Sunday thoughts for 9th September 2018 – For the fainthearted . . .
Saint Mark's telling of two miracles of Jesus in today's Gospel speaks about three sorts of healing, there is physical healing, healing of the body; there is psychological healing, healing of the mind; and there is healing of relationships, reconciliation.
What does the story of the man's healing say? It says that Jesus respects individual dignity. Jesus does not wish to turn the man into a spectacle, nor does he wish to act in a way of which the man has no understanding. It is a story that is a reminder to treat every person with respect, to see everyone as possessing a dignity that comes from being people shaped in the divine image..
What does the story of the healing of the little girl say? It says that Jesus goes to the place where there is need, he does not go to the child's house, but he is present there to bring healing. It is a story that is a challenge us to to bring change in places we least expect it.
The healing of relationships, reconciliation, is probably the most difficult healing of all in the 21st Century. With medical science physical and psychological healing can be achieved in ways that were unimaginable in the past, but reconciliation is something altogether more difficult. Saint Mark is blunt about the sectarianism of the time, "Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin", he writes in Verse 26 of the woman whose daughter needed healing. Jesus is not afraid to speak in the terms of the time in order that the sort of language used might be challenged, "He said to her," in Verse 27, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Jesus knows what sort of abusive language was used of the Gentiles and the woman recognizes that by speaking openly, such abuse can be disarmed. "Sir," she says in Verse 28, "even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." The encounter has been honest and frank, sectarianism has been acknowledged and rejected. Jesus surely smiled as he said to the woman, "For saying that, you may go." Not only is the daughter healed, but relationships are also healed.
What does the story say about reconciliation? It says that Jesus spoke with honesty. He acknowledged the ugliness of the attitudes of the people of his time. The story is a challenge to be open and frank because where there is no honesty there can be no true reconciliation.
The two stories of healing ask questions of the church and its members about how willing they are to follow the example of Jesus.