A Poem a Sunday

Proper 18B/Ordinary 23B/Pentecost 16
September 9, 2018

St. Mark 7:24-37 - NRSV

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre.[a] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 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.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir,[b] even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

31 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. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus[c]ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Footnotes:

[a] Mark 7:24 Other ancient authorities add and Sidon

[b] Mark 7:28 Or Lord; other ancient authorities prefix Yes

[c]Mark 7:36 Gk he

    

Pentecost 16- B
September 9, 2018

A Poem a Sunday

Phoenician Sunrise

O Syria,

what can

we

learn from you?

O Phoenicia,

teach

us

divine truth.

A woman

in purple,

Phoenician garb,

of Syrian descent

approaches the Lord.

And little did

he know she’d

expose his

tribalism.

Israel, you know,

still puts her kind

in prison:

dogs of the

Middle-East.

And so she reaches

for crumbs

and the Lord learns

that “Light to the Nations”

means her daughters and sons.

Tribe, race,

erased

by Divine Love;

Diversity embraced;

healing from above.

The deaf hear

and the mute

speak the Good News

and “He has done

everything well!”

is cried out

by local fools.

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