The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
Summary
Isaiah 35:1-10 describes the journey towards God, a journey in which people are be changed: the blind see, the lame will leap. As they are transformed so is the path before them: difficulties turn into provisions: the burning sand springs with water and the barren wilderness blossoms. All that is needed for the journey is be provided on the journey. In Mark 7:24-37 Jesus is also travelling, heading into gentile territory. Here he gets into an argument with a Syrian woman whose daughter he refuses to heal because she is not the intended recipient of his gifts, these are meant for the children of God. But this remarkable outsider insists that at least there must be crumbs that fall from the children’s table. The Syrian woman wants something from Jesus but he also needs something from her: a belief in the wideness of God’s mercy and grace. On the journey Jesus’ mission is expanded and he travels on to heal other outsiders using the word: Ephphatha, be opened. In our own lives the obstacles to following where God leads often seem insurmountable and we feel ill-equipped to undertake the journey. We struggle to see God’s vision for the world, we resist letting go of our own plans. Jesus both shows us and tells us, to be open, to be prepared to change, to risk the journey trusting that we, and the world around us, will be transformed on the way.
First Reading
Isaiah 35:1-10
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray.
No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
GOSPEL
Mark 7.24-37
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.’
