Coming down from the north-west outside Galilee, Jesus and His group crossed over to the eastern side of the Jordan River into the region of the Hellenistic league of 10 cities, the Decapolis. It was a purely pagan territory, and what Jesus did in opening a deaf man’s ears and also His lips tells us today vital truths about evangelization (Mark 7:31-37).
A deaf-mute
Jesus singled out a deaf man with a speech impediment from among the sick and the needy brought to Him by people. Taking the man aside, Jesus deliberately put His finger in the man’s ears and ostensibly touched his tongue with saliva. He groaned looking up to heaven, as with deep emotion He commanded the man: Ephphatha!—“Be opened!” The Aramaic word, like some sacred formula, was instantaneously effective; the man’s ears were opened and his speech difficulty removed. This somewhat disconcerting procedure (similar to the cure of the blind man in Bethsaida, Mark 8:22-26) invites us to a meditative reflection. The healing of this unknown deaf-mute appears to be a parable for the cure of another type of deafness and speech impediment.
It is an ancient usage in Christian baptism that one is commanded Ephphatha! Touched at the ears, then on the lips, the one reborn in the sacrament of new life is ordered “Be opened!” This ritual of opening the ears and the lips symbolizes the important consequence of being initiated into the life of communion with the Triune God that one is open to the Word of the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. The Christian is basically one open to divine communication and receptive of the life-giving Word. The Gospel of Jesus Christ as the Word of God is life, the two-edged sword that shapes the believer and gives substance to authentic Christian discipleship.
Evangelized and evangelizing
“The deaf hear and the mute speak”—that is what Jesus does, and the astonishing acts of God are proclaimed irrepressibly. Evangelized and reborn in God’s Word, the opened ears find completion in the opened lips that signify proclaiming in faith the good news of divine love and mercy, evangelizing others especially in the eloquent language of praise and thanksgiving. A life of dialogue now becomes the norm. This is what happens in our sacred liturgy. In the Eucharist particularly, the Liturgy of the Word formalizes to us God’s Word in the readings from Scripture and, as the community of the baptized, we are all ears to what God is saying to us. We borrow the words of the psalmist in the response of faith already to the initial reading.
But the interactive celebration of God’s Word in the liturgy reaches its high point in the homily that follows the biblical readings. We move deeper into the mystery of God’s Word by passing from mere external listening (naririnig) into internal assimilation (pinakikinggan). The meditative absorption of the divine message implies both personal appreciation and willful conformity. It is here that the Word becomes life. Through the skillful guidance of the homilist, the faithful should be moved to accede to and adopt the invitation and challenges of the God-who-speaks-and-is-listened-to. The really effective homily (alas, always sought but not always found) is the stage where the live wire of God’s Word is put into contact with the waiting line of our humanity and when sparks fly, and the current of life flows.
Alálaong bagá, the healing of the deaf-mute is an illustration of the mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ, who came to the world to enable us to hear God’s Word and to respond to it. The unlocking of the human ears to the saving Word of God goes hand in hand with the conversion of our hearts and the opening of our lips in a covenantal union with God. It means the transformation of our human existence into a dialogic relationship with the Creator. Its apex is attained in the grace of liturgical communion in the Eucharistic celebration. We do need, individually and as a nation, to be truly converted and open (nakikinig) to God’s Word. Ephphatha!
Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.