Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Pam Reed, Registrar and Student Support Tutor, for writing this devotional.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
Mark 7: 24-37 (NRSV)
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, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 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.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
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. 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. 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. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus] ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Devotional
Two people in need of healing. A man and a woman. A Jew and a Gentile. One with a physical impairment; the other possessed by a demon. Two very different situations recorded one after the other in Mark’s gospel.
Neither of the two people has a voice – but each has someone to advocate for them. The Syrophoenician woman is prepared to forcibly argue her case for the healing of her daughter (28) – her lowly status as a woman and non-Jew does not deter her. And eventually her persistence pays off. The deaf and mute man cannot advocate for himself, but friends or family brought him to Jesus and begged for healing on his behalf (32). Again, Jesus shows compassion.
The actions of Jesus in each case have dramatic consequences for the person healed, but the healings themselves are conducted in private. The daughter of the Syrophoenician woman is healed without Jesus seeing the child (like the healing of the Centurion’s servant: Matthew 8:5-13). The deaf and mute man is taken aside privately by Jesus to be healed.
Our God is a God of compassion. Jesus’ words to the woman seem harsh but his testing reveals her faith. The healing process for the man seems strange, and yet symbolic – and the result is amazing.
The encounter each person had with Jesus was personal and individual. Each was a person of worth to Jesus. And it’s the same today. Each encounter with Jesus is personal and individual. We cannot dictate how our loving God might interact with any person or how they might experience God’s presence or healing in their lives.
Prayer
God of compassion and love, thank you that you see each of us as individuals, and each of us as worthy of your love. Jesus, help us to treat those we meet this week with the same compassion and love that you showed to the people you encountered. Amen.
Blessings,
Pam Reed (Registrar and Student Support Tutor)