16 Pent Proper 18
8 Sept 2024
Mark just loves to throw miracles and other stuff at us. Every other verse has Jesus performing a miracle. This week there are two of them, back-to-back, one for a pagan gentile woman and one for a Jewish man.
I need to set the stage for you. Jesus was just in Gennesaret, which is on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. He heads to Tyre, about a 50 mile walk (a few days I would guess) and a place outside the area where Jews historically lived. It was the area where the Phoenicians had a powerful seafaring kingdom at one time. In short, we are talking about an almost entirely pagan and rather distant place. If, as he said to the woman, he came to feed the lost children of Israel, why did he go to Tyre? The question crossed my mind.
It turns out that is what I would call an unnecessary question. It is what my parents would call barking up the wrong tree. Mark lays out Jesus’ life as the healer and miracle worker. This is what the reign of God is all about and always has been. The world of God does not lay outside the world of humans. We may live in an age that scoffs at miracles and places the spiritual in a different world than the concrete. We think there are natural and supernatural realms; Jesus’ followers and the Christian world would not have separated the two. Mark knew that and what he was telling his listeners, for they would have heard the Gospel and not read it, Jesus was indeed God made manifest in the world. I think we say it, we celebrate it, but do we really accept it? If we do, we believe in miracles. Mark saw the work of Jesus as that of tearing down the oppressive systems under which the vast majority of people lived. And if we believe in miracles, we start to deconstruct the big lie of the Enlightenment: that natural and supernatural are two worlds in opposition and that only the natural world will save us. Enlightenment has given us much to celebrate and much to make life safer, longer, and even more enjoyable. But massive wars, genocide, and weapons that could destroy everything speak of the dark side, the immoral side. Mark saw the work of Jesus as that of tearing down the oppressive systems under which the vast majority of people lived. Jesus’ miracles provide, release, defy, and even answer the requests of individuals.
The Syrophoenician woman was not from the Enlightenment. Thank goodness. She lived in a world where God was in her heart and mind and soul, even as a pagan, and she knew that Jesus was from God. She believed in miracles. I admire her; she was fearless and loved her child as much as a parent could. She risked much coming to Jesus (who incidentally was trying to lay low in a house) and had enough chutzpah to speak truth to power. Jesus was gracious enough to realize he had made a mistake. It was not just the “children” who needed feeding; it was all of creation. Take note; this is a turning point in Mark, the point where Jesus realizes his life’s work is far greater than even he had realized.
Jesus then marches north to Tyre, which is even further away from his home turf, and then back to the Decapolis, which is on the far side of the Lake of Galilee. For someone on foot that is a lot of miles to cover. How many of you have walked perhaps 100 miles in a couple of weeks time? Jesus has a lot of ground to cover.
He enters the area called the Decapolis, or ten cities, and there a man who can not hear and who is tongue tied is brought to Jesus. Note that there is not a shred of evidence the man even asked to be taken to Jesus. Since he cannot hear, how much does he understand of what is happening. Then he is taken aside and with spit and dirt is made to hear and then to speak. I wonder what is going on inside the man’s head. We never find out; it is our guess. Was he elated? Was he upset because perhaps he had lost his ability to make money by begging? (We don’t know what he did for a living, but begging would be a good guess.) All we know is that Mark tells us Jesus can heal and make us whole. That is the message; not whether, in our Enlightenment mentality we believe something contrary to nature can occur, but that Jesus can heal. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and for Mark, and for us, it is because he understands our deepest needs.
Jesus will be there for us. I know we equate that to thinking that our prayers will be answered if we just believe hard enough. All of us have seen truly horrendous things happen and have seen people cut down in the prime of life with some disease or trauma. We know too many people who suffer from mental illness or chronic debility. If they were made well that would, indeed, be a miracle, but the miracles Jesus often performed were release from the bondage of societal evils. He demonstrated what God desires for God’s people everywhere. That desire is for everyone to be taken care of. Now all you enlightenment folks know that it is possible for the world to be fed and clothed and housed. I repeat, it is possible. There is no scientific barrier to ending poverty. It is human greed, hardness of heart if you will, that keeps the world so imbalanced. So the miracle is when humans follow the will of Jesus and take care of one another. The miracle is when those with mental illness have access to the resources they need. The miracle is when children don’t have to practice active shooter drills.
Embrace the miracles. Throw off the mantle of enlightenment which says there is no place for the supernatural. You have experienced it; you have lived it. You know that God’s goodness is everywhere and there is goodness enough for all. Even Jesus had to learn that and he learned it from a pagan female.
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