Mk. 7:23. All these evils come from within and defile the man.
Teaching people to understand the dietary prescriptions of the Law not in a carnal manner, the Lord begins here to gradually reveal the meaning of the Law and says that nothing entering from outside defiles anyone, but what comes from the heart defiles. By "envious eye" He means either envy or licentiousness: for the envious person typically casts a malicious and venomous glance at the one envied, and the debauched person, gazing with his eyes, strives toward an evil deed. By "blasphemy" He means an insult against God: if, for example, someone begins to say that there is no Providence of God, this would be blasphemy; which is why the Lord also joins "pride" with it. Pride is, as it were, a disregard of God, when someone, having done a good deed, attributes it not to God but to his own strength. By "foolishness" He means offense against one's neighbors. All these passions defile the soul, and arise and proceed from it. To the crowd the Lord spoke in this manner not quite clearly, which is why He also remarked: "he who has ears to hear, let him hear," that is: let him who understands, understand. As for the apostles, who understood the Lord's speech more deeply and approached to ask Him about the "parable," that is, about this veiled speech (a parable is a veiled speech), the Lord first rebuked them, saying: "Are even you so lacking in understanding?" but then resolved for them what had been difficult to comprehend.
Mk. 7:24. And from thence He arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have no man know it; but He could not be hid.
Mk. 7:25. For a woman, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet;
Mk. 7:26. And the woman was a pagan, a Syrophoenician by birth; and she besought Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
Mk. 7:27. But Jesus said to her: let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the bread from the children and throw it to the dogs.
Mk. 7:28. But she answered and said to Him: yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
Mk. 7:29. And He said to her: for this word, go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.
Mk. 7:30. And when she came to her house, she found that the demon had gone out and her daughter was lying on the bed.
After He had spoken about food and saw that the Jews did not believe, the Lord crosses over into the regions of the Gentiles, for with the unbelief of the Jews, salvation was to pass to the Gentiles. At first the Lord tried to remain hidden, so that the Jews would not have a pretext to accuse Him of having gone over to the side of the unclean Gentiles. Yet He could not be hidden, for it was impossible for Him to be concealed and recognized by no one. The aforementioned woman, having heard about Him, displays a fervent faith. Therefore the Lord does not immediately consent to her request, but delays the gift in order to show that the woman's faith is firm and that she waits patiently despite the refusal. Let us also learn not to abandon prayer at once when we do not immediately receive what we ask for, but to continue praying patiently until we receive what we ask. The Lord calls the Gentiles "dogs," since they were considered unclean by the Jews. He calls "bread" the benefaction appointed by God for the "children," that is, for the Jews. Therefore He also says that the Gentiles should not partake of the benefaction that was appointed for the Jews. But since the woman answered wisely and with faith, she received what she asked for. The Jews, she says, have the bread, that is, all of You who came down from heaven, and Your benefactions, while I ask for a "crumb," that is, a small portion of Your benefactions. But see how the Lord also acts! He did not say: My power has saved you, but what did He say? "For this word," that is, for your faith, "go," your daughter has been healed. Draw from this a useful lesson for yourself as well. Every one of us, when he commits sin, is a "woman," that is, a weak soul. Such a soul is a "Phoenician," as having a crimson, that is, a bloody and murderous sin. Such a soul has a "daughter" — wicked deeds, demonic deeds. Being sinners, we are called "dogs," full of impurities, which is why we are also unworthy to receive the "bread" of God, that is, to partake of the most pure Mysteries. But if in humility we acknowledge that we are dogs, if we confess and reveal our sins, then our daughter will be healed, that is, our demonic deeds.
Mk. 7:31. Having departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus went again to the Sea of Galilee through the borders of Decapolis.
Mk. 7:32. They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they besought Him to lay His hand upon him.
Mk. 7:33. Jesus, having taken him aside from the crowd, put His fingers into his ears and, having spit, touched his tongue;
Mk. 7:34. And, looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him: "Ephphatha," that is, Be opened.
Mk. 7:35. And immediately his hearing was opened and the bonds of his tongue were loosed, and he began to speak clearly.
Mk. 7:36. And He commanded them to tell no one. But the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.
Mk. 7:37. And they were beyond measure astonished, and said: He has done all things well – He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.
The Lord does not linger in pagan places, but quickly withdraws from them, so as not to give the Jews, as I said, a pretext for saying about Him that He acts unlawfully by mingling with pagans. Having therefore withdrawn from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He comes to Galilee and there heals the deaf-mute, whose affliction was from a demon. He takes "him aside," for He was not a lover of glory, having humbled Himself to our poverty and not wishing to perform miracles before many, except when the benefit of the onlookers required it. "Having spit, He touched his tongue" as a sign that all parts of His Holy flesh were divine and holy, so that even His spittle loosed the bonds of the tongue. All spittle is an excess of fluids, but in the Lord everything is wondrous and divine. Looking up to heaven, the Lord "sighed," on the one hand, prayerfully to the Father, that He might have mercy on the man, and as an example to us, that when we intend to do any good deed, we should look to God and ask His help for its accomplishment; and on the other hand, He sighs also out of compassion for human nature, how it has been so given over to the devil that it suffers such outrage and affliction from him. For this reason, when the Lord healed, those who were healed proclaim Him, despite the fact that He forbade them this and commanded them to say nothing. From this let us also learn, when we do good to others, not to accept praise from them, but when we receive good deeds, to glorify our benefactors and spread word of them, even if they do not wish it.