Homily
for September 10, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
Nth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Joshua Nyoni Topic:
Opening our Ears and Speech to Christ
+ + +
Gospel
Gospel Mk 7:31-37 Again, Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by
way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and
begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from
the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched
his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”- that is, “Be opened!” -- And immediately the man’s ears
were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not
to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and
they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the
mute speak.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The letter of James today gives us, I would say, a challenge to be
impartial in the manner in which we have dealings with each other.
James says that in all circumstances, we must render the same honor to
the poor as we do to others. Partiality, I would say, betrays our faith
in the God that we believe in because God does not treat human beings
differently when he calls us to salvation. By being impartial in our
mode of behavior, we are in fact, imitating God himself.
This reminds me of Peter, a Jew, and our first Pope. He was given proof
of this when God told him in a dream to go to Cornelius’ house, a
centurion, a pagan [Acts 10:32]. Peter knew that by entering Cornelius’
house, that in itself would make him unclean, impure. But that was what
was demanded of him. Nevertheless, faith in Jesus Christ demanded that
Peter be able to do that, and do exactly that, breaking the barrier of
division.
When we behave with partiality towards others, we must know that we are
being molded by the standards of this world. We have not yet set
ourselves apart to think in the manner in which God thinks the manner
in which God will do things. We have not yet been raised to the mindset
of God. That is where the challenge is. We need to raise ourselves to
that perspective in which God would look at things.
When we come to the encounter between Jesus and the deaf-mute person,
the Gospel captures the entire relationship between God on the one hand
and the human family on the other. Jesus embodies God’s serving power,
reaching down to us. The deaf-mute person embodies the human need, the
human cry, the continuous human cry for help and assistance. Jesus’
miracle of curing the deaf-mute man is a sign of salvation, of God’s
divine life breaking in on human life. It demonstrates how God deeply
cares for our physical ailings. Not only that, Jesus’ cure of the man’s
physical ailments was a sign of the spiritual healing he wants to give
to each one of us. We therefore, need to open ourselves, to open our
hearts to him. Like the deaf-mute man who was healed, we need to go to
Jesus and receive him in Holy Communion and in doing that, he can cure
both our physical and spiritual ailments. Jesus can open our
spiritually deaf ears so that we can hear his good news. He can also
open our spiritually deaf tongues so that we can proclaim this good
news that we listen to. God saw in the deaf-mute man and he continues
to see all the human cries: the hungry, the marginalized, the homeless
and the needy. When God saw that in the deaf-mute man, He responded and
He gave his response through Jesus, he cured the man.
We should pray today that when we see the human cry, the needy, we
should be more open to do something to help, to respond. If that spirit
comes into you, moves you into doing something, allow the spirit to do
so, don’t object to it. It is the spirit of God.
I would like to conclude with this little prayer:
Lord, touch
our ears and open them that we may hear your message in a new way.
Touch our tongues and loosen them that we may share this message with
others. Touch and open our eyes that we may see you present in others.
Touch our hearts that we may let you use them to transform our
World. Amen.