Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
Mark 7:31-37 Dear Friends, In the world that Mak addresses in his Gospel, the people had a much more intense outlook about the devil than is the case in our day. For them, the basic conflict of good and evil was a struggle between God and the power of darkness residing in the demons. Sickness, political domination and the endless challenges of nature and climate were all seen as manifestations of demonic control over human freedom. The long anticipated Messiah was seen as one who would finally complete this seemingly never-ending struggle. He would bring back the original innocence and freedom of the Garden of Eden.
All of Jesus’ actions were a movement toward human freedom from this deeply entrenched control of the demons. Today’s healing of the deaf mute would have been seen as an exorcism that set the victim free of the demonic bondage, a clear step towards total victory over all evil and darkness.
The man’s condition had left him in severe isolation. It is extremely difficult for us to imagine the destructive consequence of being unable to hear and unable to speak.
Jesus’ healing intervention is clearly part of the mission to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. (Mk 1:14-15) Jesus performs this miracle in a Gentile territory. This was another way he used to expand the horizons of his mission well beyond the limited vision of his followers. He was sowing the seeds of the shocking reality that salvation was for all people not just the Jewish nation. The church has the task to continue the work of Jesus. This community of faith will always strive to continue to break the restrictions of culture and convention.
Like the deaf mute in today’s gospel, we too, are in need of God’s healing grace to hear and speak the saving word in the many divergent situations in our life. So often, in our lives, we are so self-absorbed that it limits our ability to listen and to be present to others in true dialogue. We fail to see that there are two sides to every situation if not six or seven possible solutions. We often suffer from a spiritual deafness. It is the source of much conflict in our personal, family, and communal lives and in the larger realities of all sorts. To be able to hear and to speak the word of God from a pure heart will always expand our horizons and make us instruments of God’s peace and God’s justice.
In the sacrament of Baptism, we ritualize this great gift of openness and communication with the rite of Ephphatha. This is where the minister makes the sign of the cross on the mouth and the ears and says, “The Lord Jesus made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God.”
We should see ourselves in the deaf mute. We are often locked into a world muted by a message of consumerism and privilege and exclusion. We need Jesus to free us from the domination of a culture that muffles the cry of the poor while it proclaims a message of self-indulgence with a seemingly interminable array of new products that will guarantee our contentment and expand our self-centeredness. We live in a world where our voice to proclaim the gospel is rendered mute by the noise of a culture that seeks always more comfort, more pampering and more security. Just like the mute and deaf character in our reading today, Jesus frees us to hear the liberating word of God and draws us out of isolation and into a saving community enriched by honest dialogue.
In our day, Jesus sets us free to enhance our relationships with truly human communication. This always involves a deeper ability to hear the other and an honesty to speak the truth no matter how painful. Jesus also sets us free for a life of service and witness to the good news of the gospel. This is only possible if we recognize the depth of our muteness and deafness when it comes to matters of the spirit. The first step for all of us is to accept that we need the healing power of Jesus to set us free.
All of Jesus’ actions were a movement toward human freedom from this deeply entrenched control of the demons. Today’s healing of the deaf mute would have been seen as an exorcism that set the victim free of the demonic bondage, a clear step towards total victory over all evil and darkness.
The man’s condition had left him in severe isolation. It is extremely difficult for us to imagine the destructive consequence of being unable to hear and unable to speak.
Jesus’ healing intervention is clearly part of the mission to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. (Mk 1:14-15) Jesus performs this miracle in a Gentile territory. This was another way he used to expand the horizons of his mission well beyond the limited vision of his followers. He was sowing the seeds of the shocking reality that salvation was for all people not just the Jewish nation. The church has the task to continue the work of Jesus. This community of faith will always strive to continue to break the restrictions of culture and convention.
Like the deaf mute in today’s gospel, we too, are in need of God’s healing grace to hear and speak the saving word in the many divergent situations in our life. So often, in our lives, we are so self-absorbed that it limits our ability to listen and to be present to others in true dialogue. We fail to see that there are two sides to every situation if not six or seven possible solutions. We often suffer from a spiritual deafness. It is the source of much conflict in our personal, family, and communal lives and in the larger realities of all sorts. To be able to hear and to speak the word of God from a pure heart will always expand our horizons and make us instruments of God’s peace and God’s justice.
In the sacrament of Baptism, we ritualize this great gift of openness and communication with the rite of Ephphatha. This is where the minister makes the sign of the cross on the mouth and the ears and says, “The Lord Jesus made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God.”
We should see ourselves in the deaf mute. We are often locked into a world muted by a message of consumerism and privilege and exclusion. We need Jesus to free us from the domination of a culture that muffles the cry of the poor while it proclaims a message of self-indulgence with a seemingly interminable array of new products that will guarantee our contentment and expand our self-centeredness. We live in a world where our voice to proclaim the gospel is rendered mute by the noise of a culture that seeks always more comfort, more pampering and more security. Just like the mute and deaf character in our reading today, Jesus frees us to hear the liberating word of God and draws us out of isolation and into a saving community enriched by honest dialogue.
In our day, Jesus sets us free to enhance our relationships with truly human communication. This always involves a deeper ability to hear the other and an honesty to speak the truth no matter how painful. Jesus also sets us free for a life of service and witness to the good news of the gospel. This is only possible if we recognize the depth of our muteness and deafness when it comes to matters of the spirit. The first step for all of us is to accept that we need the healing power of Jesus to set us free.
