GOD’S GRACE ALWAYS FINDS AN OPENING
Mark 7:24-37
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 23), Year B
Analysis by Mark A Marius
24 (Jesus) set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go – the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
“The more Jesus opens to us his grace the more we open our hearts to him in faith.”
DIAGNOSIS: Closed for a private party
Step 1: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem): Hiding out
Jesus wants some privacy and, often times, so do we. We like to separate ourselves from the dogs that bark at us. Close the door and not have to deal with all the demands for our time and attention. But if we value our privacy and distance more than caring for others in need, we have a problem. Especially if we consider them beneath us and not worthy of our company in the first place.
Step 2: Advance Diagnosis (Internal Problem): Refusing
Can we even help? Do we have the capacity to take on the needs of our neighbor when we are trying so hard to feed our own kids? Our hearts are reluctant to open to others when we feel life’s finitude. Is there enough to go around? Do we trust the abundance of God’s grace or just share it with those who are like us?
Step 3: Final Diagnosis (Eternal Problem): Starving to death
Closing oneself to God and others leads to starvation. Operating under the limitations we feel will only leave us starving for God’s promises. And if that isn’t crumby enough, we also end up starving those we could have fed by sharing our love.
PROGNOSIS: Opened to Everyone
Step 4: Initial Prognosis (Eternal Solution): God’s grace knows no limits
A crumb, a cross, a spit for the glossa (tongue). God uses the most insignificant and unexpected openings to bring grace, healing, and salvation to all people. The woman finds an opening in the work Jesus does, which brings life to all the world. The mute and speechless man is not only saved but becomes a proclaimer of Christ. It is Christ’s work – dying on the cross and God opening the tomb for new life – that gives our faith power.
Step 5: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution): Open hearts
The more Jesus opens to us his grace the more we open our hearts to him in faith. Life as we know it changes when we put our trust in Jesus’ promises. This glimmer of Ruth we can see in this woman remind us that you get the God you trust. She trusted in her heart that God shows no partiality to anyone, regardless of how the world may have treated her. Her heart was open to receive grace as God gives – without restrictions, and without distinction of being labeled a child or dog.
Step 6: Final Prognosis (External Solution): Always opened
Receiving Jesus’s touch we can’t help but hear and speak the good news. We share God’s love with great zeal. We don’t follow the rules of the world anymore that define us as winners or losers based on geography, gender, ability, or ethnicity. God’s rule of grace is always open for everyone and will not be denied.
