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. 

 

 

 

I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat

 

 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. 

 

 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. 

 

- Matthew 15:29–39 

 

 Yesterday we read that, following a dispute with Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is severely demon-possessed."  But He answered her not a word.  And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us." But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"  But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."    And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."  Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desire."  And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 

  Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.   Christ's healing of the multitudes, according to my study Bible, shows that these Jews actually had less faith than the Canaanite woman in our reading from yesterday (see above).  According to commentary of St. John Chrysostom, Christ healed that woman's daughter "with much delay, but these immediately, because she is more faithful than they.  He delayed with her to reveal her perseverance, while here He bestows the gift immediately to stop the mouths of the unbelieving Jews."

 

  Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.   This second feeding of a multitude is not to be confused with the first (see Friday's reading), for they are two distinct miracles, my study Bible comments.  In the following chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, it is reported that Jesus chastised the disciples, with reference to the two miracles (Matthew 16:8-10).  My study Bible says that the variance is the number of loaves is significant.  In the first feeding of five thousand, there were five loaves, which symbolizes the Law (the first five books of the Old Testament Scriptures, or Torah).  In today's reading there are seven.  Seven is symbolic of completeness or fullness; here it indicates spiritual perfection.  So, in the first feeding miracle, Jesus reveals Himself as fulfilling the Law; here He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  My study Bible also asks us to note that these crowds had been with Christ for three days, which is the number of days He will rest in the tomb.  Participation in Christ's perfect, it notes, can only come through being united to Christ's death (see Romans 6:3-5).  

 

 Jesus now meets another circumstance with a miraculous feeding in the wilderness.  Clearly these are understood as two separate events, as my study Bible has pointed out.  But we might ask ourselves why:  why the two distinct miracles?  My study has already cited commentary regarding the differences in the numbers, particularly the seven loaves in this story as opposed to the five in the first feeding miracle.  Seven, it notes, is a number of completeness, of fullness.  In the symbolism of the Bible, it helps to understand the Greek word τελος/telos, usually defined as meaning "end."  But this word means much more than that; it signifies fullness of purpose, something fully played out and manifest.  Therefore it doesn't describe an end so much as it describes the fullness of a plan and its complete fruition.  This is how we should think of the "fullness" of number seven in the seven loaves, and the spiritual perfection my study Bible describes.  There will be no further Messiah, no greater Savior, for the One is here, and it is He who multiplies the loaves and the fishes to feed a multitude.  Not once, but twice, for now something else has happened in between, and that something is found in yesterday's reading, when a Gentile woman, justified by her faith, becomes the recipient of the grace of Christ to heal her severely demon-possessed daughter.  We could also take a look at the number four thousand, and associate it with historical liturgical services of prayer for the world, which bless the four corners of the earth, the four directions, indicating the fullness of the world and all it contains.  (See this example from the Armenian Apostolic Church.)  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, such a liturgical service takes place to commemorate the Elevation of the Holy Cross; it includes a blessing of the four directions of the earth with Cross, affirming the universal nature of Christ's salvation, belonging not just to the world but to the entire created order, the cosmos (κοσμος).  In feeding the four thousand, then, we see the number four symbolically multiplied to indicate the fullness of all that is, and all creatures in existence, all people for all time.  This is the reality of the spiritual perfection offered by Christ, for it is offered for all, even to those souls in Hades who awaited the good news of His gospel.  Four thousand, in light of this symbolic understanding, becomes uncountable, containing all and for all.  Today we live in a world connected through networks to all corners of the world through telecommunications of all kinds.  We have universal organizations which seek to bridge the entire world, and popular concerns, cares, and institutional drives that address problems that face the whole world, such as concerns over pollution, for example.  But let us consider that we have been given a Savior, who came into the world to give His flesh "for the life of the world" and that this universal meaning of the Cross with its four corners is our very symbol for the world He seeks to save; that is, indeed, for the life of the world.   As in the previous feeding in the wilderness, this feeding of the four thousand once again affirms and prefigures the Eucharist to come, with His flesh, the Cross, and Christ's identity as Savior all tied in together, all these elements in His saving mission for all of us.  When we consider the problems of the world, let us pray also to the One who came to save us all, to help us find our way to Him, and for the life of the world once and for all.  For that is a gift that will always be repeating and multiplying, as only God can do.

