Open to Healing

image from www.pulpitfiction.com

Prayer:

 “Spirit of Healing- open our ears, open our hearts, open our doors to your love.  Amen.”

The stories from Mark chapter 7 speak of being open to God’s healing power.  For ourselves, for our communities, and for our planet.  As we hear about Jesus’ mission reaches out beyond his own people to others, we are invited to reflect on how love pushes us beyond our own boundaries. 

In a holy twist, the gospel today is paired with the reading from the Letter of James warning against showing partiality.  For ironically, this is where we begin with Jesus. He is in the midst of his public ministry: teaching and healing to show that the kingdom of God is near to the people of Israel.  He performs miracles and confronts the religious authorities with their hypocrisy.  Then, he himself is confronted by a Syro-Phoenician woman, who begs him to heal her daughter.  He has just healed another girl, the daughter of a leader of a synagogue, so what’s the problem?  First of all, she is not a Jew.  She is a pagan, Greek-speaking outsider.  And Jesus’ response to her is not impartial. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27).  In other words, his duty and honour is to bring salvation to the Jews.  Gentiles were considered “dogs”:  unclean and outside of the covenant.  It’s an insult, surely.

It's also horrible thing to say to a parent of a sick child.  In a country like Canada, we have a public health care system.  Even so, not everyone has equal access to medical services.  Imagine bringing your sick child to the door of the clinic and being told that you were not eligible for help! Or driving to the hospital to find that the emergency department is closed in your town for lack of funding or staff!  Where do you turn then!

The woman in the story argues for the rights of her child and her people in spite of Jesus’ priorities.  “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28).  She is determined to use his own example to expand the scope of his healing ministry.  God can heal if Jesus chooses to cooperate.  In her place, would you have the courage to approach, to challenge, and to persist?  Her call opens up the way to heal for her family and for those who are “others”.  It turns out that Jesus recognizes salvation is for all peoples.  “For saying that, you may go. The demon has left your daughter” (Mark 7:29).  She wins the argument and our Lord’s crossing of honour boundaries opens the door to more healing. 

While Jesus is returning through the region of Galilee inhabited by Gentiles, he is faced with more requests for healing.  A group brings a deaf and mute man to him and begs for his touch.  It is implied that he is a Gentile.  This time, Jesus rises to the challenge despite of Jewish purity laws.  Not only does he lay hands on the man, Jesus uses his spit (a grossly unclean detail) to make him clean.  He reverses the taboos that mark an individual as “other” and brings him into right relationship.  It takes work. There is some effort here. 

Jesus looks up to heaven to signal where his help is coming from, and then sighs heavily- his breath gathering the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, Jesus speaks the word “Ephphatha”.  This is Aramaic.  It’s most likely not the language of the man being healed- that would be Greek.  And it’s not Hebrew- the language of prayer in the Temple.  It’s what most of the Jews in the crowd would have spoken and understood, however.  Jesus calls “Open up” or “Be opened”.  And as the hearing and speech of the individual are freed, the demonstration is directed to all witnesses to be open to God’s healing as well.  Turns out, Jesus opened up as well.  In his ministry, in his understanding, and in his ability to obey God’s call to love across boundaries.

If Jesus could do it, we can too, because we have his help.  Our boundaries of culture and race are not as important as our call to love our neighbour.  What is unclean by human standards is restored to community through the one who sees into each heart.