INTRODUCTION
Our God is a God of restoration. The resounding prophesy of the healing of the blind, the deaf and the lame; the creation of running stream in the wilderness and pool of water in the desert are signs of God’s imminent intervention in the life and history of his people. Thus prophesied Isaiah in the first reading of today. This prophesy reached its definitive close in the person of Jesus. Mark did not hesitate to link his audience to the prophetic pronouncement of Isaiah when he presented Jesus’ miraculous intervention in the life of the deaf and mute as a concrete sign of the advent of the messianic era and a proof of the divinity of Christ.
Jesus heals all our deaf situations.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 35:4-7a
CONTEXT:
The chapter 35 of the prophesy of Isaiah is closely connected in context with the chapter 34. The later contains a description of the final terrible retribution to be melted by God upon the nations and against Edom in particular. At the time of the fall of Jerusalem, “the city of God” in 587 B.C. (period of Babylonian exile) the Edomites showed themselves particularly hostile to the kingdom of Judah and took advantage of the misfortunes of the people (NJB). The chapter 34 of Isaiah is full of pronouncements of the oracles of God’s fury over nations and in particular Edom (Is. 34:6-11). In contract to the sentence pronounced on Edom, the Lord announces the blessings in store for Jerusalem in today’s chapter 35. This chapter is by character, a forecast of the promises of the second Isaiah –the book of consolation of the people of God in exile; “console my people, console them, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and cry for her that her period of service (slavery) is over, that her guilt has been stoned for… (Is. 40:1-2).
The prophesy of Isaiah today resounds in the time of total ruin and devastation when the people were living under the grip of fear. Meanwhile, the corresponding message which serves as a therapy or antidote to this situation is; “be strong, fear not!” However, since the people had long endured oppression, the consoling language is; “behold, your God will come with vengeance and recompense.” This arrival will bring something more surprising. When he comes, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstoped, then the lame shall leap like the deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. Waters shall break in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (Is. 35:5-6). This prophetic message gives an assurance that the divine visitation is meant to transform every inability into ability, and every kind of lack will be turned into great miraculous abundance. The message blends with the expectations of those who are challenged by the conditions of life. They have every reason to rejoice in hope because the time of God’s visit will come with uncountable miraculous testimonies. Every paralysed nerves will be restored and will regain growth and be able to send and receive signals, and all disabled muscles will regain strength and life (Anathea-Portier-Young). But what are the restorations for? They are simply meant for celebration because the time of sorrow and mourning will soon be over. They are meant for gratuitous expression of joy in what God has done and will still do. Let us understand the power of this divine visitation. At his presence, those who could not walk will not just begin to walk but they will jump and leap for joy before their God. And to those those who have lost the power of speech will not only talk but they will sing and shout for joy. They will praise their God at the highest resonance of their voice.
The words of the prophet brings us to another phase of this divine visitation: “waters and streams will spring up in the desert such that burning sand will become a pool and the thirsty ground grow into a spring of water.” The Word “wilderness” spelt in Hebrew as midbar stands for different things in the life of the Israelites. It is a place of flight as well as a place of freedom (Gen. 16:21; Ex. 3:13). It is a place of serious scarcity of water (Ex. 15:17). It is a place considered to be populated by dangerous wild animals (Deut. 8:15). It is the least place to imagine the growth of crops (Ex. 14:13). Yet it is in it that the Lord carried his chosen people along, and where the people learnt to put their trust in their God because he did a lot of marvels before their eyes; providing food and water for them (Ex. 16:17).
(fr Anthony Kadavil).
At the heart of this prophesy lies the message of assurance of the imminent deliverance of Israel from the clutch of their enemies. He will open their eyes to see the marvels he is going to accomplish in their lives and loosen their ears to be able to hear the word shema Israel.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus will show the power of God to restore every impediment in the life of his people especially in his desire to open their spiritual ear to hear the life-giving word.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 146
In consonace with the message of Isaiah and Mark today, the psalmist intones the song to a God who restores the sight of the blind, who lifts up those who are pulled down to the earth and accomodates the strangers. It is a song of thanksgiving as well as invitation to rejoice in this God of Jacob that keeps his promises forever for the people whom he has chosen as his own.
