Posts
From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs." Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "be opened." Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
- Mark 7:24-37
Yesterday, we read that the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Jesus, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." He said to them, "All to well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" -- (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do." When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, "Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from the outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!" When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. So He said to them, "Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?" And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man."
From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon are Gentile cities on the coast of Palestine, to the northwest of Jesus' home territory of Galilee.
And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. Repeatedly we read in Mark's Gospel that Jesus seeks solitude, but He can't escape the fame that follows Him. Even here in this Gentile territory, He can't be hidden. The interesting thing about the way this sentence is structured, is that it seems like Jesus wants to hide Himself, but He hasn't got the power to do so.
For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs." Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. My study bible says, "That the mother kept asking Him for her daughter's deliverance teaches perseverance in prayer. Jesus resists her, not to make her persuade Him, but to test her faith. Such persistence the Lord seeks from all." The word translated as "dogs" here in the Greek indicates a little puppy, a house dog, one that would be under the table (grown dogs in the Middle East were not historically indoor pets). Therefore the emphasis here is on her persistence in pestering Him! Like a puppy, she's begging at His feet. The almost playful or sassy nature of her reply in kind to Him, of which Jesus heartily approves, emphasizes this "puppy-like" quality. But let's not forget the serious nature of what she's asking for, how crucial it is that she get help for her daughter. It's not the only memorable teaching of Jesus about persistence - nor the only example of a relatively powerless woman in whom persistence is proclaimed a virtue (see the parable of the Unjust Judge).
Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. The Decapolis is another Greek-speaking area, made up of Ten Cities (the meaning of the word "Decapolis") of Greek and Roman culture, in which populations were mixed. This is to the southest of Galilee.
Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. A note in my study bible says, "Jesus heals in various ways. Sometimes He speaks a word [as with the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter, above], sometimes He commands people to act [i.e. take up a bed], sometimes He touches people [see the healing of the leper here]. Here He takes a man aside for a private and unusual act of healing. The ways of God at times do not make sense to us, not because He is illogical, but because His nature transcends our capacity to understand."
Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "be opened." Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. My study bible tells us: "Looking up to heaven is a sign of intimacy with the Father in prayer. He sighed out of deep compassion for the mans pitiful character." The "impediment" of this man's tongue translates as a kind of bond, a binding. Jesus' act is to liberate, to free, to unbind, just as He "opens" the man's ears.
Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." My study bible says, "Here Jesus' attempt to keep His messianic identity secret is foiled by the people's enthusiasm. The gospel is so powerful that it simply cannot be contained."
In today's reading we're twice reminded, with the two different healings, that almost despite Himself, Jesus cannot contain the fame of His ministry, the spread of the word about Him. First He goes into a house and desires to be hidden. The question that comes to mind is, "Can light be hidden?" Well, John's Gospel answers that question when it tells us that the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness comprehends it not (meaning both to "understand" and to "take in"). In the second healing in today's reading, He forbids people to speak of what has happened, but it is He who performed the liberating action of opening up the deaf man's ears, and loosing the bond of his tongue. So we get a sense of the holiness of Christ, that it is something far beyond the human Jesus that is at work here, and that something simply cannot be contained, as my study bible puts it. It puts us in mind of the woman who, unbeknownst to Him, touched the hem of His garment in the crowd as He was on His way to Jairus' house. We were told there that Jesus felt the power go out of Himself, and asked His disciples, "Who touched My clothes?" So there is holiness at work in Jesus that has to do with the Source of all things, with this mission that isn't just about the human being Jesus, but about the work of God in the world. All of Jesus' miracles are signs of that holiness, that power that is beyond what we know and can't be contained, that isn't always consciously at work as a product of Jesus' human desire, but rather works with Him and through Him. That Christ is both human and divine is still a great mystery; we can't define it perfectly or know exactly how this works. But we can observe its reality in the Gospels. We can start to think ourselves about what makes something holy, how we observe holiness, and what holiness is and means. It's a great mystery, but one thing is clear: it is something far beyond us, something that works in and through our world and all the things in it. Holiness can touch us in ways that come out of the least expected time or place. It's not something that "comes with observation." Prayer is our way to connect to this place: it's in the pestering of the Syro-Phoenician woman above, and it was in the faith of the woman with the blood flow who touched the hem of His clothing. It's our faith and our petitions that make that connection with the holy, that releases its power to be at work in the world, that makes a connection somehow. We can't control it, nobody owns it. Nobody owns title, or rights to its name. It doesn't work via human perception and understanding. Jesus taught, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes." This is a play on words, as the word pneuma in the Greek can mean either wind or Spirit. This was in John's Gospel, when He taught Nicodemus about being born of the Spirit. What we observe today in Mark's Gospel is the uncontainability of this holiness, of this Kingdom. This wind blows where it wishes, but we can't tell where it comes from or where it goes. Our connection to it is through faith and prayer, and it is this connection with us that releases its power in our world and into our lives. Even to the human Jesus, at times, its working is mysterious, and He always takes time for solitude and prayer, for communion with the Father, at all times in His ministry. So deep is the reverence for the Spirit that He has taught that all things will be forgiven, except blasphemy of the Spirit. It is the reverence for this work of holiness in the world that we must remember and think about, that the Gospel here in today's reading calls us to ponder. How do you see the wind? How do you know where it's going or where it came from? Holiness opens up unimagined possibilities, a world where the rest of our rules don't apply, where we are not in control. We can't contain it. We can't necessarily predict what it's going to look like. And yet, it is so easily overlooked, and forgotten about in our pursuit of what makes for a faithful life.
