Mark 7:24 And
from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he
entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose
little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at
his feet. 26 Now the woman was a
Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of
her daughter. 27 And he said to
her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the
children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under
the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your
way; the demon has left your daughter." 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the
demon gone. 31 Then he returned
from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the
region of the Decapolis. 32 And
they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they
begged him to lay his hand on him. 33
And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his
ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him,
"Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke
plainly. 36 And Jesus charged
them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they
proclaimed it. 37 And they were
astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He even
makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
This week's
gospel passage is very interesting from the larger
perspective of Mark's Gospel. The way Mark emphasizes things, the religious
elite and Jerusalem establishment are always portrayed as completely antagonistic
to Jesus; those closest to him (his disciples) are always in a state of
learning, but not-quite-there-yet;
but the Gentiles encountered in the story are always amazing Jesus with their
simple faith. This holds right up to the end where, upon witnessing Jesus die,
the Gentile Roman Centurion confessed, Surely
this man was the son of God (Mk 15:39).
And so we
have this week's passage. Jesus is off the grid; he's wandering among the
Gentiles...evidently, not to bring
the mission of the kingdom of God to them--at least not initially. Commentators
tell us that the region of Tyre and Sidon was a 'getaway' locale even back
then. In vs 24 you get the image that Jesus has punched out for a little
"R & R." He got himself a little hut along the sea cost; no tv,
no radio, no laptop, no internet; just himself, alone with some herbal tea and
his bible, right?? And then this woman comes along and spoils it all. Thus
begins the well-known exchange between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman...
and then later, still in Gentile territory, the encounter with the man who was
deaf and mute.
Again, what
I find interesting is how these stories fit into the larger narrative of what
Mark is saying in his Gospel. In last week's joust/encounter with the Scribes
and Pharisees about purity--and by the way, 'purity' gets fairly shattered in
today's reading with all of these Gentile encounters--Jesus makes it very clear
that what is on the OUTSIDE does not cause impurity... it does not separate one
from being able to be in the presence of God. It is, rather, what comes from
the INSIDE. Specifically, just before his encounter with the Gentiles in this
week's text, Mark quotes Jesus as saying:
14 And
he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you,
and understand: 15 There is
nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things
that come out of a person are what defile him." 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his
disciples asked him about the parable. 18
And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not
see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but
his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, "What comes out
of a person is what defiles him. 21
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22
coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from
within, and they defile a person."
The
implication seems pretty clear. If what comes from the INSIDE (the heart) is
what really defiles a person, then the 100% holy-religious professional Scribes
and Pharisees are in a state of defilement, not purity, because from their
heart comes challenge, insult, and unbelief (or in the words of Jesus, "evil thoughts, coveting, wickedness,
deceit, envy, slander, pride and foolishness."). God's Messiah is
standing right in front of them and they don't see. And in typical Markan
fashion, the author goes on to stand things on their head by having PURE things
come from the INSIDE (hearts) of the Gentiles encountered in the very next
group of verses. The Syrophoenician woman calls Jesus LORD; Kyrie, literally.
She begs for favor from the status of one who is completely unworthy. Later
another group of Gentiles begs/implores Jesus from the same perspective.
In Mark's
Gospel the Gentiles get it! They're held up as paragons of, and a paradigm for,
simple faith. It's not that doctrine, worship, and tradition are BAD... but it is true that those who are
most hung up about doctrine, worship and tradition in Mark's Gospel **MISS
JESUS**. The Messiah stands right in front of them, and instead of calling him
Lord, they joust over purity rituals. This is about PERSPECTIVE. JESUS FIRST.
Doctrine, worship, tradition etc. matter, but only ONCE JESUS IS FIRST. Until
or unless that happens, one is engaged only in so much religion for show.
Cheers,
TM
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