Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis. 
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. 
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 
He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well. 
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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At this point in his ministry, Jesus is trudging his way through Gentile territory, tearing down many of the boundaries that once kept the Jews and Gentiles apart. 

One of the significant sticking points was food. According to the Old Testament, Jews are forbidden from eating pigs; doing so would defile them. But while preaching to the crowds, Jesus declares all food as clean.

“Hear me, all of you, and understand,” he says. “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within – from the heart – are what defile.” 

This was a revolutionary teaching, challenging the heart of Jewish identity.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus breaks another boundary by healing a Gentile man who is both deaf and mute. 

It is by far the most physically intensive miracle that Jesus performs, involving seven steps in all, as he literally digs into the man’s ears and spits on the man’s tongue.

It’s likely that the Lord pulls him aside, away from the crowds, so as not to embarrass him. But when the man returns fully healed, he demonstrates with his very own body that healing is not only for the Jews. It’s for everyone.

Of course, the greatest form of healing being salvation itself.

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Mark also uses this miracle symbolically to emphasize the spiritual deafness and blindness of Jesus’ disciples. At this point, if asked to explain the meaning behind Jesus’ barrier breaking ministry, they’d be tongue-tied.

Perhaps we would be, too. Faith can be hard to put into words.

Jesus remains an endlessly enchanting, mysterious, even elusive figure. He bridges the gap between God and man. He’s divine, yet he suffers and dies in his humanity. He preaches perfect love and lives it. He’s powerful yet humble. A barrier breaker, bridge builder. 

Entire libraries have been filled with books about him, yet they cannot box him in. 

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Although the Lord will always be greater than our understanding, what he came to proclaim was salvation for all. May he give us the eyes to see him, the ears to listen to his word, and the wisdom to proclaim it with our lives. 

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Image credits: (1) Jesus Pantocrator, Sinai (2) Credo Magazine (3) Christ of Saint John of the Cross, Salvador Dalí, 1951

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Gospel: Mark 7:24-30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is one of only two stories in the Gospels where a child is healed by Jesus without being physically present. 

One is Jarius’ daughter. The other is the girl tormented by a demon in today’s Gospel, which was driving her mother to the brink of despair. Interestingly, both girls are Gentiles, not Jews. 

In the ancient world, a “demon” could’ve implied a variety of things – something as mild as a temper, or more serious like mental illness, to actual demonic possession. Whatever it was, the situation was dire.

Why does Jesus heal Gentile children from a distance?

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First, to emphasize that he came to save people of all nations, not just the Jews.

And second, to emphasize the power of intercessory prayer. It was the mother – not the daughter – who approached him. Her only assurance that her daughter had been healed was Christ’s words, “You may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

That was enough. She does not push for another sign. Nor does she plead for the Lord to visit her home just in case.

His word is enough, which is why Jesus later proclaims, “Not in all of Israel have I found such faith.”

And that, in the end, is all Jesus wants from us.

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This story is rich in both inspiration and responsibility. If a Gentile mother could illicit healing from Jesus for her daughter, even from a distance, then how much more might the Lord do for our own families who already love and serve him?

Sometimes all we need is faith.

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Image credits: (1) Taking Up My Cross, WordPress (2) Psephizo (3) Reddit

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Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.” 

When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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We continue with the lengthy confrontation between Jesus and the religious authorities, started in yesterday’s Gospel.

In the middle of this debate, the Lord argues, “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile, but the things that come out from within are what defile.” 

This single phrase turned Judaism on its head. For Jews, to be “defiled” meant a person lost access to the Temple, and thus access to God. Being ritually pure was essential to their identity as God’s people. 

In order to ensure their purity, religious scholars created over 600 commandments for people to follow, including everything from the washing of hands and dishes to the treatment of birds.

But Jesus insists only one thing was necessary in order to have access to God – a pure heart.

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The Native Americans have a similar idea, told through the story of two wolves, which they say are living inside each of us. One wolf feeds on negative things like selfishness and greed, while the other wolf feeds on virtues like faith, hope, and love. 

The question each person must answer is, “Which wolf wins?”

The one feed.

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This upcoming season of Lent provides us with the opportunity to consider, how pure is my heart? In what ways do I feed that good wolf within? Do I ever feed the bad wolf?

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May the Lord give us the grace to feed that good wolf, increasing the purity of our hearts, so we may have what we all seek – access to God.

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Image credits: (1) Medium (2) iStock (3) Etsy