Lectionary 23, Year B
Proper 18 The Sunday between September 4 and September 10 Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, the year of Mark Green
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The Gospel: Mark 7:24–37
Jesus frees a Syrophoenician woman’s daughter from a demon after her reply about crumbs, then heals a deaf man, saying Ephphatha.
What is going on
Jesus goes north to the region of Tyre, outside Jewish land. A Gentile woman begs him to free her daughter from a demon.
Jesus answers with a hard saying: the children should be fed first, and it is not right to throw their bread to the dogs. She answers that even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs, and Jesus tells her that because of her answer, her daughter is well.
Back near the Sea of Galilee, people bring him a man who is deaf and can hardly speak. Jesus touches his ears and tongue and says Ephphatha, which means Be opened, and the man hears and speaks.
Mark 7:24-37
Most churches stand for the Gospel, and sing or say a short response before and after it.
The passage
24 From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice. 25 For a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out. 31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the region of Decapolis. 32 They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue. 34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” 35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly. 36 He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
The Faith of the Canaanite Woman, scene by scene on Free Scripture
The other readings
In the order they are read on Sunday, before the Gospel.
Isaiah 35:4-7a
Through Isaiah, God tells the fearful to be strong, promising that the blind will see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and water flow in the desert.
Read it here
4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong! Don’t be afraid! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Psalm 146
A song of praise for the LORD, who made all things, feeds the hungry, frees prisoners, and cares for strangers, orphans, and widows.
Read it here
1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, my soul. 2 While I live, I will praise the LORD. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist. 3 Don’t put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. 4 His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. 5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD, his God: 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. 8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD raises up those who are bowed down. The LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down. 10 The LORD will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17
The letter of James warns against favoring the rich over the poor, and says faith that does nothing to help people in need is dead.
Read it here
1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. 2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, 3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” 4 haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? 8 However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. 13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? 15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Some congregations follow the RCL’s other track this Sunday, which reads an Old Testament book straight through over several weeks: Proverbs 22:1–2, 8–9, 22–23 and Psalm 125 in place of the first reading and psalm above.
A question to carry into the week
The woman would not give up asking. What are you still asking Jesus for?
For your newsletter or sermon notes
These readings are told as stories on our sister site, Free Scripture, one scene at a time in plain words. The lines below are ready to paste. The next eight Sundays, and every story.
Lectionary 23 (Proper 18) · Revised Common Lectionary, Year B · the same Sunday at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Scripture text: World English Bible, public domain.
Revised Common Lectionary copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org Used by permission.