 

 

 

 

 

He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons

 

 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"  And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?  They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."  And their eyes were opened.  And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."  But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.  As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.  And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.  And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!"  But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons." 

 

- Matthew 9:27–34 

 

Yesterday we read that a ruler of the synagogue came and worshiped Jesus, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land.

 

  When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"  And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?  They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."  And their eyes were opened.  And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."  But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.  As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.  And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.  My study Bible comments that, according to Isaiah, the messianic age is signified when "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear" (Isaiah 35:5).  These healings, it notes, are a sign that Jesus is the awaited Messiah, as is the use of the title Son of David by the blind men, which expresses their faith in this truth.  

 

And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!"  But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."   To cast out demons by the ruler of demons is impossible, my study Bible says, for the aim of the devil is to consolidate power, not to destroy it.  Moreover, Jesus cleansed  lepers, raised the dead, and remitted sins -- works which demons could not perform.

 

 We note that the Pharisees, by now no doubt somewhat challenged and alarmed by the fact that the multitudes marveled over Christ's works, call His works evil, saying that He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.  Already we can see Jesus is growing in fame and renown for the great works He is doing, so that the people marvel, and thus He is becoming something of a rival in the eyes of the Pharisees, the ones who seek to regulate the faith and wield power within the religious institutions of the Jews, especially in interpreting the Scriptures and hence, the Law.  Jesus is not a member of the establishment, not among their number, not a scribe.  Neither is He a part of the Levitical priesthood.  He is an outsider, and His ministry -- as we read when He took on Matthew the tax collector as a disciple (in this reading) -- is a also a ministry that includes outsiders.  In fact in many ways we see Christ's calling not only to those left out, in some sense, who could not be included according to the Law, but also to those excluded for violations of the Law, such as lepers and the woman with the years-long blood flow in yesterday's reading (see above).  In His preaching and teaching to His disciples, and the use of their power and authority in His Church to come, He will also emphasize the care of the outliers, the ones on the edge, the ones with little to no power or social stature.  These He will call "little ones" and His constant call will be to avoid misleading them, offenses in the use of power toward them, and the greatest of care to see in them not only Himself, but also the One who sent Him (see, for example, Matthew 18:1-14).  The parable of the lost sheep found in the last few verses of that passage emphasizes the same.   In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus open His sermon with the first Beatitude:  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).  The "poor in spirit" are those with the attitude of the poor, those who in their humility are dependent upon God.  They are the outliers, the ones whose heart comes not from social position but the love of God, regardless of outward status.  But for the Pharisees, this "outside" status of Jesus reflects for them only opposition, and so they label all that He does the power of the devil, the evil one, regardless of the goodness of outcomes.  In today's reading, the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the time of the Messiah is fulfilled, and yet the Pharisees still see Him this way, and openly label His works those of the ruler of the demons.  As we know, evil seeks to destroy, but Christ's works fulfill the blessed potentials of human beings, enabling the blind to see, and the mute to speak, restoring humanity as Creator to creature.  It's easy to label our seeming opponents as evil, if we see them as rivals for something, and in so doing, these Pharisees are not only slandering Jesus, they're committing blasphemy.  This same accusation by the Pharisees will come again, even more explicitly, in chapter 12 (notably in the case of a demon-possessed man who is both blind and mute), and Jesus will make it very clear what kind of sin it is to label the works of God evil (see Matthew 12:22-32).  Perhaps there is a great lesson for us in the types of healing in today's reading, in how one sees and how one speaks, for while Christ heals, it is the Pharisees who do not see clearly, and who speak untruths, even blasphemies against the work of God.  It is Christ who heals us in every way, in how we see, and teaches us how to speak, and for this reason we seek Him for our own healing in all ways.  He Himself is the antidote to the blindness of the Pharisees, and their reckless ways of using their power.  We seek Him so that He can do His good work in us.  As St. John says, "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  

 

 

This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting

 

 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.  Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.  And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"  Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.  So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."  He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him to Me."  Then they brought him to Him.  And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.  So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"  And he said, "From childhood.  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  

 

When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it:  "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"  Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.  And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."

