BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 41)
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
BIBLE READINGS
Is 35:4-7a // Jas 2:1-5 // Mk 7:31-37
In the middle of our 30-day Ignatian retreat held in 1999 in Baguio, a scenic mountain city in the Philippines, our spiritual directress gave us a break. The retreatants went to the Ecological Sanctuary run by the Maryknoll Sisters for a “Cosmic Journey” tour. After the fascinating tour that brought us to contemplate the various stages of cosmic history, we were entertained by about a dozen extremely gifted deaf-mute students of the adjacent “Deaf Centrum”. The boys danced with precision to the rhythmic beat of the drums and other ethnic musical instruments. At the end of their beautiful presentation, the deaf-mute performers tried to sound off their names. I was very much impressed by the expertise of the teachers who patiently taught them to communicate through sign language and other means of expression. Above all, they trained them to speak, or at least, to produce sounds that approximated human speech. We were full of admiration for what the Maryknoll Sisters and the staff of the “Deaf Centrum” had done for the healing and wholeness of the deaf and mute children in Baguio City. This sense of admiration for a job well done is very much palpable in this Sunday’s Gospel reading concerning Jesus’ miracle of the healing of a deaf man with a speech difficulty in the Decapolis region (cf. Mk 7:31-37).
The evangelist Mark situates the healing episode of the deaf man in the context of Jesus’ journeys outside Galilee. According to the Marcan account: “Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis” (Mk 7:31). This roundabout route of Jesus and his travels through largely Gentile territory may have been intended by Mark as an anticipation of the Church’s mission to the Gentiles. After chastising the Pharisees and scribes for their rigorous legalism that prevented them from listening to the voice of the Spirit and truly obeying God’s commands (cf. Mk 7:1-23), Jesus went to the Gentile territory of Tyre where he heeded the cry of a distraught woman, a Syrophoenician by birth (cf. Mk 7:23-30). The pagan woman begged for the healing of her daughter and fended off Jesus’ restriction for the Jewish ministry by retorting: “Even the pups under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mk 7:28). Against this backdrop, the cure of the deaf man in the district of the Decapolis underlines the reality that the growth of the kingdom of God beyond the local confines of Galilee is inexorable and its expansion inevitable.
Jesus’ healing ministry facilitated and enhanced the growth of God’s kingdom. In this Sunday’s narrative, we hear that the people brought him a deaf man with a speech impediment that he may lay his healing hand on him. Jesus obliged with compassion by taking the deaf-mute aside from the crowd privately, putting his fingers into the man’s ears and touching his tongue with saliva. Looking up to heaven in a gesture that shows Jesus’ intimacy with God, he breathed out a sigh, a sign of his deep emotion over the man’s pitiful condition. Then he uttered a powerful, most efficacious word, “Ephphatha!” (“Be opened!”). The word that Jesus spoke and the gestures that he accomplished were “sacramental” in that they effected what they symbolized: the opening of the deaf man’s ears and the loosening of his tongue.
The dramatic effect of the miraculous cure of the deaf man: “And immediately the man’s ears were opened, the speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly” (Mk 7:35) can be understood better against the backdrop of the prophetic text: “You had never heard, you did not know, I had not opened your ear beforehand; for I knew how treacherous you were, and that you have deserved the name of rebel from your birth” (Is 48:8). In their obstinacy and pursuit of idols, Israel did not listen to the voice of the Lord. They had been so deaf to their God’s voice that, finally, they did not even know how to say God’s name. But there was always the promise of healing and restoration. The prophet Ezekiel utters a prophecy of healing: “Your mouth shall be opened, and you shall speak and shall no longer be dumb” (Ez 24:27). Moreover, the prophet Isaiah speaks of a vision of a world to come – a world of beauty and freshness, of salvation and transformation – in one of the most evocative passages in the Bible. His astounding prophecy included the promise of wholeness and healing: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared, then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing” (Is 35:5-6).
Jesus’ cure of the deaf and speech-impaired man in the Decapolis region indicates that the messianic times have come and has a vital implication even for the people of today. Harold Buetow remarks: “All those who up to the present have been deaf, can now hear his word, confess that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, and go into the world to proclaim the good news, in their turn, and sing his praises.” That healing miracle becomes a sign of new times, of radical salvation and wholeness, and of the dynamic eruption of God’s kingdom into our lives. Indeed, together with the Decapolis’ inhabitants who have witnessed the miraculous cure, we exclaim with wonder and with joy about Jesus: “He has done all things well” (Mk 7:37).
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: We have been deaf to the Word of the Lord; we have not followed his saving will.
Assembly: Jesus, healer of body and soul, with your “Ephphatha!” let our ears be opened. Help us to listen to the power and the challenge of the Gospel. Help us listen to the cry of the poor.
Leader: We have not proclaimed the saving power of the Gospel; our tongues have cleaved to our mouth and could not speak the word of love and healing.
Assembly: Jesus, healer of body and soul, touch our lips and speak your “Ephphatha!” that we may sing for you and declare your praise. May we learn to speak your healing words of love and forgiveness.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mk 7:37)
Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM