Unexpected Grace

Who likes surprises?

Who doesn't like surprises?

Well, I have a surprise for you.

I am not there, clearly, because I have come down with my first cold in five years.

I've had a good run, but it's Saturday night, and I can't risk being there tomorrow.

So I'm gonna read my sermon into this audio, and we'll have an audio version of it.

I haven't had that many surprise birthdays.

My 30th was a surprise birthday party.

We were going to some friend's house for lunch after church, and I remember casually walking up the stairs into the lounge room, and then 50 people screamed, Happy birthday!

I seriously nearly fell down the stairs.

I got such a shock.

I don't know.

I think I'm in the not so much into surprises camp.

Today's portion of Mark's Gospel is surprising.

It's unexpected on a number of levels.

Firstly, the scene is set in a surprising location.

It's what we might call an unexpected appearance of Jesus.

Verse 24 says, Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.

He entered a house and didn't want anyone to know it, yet he could not keep his presence secret.

This on the screen is a picture of where Tyre is.

That's where Galilee is.

It's 55 kilometres as far as Hornsby to Cranulla, so quite a walk.

Interestingly, we don't hear of the disciples being with him.

Maybe they are, but we're not told.

Tyre is an unexpected location for Jesus to up and go to, especially 55 kilometres away by foot, because Tyre is outside the general range of Israel's land.

The city of Tyre was well stocked with produce from the hinterland of Galilee, while those who grew the food frequently went hungry.

Economically, Tyre took bread away from Galilee.

Galileans perceived Tyre politically as posing a permanent threat with expansionist policies, since there were no natural boundaries to mark off the two regions.

The hostility between Tyrians and Jews is reflected in Jewish historian Josephus' statement that the people from Tyre are our bitterest enemies.

Of course, this isn't the first surprise appearance of Jesus.

It was 400 years since a prophet had spoken on behalf of God in the lead up to the birth of Jesus.

And then Mark's Gospel in Chapter 1 tells us that John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, started declaring, prepare the way for the Lord.

Angels spoke to Joseph and Mary and then boom, Jesus was here in a surprising appearance in a lowly manger in Bethlehem.

Jesus makes unexpected appearances still today.

In our staff team meeting last week, we were commenting how common it has been in recent years for people to turn up to church, not on a friend's arm because they've been invited, but because by themselves, Jesus has turned up in their life in a dream or there has been some sort of personal, undeniable spiritual encounter with the Lord, an unexpected appearance, which has led them to church.

That's pretty cool, don't you think?

It's not just in Muslim countries that Jesus is making unexpected appearances in people's lives.

Jesus turning up to Tyre is a surprise, though interestingly in Mark 3 verse 7 we read, 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 to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.

So he's known in Tyre, but still an unexpected appearance.

Don't be surprised if you find the presence of God in strange and unexpected places.

So firstly, Jesus going to Tyre was an unexpected appearance.

Secondly, what Jesus says to this woman is what you might call an unexpected truth bomb.

The text says, he entered a house and didn't 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.

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.

Wow, Jesus' gruff reaction to this desperate mother, let's face it, is confusing at the least.

It's certainly unexpected.

Why does he seem to be so surly when she pleads for her demonised daughter?

She comes asking, seeking and knocking.

Why does he speak about throwing bread to dogs?

She doesn't ask about bread.

She asks for help for her little child.

How can Jesus compare a sick child to a dog?

He seems to say that the only legitimate diners are members of the people of Israel.

Others, no matter how deserving or needy, seemingly, can expect nothing from him.

The scene upsets our sense of justice.

Why doesn't Jesus respond more sensitively to this Gentile's cry for help?

She can't help that she was born a Gentile, lives in the region of Tyre and is culturally Greek.

Most of us don't mind Jesus being rude to Pharisees and Sadducees, whom we believe deserve it.

But it's not like him to be rude to a forlorn mother.

It's an unexpected truth bomb.