 

- Mark 9:14–29 

 

Yesterday we read that after six days (following St. Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ) Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.  His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.  And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles:  one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.  And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.  Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.  And they asked Him, saying, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"  Then He answered and told them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things.  And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wishes, as it is written of him."

 

  And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.  Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.  And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"  Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.  So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."  He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him to Me."  Then they brought him to Him.  My study Bible comments that Christ rebukes the man for placing blame on the disciples when it was his greater lack of faith that prevented the boy's healing.  In effect, it says, Jesus defends His disciples in front of the multitudes, but later teaches them privately what they lack.

 

And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.  So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"  And he said, "From childhood.  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  My study Bible comments that sickness in Scripture is often connected to demonic activity.  This father shows humility before Christ, but he lacks faith.  

 

 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it:  "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"  Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.  And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."   Let us note that these disciples who could not cast out the demon are the nine who remained behind while Jesus took "the pillars" of the faith -- Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) -- to the mount of Transfiguration.  Importantly, while the father of the child lacked faith, these disciples also are given a teaching about strengthening the power of their faith through prayer and fasting.  Note that Jesus corrects them first in private, teaching us that we should do the same.

 

 Once again in St. Mark's Gospel, we encounter a person afflicted with a mute spirit.  The first time we encountered a similar affliction, it followed immediately upon the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman who repeatedly begged Christ to cast a demon out of her daughter (see this reading).  There we could compare the repeated asking by this woman, and her clever and articulate retort for which she received the healing for her daughter, with the affliction of the man who was both deaf and had a speech impediment.  The means by which she could reveal faith and humility to Christ was not available to that man, whose friends asked for help for him instead.  Here we have a father pleading on behalf of his child, who seems to be afflicted with epilepsy, or at any rate the father describes repeated episodes of dangerous seizures.  This spirit is also called by Christ in His exorcism a "deaf and dumb spirit."  So, not for the first time, we note that this affliction seems particularly cruel, in that it somehow inhibits the deeper relationship with Christ.  The spirit itself is described as particularly malicious, casting the boy into the fire and also water (as described by his father).  So, if we understand these afflictions as those hindering faith, and most importantly, communion with Jesus Christ, we may look at the activities of the demonic as those which oppose faith so that human beings may be deprived of the healing relationship with their Creator and Savior.  This is the traditional perspective of the Church regarding the forces of evil and their origin; that the fallen spirits seek to hinder human beings from entering the Kingdom as "sons of God" by adoption, and therefore "sons of light," and taking the places they once enjoyed.  So, with this point of view in mind, let us consider Christ's teaching in private to the disciples who are mystified as to why they could not cast out this particularly malicious and difficult unclean spirit.  His response is to teach them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."   It teaches us something important about the practices of our faith, which are meant to help our own "unbelief."  In this instruction, Jesus also gives us a sense of the power behind our faith practices, and their importance -- seen and unseen -- in the spiritual battleground of this world.  When we put deep and regular effort into such practices, we are engaging in this battle, joining into Christ's effort of salvation for our communities and our world.  So let us do so and not be discouraged or deterred, for it is Christ Himself who teaches us that this is the way to participate in His mission of salvation for the life of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad

 

 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."

 

- Matthew 12:22-32 

 

After Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees began to plot against Him, how they might destroy Him.  But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there.  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.  Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "Behold!  My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!  I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.  He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.  A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust."  

 

  Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."   Here we see the Pharisees digging in more deeply in their opposition to Christ.  Even the signs prophesied by Isaiah, such as this healing and exorcism of one who is both blind and mute, is healed.  Beelzebub is a name for the god Baal (meaning "owner" or "lord"), worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  The worship of Baal was once ubiquitous around the ancient Near and Mid-East, with place-names and other designations included in the various sites where the god was worshiped in many forms, as a god of fertility, for example, or storms -- both essential for ancient agricultural societies.  "Beelzebub" is a name used by the Jews to ridicule this god, meaning prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here, the Pharisees call him the ruler of the demons.  My study Bible further notes that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves is an illustration of how irrational the Pharisees are in their pride and envy that spurs their opposition to Jesus (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10).