SECOND READING: James 2: 1-5
James gives here a catechesis of moral principles to his community, challenging their sense of social justice. He criticizes the limitation that sometimes engulf the lives of the believers who are pronned to create a barrier and distinction among people as if some are more human that others. Knowing that the rich are already well placed in the society and are often given higher honour, St. James invites the Christians not to live in the manner of the world but to adopt God’s preferential option for the poor who suffer negligence in the society. For the poor man who is not recognized in the world may be rich in faith because he is aware of his dependence on God for everything.
GOSPEL: Mark 7:31-37
After the miracle of the multiplication of bread (Mk 6:33-44) and eventually the failure he met in his sermon about the ‘bread of life’, Jesus who has been abandonned by many of his disciples (Jn 6:66) turns his face today towards a pegan territory. This outrightly signals that Mark’s gospel was addressed to the Christian communities of Greco-Roman pegan background. And by consequence, he placed a lot of importance in the mission of Jesus who was open to the pegan world. Like the Gopel of last Sunday about the question of ‘defying the tradition of the elders’, we discover the ‘universal view’ of Jesus. He was not enclosed within the Jewish territory but was open to every land, every nation vis-a-vis his Church; katholikos which means diverse, open and universal.
With Mark we equally understand that Jesus cannot pass by without touching lives and changing situations. Today they brought to him a deaf and mute patient and begged him for a healing touch:
1. Jesus taking the sick man aside puts his fingers in his ears, and spitting out saliva, he touched his tongue:
All these gestures of Jesus are very significant. It is not by chance or for nothing that the evangelist used them. In taking him apart, Jesus wishes to differentiate himself from the magicians of the Hellenistic world who always performed to impress the public, just like the ministers of our time. Jesus distanced himself to avoid unnecessary show conscious that what he was about to accomplish is a transcendental and divine activity. The multitude whom he seperated himself from represents all kinds of distraction and all kinds of voice emanating from the world which has rendered this man spiritually deaf and unable to hear the voice of God. To hear the voice of God, we must move away from the echoe of the world. Jesus spoke the only language that every deaf and mute situation understands. The Word is Ephphatha.
2. Then with eyes lifted to heaven, he sighed:
This gesture indicates that it is a divine power that is about to operate. Is is not going to be an ordinary medical intervention. As regards the act of sighing, it does not suppose only an expression of compassion for the sick man, but also Jesus’ putting in of his whole self into what he was about to do calling on the Father for such a difficult task.
3. Ephphatha, that is to say “Be opened”:
This Aramaic word of Jesus was translated into Greek to mean “open”. This is necessary because Markan community does not understand Aramaic. By this word, “Ephphatha”, we must note that Jesus was not addressing to the sick organs (ears and tongue) but to the sick man himself. And the language should be; ‘you be opened’, or ‘open yourself’ to understand the voice of God himself who is standing before you today. You have been deaf and mute for quite a long time, and are far taken away from your God, but today, he stands before you to loosen you up to his voice so that from now, you will be able to praise him with your tongue.
4. His ears were opened; immediately his tongue was loosened and he spoke corrctly:
When the church uses this rite during baptism, it is in a symbolic manner showing that men have eyes but they do not see and ears but do not hear. Through baptism, man is brought to light through the power of exorcism. He is made capable to hesr the word of God and to communjcate it. ‘Blindness’, ‘deafness’, and ‘muteness’ are conditions of man before God. The man who lives in sin is blind to see the grandeur and the beauty of God whom he prefers to the worldly appearances and attractions. The man who lives in sin is deaf to the voice of God who continuously speak to him. He is unable to communicate (mute) the goodness of God because he does not hear or understand the language of the voice speaking to him.
5. He has done all things well: He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak:
These words of admiration should take us back to the first account of the book of Genesis on creation: “God saw what he has done; and it was very good!” (Gen. 1:31). Through Jesus and with Jesus, a new creation is about shooting out: a new man is created, a man of communication, a man who knows how to listen to God and how to speak to God and his brothers and sisters. What a God we serve in Jesus! His works command admiration. He does everything well.
LIFE MESSAGES
1. WE ARE MEANT TO BE INSTRUMENTS ON THE HAND OF JESUS TO HEAL THE DEAF AND MUTE OF OUR TIME:
There many poor and sick brethren littered here and there; like the these people who brought this man to Jesus today and begged him for healing, we need to take others to Jesus for encounter.
