When we were on holiday a few years back, part of the hotel we were staying in had been transformed into a movie set. There were all sorts of rumours going around about who was filming their movie, and we wondered if we’d see any celebrities. And then, one evening as we were eating our dinner, filming had just ended and Will Ferrell walked through, saying hello to everyone on the way past.
Contrast that to when we lived in east Belfast and had popped into the big Tesco near Ikea to get a few things on Saturday night. And there, wandering the aisles, with his coat up high and a baseball cap was none other than the comedian Peter Kay. (I resisted the urge to give him a packet of garlic bread). He had been appearing in the Odyssey, but it was clear that he didn’t want to be recognised or engage with anyone.
Now that’s my only two celebrity encounters - I’m not a stalker - but in our reading this morning, it seems that Jesus is slightly more like the second of the celebrities I spotted. When we get to verse 24 (p 1010), we find that Jesus has left Galilee and Israel behind, and has crossed the border into the vicinity of Tyre. And just like Mr Kay in Knocknagoney Tesco, he ‘entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.’ (24)
It could be that the threat of Herod was still there while he was in Galilee; and he had just had another confrontation with the Pharisees, who were already plotting to kill him. And so Jesus is away from home, where maybe no one will know him. But he just can’t keep it secret that he is there. Someone has recognised him. someone knows him, and the word gets out. Jesus is here. His presence is never a secret. When he’s in your heart and in your life, then it’s obvious. And so here, the secret gets out.
And soon enough, as soon as she heard about him, a woman comes to see Jesus. She fell at his feet. She was desperate, begging Jesus to do something. You see, her little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit (25). She begs Jesus to ‘drive the demon out of her daughter.’ (26).
Now, I wonder were you surprised when you heard what happened next. You see, so far in Mark’s gospel we’ve seen how Jesus immediately helps people who are in need. He heals people, drives out demons, restores sight and even raised a little girl back to life. That’s what you expect to happen, because that’s what Jesus does. Isn’t it?
But here, rather than helping straight away, Jesus starts a discussion. It’s almost as if he’s objecting to being asked to do the miracle, to help this woman and her daughter. That seems strange, doesn’t it? And even stranger, is what Jesus then says to the distressed mother: ‘First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ (27)
So what’s going on here? Is Jesus being cheeky? Rude? Racist? There’s the contrast that he brings in between the children and the dogs. Now, you know the way there are words used by one people group about another? So in Northern Ireland there are words used when describing someone from the other community - words not to be used in the pulpit. For the Jews, anyone who was a Gentile was seen as unclean, and one of the words used about them was ‘dog.’
So it seems that Jesus is buying into this in some way, likening the Jews to the children, and the Gentiles to the dogs - not (as would normally have been thought) a wild dog, but (here) a pet dog. But he says it all the same. That it wouldn’t be fair to take what is for the Jews and to instead give it to the Gentiles. What we don’t have, and can’t immediately tell, is the way in which he said it. We just have the words on the page. We can’t tell if he said it in a harsh way, to shut down the conversation; or in a jokey way, to see if she would play along.
But perhaps her answer helps us to see how he said it and how it was taken. She grasps onto his first word - the word ‘first’. You see, Jesus wasn’t saying that he is only for the Jews. And he wasn’t saying that his grace was only for the Jews. But it was for the Jews first of all. And there she finds hope to continue; there she presses into the grace on offer:
‘Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ (28) Ok, she says, if you want to think we’re dogs, then even the dogs get the crumbs and scraps that fall from the table. So won’t you let a crumb of grace fall to me? She’s playing the game, and displaying her faith that Jesus can make a difference, and that he will make the difference for her daughter. Did you see what she called him? Lord! This Gentile woman recognises who Jesus is. She calls him Lord.
And he shows it by sending her home - saying the demon has left her daughter. And that’s exactly what she finds when she gets home. Jesus is Lord, not just in Israel, but even in Tyre. He is Lord, Lord of all.
We see that in another place that is outside of Israel’s borders. Jesus has travelled from Tyre, through Sidon to the region of the Decapolis. That’s where he had sent the man who was previously demon possessed that we met in chapter 5 back in January. Do you remember him? He had been possessed by many demons, Legion, and Jesus had driven out the demons into the pigs and restored the man. He had wanted to come too, but Jesus sent him home to tell of all that God had done. So they’ve heard of Jesus in the Decapolis (the ten cities).
And again, he’s quickly recognised. This time, some people bring to Jesus a man who is deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus to place his hand on the man. And once again, we find that Jesus does something strange, something unusual. With the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter, Jesus healed her from a distance. With some of the other healings we’ve seen, Jesus healed with a word. But here, Jesus does much more.
Now, we’re still in the midst of the no-touching advice of the Coronavirus guidelines, but Jesus is really touchy-feely here. Look at verse 33. ‘Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”)
Now why did he do all that? He’s telling the man what’s about to happen. The man may be deaf and mute, but he’s not blind. And so Jesus is showing him what he’s going to do. He touches his ears. He spits to show the clearing of a blockage, then touches the man’s tongue. As he looks up to heaven, he’s showing the man how he’s going to be healed - from God, by God’s power - and then with the sigh says ‘Be opened!’
‘At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.’ (35) The blockage is removed, and the man can hear. The blockage is removed and the man can speak. And only by God’s power. In the Old Testament, in Exodus 4, at the burning bush, Moses is arguing against God’s call on his life to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And God says this to him: ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute?... Is it not I, the LORD?’ (Ex 4:11) God is the one who has the power over the ear and the tongue, making deaf or restoring hearing; making mute or restoring the power of speech. And that’s exactly what Jesus can do - even in this Gentile territory.
Now we’ve heard some strange things that Jesus said and did in our reading today. But there’s one more just before we finish. And it’s there in verse 36: ‘Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.’
Jesus didn’t want his picture in the local paper, or a post on Facebook about what he had done. Jesus didn’t want people to talk about what he had done. Doesn’t that seem strange? Why might that be so?
He’s already had crowds gathering to him in Galilee. And as we’ll see next time we’re in Mark’s gospel, crowds gather to him in these Gentile regions too. Isn’t that a good thing? Wouldn’t he want a bigger crowd? And especially when you read verse 37 - people are speaking of him so favourably, his approval rating is through the roof, they are overwhelmed with amazement as they say: ‘He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’
Those categories, making the deaf hear and the mute speak, they’re part of the checklist for the Messiah that we read earlier in Isaiah 35. They’re grasping who Jesus is, and seeing that he’s Lord of all, (which is more than the disciples have managed so far), but they would still get the wrong end of the stick.
It’s true that Jesus is Lord of all; that his church will continue his mission from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. It’s true that Jesus will bring healing and wholeness to all his people - some here and now, but for all in the fullness of his kingdom.
But as much as these Gentiles have grasped Jesus’ identity, they still can’t grasp the fullness of Jesus’ mission. And, as we’ll see, the disciples haven’t grasped it yet. No one else can see it yet, but for Jesus to be Lord of all, and for Jesus to bring healing and wholeness to all his people, he has to go the way of the cross.
And so, he wants them to keep it secret. To not tell anyone. For now. Who is Jesus? Lord of all, the Lord of healing and wholeness, the long-promised Messiah.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 8th March 2020.
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