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."  My study Bible explains that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy that is against the divine activity of the Spirit, blasphemy against pure goodness.  So, therefore, a sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven as people did not know much about Christ.  But blasphemy against the Spirit, whose divine activity was already known to these men from the Old Testament, will not be forgiven as it comes from a willful hardness of heart, and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  My study Bible declares, moreover, that in patristic commentary, it is clearly expressed that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin" and neither does Jesus ever call it "unforgivable."  According to St. John Chrysostom, it notes, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  Jesus makes such a declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and they are beyond repentance by their own choice.

In conjunction with the reading from Saturday (see above), we now see the religious leaders entrenching themselves even more deeply in their opposition to Jesus.  In Saturday's reading, we saw that they decided to plot against Him, after they first criticized Him for plucking grain to eat on a Sabbath, and then turning to try to destroy Him after He then healed a man with a withered hand.  Here in today's reading, they go further.  Not only does Jesus produce a "mighty work" that is characteristic of the prophesies regarding the Messiah (see, for example, Isaiah 35:5), but He does so in casting out demons as well.  While the people are amazed, and ask, "Could this be the Son of David?" (a messianic title), the Pharisees have an antithetical response to amazing sign revealed to the multitudes.  They go so far as to accuse Him of casting out demons by the power of demons, calling His power evil.  At this time, Jesus gives them the starkest warning yet of where they are headed.  He proclaims that all sins will be forgiven, save blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is what these men have just done.  They have just pronounced the power of the Holy Spirit to be a work of demons.  Essentially, this is calling God -- and God's grace at work in the world -- demonic.  It says something, indeed, about the hardness of heart that is on display here that either they are deliberately calling what they understand to be a holy work of God demonic, or, if they cannot perceive that as such, they have made themselves truly spiritually blind, and deliberately so.  For these men are not ignorant of the work of the Holy Spirit, they are the great Biblical scholars of their time, devoting themselves to nothing but debating the fine points of Scripture.  Their knowledge and understanding of Scripture is what they pride themselves on.  So, as my study Bible points out, they know full well the things that characterize the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.   My study Bible also notes the irrationality of their pride and envy, both of which have the better of them.  But Jesus also tells us something essential in His defense of the power working in Him through the healings He does.  He is here to establish a Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  As such, He is Lord, and how could He cast out demons in opposition to His own power?  Jesus asks, "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?"  Moreover, since exorcism was already a part of Jewish spiritual tradition, how would the Pharisees' own pupils cast out demons, by what power?  Jesus makes a declaration here about Himself, that He is the "stronger man" who binds the strong man, the devil, in order to plunder his goods, to set free the captives in the house and find souls for His Kingdom.  As the Pharisees grow in their opposition, and resort to accusations of evil, so Christ declares more strongly who He is and what He is doing in the world, what the Incarnation will inaugurate.  Let us consider how He is Lord, and what spiritual power in His name really means.   Jesus concludes, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."   It reminds us of His warning, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).  Ultimately all things are revealed for what they are through Him, and our response to Him.

 

 

So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel

 

 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

 

- Matthew 15:29-39 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out from the place where He disputed with the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, and departed too the region of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is severely demon-possessed."  But He answered her not a word.  And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."  But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"  But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."  And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."  Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desire."  And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

 

  Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them.  So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  My study Bible comments that Christ's healing of the multitudes here shows that these Jews actually had less faith than the Canaanite woman of yesterday's reading, above.  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ healed the woman "with much delay, but these immediately, because she is more faithful than they.  He delays with her to reveal her perseverance, while here He bestows the gift immediately to stop the mouths of the unbelieving Jews."  Let us also note that this outpouring of God's grace and power, manifesting in marvelous varieties of healing, is a kind of affirmation of Christ in the face of the scrutiny and criticisms of the religious leaders in Monday's reading.

Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."  Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"  Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.  Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.  And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.  My study Bible comments that this second feeding of a multitude should not be confused with the first (see this reading), for they are two distinct miracles (see Matthew 16:8-10, in which Jesus refers to each).  There are distinctive differences in specific details.  My study Bible first suggests that the variance in the number of loaves is significant.  In the first instance, there were five loaves, which symbolize the Law, while here there are seven.  Seven is a symbol of completeness, and here indicates spiritual perfection.  So in the first feeding Christ revealed Himself as fulfilling the Law, while here in today's reading He shows that it is He who grants spiritual perfection.  Also, these crowds had been with Jesus for three days.  That is the number of days which He would rest in the tomb.  My study Bible comments that participation in His perfection can only come through being united to Christ's death (see Romans 6:3-5).  

