Mark 7:24 –38 Two Healings

Well, we know we are back in Gentile territory. The mother in the first healing is said to be from Tyre [not a good place to be this week!!!], a Gentile and of Syrophoenician origin. The geography, however is confused: Tyre is between Sidon and the top of the lake but they are said (7:31) to go “from the region of Tyre, … by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee” .

The first healing is unusual in that the subject and the process are not a part of the story; when we are done with the mother we are told that the demon has already left the young girl. In terms of a healing of a young girl, it provides a match with the healing of Jairus’ daughter where the mother also occupies centre stage (if we are persuaded by the argument that the bleeding woman is the mother). Jesus addresses her in a way that is insulting (let’s not put a gloss on it). His response to the woman’s request is expressed through three metaphors: the Gentiles are dogs, the Jews are children, healing is bread. “The children’s bread is not to be thrown out to the dogs” To this challenge, the woman “answers back” with a riposte that bests Jesus: “Not true: dogs are fed under the children’s tables.” Even if the dogs metaphor is allowed, Jesus’ argument does not hold up. He acknowledges her point: “for saying that you may go …” The woman trusts Jesus’ declaration, goes home and verifies the healing.

The second healing has the level of detail missing from the first: description of the problem, the act of healing and the crowds’ choral response. However there are elements of the healing that firmly link it with the Gentile territory: the spitting and the touching. Saliva was thought to have medicinal properties; Jesus spits on his hands and anoints the man’s ears and his tongue. We have already noted that Jesus has redrawn the purity maps of people and things that cause contamination, by touching a leper, a bleeding woman and a corpse. That case has already been made on the Jewish side of the lake. [We struggle with HIV and H1N1.]

Markan summary statements have often shown up significant acclamations: “Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?” (4:41) “What is this? A new teaching — with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him” (1:27). “We have never seen anything like this!” (2:12). Now we have a new one: “He has done everything well: he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” The biblical echo is of Isaiah 35:5-6; the coming new age will be characterised not only by the extravagant feast for all, it will also be known as a time of healing for all.

We are now ready for the final balancing off of the two sides of the lake: the healing of the 4000, the Gentile messianic banquet is about to be laid out.