Meditation on Mark 7:24-37
Sept. 6, 2015
“From there he set out and went away to the region
of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.
Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an
unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his
feet. Now the woman was a Greek or Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She
begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the
children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw
it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the
table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that,
you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the
child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of
Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the
Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his
speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in
private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into 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.’ And immediately his ears were
opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered
them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they
proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done
everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’”
***
I am brokenhearted at the thought of
leaving you, even while I anticipate the joy before me as I serve the Lord and
God’s people in my new call. I have loved you these 4 years. I have felt
honored to be your pastor. Up to now, I have been the one to offer comfort and
spiritual help when others have experienced grief, loss and illness. That has been deeply satisfying to me. The thought
that my leaving will cause you pain and anxiety brings me great pain and
sadness. I am sorry that we will be apart--and that my new call will be far
away in Merritt Island, Florida. But remember--that’s only a 3-hour plane ride
from Minneapolis!
I am afraid that it might feel like a wilderness
of sorts for you, at times. The future may seem so uncertain. You may recall
the difficulties of pastor searches in the past and the years when Ebenezer did
not have a called pastor. You may feel other emotions besides grief.
Frustration, impatience, anger, discouragement, anxiety. Maybe you are a little
afraid. What’s going to happen to your
church? Will we be able to find a new pastor? Will she or he love us and be
good for us, leading us to continue as a strong, healthy church?
Friends, God is still in control. Jeremiah
29:11 speaks of our future filled with hope, God's promise to prosper, forgive
and heal, and bring us back from exile to the place where we
belong. Other Scriptural promises include God never abandoning us, Christ’s
everlasting presence with us, the Lord completing the good work He began in us, and our finding joy and strengthened faith in times of trial. We know that nothing, absolutely nothing, is
impossible for God, and that God’s wisdom will be given to all who seek the
Lord for it. Finally, Jesus assures us
that he wants to help us who may be weary carry our heavy burdens and give us
rest, if we come to Him and let Him help us.
***
Our gospel today reassures us of God’s
desire to heal all who are sick--body, mind and spirit. It doesn’t matter if
you are rich or poor, man, woman or child. Jew or Gentile. If Jesus cares about
the Syrophoenician woman, he cares about you and me and all our loved ones!
Who was this “Syrophoenician?” While Matthew calls her a Canaanite in 15:22,
Mark calls her a Syrophoenician because she was from Phoenicia on the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea in what is modern Lebanon. It was connected to Syria
after the land was united by Roman conquest. But Matthew was also right to call
her a Canaanite. The original inhabitants of that
land were Canaanites. Sidon (north of the region of Tyre) is named for the
eldest son of Canaan. Different translations may describe her as a “Gentile” or
“Greek;” she was both. Saying she was a “Greek” may mark her as a
Greek-speaker, and therefore possibly a member of the upper class Phoenician
society. But although she is not poor or starving, she is definitely a woman in
desperate need. She has a small child at home with a spiritual problem wreaking
havoc on her life and on the lives of others around her. She has somehow become
possessed by a demon, an unclean spirit. This condition would necessitate that
the child be apart from other children and the rest of society. She is isolated
at home, perhaps from her own family, who might be frightened by her
unpredictable, anti-social behavior. She would require constant care and
supervision, but this would marginalize the caregiver, who may have been the
mother in this story. Further, to have a demon-possessed child was a source of
family shame. Demon possession, like being blind, deaf, mute, or a leper, was considered
divine punishment for sin.
And there’s more to this story. Tyrians and
Galileans did not get along! More of the agricultural produce of Jewish Galilee
ended up in Gentile Tyre, the main urban area near Galilee, while the Jewish
peasants often went hungry. So when Jesus speaks about the unfairness of taking
bread out of the mouths of children (meaning the Jews) and giving it to the
“dogs” (meaning the Gentiles), his comment “may … reflect the (very real) socio-economic
tension (and animosity) between the two communities.” (Joel Marcus, Mark, Anchor Bible Series, 462) Dogs
were not loveable pets in those days! Calling someone a dog meant comparing
them to a wild, scavenger sort of creature and not the domesticated animals of
our times. Dogs were also associated with uncleanness. “Wild dogs lived outside
the cities…and ate carrion, which included the flesh of unclean animals and
even human beings” (Marcus, 463-464). In other places in the New Testament,
“dogs” are often a “symbol for opponents and heretics (2 Peter 2:22; Phil.
3:2). In Rev. 22:15, ‘the “dog” is an outsider to the community of God’s grace,
an idolater whose life is based on a lie.’ (Marcus, 464).