2. WE OURSELVES NEED HEALING FROM JESUS:
We need to receive a healing touch from Jesus. We need to allow Jesus to take us out from the noisy world with its distractions causing us to be spiritually deaf and mute. In time of despair, failure and suffering, we can be rendered deaf unable to hear the voice of God that keeps telling us it is well. We may even find it very hard to speak to God in prayer or to hear him speaking to us through the scriptures and his Church.
3. AT THE SCHOOL OF EPHPHATHA:
A) EPHPHATHA TO GOD
We must acknowledge that ‘ephphatha’ was most immediately addressed to the deaf man, but Jesus’ gaze was first fixed on heaven. It is a powerful and significant pointer to the ‘deaf humanity’ and that the only way out is to reconnect with God. However through this approach, Jesus petitioned his Father to open the heavens. It simply tells us that miracle cannot take place when the heaven is shut. Heaven must undergo “ephphatha’ for us to receive divine favour. Jesus’ coming to the world is principally to open heaven which was
shut as a result of the disobedience of man, so that through his obedience, man can now have access to God (Rm 5:19). He never ceases to look up to heaven for you, for me, and for all of us with deep sigh in his heart because of his compassion on our ‘deaf’ human condition, our suffering and challenges of all forms and degrees. The heaven cannot remain shut over our problems; our God is never indifferent to our situations. For the sake of Jesus whose blood pleads more insistently than that of Abel (Heb 12:24), he will surely let heaven loose to rain down showers of blessing (Ezk 34:26).Therefore when you feel that you are wounded, isolated, ill-treated by the world around you, turn to Jesus whose duty it is to look up to heaven on your behalf. He is a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering (Is 53:3). He knows how it feels to suffer. So he understands whatever you are passing through. Therefore through him and for your sake the heaven must open.
B) EPHPHATHA AS OPENESS TO GOD AND TO THE WORLD
The message of ephphatha should spur us to ask ourselves some fundamental questions such as:
1. What is it that has blocked our spiritual ear?
2. What exactly has stiffened our tongue thus making it impossible for us to speak the language of faith and love?
3. Whom have we been listening to?
4. What is that voice that has kept us away from hearing the voice of God? Could it be
the voice of power, material affluence or some other voices that speak continuously to
our ears and in a quick pace that prevent us from hearing the voice of God?
We must know that these voices can serve as veils that cover the deepest core of our persons which is the heart.
When the heart of man is veiled by sin then his ear shuts automatically from hearing God. But we cannot continue to give way to the things that deceive us not to hear God. If ephphatha is all about openness, then Jesus is ready and always available to fix
that which has gone deaf in our lives. Hence, all of us need ‘ephphatha.’ Jesus needs to take us aside where we will be alone with him in order to speak the language we will understand. And that is a call for us to open up to God so as to hear his word. It is equally a call for us to open the ears of the people of our time by means of evangelization.
By saying ephphatha to the sick man, Jesus simply meant;‘You cannot remain deaf, cut off from your God and from your brothers and sisters. Therefore ‘be opened’ and be complete again! This suggests that we are less human when we live a life that is cut off from God and from others; when we pay deaf ear to the voice of God, and when we remain indifferent in the face of the suffering of others marked by sin, disease, poverty, anguish and all forms of
difficulties.
Thus we need healing as much as our brothers and sisters need it. We need to be open to the operational actions of Jesus who is ready to dispose our ears to God and to deafen the voice of the world that has often cut us off from our God.We cannot remain comfortable with our deafness. Jesus is ready to pronounce “ephphatha” to our hearing today so as to introduce our hearts into the sacred space metanoia.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, we have often gone far away from You and from where You want us to be. We have often longed to gain the fulfillment that this life offers, but the more we desire it, the more we discover that we are empty without You. We come to You today not because we have ceased to be what we are but because we know that only You can make us to be the best of us. Please we need to hear You repeat the healing Ephphatha , the only language that deaf situations hear, so that we may be drawn to You and to your operational power of change in that sacred space of personal encounter with You, Who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, Eternal Trinity, forever and ever.
PAX VOBIS!