Some comment that, as Jesus has gone to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon (for the healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter in yesterday's reading), and in today's reading seems to be in a region of mixed populations, the healings and feeding in today's reading suggest the evolving understanding of spiritual perfection as belonging to all people, and that the salvation that is of the Jews (John 4:22) is destined for all the nations through Christ (Isaiah 49:6).  As mentioned above, we can also look at this outpouring of blessings and manifestations of God's power and activity in the world as a kind of affirmation or proof of Christ's ministry:  the flowering of such creativity and miracles -- both in healing and in feeding the people -- is an affirmation which manifests among the faithful.  But it will not be so for the religious leaders, whose blindness Jesus has recently commented on (in Monday's reading, He called them "the blind leaders of the blind").  It is an affirmation to us that the things which move us to our faith, which serve to dig us more deeply into our faith, which go unobserved and unnoticed by others, are nonetheless powerful and important.  So often it seems that the things that guide us to our own deepening faith are things to which others are impervious and imperceptive, and maybe that is just the way it's meant to be, the nature of the things of faith.  That certainly seems to be the story in the Gospels, where it is often only later in hindsight that people realize the value and power in the outcome of faith.  Even the disciples will be slow in understanding, such as the two who traveled on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).  It is in the personal glimmers of insight that faith grows, and enlightenment of the heart that tinges the mind and brings about conviction and deeper understanding, and these things are often nearly impossible to explain.  Certainly to those who do not share the experience, communication of such is seemingly impossible.  So, at this stage of Christ's ministry, the beginnings of the attention and scrutiny of the establishment are beginning to bear down on Him, and to criticize His ministry.  Herod Antipas has begun to be afraid of Him and His powers (that He is, in fact, John the Baptist raised from the dead) -- see this reading.  The scribes and Pharisees have also come from Jerusalem to question and criticize (Monday's reading), and in tomorrow's reading they and those of their fellow ruling party in the Council (the Sadducees) will together begin to demand proofs from Jesus, "a sign from heaven."  But faith does not come from proofs on demand, nor does it entertain to choose to provide them.  Faith comes through quiet revelation, in secluded corners of sudden light, illuminations of the interior heart -- and not with gigantic spectacle.  For that, we await Christ's return which will only signal sudden judgment (Matthew 24:30-31).  But for those of faith, we must be content with what we understand that comes upon us in ways we can't calculate nor knowingly predict, for this is the way that faith works.  We can pray, and participate in worship, study the Scriptures, and strengthen our discipleship and encourage others, but that is all we can do to bring other people to faith, save to live in such a way as to glorify God (Matthew 5:16).    Let us be assured in our journeys of faith, and in the quiet strength we sometimes surprisingly receive (Nehemiah 8:10, also part of today's lectionary reading).

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter

 

 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 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 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 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 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 comments on today's passage (and a similar account, found at Matthew 15:21-28) that Jesus has come to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon in order to withdraw from the faithless Pharisees.  Indeed, if we look at yesterday's reading, above, we read that the Pharisees and some of the scribes had come from Jerusalem to observe Jesus' ministry, and found fault with His disciples.  As often happens, this ended with a dispute, and Christ's blistering criticism of the hypocrisy of their own practices.  His desire to withdraw from conflict and scrutiny for a time is made evident in today's passage when we're told that He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.  It's a testimony to how famous He's become, and perhaps also to His annoyance at being both noticed and pestered by this woman to heal her daughter.  In Matthew's Gospel, the emphasis is on His mission first to the Jews, as He replies to her in Matthew 15:24, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  This puts the entire conversation in a particular context, and particular both the humility and alacrity of her response, which elicits Christ's praise of her persistent faith.  We should understand that the Greek word used here for little dogs implies a small house dog or puppy, not an outdoor dog (in the context of the culture and the dialogue, it's an important difference). 

 

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.  My study Bible comments on the fact that Jesus sighed, calling it a sign of divine compassion for the sufferings of our fallen human nature.  Note the healing by touch, and even with the use of Christ's saliva (similarly to the momentous healing of the blind man in John 9).  Again, we observe that Christ's very body is life-giving, healing.

