Moving out of the comfort zone

Mark 7:24-37
(Anglicized New International Version)

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

When Christians meet as ‘Church’, whether it is to worship or to work out the faith, everything seems fine; we know why we’re there and what’s expected of us. It’s when we move out of ‘Church’, into difficult or challenging situations that we can find ourselves with problems.

In this Gospel reading, Jesus has left Jewish land and moved into Gentile territory, alien territory, if you like, the land of the Godless. There, he went to a house, presumably for some ‘down time’ but his presence is soon discovered and people begin coming to him in their droves.

One of the biggest problems facing the Church nowadays (especially in the West) is that we tend to keep Jesus a secret; we try to keep him closeted within our fellowships as if he were a valuable portrait to be enjoyed but not shared with anyone else. No wonder we wring our hands and weep and wail about declining numbers in our churches. The Church that preaches Christ is a Church alive with potential for growth; those that keep him like a buried treasure have only the potential for death.

But back to our story: we see Jesus moving out of his comfort zone, travelling alone in alien territory. Interestingly, he is not preaching the Word, yet he performs at least two major miracles among the unbelievers. Here is the lesson for all Christians, that much of the mission of the Church is to unbelievers; that we must step outside of our comfort zones and take Christ into those challenging situations.

As I said earlier, the passage does not indicate that Jesus went about preaching, yet he did perform those healings. This is yet another lesson, that more often than not, we must meet the needs of those people first before we can preach the Word. Those who know nothing of God or His ways will not understand terms like Repentance, Salvation or Redemption and, therefore, cannot respond to the Word alone. But they will respond to God meeting their needs. We must be responsive to the needs of these people and meet them where they are. Too often the Church is criticised for giving answers to questions that nobody has asked and therefore we must reach out to people where their greatest need is. Sometimes the Gospel needs to be worked out in practical ways rather than just preached. This is the message of the Apostle James in his epistle (Chapter 2).

In all God’s dealings with mankind, grace comes first, always. We, as Christians and as a Church, need to show God’s grace to the world, just as Jesus was gracious to those ‘outsiders’. He didn’t spend all his time in synagogues with his own people, but went to non-believers in alien territory as well.

But what if you, a Christian, find yourself in a difficult or challenging situation? What if you are visiting a non-believer and they say: “You’re a Christian, what can you do for my sick son?” Is you response “I’ll ask the Vicar to call!”? Why? What does the Vicar have that you, a child of God, have not?

Or do you say “We’ll put him on our prayer list at church.” Well perhaps that’s okay, or are you just using prayer as a means of passing by on other side?

Or is your response “Call the doctor.”? Again, that seems sensible but what if the doctor can do nothing more for him?

Would you look up to heaven, as Jesus did, and sigh a prayer to God? After all, perhaps He’s put you in that situation! Jesus looked up to heaven to try to see what God’s will was for that person, for that situation. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19)

Our power, our authority, comes from above not from within. We are weak and powerless human beings, but even we can do something positive for God. Didn’t St Paul find this out for himself? But he (God) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."’ (2 Cor 12:9)

The response of these non-believers was amazement: if only we could do or say things that would leave people open-mouthed in amazement; if only people kept talking about all the things we were doing. If only people would look at us and say: “Don’t they do everything well.”

If we want to see our churches grow, then we need to learn the lessons from this Gospel:

Jesus says in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”