TWENTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
6 SEPTEMBER 2015
Jesus
has great compassion for this man. The
poor guy has no sound, no voice, and no hope.
There was always something missing in his life. He could never enter into conversation. As a child, other kids probably made fun of
him. As an adult, those who knew him
probably are embarrassed for him or because of him. He is like a stroke victim whose voice has been
affected. He is in his right mind, but
is paralyzed in expressing any of his thoughts.
Saint Mark
does not record this miracle so that we can marvel at a first century Helen
Keller, as wonderful as coming to hear and speak might be. Mark records this miracle for a spiritual
reason. Last Sunday, Jesus confronted
the religious leaders of his own people to go beyond external observances and
look into people’s hearts. Today, Jesus
goes to the Decapolis, the ten cities in pagan territory. He signals that the Kingdom of God is meant
for everyone who is willing to listen.
That is why he heals a man who cannot hear. Jesus takes the man off by himself, away from
the clamor of many voices. He becomes
very physical with the man, acting like many of his contemporary healers. He puts his finger into the man’s ears,
spits, touches his tongue, groans, looks up to heaven, and uses a word which
means “be opened.” Then he orders the
people not tell anyone. Jesus wants this
parable of action to speak for itself.
This parable
of action is addressed to us. The Word
of God has great power. God’s Word
brought creation into existence. God
spoke his word to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to form a Chosen People. God continued to speak through prophets like
Isaiah, who assured his people that God would never abandon them, even when
they refused to listen to his word. Now,
the Incarnate Word of God speaks to us.
We live in a world filled with many competing voices screaming at us day
and night. The confusing crowd of voices
tells us that we can be happy if we own certain objects, or if we exclude this
particular group of people, or countless other messages that promise
happiness. Jesus has taken us away from
the crowd into this church. Away from
the crowd, he is very physical with us.
He speaks to us in the Word. He
feeds us with his Body and Blood. He touches
us through the Sacramental life of the Church.
He opens our ears and speaks his Word to us, inviting us to listen and
reflect on his words.
Once we can
hear the Lord speaking to us, then we can begin to speak. We often hear of the “New Evangelization,” a
phrase used by the last three Popes. As
Catholics, we scratch our heads and ask what this means for us. The “new” involves modern methods of
communicating, especially those methods which are available through so much of
social media. To evangelize is not new. Once our ears have been opened to hear the
authentic Word of God, then we can speak the truth of our experience of God. We
can speak of the word received from the Letter of Saint James that wealth and
social status have nothing to do with the way God looks at people. In hearing that Word, we are invited to act
on it. We evangelize not only by sharing
our gifts with the poor, but also by welcoming them into our midst.
During the
fall, we are offering a number of opportunities to open our ears to hear a
little more clearly. We are offering two
different series on marriage. There will
be a series on the Pope’s recent Encyclical on the Environment. Take a look at the bulletin and the website
for Bible Study sessions, RCIA, and other Adult Education opportunities. They are designed to draw us away from the
crowd, open our ears more attentively to God’s voice, and help us to speak of
what we hear, especially to family members, friends, and neighbors. At every Baptism, we touch the baby’s ears
and mouth and say, “Ephphatha,” be opened.
We can open our ears to hear God’s Word, and then accept his grace to
loudly proclaim it in a number of creative ways.
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