He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden

 

 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 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 is 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 

 

 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to meet Him, 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 commandments 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 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 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.  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 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.   Here, after another confrontation with the Pharisees and scribes (see above), Jesus has withdrawn to Gentile territory, the region of Tyre and Sidon.  Clearly at this point in His ministry, before the time of "His hour," He has sought to withdraw from the scrutiny of these religious leaders.  But, as the text says, He could not be hidden.  This woman is not Jewish, but nevertheless she recognizes Christ and His authority. (In St. Matthew's Gospel, she calls Him "Son of David," a Jewish title for the Messiah; here she refers to Him as Lord and fell at His feet as if in worship.)  Asking for an exorcism for her daughter, she places her faith in Christ.  My study Bible comments that in responding to Christ, she shows both her persistent faith (she kept asking Him) and her humility.  We must keep in mind that Christ's ministry and that of the apostles initial mission (before Christ's Ascension and the Great Commission) was to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:6, 15:24).  But this is Gentile territory, and this woman is not a Jew.  By responding for the puppies (suggesting persistent begging at the table), or little dogs, she accepts her place after the Jews, who were the chosen people of God, but she still desires a share in God's grace.  My study Bible comments that Christ's hesitancy was not a lack of compassion, but a conscious means of revealing the virtues of this woman, both to the disciples who witness (and in St. Matthew's account, grew tired of her requests), and for her  own sake.

 

  Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.  Again Christ is avoiding the scrutiny put upon Him in regions where He would be more well-known, He returns to the Sea of Galilee via the Decapolis, another nominally Gentile region but with mixed populations of Gentiles and Jews.

 

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 is 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. My study Bible comments on the detail given here that Christ sighed.  It notes that this is a sign of divine compassion for the sufferings of our fallen human nature.

 

  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 that here, the Lord shows us we must not seek acclaim or praise when we do good to others.  However, interestingly, it notes, Theophylact upholds those who disobey Christ in this situation, seeing them as a good example, that we should proclaim those who have done good to us even if they do not want us to.

 

In today's reading, we are given two instances in which Jesus seeks to avoid public attention, and yet is unable to do so.  In the first instance, He entered a house in the Gentile region called Tyre and Sidon.  The Gospel tells us that He wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  But somehow, His reputation has preceded Him.  Perhaps His disciples spoke about Him, perhaps there are people in this place who have heard about the signs and healings that follow this Teacher. Whatever way it happens, she believes there's hope for her daughter, who is demon-possessed.  In the account found in St. Matthew's Gospel, she displays her tremendous love for her daughter, because she pleads, "Have mercy on me," and "Lord, help me!" putting herself in her daughter's place (Matthew 15:21-28).  But, as in the healings among the Jews, it's her faith that makes all the difference, combined with her tenacious pleading, and her willing humility before Christ.  What we notice is not so much these attributes that are shared by those who receive Christ's power in other stories in the Gospels, but the unexpected.  Christ wanted to be hidden, but could not be so.  A similar thing happens in the second part of our reading for today, because He still wants to remain "under the radar," so to speak.  But the people who are astonished that He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak (signs of the coming of the Messiah) will not follow His command to speak to no one about what they have seen.  These instances mirror the explosive growth of the Kingdom, but the difference here is that this surprising growth via word of mouth happens even contrary to Jesus' desire and intention, and so perhaps to His surprise.  It is seemingly as if even He cannot predict this extraordinary effect, the ways in which His reputation grows, and the fierce desire people have for His help.  It's like a train racing along although the engineer cannot understand why it doesn't stop.  Of course, since we are speaking about Jesus and His ministry, we don't know exactly how the human Jesus perceives that it's not the time for open confrontation with the authorities and tries to retire a little for a while.  But this growth among even Gentiles is a hint about what is to come after His Ascension and the future of His ministry, and His Church to come.  The Spirit is working, the power of the gospel message is working, the Father is always working (John 5:7).  Christ has a need to understand where His ministry is headed, and how fast, but things unfold in ways that seem to say God the Father is leading Him along, preparing Him, and all things move all the time toward the fullness of the Church which even we, 2,000 years later, have not yet seen.  Sometimes life presents us with turns we don't expect, outcomes that tell us there's something new we need to live with, and to learn how God wants us to approach life as it is now, and this is seemingly also our Lord's messianic journey and ministry.  At each new turn He prays to the Father, and finds where He is to go, His human will always obedient to the Father, even as He remains yet fully the Son.  Notice that Christ's divine power is never used to stop the spread of the gospel, but there are times when it works in particular ways He didn't seem to expect -- such as when a woman touched Him in faith in the midst of a crowd in this reading, or even when He marveled at the unbelief of His neighbors in His hometown of Nazareth and so He could do no mighty work there as He had elsewhere (see this reading).  So, while we cannot fathom the mind of Christ, who was fully human and fully divine, He nonetheless sets an example for us when we encounter surprising turns in our own lives, completely contrary to our own expectations.  For He always turned to prayer, and to the will of God the Father.  In this way, He heals us by being present to us in prayer as well, when we are in our own encounters with the things that baffle us, make us marvel, and don't turn out the ways in which we expected -- or perhaps even counted upon.  Jesus, as one of us, has had His own surprising turns and outcomes, and so He can help us see the way forward through ours.