Mark 7:30

The woman went home, and found the child lying on her bed, and the demon gone. 


returning to a house
that had lost its status
as a bonafide home
for demons stole
a family member
breath is held
until a healing word
transforms euphoric
to everyday
differences and challenges
afforded by living people
in all their uniqueness
for most of us this ordinariness
when we pause to consider
is a continuing and deepening
exhilarated hope to shared joy


As we proceed through life we find opportunity after opportunity to declare life a tragedy or a comedy. All too often Christianity has turned an opportunity for comedy (seeing the rise of the outcast) into a tragedy (active ignoring of an individual or a group to double down on their exile from their inherent Neighb*orliness).

Here, in the midst of the trauma from the visitation of one or another demon, when we could do ourself in by acceding to legalize a communal norm against ourself and dear ones, we find a tragic situation redeemed with what Carrington157 calls “a sense of humour, courage, and a ready wit”.

All three of these are evidenced by Mark and his Jesus story as they explore their scripture base and keep finding a living G*D inhabiting one impurity after another. Feasts keep cropping up. Outsiders keep being brought into a house of changed lives.

When finding the demon gone and her daughter recovering, which do you project came first and which second—laughter or weeping to express relief and joy at a relationship restored that needed no faith and no visit to a religious authority for confirmation?

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Jesus’ receptivity to her wisdom points to a critical truth: Oppressed people often have a profound analysis of social situations, and know the paths to justice. People in position of authority need to heed them…. ¶Similarly, it is when we finally allow ourselves to hear and heed the broken parts of our selves—[not casting them away]—that we can see more clearly the paths to our own inner healing. ~Myers85

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This passage also reminds pastors, teachers, and others in positions of authority how to lose an argument. When Jesus recognizes that the woman’s argument is stronger than his own, he grants her petition. Many of us do not have nearly so much graciousness. ~Perkins611