Now, I think it's wise to acknowledge, no one knows for sure what on earth is happening here, really.

There have been lots of attempts to soften Jesus' words or to reinterpret them in some way.

I tend to see this narrative vignette as a super condensed insight into life.

We ask God for stuff and get no answer or know as an answer all the time.

Suffering and pain is experienced by all of us at some point in time.

The explanation for why it has happened is not always forthcoming from the Lord.

And then in that place of unknowing, in that often dark place of the soul, we decide whether we are going to keep believing God is good.

My sense is that Jesus is entire because he is setting up one of the great responses to confusion we find in the Bible.

He is setting up one of the great examples of the love of God being extended to the outsider in the Bible.

Remember, Jesus often spoke truth bombs.

He told the rich young ruler to sell everything he owned.

He told a man to follow him whilst abandoning the burial of his father.

Jesus said some really challenging things to many people, and here he is using the familiar language of Israel.

Israel were the people of God, and the Greeks, even more the Syrophoenicians from Tyre, were seen in the first century Jewish vernacular as the dogs, Gentile dogs.

Jesus is acting exactly how you would expect a Jew to act.

Just not how we would expect our Jesus to act.

Have you ever had your good senses offended by Jesus?

Ever been given an unexpected truth bomb?

We don't have to go far in our Bibles to find the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 to 7.

Jesus says if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.

He doesn't mean to do that literally, but he does mean to communicate.

What you look at will affect your heart and your spiritual health, and you should do something about it.

Unexpected truth bombs should be expected from the one who is full of truth and grace.

Jesus shares unexpected truth with this unnamed Syrophoenician woman.

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.

In other words, I'm here to set the captives of Israel free.

I'm here for my people.

I'm here to free Israel from the grip of demons, from the grip of the evil one.

And this leads us to our third surprise in this story.

The third surprise is the woman's response demonstrates unexpected faith.

Lord, she replied, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

The woman accepts Jesus' premise that the children are to be fed first before the dogs get anything, but quickly expands on Jesus' parable of eating at the table.

Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

Jesus has come to fulfil every promise given to Israel by God.

Every covenant promise of grace and judgment, every hope of God solving the problem of sin found in the Old Testament, every idea about the abundant blessings of God to be poured out on his beloved people.

They're all destined for Israel.

This is what Paul teaches in Romans, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

With surprising faith, this woman gets it and yet still steps up and says, maybe I'm like a dog under the table, but I'm still here asking you for help, Lord.

My daughter needs your help and I'm not leaving without it.

Last week, Ben unpacked for us the complex Levitical laws about what is clean and unclean.

A Greek Syrophoenician was a Gentile who was categorically unclean from birth.

To come in contact with a woman such as this would make Jesus unclean.

But we've already learned Jesus is recalibrating what is clean and unclean.

This woman is not unclean.

She is demonstrating remarkable faith in coming to Jesus.

This story is reminiscent of the Roman Centurion of Matthew 8.

Many of us would remember it, I think.

Verse 5.

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

Lord, he said, My servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.

Jesus said to him, Shall I come and heal him?

The centurion replied, Lord, I don't deserve to have you come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.

I tell this one, go, and he goes, and this one, come, and he comes.

I say to my servant, do this, and he does it.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed, and said to those following him, Truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, that the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go, let it be done just as you believed it would, and his servant was healed at that moment.

There are various different interactions that Jesus had with outsiders in the New Testament.

People outside of Israel, people who had been told that God's love was not for them, yet people who demonstrated remarkable faith, such that the text says Jesus was amazed.

The woman's response to Jesus in this Gentile town of Tyre is an example of unexpected faith, and Jesus loves it.

For some of us today, the person who is most surprised by your faith, I bet, is you.

Congratulations, your faith is pleasing the Lord Jesus.

Some of us don't feel like we're from the inside.

We're not so churchy, if you will.

We've been hurt or we've been left out.

