Isa 35:4-7; Ps146; Jam 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37
Spiritual Deaf and mute
Dear friends, today is the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have 11 more Sundays until the end of this season, during which Jesus is teaching us different life lessons about the Kingdom of God. Though today is the feast of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sunday celebration takes preference. The first reading and the Gospel reading discuss the blind and the deaf, while St. James discusses double standards.
In many cases, people who are deaf are also dumb because we learn how to speak by listening to others as we grow up. By healing the deaf and mute person, Jesus is teaching us a spiritual lesson. There is more to this miracle than just physical deafness and dumbness. When we were baptized our ears and lips were touched by the priest who proclaimed ephphatha “be opened”. By our baptism, we are made children of God and sent to continue the mission of Jesus in the world. To be able to do so, we need first to know who Jesus is by listening to him. If we have not encountered Christ or heard about him, we cannot speak to others about him. Spiritual deafness makes us unable to listen to the Word of God while spiritual dumbness makes us unable to speak about Jesus.
In Lk 4:18-19, Jesus told the people in the synagogue that the Father had sent him to redeem us from spiritual deafness, muteness, blindness, slavery, imprisonment, and other forms of slavery. When we listen to the Word of God and partake of the Sacraments we are healed from our spiritual and moral deafness and muteness. On one hand, many people are suffering today because of the deafness of those in authority. On the other hand, many more continue to suffer because of our muteness. How many times we have refused to speak against evil because we do not want to be involved?
Such vices as corruption, discrimination, and all forms of abuse continue to thrive in our society because the so-called “good people” do not want to bother themselves. Some will miss heaven for perpetrating evil but many more will miss it for remaining mute about the evil around them. In my mission, small children are being married out (sold out for cows) to old men while everyone in the small Christian communities knows it or even participates. Many of us are journalists when it comes to gossip but mute when we are supposed to speak against evil. How many times have you spoken against evil in your family, community, or in your place of work? How often have you participated in gossip based on jealousy about family members, neighbors, or colleagues?
Every fruit tree is known for the taste of its fruits, and we are what our senses consume. The things we are exposed to as we grow up contribute a lot to the formation of our character. We reproduce what is inside them. Corruption, discrimination, greed, selfishness, division, and all forms of crimes and vices are things that we learn from the world. However, kindness, generosity, honesty, love, and forgiveness are the values of the Kingdom that we learn by listening to Jesus.
St. James today is warning us against using double standards in dealing with people. We are attracted by physical looks and material reaches and blind to the inner character and richness of the people around us. Material richness tends to lead us away from God. When we die remember, the biggest gift our riches can buy us is the coffin but the people we dismissed because they are poor will dig our grave for us for free.
Dear friends, Jesus wants to heal us of our deafness and muteness, but we need to approach him and let him touch our ears and mouths. The best gift you can give to someone is to introduce him or her to Jesus and let him or her learn from him. Let us stop ruining others’ lives by introducing them to witches and greedy self-proclaimed prophets and miracle workers.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 