Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 35:4-7a, James 2:1-5, Mark 7:31-37
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Samuel was one of the most remarkable gospel preachers in my village. You see, Samuel was blind and never went to school. Later in life he joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses and had to memorize large portions of the Bible since he could not read. Samuel’s little boy would lead him to your house and Samuel would begin his preaching with the words, “I was blind but now I see!” It was fascinating to see this blind, illiterate man challenging educated and sighted people, and saying, “Now let us turn to John 3:16 and read.” His very presence bore testimony to the fact that in Christ, seeing and hearing mean much more than the use of the physical senses of the eye and the ear.
The similarities as well as differences between the external senses of seeing and hearing as compared to the internal faculty of knowing and obeying the message of Christ is the key to understanding Mark’s use of many of the healing miracles. Mark wrote to a community of believers under persecution. In such a situation speaking up for Christ was a very dangerous thing. It could cost you your life. The story of the deaf-mute in today’s gospel is apparently aimed at those members of his community who could not bear witness to Jesus because they would not hear his word. Because they are deaf to the words of Jesus, that is why they have a speech impediment in speaking about him. There is, therefore, a parallel between the deaf-mute in today’s gospel and Jesus’ disciples. The man can neither hear nor speak properly. The disciples cannot understand the message of Jesus, and this constitutes an impediment in their proclamation. They, too, need healing.
Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly (Mark 7:33-35).
Why did Jesus take the deaf man away from the crowd? And why did he have to go into such a detailed and graphic healing process when he could simply have said a word and the man would be all right? I think that in these details of the story, Mark is saying something to his readers. By taking the deaf man far from the madding crowd in order to heal him, Mark is probably saying to them that in order to be healed of their deafness to the word of God they needed to distance themselves from the masses around them, since the healing encounter with Jesus happens in the private intimacy of one’s heart and that of their small Christian community. Remember that Christians were then a very small minority and their meetings took place not in big churches but in the private homes of members.
This healing is very different from the healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter which preceded it. In that story, Jesus did not take any action other than to announce the healing to the woman (verse 29). But in this case he goes into an elaborate ritual in seven acts: (1) He takes the man aside. (2) He put his fingers into the man’s ears. (3) He spits and (4) touches the man’s tongue. (5) He looks up to heaven and (6) he sighs. (7) He issues the healing command, “Ephphatha.” Why does Jesus go into all this? More importantly, why does Mark record all this? Probably Mark’s church was beginning to develop their rituals of anointing and the use of special formulas. In that case this was a way of saying to the readers that by participating in these early liturgical ceremonies they would experience healing. And then, after one has experienced this healing, nothing on earth could stop one from proclaiming Jesus, even in the unlikely circumstance that Jesus himself would ask them to keep silent.
Do we realize that we are deaf? Does it occur to us that, as individuals and as church, we do not yet fully understand the message of Jesus? Is that not the reason why we have a speech impediment and the people of our time no longer understand us when we try to tell the Good News? As individuals and as church we need to come to Jesus for healing. And this can happen here, far from the madding crowds, in the privacy of the Eucharistic celebration.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator