Breaking the Word – Page 1931 – Rev. Dr. Victor Antonyraj SDB

12.02.10 SECRET

Posted under Reflections on February 11th, 2010 by

And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And (immediately) the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. (Mk 7, 32-36)

The man in today’s context is deaf and dumb. He is brought to Jesus. Jesus heals him without any show. He does not want the people to see the miracle. But we wonder why Jesus orders them not to speak about it.

He has given the speech back to the deaf man. If he has received the gift of speech then he has to speak about it. Why the need for secrets. He could have made everyone dumb and no one would have revealed what has happened. If Jesus did not want to be seen or talked about then why did he do this at all? He could have just preached the word of God and taught the message to the people and carried on with his work. Why only miracles are not to be made known to the others. Why this secrecy?

What Jesus has done cannot remain hidden. The man who was not talking is talking now. That is not a secret for anyone who, sees him talking. Jesus tells the people around not to spread it, but they cannot stop talking.

Probably Jesus needed some more time before he is made known to the wider public. Or he was intending to travel some more, preaching and teaching. He wanted to gather some more support by passing on his message. So he wanted to be alone and wanted to move around unnoticed. But already the crowds were gathering around him and they were reaching the place of his arrival before he could even reach. The officials were already at him to close in on him. Just a couple of miracles more then they will bounce on him.
He couldn’t stop his work for the kingdom. He came for that work only. So also, he could not stop the people talking about it. Kingdom spreads this way also.

11.02.10 FOOD FOR DOGS

Posted under Reflections on February 10th, 2010 by

He said to her, "Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." She replied and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps." Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter." Mk 7, 27-29

The woman was desperate. She had an urgent need of help. Her daughter was demon possessed. Demons do not have any territorial restrictions. They possess people of any religion, any region, any sex, any age etc.

If so, why Jesus makes this distinction. The author of the Gospel of Mark wants to communicate something through this miracle. Because , later on, Jesus tells his disciples to go the ends of the earth to proclaim the kingdom and to cast out demons etc.(Mk 16, 14-17)

This miracle story has an odd exchange of words between Jesus and the woman. May be through this exchange of words the author wants to communicate something. Jews often thought of Gentiles as dogs. It was intended to be an apparent insult. Because dog returns to its own vomit (2 Pet 2,22) The context of this verse says that, the people who are compared to dogs are those, who after knowing Jesus return to worshiping their earlier Gods. Does Mark, the author, wants to say that anyone who comes in contact with Jesus should remain faithful to him? If not they are like dog that return to its vomit. Or is it a warning to this lady that she should not return back to her old belief after receiving the miracle? Could be.

Her reply proves that she was faithful to Jesus and Jesus also accepts her response by performing the miracle.

So belief in Jesus and following Jesus are stressed.