But here you are, online or in person, and you're demonstrating unexpected faith.

Jesus sees you.

He knows your faith.

He loves finding faith in unexpected places.

The story of the Syrophoenician woman is an example also of unexpected revelation.

Unexpected revelation.

When the text says, Lord, she replied, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs, she's demonstrating that she gets the riddle.

She asked for demon deliverance from Jesus.

And Jesus talked about children eating bread and crumbs for dogs.

The woman's response reveals that she comprehends more about the bread that Jesus offers than even his disciples do.

They've witnessed the feeding of the 5,000, Mark 6, and will witness the feeding of 4,000, Mark 8, but still don't understand the bread that Jesus offers.

This woman, who didn't partake in either feeding, begs to receive only the bread crumbs falling from the diner's laps.

She gets it.

She will gladly accept the rank of household dog if it means getting fed.

Unexpected Revelation.

You may not have been to Theological College or even Sunday School.

You may have started following Jesus pretty late in your journey of life, or maybe you've just started following him recently.

Never underestimate what Revelation can do for your maturity.

Rapid obedience to Christ's word, to you, is the greatest sign of maturity.

Not how many years you've been a Christian, but how rapid is your obedience.

The Revelation that this woman is receiving is that there are no outsiders in the kingdom of God.

The power of God found in Jesus is for everyone.

No matter how far down the chain of power you find yourself, this encounter is meant to teach us that there are no outsiders to God's love.

There are no outsiders to the reach of the Gospel.

There are no boundaries which should hold us back from sharing the love of God with the world.

Jesus is a boundary buster.

And in doing so, he grants unexpected revelation to veritable nobodies.

And when this woman refuses to accept no and she stands under Jesus with her hand literally begging for his power, he responds with grace.

And number five, unexpected transformation.

Verse 29 says, Then he told her, For such a reply, you may go.

The demon has left your daughter.

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Her daughter was set free from darkness.

Her life was filled with the light of the power of God in Christ.

This woman demonstrates remarkable humility.

She has no qualms about receiving the kingdom as a little dog.

Like a dog, she will gobble down whatever is granted.

The woman doesn't get a crumb, but precisely what she has begged from Jesus, her daughter is healed.

Her daughter's life is transformed.

Over the past month or so now, around 70 men and women from NorthernLife have been meeting with God twice a day, Monday to Friday, doing the Daily Sevens devotions program.

This last week, for one of the groups, we had this profound quote from Soren Kiakagor.

God creates everything out of nothing.

And everything which God is to use, he first reduces to nothing.

To be reduced to nothing is to be dragged to the foot of the cross.

It's a severe mercy.

Now, that doesn't sound that nice, but neither did Jesus' response to the woman initially.

Spiritual transformation occurs when we humbly bow at the feet of Jesus and acknowledge both His Lordship and His Saviourship.

He is Lord and Saviour because I need a Lord and Saviour.

Amen.

The transformation you're looking for in your life is on the other side of humbly coming to the foot of the cross and worshipping Jesus.

Jesus will meet you unexpectedly and speak unexpected truth, which requires a response of faith, which might just be unexpected.

Filling us with unexpected revelation and unexpected transformation.

God is at work all the time, everywhere, and for every person who will receive him by faith.

Lord God, we thank you so much for the testimony of the work of Christ that we have just come under this morning and this evening.

You blow us away, Lord Jesus, with your constant love and willingness to cross boundaries, to find the lost sheep, to find a person who needs you because you're the one who seeks and saves the lost.

And we want to give you all the glory for what you've done this week.

We know this week you've helped the team in the Philippines, and your grace has gone out to many people in those villages, and we've heard that people have come to know you, and so we just celebrate with you that your grace is wonderful and you're worthy of your name, the name above every other name, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Saviour of the world, Jesus.

We love you, Lord, and we thank you that your blessing goes with us in unexpected ways.

Amen.

‍