Wattle Park

You may remember that in the previous passage from Mark's gospel, that we looked at a couple of weeks ago, Jesus had been facing mounting opposition from the Jewish leaders over the ritual and tradition of the Jews. They had come all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee to confront him over the issue of the ritual washing of hands after being in the marketplace.

Jesus response was to point out to them that washing your hands wouldn't make you clean. You first had to be clean on the inside. And so it's telling that in the fist of the two incidents we read about today Jesus encounters someone who would have been considered unclean by the Jews and yet who shows that on the inside she is has a pure heart of faith in Jesus.

After his encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus withdraws altogether from Jewish territory and goes to Tyre, on the Mediterranean, in what's now modern Lebanon. He goes there incognito, obviously trying to avoid the attention of the locals. Perhaps he wanted a rest from the constant attention, or perhaps as we see almost straight away, his understanding of his calling didn't allow him to minister to gentiles the way he had been to the Jews. But in any case, his desire for secrecy wasn't fulfilled. Even in Tyre he was too well known. I guess in a small town, the word would get around fairly fast. And so one of the women of the town hears that he's there and she immediately comes to him to ask him to heal her daughter who is possessed by an evil spirit.

Well, what would you do? Here's this woman. She's described as a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. Being Greek means she's a pagan. Not even a Jewish proselyte. She's a foreigner, of a race that are ancient enemies of the Jews. And worst of all, she's a woman, and no self respecting Jewish man would speak to a woman without her husband present. Here was a great dilemma for Jesus. What was he going to do? In Matthew's gospel we're told that he simply ignores her at first, until her crying and begging become too much for his disciples who ask him to send her away. Up to this point it seems that the barriers of sex and race and religion and tradition are holding him back. But then he tells her the real reason for his hesitation. He says "I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel." "First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs".

Here is the real reason he hesitates. His calling is very clear. He's been called to go to the people of Israel. First he has to minister the gospel to them. It will only be later that the gospel spreads to the ends of the earth. Yet even in his reply is an opening. It's in that little word "first". "First let the children eat." But that allows a gap for the woman to get through. And she takes it up. She isn't deterred by his initial refusal. She isn't even put off by the insult of being referred to as a dog. Mind you the word he uses is the word for a pet dog, but it's still an insult. In fact she takes his very words and turns them around. This isn't a win-lose situation. It isn't black and white. Jesus' calling won't be affected by him healing her daughter. The children can have the main meal, but there are always crumbs that fall to the floor for the dogs to pick up. She's not asking him to do anything outrageous. Just to heal her daughter, to free her from the evil spirits that are binding her.

In fact there's a great irony in what she says here, not that she would realise it. Remember that the reason Jesus is here in the first place is because of the rejection of the Jews. Far from crumbs falling from the table, the children have in fact thrown the whole meal on the floor. As we find later in the New Testament, when Paul begins his ministry, he begins with the Jews but they quickly reject him and he then tells them that because they've rejected the gospel he will take it to the Gentiles, who in turn receive it gladly. It's not just a matter of the crumbs falling from the table, but of the table being upended by the children of the family, allowing the food that was on it to be distributed to all people.

There's such an understanding and such a faith in the woman's response that Jesus simply says "For such a reply you may go, the demon has left your daughter." Jesus is so amazed by her faith that he doesn't need any more time to decide. The barriers have been broken down. His primary calling is to elicit faith and here is a prime example of it.

I wonder what barriers we come across in our daily life that would hinder us from ministering to people. Do we still find barriers based on our sex or our race or our religion. I guess this is a good question to ask at the end of Refugees Week. How do we react to people of other races? I guess around here that's particularly those of Asian descent. Do we find their cultural background a barrier to sharing the gospel with them. I heard Robert Vun the other day, speaking about sharing the gospel with the people in his congregation. He ministers to the Anglican church of St Matthias Richmond, where there's a predominantly Asian congregation. Prior to that he was a missionary in Sabah. And one of the things he said was that Asians don't want logical proofs of the truth of Christianity, they want to see that it works. They want to see evidence in people's lives of a God who is alive and interacting with people. Now in that sense they're no different to modern people of European descent. They too want to see how Christianity makes a difference in our lives. So faithful Christian living is a great way to begin to break down those barriers. That of course will involve breaking down our prejudices about people of other cultures, but I guess if Jesus could do it, we probably should try to do it as well.

But let's move on, because that's what Jesus did next. Perhaps he wanted to get away before more people came looking for him. So he leaves and goes through Sidon to the north, then by a circuitous route to the region east of Galilee, the region known as the Decapolis. Again this is a predominantly Gentile area, but again he's recognised and a man is brought to him who's deaf and can hardly speak.

This time Jesus doesn't challenge the man the way he had the woman. Perhaps this man was a Jew. We're not told. But what he does do is to take him aside, away from the crowds. He still doesn't want people to see his miracles. He hasn't come to be a public spectacle. As he has done before, he tells the man to tell no-one. The miracles are signs of the coming Kingdom, they're not the essence of the Kingdom. In a sense they're simply a by-product, a spin-off, of the kingdom appearing on earth. The true nature of the Kingdom won't be known until Jesus has died and has risen. The truth for them still lies in the future.

So Jesus takes him aside, puts his fingers in his ears, spits and touches the man's tongue. These were common methods used by healers of the time. Then he looks up to heaven and with a deep sigh says "Ephphatha", "Be Opened". The great sigh perhaps indicates that there's a spiritual battle going on, but the word is a word of authority, and it carries with it a hint of not just the man's eyes and mouth being opened, but his whole self being opened to the Kingdom of God. Of him being set free to follow Jesus.

And so the man is healed. Jesus tells him to say nothing about it, though with little effect. The more he told them to keep quiet, the more they talked about it. As at the beginning of Jesus ministry the people are amazed at Jesus. "He has done everything well," they say. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." But that's as far as it goes. Again there's an irony in what they say, or at least in the way Mark relates it. The words they use for 'mute' is only used in one other place in the Bible and that's in Isaiah 35:6, where it's part of a prophecy of the coming Messiah. Yet they don't seem to recognise who he is. They're no better off than the Jews who were amazed at his authority and power and yet in the end rejected him.//

We who read it now have the advantage of knowing the whole story. But all that means is that our response is all the more important. We're to read this and be reminded that Jesus came as the Lord's Messiah to save people from their sins.

We're also to be warned that when the gospel is preached it doesn't always meet with belief. Faith in God is a gift of God. So when we share our faith with others we need to pray that God will give them the faith they need to hear and respond to the gospel.

The Syro-Phoenician woman was rebuffed by Jesus, yet responded with a deep faith in God's love and provision for all people independent of sex or race. The people of the Decapolis were presented with an overwhelming demonstration of Jesus Messianic power and yet their response didn't go beyond amazement. Let's pray that those we come into contact with will be given the faith to truly believe the gospel.