 

 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 notes that here, our Lord shows us we mustn't seek acclaim or praise when we do good to others.  But, on the other hand, it notes, Theophylact upholds those who disobey Christ in this situation.  He 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.  

So if we take all the stories together in today's reading, we see an interesting commonality to them.  They each seem to be about liberating the ability to speak in some sense.  There is first of all the story of the woman, whom Jesus compares to little dogs (or puppies).  She is persistent is asking for His help, despite the fact that He seems somewhat exasperated and puts her off with a reference to dogs.  But she takes this reference to heart, and -- if one may use a modern expression -- "dishes" it back to Him in a way that manages to be at once witty, humble, and faithful.  She says, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."  We get the picture of a little puppy begging under the table, and we understand how this can be an image of pestering and at the same time endearing.  For Christ, her persistence -- and I would venture to even say her witty application of intelligence with faith  --  is something to applaud, and "for this saying" her daughter is healed from the demon.  It is precisely because she "opened her mouth," so to speak, to respond to Him yet again that He rewards her and answers her plea.  Then we come to the second story in today's text, which is quite literally about opening someone's mouth and helping them to speak.  Jesus' very words echo this theme quite literally, as His healing command translates, "Be opened."  The English in our text calls his ailment an impediment in his speech, indicating a kind of stumbling block, a hindrance.  In Greek the word is somewhat complex, it's μογιλάλον/mogilalon.  Lalon means to speak.  Mogi means something extremely difficult, a laborious toil.  "Laborious toil" is, interestingly, something associated with the word for evil.  So when Jesus calls for his mouth or tongue to "be opened" He unloosing the tongue from its restraint, He's almost liberating the man to speak.  The freedom to speak, to express oneself in particular to one's God is paramount in this illustrations of human beings striving to find healing from the Lord in today's reading.  Finally, the theme of liberation of speech is again illuminated in the final example of the people who praise Christ despite His admonition not to -- which we can presume yet again comes from His desire to avoid further scrutiny and conflict with the religious authorities.  In this final case, the people are freed in some sense to express their praise for the Lord, and opening of the world to God, as God has come close and "touched" the community.  Altogether, these form a sort of chorus of voices to praise God for God's goodness and mercy, human beings liberated from the bondage of being outsiders, of struggling with an impediment that is a product of a fallen nature and the evil that has tainted the world, and crying out in the face of the oppression from hypocritical authorities who keep God shut up for themselves rather than sharing God's love for the people.  In Jesus' grand critique of the scribes and Pharisees, we read (among many other things) in Matthew 23, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in" (Matthew 23:13).  Here in today's reading is the power of the Incarnation, Christ' among us.  Even to the outsiders (and a woman, at that), He is "a light to lighten the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), the ears of the deaf are unstopped (Isaiah 35:5), and there is liberty for the captives who can now speak and praise God, unbound from their respective prisons (Isaiah 61:1).  This is the action of Christ, in the chorus of praise for God enabled through His action and healing within this community of the kingdom of God found in Him and in His work and ministry.  Let us add our voices in freedom to that praise, for we also are illumined, liberated, and healed through Him. 

 

 

 

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad

 

 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."

 

- Matthew 12:22-32 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had begun to plot against Him to destroy Him, He withdrew from there.  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.  Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "Behold!  My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!  I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.  He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.  A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust." 

 

 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."  In chapter 9 of Matthew's Gospel, we have already observed that the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the ruler of demons.  Here, they once again make the same charge, in response to the multitudes who begin to wonder if Christ is the Messiah, the Son of David.  This time, however, it is made more explicitly.  Beelzebub, or Baal, my study Bible explains, was the prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies" -- a god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  This name, Beelzebub, is theorized by some to have been a jeering epithet coined by the Jews for the god Baal.  Here, he is called the ruler of the demons.  My study Bible says that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves is an illustration of the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.  We can observe for ourselves that all is done in response to the popularity of Jesus among the people, who wonder if He is indeed the Son of David.  But Jesus replies with what is not only a logical refutation of their accusation, but a further statement of His own, challenging them to think about what power and authority is in Him to do such works against the demonic.

