You're most welcome to join us at St Thomas' Church for our Parish Eucharist at 10 am. Reverend David Halford will be preaching and presiding on the fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. Some of our Covid precautions remain in place, but we'll be singing a couple of hymns and offering refreshments after the service.
If you're not able to be with us in person, you can find the Gospel, reflection and prayers below.
Our first hymn this morning is "Such Love"
Today's Gospel
MARK 7 v 24 – end “He took him aside in private, away from the crowd.”
Jesus 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, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 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.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Reflection
It became fashionable amongst some Christians, some years ago, to wear a plastic bracelet with the initials “WWJD” on it. The letters stood for “What would Jesus do?” and they offered the wearers an opportunity, in any circumstance, to consider their own actions in the light of the question. At the time, this was a popular and well-meaning question – prompting Christians to think of Jesus when engaging with any sort of ethical dilemma; but it had some fairly obvious limitations. The most honest answer to the question “What would Jesus do?” is “Well, we really don’t know.” Jesus had a capacity for shocking his followers and onlookers, and for doing and saying what was unexpected. In addition, the situations in which we find ourselves in our own time in the twenty-first century bears little resemblance to those in which we see Jesus in the scriptures – so we have little to guide us. The basic idea behind asking “WWJD” is good one, but putting it into practice now in our time and generation is perhaps a bit trickier!
A better approach night be to look at how Jesus engaged with people and situations in his own time and try to apply some general principals to our situation today. Today’s Gospel reading provides two excellent examples; two startling encounters that Jesus has with people who are not part of his group of followers. The first of these is a Gentile; a Syrophoenician woman, whose daughter is sick. She asks Jesus for help and he, initially, refuses, suggesting that she is unworthy as a foreigner. She argues back, and, seeing her faith, he relents and tells her that the girl is healed. Jesus appears to change his mind – allowing himself to be persuaded by a Gentile, a foreigner, into action. He responds with humility.
The second encounter is with a man in the region of Decapolis – an area where Gentiles were in the majority and looked upon with disdain by the more orthodox religious authorities in places like Jerusalem. People bring to Jesus a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment, and Jesus deliberately takes him away from the crowd and noise to a quiet and private place. His physical actions communicate his intention in a way that the deaf man can understand. Jesus, in other words, deals with the man in a way that makes sense to him – even if it seems strange to us. He acts with sensitivity.
The letter of James [James 2:1-10, 11-13, 14-17], set as today’s second reading, makes clear that how we act is as significant as what we believe. Faith is demonstrated in action, and in particular, in how we treat our brothers and sisters. What we do, how and why we do it – this is how our faith is communicated to the wider world. When we look to the Gospels for our pattern and model, we see Jesus acting with humility and sensitivity when he encounters his brothers and sisters.
Although we might be troubled at his initial response to the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus offers a patter to his followers. He listens and engages with someone he might wish to dismiss, changes his thinking and them commits himself to healing her daughter. We might question whether the initial response genuine, or whether he was teaching his disciples a lesson by uttering commonly held beliefs, but the result is the same: he humbled himself, listened and changed his mind. He demonstrated that we may, after listening and engaging humbly, change our minds and act accordingly.
When Jesus takes the deaf man away from the crowd, he is sensitive to the man’s need for his full attention. His actions seem crude to us (spitting, touching the man’s tongue and sighing), but they are for the man’s benefit, not ours, so that he understands what is happening. Jesus shows us that, however we might normally deal with others, we should consider their needs and act with sensitivity.
What would Jesus do? A better question is perhaps, “What did Jesus do?” He acted with humility and sensitivity with everyone – even those who needed a different approach from usual. In doing so, he gave us a perfect pattern for any occasion. David H
Our Prayers
Generous and embracing Lord
By your example you showed us that all people are worthy
Let us show compassion and love
to everyone, irrespective of their background
Make us part of a truly inclusive church.
Caring Lord, you showed humility and sensitivity
You humbled yourself and served others.
You were willing to listen and change your mind.
We pray that we may follow your example.
The Syrophoenician woman showed patience and resilience
Deepen our faith and trust in you
That we can be sure
that you will always do what is best for us.
Amen
This morning's final hymn is "For the Healing of the Nations"
