Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it

 

 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 

 

On Saturday 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 too 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 other 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 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 al 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.  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.   As this story appears in Matthew's Gospel  (Matthew 15:21-28), it includes a couple of details Mark's does not.  In Matthew's Gospel, the Jewish orientation of the Gospel is clear:  Jesus states there that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the woman uses the title "Son of David" for Christ, a Jewish term for the Messiah.  My study Bible comments that Christ went to the Gentile cities not to preach, but to withdraw from the faithless Pharisees, with whom He's just had another dispute (see Saturday's reading, above).  Here in Mark's Gospel, this is made clear when we read that Christ wanted no one to know He was there.  But, as we read, He could not be hidden.

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."  In keeping with what was noted in the previous section (that Christ wanted a respite from His conflict with the Pharisees), Jesus makes His way back toward the Sea of Galilee in a kind of "roundabout" way.  He goes through the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon.  The Decapolis (a name meaning "Ten Cities") was a region of Greek and Roman cities, at His time mixed with Jewish populations.  My study Bible comments on fact that we are told, "He sighed," as Christ looked up to heaven and gave the command that His ears  be opened.  It says that Christ's sigh is a sign of divine compassion for the sufferings of our fallen human nature.  In His command to tell no one my study Bible sees a teaching that we mustn't seek acclaim or praise when we do good to others.  But Theophylact upholds those who disobey Jesus in this circumstance, and sees them as a good example -- that we should proclaim those who have done good to us even if they do not want us to.  Both teachings are valuable and compatible with one another.  We might also look upon this command as yet another attempt by Christ not to unnecessarily draw the attention of the Pharisees before His hour.  

In certain senses, today's reading conveys to us a character of humility in Jesus.   It's important to note, also, that this trait of humility is mingled with Christ's striking hallmark of compassion.  Perhaps it is most significantly these two qualities that mark saintliness in those whom the Church has honored as holy people.  We can read humility into the idea that Jesus really wants to disappear from sight for a while, and avoid confrontation with the Pharisees -- and so He travels into Gentile territory.  Looking closely at this map, one can see the cities of Tyre and Sidon on the coastline north of Galilee (in the area marked as Phoenicia).  And in the second part of today's reading, we can see that He goes out of His way to travel eastward in a roundabout circle, via the Decapolis, to come back to the Sea of Galilee.  All of this is to avoid more confrontation with the religious leaders from Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious life.  All we have to do is recall Christ's divine identity, witnessed to by the miraculous healing that He does as well as His authority over the unclean spirit in the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman, to understand that His power and authority could obviously work to achieve all kinds of things for him -- including avoiding the Pharisees.  But He doesn't do that.  The time for confrontation is not up to Him alone or what His preferences are; in all things, Christ follows God the Father.  And that time for open confrontation will come when He enters Jerusalem on His way to the Cross.  In humility, He does what human beings need to do when the time for confrontation is not appropriate:  He avoids it, and travels far from the scrutiny of the religious leaders, and does not want Himself to be known, as the text tells us.  This is humility on a number of levels:  He won't use His extraordinary power to achieve what He means to achieve by some spectacular miracle or proof, He won't use that power in some miraculous way to avoid the Pharisees, He won't use any sort of manipulative power to overwhelm the human beings who seek Him.  He humbles Himself in accordance with His mission, and His fulfillment of the promise of the Incarnation that He live as one of us.  If we consider His reluctance to heal this woman's daughter, He also displays a kind of humility in accepting her request, as well as compassion.  Now, we might take a look at His words to her, comparing her to the little pups who beg under the table, and consider that what He says is uncharacteristically insulting and harsh!  But nonetheless, her bold and clever to reply to Him tells us another story -- that there is something conveyed in His manner so that she still has the confidence to approach Him and reply back.  Moreover, He yields and richly replies to her answer, even praising her for her persistence, and, we might suppose, her quick response using His own metaphor back to Him!  Reminding ourselves again of His majestic divinity as Son, we might find it surprising that He shows what appears to be a change of mind on His part, and yields to her persuasion.  Again, for the Son of God, this is a deep appearance of humility, to be persuaded by this particular woman to do something He at first refused.  But of course, this is also an expression of compassion, an exception that proves the rule, so to speak.  In the second healing, we find similarly a kind of humility in going far away from the crowd, and also admonishing the healed man's friends to tell no one.  In conventional human terms, we might think one would typically seek to be known for the good we do -- but not Jesus.  He has a mission to accomplish, and that is not how it will be accomplished.  That would not be in keeping with His obedience to God the Father.  Christ's sigh, as noted by my study Bible, is an expression of compassion for the suffering of human beings.  The command He gives, "Be opened!" as well as the expression that the healed man's tongue was "loosed" is an indication of liberation for human being kept captive by and hobbled by the things that ail us.  If we examine closely the actions of Christ throughout the Gospels, we will see consistent expressions of these qualities of humility and compassion, even as He heals and liberates.  His is a ministry that does not seek to "prove" things to those who won't believe, nor to "Lord it over" others by manipulation or force of any kind.  We must somehow meet Him with the faith that recognizes the goodness in His qualities, the desirability of such a Lord who is gentle and lowly of heart, and seeks to be "like Him."  If we think about it, the traditional qualities we learn from custom and culture which indicate what it is to be a gracious person all come from Christ.  Let us all endeavor to remain the people who can appreciate and cherish these qualities, seeking to emulate and value them in our lives.