Reflecting on Mark's Gospel - Mark 7:24-30

The account of Jesus’ meeting with a Syrophoenician woman emphasises the twin elements of faith and healing that seem to have been common as Jesus roamed the Galilean region engaging in his mission and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. It is already clear that Jesus is approached by women as well as men, and indeed, as with Jairus’ daughter, children are also brought to him for healing. Indeed, there is a parallel with the Jairus story in that, like that synagogue leader, this woman is concerned about her daughter, though this is a matter of an unclean spirit, rather than a more ‘conventional’ illness.

However, the additional point here is that this woman is a foreigner, and so a Gentile. As so often with Jesus, this is a boundary-crossing moment. Jesus is not interested in the taboos that disrupted the society of his day. He looks for faith, wherever it may be. That is what he recognises as important. I wonder what barriers we ought to cross, whether there are taboos that we ought to challenge.

The other particularly interesting thing about this incident is the description of the conversation between the woman and Jesus. This woman is not afraid of speaking up. John Riches and Susan Miller (Mark Gospel of Action edited by John Vincent) describe a discussion of this engagement, but focussed on the Syrophoenician woman, by a women’s group in Glasgow. The group noted – “The woman initiated the discussion. She was witty and responded to Jesus’ riddle. One woman proposed that the Syrophoenician woman was ‘not overawed by Jesus’ and another said that she was ‘full of love for her child’. The group, moreover, highlighted the change in the woman in the course of the conversation. One member said, ‘She moved from her knees to walking tall’, and another commented, ‘In the end she achieved what she needed.’ Some pointed out that the woman’s faith was the source of her liberation. Others emphasised that the woman changed Jesus’ mind.”

In some ways this is a ‘bigger’ incident than that with Jairus’ daughter because on this occasion Jesus heals the girl without going to see her. The implication is that the faith of the woman plays a large part. I wonder what we might have said to Jesus if we had been around in those days. I wonder what we would have made of this, and indeed many other incidents. An important thing here is Jesus’ willingness to engage with whoever approaches him.