometimes you could barely get within reach (Luke 8:43-45). Sometimes you had to make an impromptu skylight (Mark 2:4). For a good stretch of time, everywhere Jesus went, He was surrounded by people. He was even known to pull individuals away from the commotion before He healed them (Mark 8:23). No wonder there were times when Jesus wanted to get away from the crowd.

When He hears about John’s death, Jesus clearly wants some time away from the multitudes. He gets in a boat and heads for a “secluded place” (Matthew 14:13). But the crowd is one step ahead of Him. When Jesus arrives at the “secluded place,” there are over 5,000 people waiting.

Even though this interruption would have frustrated most people, Jesus feels compassion. He teaches them and He gives them food. But after everyone is fed, Jesus sends the apostles back across the Galilee and He stays behind. Finally, He’s able to get some time alone.

This seclusion soon comes to an end. He sets off back across the Galilee (part of the way in a boat) and arrives on the western shore. And sure enough, more people are waiting for Him.

Everywhere Jesus turns, there are desperate faces closing in on Him, all of them wanting something: to be healed, to be fed, to start an argument. At this point, Jesus does something unusual. He goes off grid.

He has been in and around Jerusalem, all around Galilee, and even in Samaria. But now He goes way up north. Jesus walks fifty miles up the coast to a city called Tyre (Matthew 15:21): Jezebel’s hometown. This whole area is a hotspot for Baal worship. Later, Jesus even refers to this region as the perfect example of corruption (Matthew 11:20-21). So it seems fairly strange He would go up here.

Mark 7 tells us why. He did it to get away from the crowds. “Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it.” He wants to lay low. No more desperate faces, please—at least for a little while. But it doesn’t work. “He could not escape notice” (Mark 7:24).

A woman shows up at the door, uninvited—a Canaanite woman. She heard Jesus is in town and rumor has it that He can fix anything. He has healed people “who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics” (Mark 4:23-25). This woman

has a little daughter who is “severely demon-possessed” (Matthew 15:22; Mark 7:25), so she has come ask Jesus for help.

When she sees Him, she calls him, “Son of David,” so she knows He is more than some kind of exceptional physician. He is the Messiah.

If you were reading this passage for the first time, you might expect Jesus to immediately respond with, “Of course I will help you.” But He doesn’t. In fact, He doesn’t respond at all. “But He did not answer her a word.” (Matthew 15:23).

Knowing what we know about Jesus, this doesn’t seem like Him at all. Since we know the true character of Jesus, we can eliminate some possibilities.

It’s not because the woman is an outcast. Everyone knows He was often in the company of people who are shunned by society.

It’s not because He doesn’t have compassion for the woman. He’s proven again and again to be the most compassionate person who ever walked the earth.

There has to be another reason why He’s not responding to her.

The disciples actually do respond. “And His disciples came up and urged Him, saying, ‘Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us!’” (Matthew 15:23). To them she is nothing more than an annoying interruption.

She probably expected this reaction. She has several strikes against her. She’s a Gentile, she’s a Canaanite, she’s from Baal country, and she’s a woman. (Sad to say, the culture at that time was very demeaning to women.) The general consensus is that she has everything going against her. Female Syrophoenician pagans need not apply.

But Jesus doesn’t buy into the idea of treating anyone as less than human. We know better than that. So what’s going on?

It gets worse. The woman has asked Jesus for help and His first response is silence. Then apparently, He turns her down. “He answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).

Even though the woman must know she’s out of line, she still doesn’t leave. There’s a horrible situation at home and she has no one else to turn to. Maybe she’s already appealed to the gods she grew up with, but now she’s out of options. She’s not going anywhere.

She grows even more bold. She has kept her distance, but not anymore. “Immediately came and fell at his feet” (Mark 7:25) “and began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’” (Matthew 15:25). Each obstacle only makes this woman try harder. Not because she’s defiant; her approach is made of desperation and humility.

At the feet of Jesus she pleads, “Help me.”

Now a conversation begins. Jesus presents an analogy. “And He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26).

