Crossing the Lines – Mark 7:24-37

A text – Mark 7:24-37

24 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, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 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.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 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. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

A reflection:

Two miracles of healing. The first one bothers us because of Jesus’s apparent attitude toward being asked to do it. The Jesus we know and love was not cranky, and he certainly wasn’t bigoted against non-Jews. The Jesus we know and love was welcoming to all people. Yet this account shows a Jesus who was maybe tired, maybe wanting not to be disturbed, maybe reluctant to heal that day at all. Then this gentile woman finds him and knees at his feet, begging for the life of her daughter.

The woman is not put off by Jesus’s resistance. She knows about him. And she knows that he is part of a great abundance from God – so great that there is goodness leftover and flowing down. In some miracles there is food leftover from feeding 5,000 people – 12 baskets full. She wants only those leftovers. The big miracles brought to the Jews by this Jewish prophet can be for the Jews. She wants just the tiny bit of crumb that might fall to the floor. Jesus recognizes his ministry in this description. He does exactly what she asks, the daughter sight unseen.  

And to continue, the very next miracle is done, also secretly, away from crowds, for a man from the Decapolis, a region with many many Gentiles. Jesus himself perhaps is thinking more widely about his mission, or at least looking for ways to extend his ministry more bountifully, more abundantly, to all people. That makes us lucky, doesn’t it? God’s son, the Redeemer, came to help not just Jews, God’s chosen ones, but all human beings. All of us are created and loved by the same God. There were lines and walls between people, then as now. And it wasn’t as though Jesus didn’t see those walls. He saw them. We know that from his remarks to the mother in Tyre, just metioned. Jesus saw the lines and Jesus delivered miracles across those lines. He understands that we feel bound by those walls and divisions. But he is asking us to cross those lines and boundaries too and find people who need us. How might we start crossing lines ourselves?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us to human beings your Son, the miracle worker. Thank you for sharing your life, the life of God, with human beings. Help us to be grateful and accept Jesus’s sacrifices for us and in turn make sacrifices for others, even when we are not sure they deserve them, because you are generous and abundant in your love and mercy.  Amen.