 

 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."  My study Bible comments that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit; that is, blasphemy against pure goodness.  It explains that a sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven because the Jews did not know much about Christ.  But blasphemy against the Spirit, whose divine activity was known from the Old Testament, will not be forgiven, because it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  The patristic writers are clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin" -- nor does Jesus call this sin "unforgivable."  St. John Chrysostom says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if one were to repent of it.  Jesus makes this declaration, my study Bible comments, knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and they are beyond repentance through their own choice.  Let us note, also, that is so saying, Christ declares Himself to be in union with the Holy Spirit, and His works to be expressions of such.

Jesus is subtly but firmly declaring Himself in today's passage.  He is declaring His power and authority to be that which is unified with the Holy Spirit.  He quite explicitly states to the Pharisees, who accuse Him of working through Beelzebub to perform exorcisms, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you."  He goes on to remind them that One who could do what He does must "enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods" and therefore must have the greater strength to first bind the strong man in order to plunder his house.  (That is, to cast out the demons.)  When Jesus makes the final statement to them, that  "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad," it is a statement of supreme authority and union with God, the only greater power, or "stronger man" who could cast out Satan.  The only way such a statement could be made is if it rests in that type of absolute authority.  There is no competition with the Spirit, there is no equal rivalry to be had or achieved by a demon or any other power.  Therefore, in responding to the Pharisees and their accusation of working by Beelzebub, Jesus draws a line in the sand and goes one step further:  those who do not gather with Him scatter abroad.  There is no power which can challenge the authority working in Him.  He then goes on to give a warning which clarifies that the false accusations will not result in condemnation merely because Jesus, the Son of Man, suffers or is maligned or criticized.  It is the Spirit which is being maligned in their accusations against the works that have been done (and specifically exorcisms of demons performed), and this is an entirely different thing altogether.  This is not a competition between schools of thought or various approaches to the worship of God.  They are blaspheming the work of God the Spirit, and that is a much more grave thing to do.  The distinction here is quite important, because it sets the ground for their disputes in a much more significant place than merely some sort of rivalry for the people's trust and attention.  This goes beyond a rivalry in terms of worldly authority or influence.  One may not observe the action of the Spirit, one powerful enough to cast out demons and to heal, and simply label it evil without encountering a grave danger oneself of slipping into profound spiritual error and evil.  These are the most learned men of their time, experts in the Scripture, who spend their days debating it, pondering it, studying it.  If they call the work of the Spirit evil, it is a grave sin, for they do so knowingly and not in ignorance.  They are the ones who know better, but it is their envy and zealousness for their own authority and power that has gotten the better of them.  All of this serves to clarify for us an important understanding of the work of God in the world:  we cannot judge by appearances.  God can choose to work through the most unlikely-seeming candidates.  God the Spirit can work through the highly ascetic and impoverished John the Baptist, and God the Spirit can be at work in the ministry of Jesus, the "glutton and wine-bibber" (see Monday's reading).  God the Spirit can be at work through the repentant Matthew the tax collector and author of this Gospel.  God the Spirit can be at work through St. Paul, formerly Saul the most vicious prosecutor of followers of Christ.  In John's Gospel, Jesus says explicitly, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24).  Whatever our expectations may be, God has a way of defying them, of pulling us out of our own complacence and limitations and understanding of God.  This includes circumstances as well as people.  It is the power of God that has turned the Cross, the instrument of crucifixion, the most heinous and gruesome punishment meted out to the worst criminals by the Roman Empire, into a symbol of transfiguration and redemption and the power of God's love which can be at work in our own lives.  We cannot limit by our own definition or image what the power of God can do, what the Spirit can and will do.  Jesus has likened the work of the Spirit in human beings, and our capacity to understand or predict it, to the working of the wind.  (In both Greek and Hebrew, the words for wind, breath, and spirit are the same.)  He said, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).  Does the Holy Spirit continue to be at work in our world?  Can the Spirit still work through the unlikeliest of candidates or circumstances?  Do we still run the risk of limiting through our own prejudices and desires for power and nearsightedness our capacity to see the work of God in the world and in people who make us uncomfortable?  Yes, yes, and yes.  Let us remember the danger we encounter when our own passions or self-righteousness or narrow legalistic focus come before a prayerful life and a heart open to the surprising work of God.

 

 

 

He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons

 

 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"  And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"  They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."  And their eyes were opened.  And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."  But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.  As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.  And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.  And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!"  But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."

