Sunday 09 September 2012

Background

This passage from Mark's Gospel records what we would call anexorcism and a healing, although both involve healing, one of anaffliction explicitly caused by demonic possession. Both storiesinvolve people who are outsiders, and whose lives are transformedby an encounter with Jesus. But while it is possible to read thesestories as accounts of literal healings, they serve to highlightJesus' inclusive mission to bring about the kingdom of God.

The Syrophoenician woman was a Gentile (non-Jew), a Greek fromthe region of Tyre, northwest of Galilee. Jesus' fame had alreadyspread to that region, as we see in the story of the crowds comingto him earlier in the Gospel (Mark3:8) for healing and exorcism. This time, there is no crowd,only a foreign woman who dares unconventionally to approach astrange man, thus bringing shame upon herself and her family. Butthe story shows that Jesus himself learns that social conventionsshould not stand in the way of doing good for those in need, andare an indication that the kingdom of God goes beyond the bordersof Israel into the rest of the world.

The second story, the healing of the deaf man with the speechimpediment, emphasises his exclusion from his community. Like theforeign woman, he is an outsider, in his case because of hisdisability. Healing him by giving him the ability to hear andunderstand, as well as to communicate normally, enables the man tobe reinstated in to his proper place in society. In both cases,Jesus' actions transform the lives of those who encounter him.

This was an age when disability and illness could prevent aperson from fully engaging in the religious life of the community.But as the healing of the deaf man shows, the problems created bydisability are no longer barriers to inclusion in the kingdom.God's transforming power and love are for all, and no one isexcluded.

To Ponder

• We commonly speak of people as outsiders, people who forwhatever reason are socially excluded. If Jesus does not consideranyone 'beyond the pale', what needs to change in order foroutsiders in our society to be socially included?

• How do social conventions in your church result in theexclusion of certain people from participation?

• How has the Paralympics changed your perception of people withdisabilities? What effect will it have on the way you treatothers?