Mark 7:24-37

Year B - Pentecost +15 or Energy to Witness ¹⁵

September 6, 2015

Mark 7:24-37

So what did the Syrophoenician woman say in her response to Jesus’ challenge? What is the message in talking about “dogs eating the children’s crumbs” that Jesus found compelling? Was it the standing up for one’s passion, as he does? Is mirroring sufficient? Did he appreciate the recognition that some are more chosen than others and that crumbs are sufficient for the non-chosen—a healing then reminds them how they get a bone now and then, but mostly cuffs for curs? Is this as a gift of thanks for providing a learning opportunity for Jesus that his work is more universal than it is often described by the Jesus advocates who wrote what we now claim to be scripture?

Is this practical outgrowth of “telling of wonders/power” from back at Pentecost? Language play and returning language are easy connections to make with folks exploding forth from a room that was exploding with fire energy.

If nothing from the outside has the power to contaminate (last week’s lection, Mark 7:18) everything and everyone is eligible for healing, being returned to a larger community. In this light we are seeing folks outside a usual definition of “chosen”, chosen to be included.

These are less miracle stories, than missionary stories. In saying “Go” and “Ephphatha” we find it is an opening toward outsiders but also a word to insiders that their task to date has been too small if used for the defense of privilege boundaries.

Where might you practice the gift of openness today and this week (attend to the news all week long for local examples)? To whom will you announce, “Go!” and “Ephphatha!”? Put another way, from whom will you withhold entry to your privilege?

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