Jesus heals the deaf-mute man
It’s the 23rd Sunday in ordinary time and today’s gospel shifts from the three weeks of the Bread of Life Discourse and moves on to another title that we call our Lord Jesus Christ, as a healer of the sick, the deaf and the blind and the lame. You can read today’s Gospel from Mark 7:31-37.
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“31 Again, Jesus set out from the country of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. 32 And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue;
34 then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “be opened!”) 35 And (immediately) the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. 36 He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaim it. 37 They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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This Gospel passage on the healing of the deaf-mute is found only in the gospel of Mark, although the evangelist Matthew in Matt. 15:29-31 also mentions many cures of the sick and the lame, and the healing of a deaf man, however in Mark’s gospel, he writes of this story has if he was present during the healing of the deaf mute. So why may we ask did St. Mark give a special attention to the healing of the deaf mute by our Lord Jesus Christ?
First of all, our Lord was filled with compassion for the deaf mute simply because his physical impediment isolates him from the rest of society. Therefore being a deaf man, it is pointless for him to go to the synagogue to listen to the Torah or the Word of God. Secondly, St. Mark wanted to emphasize to the world that our Lord Jesus Christ was a healer. So when our Lord Jesus agreed to heal this man, he took him away from the crowd so he can heal this man without a crowd looking at his back or disturbing him.
For our own benefit, if we need healing from our Lord Jesus Christ, do not just pray to God to be healed. We too must go to the Blessed Sacrament and be alone with the Lord…away from life’s hustle and bustle and noise because we know that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present, his body, blood, soul and his divinity in the Blessed Sacrament because that is the place that is conducive to prayer and meditation. Call it a coincidence that I’m writing this article while I’m in four-day retreat in Mt. Makiling, Laguna, at the Opus Dei Conference Center and true enough, this place is conducive to prayer, meditation and spiritual reflection.
Then as we read in today’s gospel, our Lord Jesus put his finger on the man’s ears and used his spit and touched his tongue and uttered the words, “Ephphatha!” Then suddenly the man could hear and talk. His speech impediment was no more. Notice that our Lord Jesus used his saliva? Back in ancient times, people believed that saliva had medicinal properties.
In using his saliva, perhaps our Lord was trying to hide his divine power from the man he was about to cure and that it was his touching the deaf man’s ears that cured him. Remember after he cured the deaf mute, he ordered the now cured deaf man not to tell anyone about this miracle. But as the scripture said… the more our Lord Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone about his healing of the sick… the more people talked about it.
While the deaf mute was physically healed… there is a spiritual dimension to this story for our Lord Jesus Christ did not only heal the deaf mute, but he also healed him spiritually. We Catholics go to Holy Mass on Sundays… but sadly when the priest starts his homily, not everyone listens to his sermon. Some even go out of the church to chat with their friends. There are those people who may not leave the church when the priest begins his sermon, however the words of the priest do not touch their hearts… his words merely pass from the left ear and out to the right ear.
These are the people who are suffering from spiritual deafness! Mind you, I have friends who were Catholics before who unfortunately joined the Born Again groups and came back at us to tell us the we Catholics are wrong. When you explain to them about the fullness of the magisterium of the Catholic Church… they refuse to listen. When you ask them if their church was founded by God or by man, they just go away because they have become spiritually deaf. Mind you, it is better to be physically deaf because that deafness can still be cured and it doesn’t endanger your soul. But when you are spiritually deaf, you no longer listen to the words of God. Many of them only listen to the scripture they want to hear…but they shut down their ears when we teach them about the Holy Eucharist.
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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