If you’re offended on behalf of this woman, sit tight. Even though it hasn’t been officially announced yet, God always intended to include Gentiles in the plan of salvation.

Keep in mind, the analogy doesn’t say feed the children and let the dog starve. Jesus says, “Let the children be satisfied first” (Mark 7:27). The word “first” implies the word “second.” There’s more to come.

Still, there’s no getting around it. To be the dog in this analogy is demeaning. But Jesus softens the edges. In the English language we have different words that mean “dog.” The words “mongrel” or “hound” have their own unique spin.

Previously, when Jesus taught, “Do not give what is holy to dogs” (Matthew 7:6), He used the Greek word kysin. That kind of dog was a predatory scavenger—the kind waiting for Jezebel.

For this Syrophoenician woman, Jesus uses the word kunarion. That word was the word used for a little dog who lived in the house. Jesus is not describing her as a mutt or mangy stray. In this analogy, she’s the family pet—the “doggy” who is very much a part of the family.

And this is when we catch a glimpse of how Jesus really feels about this woman. In His eyes she’s not an outcast. She’s not a soul to be rejected.

In fact, if you’re paying attention, you’ll see that Jesus and the woman are playing a game. And she’s very good at it.

Most people would have been incredibly offended. The modern mind thinks, “she has every right to be offended.” But that’s exactly the point. She doesn’t.

This woman is one of the most insightful people you’ll ever meet in the Bible. She knows what a lot of us don’t know. We don’t have any rights. When it comes to approaching God our best and only move is humility. This woman isn’t here to demand her rights. She’s here to ask for mercy.

She is amazing. She’s humble, but she’s clever. She strikes the perfect balance when approaching the King of Kings. When Jesus suggests, you’re like the pet dog under the table, she doesn’t even blink.

Okay, let’s run with that analogy. She has a comeback, but it’s still delivered with humility. “She said, ‘Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table’” (Matthew 15:27).

The Bible doesn’t say whether or not she smiled when she said it. It doesn’t say Jesus smiled when He heard it. But if we had been there, I bet we would have. We would have whispered, Nicely done.

She’s playing the game: Okay I’m a dog. I don’t have a right to the food. But if you’re willing, I’ll take a crumb.

There are several times during His time on the earth, that Jesus would turn to the person next to Him and ask, “Where is your faith?” At best, He would occasionally find a little faith.

Not this time. “Then Jesus said to her, ‘O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish’” (Matthew 15:28). It’s so easy to imagine Him turning to the stunned apostles and saying, “See this woman? That’s how it’s done.”

This woman receives what she asked for. Not just because she has appealed to Jesus and not just because she is humble, but because of the way she played the game. “And He said to her, ‘Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter’ (Mark 7:29).

Most days, Jesus was surrounded by people. Many of them were deeply religious. But this zero-person from the darkest corner of Baal country—she figured it out.

“And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left” (Mark 7:30). Notice she didn’t ask for proof or a confirmation number. Her faith brought her there and faith brought her home, where she found her daughter happy and safe. That night, more than likely, she and her daughter slept better than they had in a long time.

For most of us, this encounter recorded in the Bible causes us to be distracted. We feel like we have to quickly defend the way Jesus treated her. Probably because we ourselves are so easily offended. Between our sense of entitlement and our insistence on having our say, we have trouble with this passage.

From a distance it seems like we’re reading about two people at odds. But once you get a little closer, you begin to understand them both a lot better. You realize this is the most loving and compassionate man who ever lived talking to one of the most clever and sincere women who

ever lived. For lack of a better word this was a game which left one player returning home to wonderful news and the other player impressed how this woman stood out in the crowd.

Why did Jesus call her faith great? She approached with total reverence. She didn’t demand anything, she knew she deserved nothing, but she was relentless and clever. And you could even argue she knew Jesus better than His apostles did.

And don’t miss it—she asked for a crumb. But she got a lot more than that. Because of her faith, she didn’t just rescue her daughter. She also gained the admiration of the Son of God.