PROPER 18 (23) – Year B
16th Sunday after Pentecost — September 8, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
Mark 7:24-37
7:24 From there he 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,
7:25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.
7:26 Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
7:27 He 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."
7:28 But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
7:29 Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go--the demon has left your daughter."
7:30 And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
7:31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
7:32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
7:33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.
7:34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."
7:35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
7:36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
7:37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
Context
Welcome to the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel reading for this week continues with the theme of God’s ever-expanding table.
This week, the text takes us away from the familiar faces of the faithful — into Gentile territory. There, Jesus encounters a Syrophoenician woman, desperate for her daughter’s healing. She tests Jesus’ table manners. His initial response to her request is shocking, especially to modern ears. It doesn’t seem to align with his boundary-breaking posture of inclusion. But, it sets the stage for an extraordinary exchange.
The woman challenges Jesus with his own teachings (and a hint of Psalm 17), asserting that even the "dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." Remarkably, Jesus doesn’t just concede, he honors her insight, praises her faith and grants her request. The “unclean spirit” of exclusion has been cast out; it’s a transformative moment for all involved, including Jesus, who recognizes this woman as a true Gospel teacher.
Question
What is Jesus modeling for us in this story? What is our own response when we come face to face with the humanity of the "other"?
Reflections
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Roll Call: New Tarot Names For Black Girls
by Amber McBride
Call us something lovely
mischief changing robes.
Call us hardened honey’s brownness
on the tip of the tasting spoon.
Brown hands cradling inherited softness
or head cook, in a country church, hymning.
It’s cold, darling. Come inside, make a cream-colored psalm of me.
Call me gospel—I don’t mind harboring millions of maybes at once.
Call us steak knife to clean meat from between teeth
or steak knife to skin prey. Pray we don’t snare you.
Cornbread crafted from spoiled milk or nickel-nicked knuckles.
Fault lines haunting thighs. Crimson eggs nesting, in wait, between breasts.
Been called liars & midnight’s evil twins. Deceits blossom like fungi—
Black girl will hatch a long red snake-thing—a bloody cord that strangles on
command.
Black girl will Sin with anything with half a heartbeat—even a dis-ease.
That’s fine, honey, call us Pestilence’s hands
slowly—edging Atlas—
the reason he begs
& drops it all.
Call us end of days or pretty despite the Blackness.
Come into my soft coffin, my mouth buzzing flies.
Touch my heat-strum, one more time,
I don’t mind, I offer the death card to everyone.
Been called trouble
that good
good kind.
Prayer
Coming soon.