 

- Matthew 9:27-34 

 

Yesterday we read that, while Jesus spoke to the disciples of John, teaching about the "new wine" of His ministry, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land.

 

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!"  And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"  They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."  Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."  And their eyes were opened.  And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."  But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.  As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed.  And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke.  And the multitudes marveled, saying, "It was never seen like this in Israel!"  In accordance with Isaiah, the messianic age is signified when "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear" (Isaiah 35:5).   My study Bible says that these healings are a sign that Jesus is the awaited Messiah, as is the use of the title Son of David by the blind men, which is an expression of their faith that this is so.

But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."  My study Bible comments that to cast out demons by the ruler of demons is impossible, for the aim of the devil is to consolidate power, not to destroy it.  Moreover, Jesus cleansed lepers, raised the dead, and remitted sins -- works that demons could not perform.

 

As Jesus is performing signs which are being noted by the multitudes as those which were "never seen like this in Israel" and which clearly image those prophesied of the Messiah, the Pharisees make their charge that He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.  This is an important and serious charge and one they will make again in chapter 12 of Matthew's Gospel.  At that time, Jesus will give an elegant refutation of the accusation.  But here, it seems to come out of nowhere, suggesting that the frustrated Pharisees, worried that faith in their own authority is shaken by Jesus' presence in the eye of the public, simply make the charge as a kind of insult, a way to challenge whatever power it is that Jesus is using to perform these astonishing signs.  As written here in a rather simple way, it seems as if the Pharisees immediately go for the one gun in the arsenal:  that Jesus is performing a kind of dark magic rather than serving the God of Israel.  When we look around ourselves, we can still see people throwing around accusations of demonic affiliation for extraordinary talent on occasion, especially when someone doesn't conform to expectations about what a person with faith in Christ would or should look like or speak like.  It's illustrative about how seriously we should consider such a charge, especially if one is going to make such a charge in public.  At best one simply looks a bit demented oneself; at worst, one might be blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10).  To make such charges really requires a kind of expertise that very few people actually have (and those that do are likely to be clergy performing specialized work which would include psychiatric care by experts first to determine a specific malady, if present).   But what today's reading truly suggests to us is the need for our minds, in discerning spiritual matters, to be at once open and also discriminating.  When we speak of the things of God, we must always remember that God is bigger than all of us, and so conventional expectations, no matter how reasonable they seem or how much we might understand from tradition (including Scripture), may fail to be adequate when grace manifests in the world.  Saints come to us in new form with new times, and often they are controversial figures until after their deaths.  Just as with Jesus, all sorts of accusations might follow them as well.  In our own private lives, we might be faced with decisions to make within very complicated settings, requiring a delicate balance.  Rarely, I find, are decisions -- especially when we're trying our best to follow our faith -- totally simple to make.  God seems to want us to sweat over our choices, to come to God in prayer, to wrestle with the things that are far from easy or clear.  In this way, we come to rely more deeply on our faith, and to understand that we seek to participate in the life of Christ, and not merely follow some set of rules where the answer is always perfectly explicit to us.  Spiritual struggle requires discernment, discipline, often sacrifice -- and that sacrifice will frequently include ideas about ourselves and others and even our own spirituality that we need to discard.  God will seek to open our eyes and expand our understanding with each new struggle, and that is not easy.  It is called repentance, or change of mind, and we will be drawn to new experiences if we are real disciples, because we are called to continue to bear fruit in our lives.  Fruit-bearing also includes correction of our own limiting understanding and assumptions, even about things we thought were good.  So Jesus comes into the world and shakes up the establishment.  His healings reflect the prophecy of Isaiah, as we can see.  But He also calls into question the ways of the Pharisees and the religious establishment.  Like the prophets who've been sent before Him to call the people back to God, His challenges result in persecution and accusation, and we know the Passion to come.  But we should reflect that Jesus' teaching included for us the admonition to watch always, and to pray.  As His followers we're to be alert, to be mindful of His teachings, to be prudent.  Let us not be like those for whom loud accusations seem to satisfy a need to shut down challengers, but to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).  God remains a mystery, far beyond us, whose thoughts are not our thoughts, and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).  Let us practice what Christ taught us and be good and diligent servants who watch and pray.