Proper 18, Year B
TEXTS: Isaiah 35:4-7; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37
From there [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, “… 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. (Mark 7:24-27a, 30-35)
The story is told of Saint Francis of Assisi, who entered a village with one of his monks. Their purpose was to preach the gospel. When they arrived at the village they quickly engaged the local folk in conversation and passed their time helping the villagers with their work, sharing stories, eating and drinking together, and entering into the life of the community.
As the end of the day drew near, Francis announced that it was time for them to return to the monastery. They were about to make their way out of the village, when the other monk—with great concern—said, “Did we not come here to preach the gospel to these people? When are we going to do that?”
Francis replied, saying this: “If these people have not heard the gospel today, then reading from the Bible will not make any difference to them.” And so, they went on their way.
Today, we hear the apostle James make the same point just as plainly:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill”, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)
That last statement is the one that usually gets James into trouble: “faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” James has been seriously misunderstood—and roundly criticized—for advocating a “theology of works.” That is to say, for holding the view that salvation is possible through doing “good works” apart from faith.
But did he really hold that view? I’m not so sure. To me, today’s epistle lesson sounds like an elaboration upon the theme James introduced in the preceding chapter, where he exhorts his readers to: “be doers of the word and not merely hearers.” (James 1:22)
For James, the “doing of good works” is the inescapable consequence of hearing the Good News and understanding its implications. James understood that those who hear the gospel and understand its message will find themselves compelled to take up—and continue—the work of Jesus Christ. In other words, real faith always produces concrete action.
And here we see the connection between our epistle and gospel readings. For, in Mark, we are shown a picture of Jesus in action—heeding the words of a Gentile woman, and bringing healing to a man who had been deaf and unable to speak clearly.
But the accounts of Jesus’ ministry are never meant to be solely biographical sketches. Their purpose is primarily theological and spiritual. What is said about Jesus tells the reader something about the nature of God—for instance, God’s compassion for the broken and the wounded, the lost and the outcast.
It is important to remember that people such as the deaf man and the Gentile woman were effectively excluded from access to God through the temple—because they were not allowed to enter it! Jesus, however, came to them. The arrival of Jesus meant that the outcast and marginalized suddenly—perhaps for the first time in their lives—had direct access to God.
At the same time, the gracious approach and touch of Jesus holds a significance that goes far beyond mere altruism and “niceness.” For those who were able to read the signs and understand the metaphors and allusions behind Jesus’ actions, it was obvious that God was working in their midst to bring about the time of peace that had been spoken of by the prophets.
Some would assert that the story in Mark is symbolic rather than literal. To the person of faith, it doesn’t matter. Such a view does nothing to undermine the considerably more profound spiritual truths contained within Mark’s account. Faith, after all, has nothing to do with empirical evidence or verifiable reports. If the answers are clear, given, and indisputable, how can anyone have faith?
Faith always holds the unseen and the partially-known in tension with lived reality and human experience. If anything can be proved beyond reasonable doubt, then faith in it is unnecessary.
Faith speaks and hears in a spiritual language—and whatever the scholars may think or say about a particular passage, the spiritual message and meaning will remain intact. And for us, that is always the more important consideration.
In the case of this story, the underlying spirituality of hope is supplied by an oracle from the prophet Isaiah:
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. (Isaiah 35:5-6)
Isaiah was writing for the people in exile in Babylon, offering them hope that they would return to their own land, the land promised and given by God. Yet the quotation from Isaiah contains words of hope for exiles of every time and place. And there are perhaps no sorrier exiles than those who are estranged from the living God. There will come a time, Isaiah says, when what is wrong will be made right.
Mark saw Jesus as the One who would usher in the time spoken of by Isaiah. That is the nature of the Good News for Mark: that in Jesus, what is wrong with the world is being made right, what is broken is being made whole, what is afflicted is being healed. And so, Mark makes a connection between his time and the tumultuous world of the prophet Isaiah.
Nevertheless, the continuing spiritual reality is that the story does not end with Mark’s Gospel. It does not end with any of the gospels. Rather, the story of the Good News continues right through to the present day—to this place, here and now! The gospel is meant to be a living and continuing reality in the presence of God’s people, even—and perhaps especially—in places where there is distress, injustice, and affliction.
Centuries ago, James understood this call to continuing action; and his words remain as true today as they were when they were written. When Christians seek the lost, comfort the grieving, and heal the sick, they are neither acting for their own sake, nor because they are “nice” people. They are certainly not acting because they believe they can earn their place in heaven by what they do. No.
Christians do these things because they are called to continue the work of Christ. As partners in his ministry, we are called to take his message into places where people are—for whatever reason—unable to hear it. We are called to carry the gospel into places where people have no voice, and no one to advocate for them. And make no mistake about it: in today’s world, the poor and the powerless, the deaf and the voiceless, are found everywhere—even in the church.
Mark’s Gospel is a reminder of God’s will that suffering should no longer be the common condition of humankind. The letter of James reminds us that we have an essential share in exactly the same work as Jesus. In a very real sense, when faithful people accept their calling and engage in the ministry of Jesus, they actually become Jesus, and the Kingdom of Heaven is once more brought near.
As Saint Francis once said—and as so many others have quoted: “Preach the gospel everywhere—and if necessary … use words!”