Mark Twain said:  “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
Well today we’ve got a hard part of the Bible to make sense of:  A woman comes to Jesus, asking him to heal her young daughter of an evil spirit and Jesus says that she’s a dog who must go to the back of the queue. Wow.
I don’t know if you went anywhere on holiday over the Summer or if you managed to find some time to relax and be refreshed.  I hope that somehow, one way or another, you all had a good time. A holiday used to be called a “holy day” and was a religious feast or festival when there was no work and lots of joy and peace. Now a holiday is usually a not very holy day – and there may not be a lot of joy and peace.  It can be more tiring than being at work and people often say that they’ve gone back to work for a rest! In our reading today Jesus goes on holiday.   It’s the only time in his adult life that we ever read of him leaving Israel and going abroad.  (He went to Egypt as a baby to escape King Herod.)

“24Jesus 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.”

It is also therefore the only time that Jesus, the Jewish messiah of and for and from the Jews, meets and deals with Gentiles on their own turf. Jesus meets non-Jews in Israel – e.g. Roman soldiers – but then they are on his turf and on his terms. While he’s there a woman finds out where he is and comes to him with a request. She is desperate and passionate as only a parent can be when their child is seriously ill:

"25In 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. 26The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia.  She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter."

Notice three things: 1. the immediacy or urgency (“as soon as she heard about him”) 2. the desperation or lack of self-respect (she “came and fell at his feet”) and the passion (“she begged Jesus”). When have ever, and I mean ever, come to Jesus like that? The early church made a great deal of praying with tears – praying with passion, with emotion, and here is a mother who’s young daughter is ill, praying – i.e. talking to Jesus – in just such a way, she gets a response but it’s – how shall we put this – it’s an “interesting” response. Jesus says to her:

"27 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."

Actually it’s not as rude in the Greek as it looks in the NIV. It’s more like this: “Please allow the children to first have their fill; it wouldn’t be right to take the bread from the children and throw it to the puppies.” Even so, it’s still a pretty harsh response and the upshot of it is “No” Why does Jesus say “No”. Is it because he’s on holiday? Well, we see him healing others on the Sabbath and, besides, that’s not the reason he gives.
Jesus seems to be saying that Israel – the Jews – have first refusal on him. After they’ve accepted him or rejected him then he will open himself up to the whole world. As this woman is a Greek and they are both outside of Israel Jesus says she must wait her turn. Jesus has not come to do miracles or make people well or meet people’s short-term needs: he has come to be the saviour of the world, first to the Jews and then to everyone else. So healing this woman’s daughter just isn’t on his radar, but see how she replies:

"28 Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

She could have responded in a number of different ways: she could have become angry and indignant; she could have become depressed and walked away; she could even accepted what Jesus said with resignation and a shrug of her shoulders. But she chose to engage with what Jesus said and challenge it. In a sense she both accepted what Jesus said and yet didn’t accept it. But she also did one crucial thing: she called Jesus “Lord” This pagan, heathen Gentile woman speaking to Jesus on his holiday calls him something that none of the Jews in Israel had ever called him. Not the religious Jews, not even his own disciples, had ever called Jesus “Lord” until now.
This is the first time and in Mark’s Gospel the ONLY time that Jesus is called “Lord”, and look what happened:

"29Then he told her, 'For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter'. 30She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone."

A plus B equals C , and the “A” is calling Jesus “Lord”. Now for the B and C - -which, you’ll be pleased hear, we’ll be spending a lot less time on.
I wanted to spend a longer time on the story of the Greek woman because it’s such a strange and difficult text, so briefly on to our next story which will supply the “B” and “C”

"31Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.  32There 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."
So far so good?
"33After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue."
Spit?  Yup.
"34He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!" )."

Remember “A plus B equals C” Good, because here’s the “B”
Jesus looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh he said “Open up!”
The NIV has it that Jesus says “Open up!” to the deaf-mute man. The Greek seems to suggest that Jesus is addressing the man, and that’s why I think the NIV is good translation of this passage. Mark writes slightly ambiguously and implies that Jesus is talking to the man but he leaves open the possibility that Jesus is addressing heaven, or perhaps both – heaven and the deaf-mute man.
But let me ask you a question: “Who – or what – do you think  Jesus is talking to?”
Let’s recap: Jesus looks at heaven, says “open up”, and then the man’s ears are opened and his tongue is loosed. Mark’s source is commonly believed to be Peter the disciple, and it would be reasonable for Peter or any other eyewitness to think that Jesus was speaking to the deaf-mute man BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THEY SEE THE RESULTS. But I think Jesus said “Be opened” or “Open up” TO HEAVEN. After all, that’s where he’s looking, and we tend to speak where we’re looking. The trouble is Jesus looks one way – at heaven – speaks, and then something happened somewhere else – i.e on earth. But that is exactly what Jesus does and He’s the only one who can do that. Jesus is the only one who can bring heaven down to us and take us up heaven. How?  Why?  Because he is the Son of God who came down from heaven and returned there. So Jesus has the power and authority to open heaven, so that God’s love and grace and truth and power might come down and so that we might go up.
Jesus says “Open up!” to heaven, and that’s the “B” – Jesus says “Open up!” to heaven.
Remember “A plus B equals C”? “A” is the woman – or us, or anyone – calling Jesus “Lord”. That’s our part of the deal, our lines in this play. “B” is Jesus saying to heaven “Open up!” That’s his part of the equation, and something that only he can do. He opens heaven so that God’s love and power and truth and grace can come down and make a difference, and I’m using the present continuous tense because that’s not just what he DID it’s what he DOES, now, today. “A – us calling Jesus “Lord” – plus B – Jesus opening heaven for us -- equals C” and the “C” is . . . joy.

"35At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.  36Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." The more Jesus asked not to tell anyone “the more they kept talking about it. 38People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said."

I think we lack joy. Not the same as happiness. Joy. So let’s do the equation: A (we call Jesus “Lord”) + B (he opens heaven as only he can) = C (we get the blessings of God.)
The Kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit  (Romans 4:17)