We might wonder
why Jesus decides to go to this primarily Gentile region in the first place. Why
does he enter a Gentile house and why does he want no one to know he is there?
I believe he is there to teach us a lesson and he fully intended to do
something that would not be acceptable for other Jewish people to do. The key
point of this passage is that Jesus did want
to heal the little girl that Jewish people would label unclean, a “dog”! But not before the mother insisted that
he heal her, believing with all her heart that God’s mercy and compassion could
extend to people who weren’t Jewish--and that Jesus could do this miracle that
no one else could do. She doesn’t give up. She models courage and a strong
faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ. Jesus heals her daughter without
ever meeting the child face to face. The reason for the healing: the mother’s
tenacity, her argument, driven by her love for her child and her faith. “For
saying that,” Jesus answers her, “you may go--the demon has left your daughter.”
Next, Jesus cures a deaf man with a speech
impediment in the region of the Decapolis, a group of 10 mostly Gentile cities
networked by Roman roads. Again, the healing is done in private, “away from the
crowd.” Are you uncomfortable when he spits and touches the man’s tongue? It
may surprise you to learn that spit was extremely popular as a ‘folk remedy in
antiquity and was highly regarded by “professional physicians”’(Marcus, 473).
‘The spittle of famous or charismatic personalities was especially prized.’ In
any case, Jesus using his own spit and touching the man’s tongue to cure a
Gentile stranger reveals to us his willingness to be intimate with and care for
the sick and marginalized of his day.
***
When we consider the application of this
passage--that God wants us to have a strong faith in His power and desire to
heal everyone --body, mind and spirit --it would be good for us to think of who
might need spiritual healing that we may have overlooked. Who are the
emotionally and mentally “broken” of this age? The ones whom many in society label
and shun and treat like the “so-called dogs” of society in Jesus’ time?
I can’t help but think of people with
mental illness. I cringe when I see how the mentally ill are portrayed on
television and in books. They are always the ones who commit horrible crimes,
and yet, in reality, the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of abuse
than abusers themselves. Many of the mentally ill live isolated lives, struggle
to make friends, have a hard time going to school or work and are crippled by anxiety,
depression, fear and panic attacks. Mental illness is a problem for so many
families, yet we seldom talk about it--not like we talk about cancer, diabetes,
or Alzheimer’s. Mental illness takes a toll on caregivers and strains family
budgets, especially when insurance doesn’t fully cover the expensive
medications and therapy. The stigma associated with mental illness continues,
though we know it stems, much like other chronic illnesses and disease, from
physiological and sometimes genetic causes. Mental illness is real and not imagined. There’s
no “picking oneself up by their bootstraps” with a diagnosis of bipolar, schizophrenia,
or PTSD. So far, there is no medical “cure”--only long-term treatments and
medications that may help with the symptoms.
Here’s my question and charge to you today. Has
the Church opened its doors to and fully embraced the mentally ill and emotionally fragile? What
are we doing to help them? Couldn’t we do more? Prisons across the nation
are full of people with undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. And we’ve seen
the billboards with those haunting images and messages. What is the leading
cause of suicide? Depression.
Friends, in the time I have left with you,
let us not look inwards and fret about our future. Let us continue to love and
serve the Lord and be His Church, empowered by His Spirit. Let us reach out to those
who suffer in mind, body and spirit, including those with mental illness and
their caregivers.
Let us approach the Lord with a tenacious
faith, like the Syrophoenician woman, believing that God can and desires to
heal all people of illness and disease. And that we, with Christ dwelling
within us, can and will be instruments of
God’s healing, redeeming love.
Let us pray.
Holy God, we
thank you for the love and compassion of Jesus Christ, who cared for those whom
his society called “dogs”--the marginalized, unclean and outcast. Thank you for
your love and forgiveness, for the mercy you show us every day, though we are
undeserving. Teach us how to minister to people with mental illness. Give us
your wisdom and courage. Remove all fear of people who may seem different than
us, but really they are the same. Reveal to us how we may help them, love them,
and lead them closer to you, the source of all healing--body, mind and
spirit--and the source of all love. Remove the stigma of mental illness from
our society and especially our own community so that we may speak openly about
a problem that is widespread and devastating to individuals who suffer from it
and families who try to help their loved ones, but often feel helpless and
discouraged. Change our hearts, Lord; shape and mold us into your Son’s image.
Use us as instruments of your healing, redeeming love. In Christ we pray. Amen.
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