Today's gospel has as its theme "Be Opened!" Eph-pha-tha.  On the surface of this miracle story is how a deaf and speechless man came to hear and speak at the hands of Jesus, the miracle worker.

The obvious purpose of Mark's handling of this story is to demonstrate that indeed Jesus was the Holy One, the Messiah, for it was believed that this demonstration of power was so profound that a mere human could never have 'brought it off.'  However, there is much more to this and other miracle stories than the  "miracles prove divinity" formula.

If we continue to read these stories as we did some years ago, we would never look more deeply than the primary level, since we were taught that the function of these miracles was to prove Jesus' divinity.  I looked at the Catholic Encyclopedia published between 1910 and 1915 and there is really no mention about deeper or other levels the miracle gospels than this proof of divinity theme. 

BUT thanks to all the work scripture scholarship have done on for these issues during the last 50 or more years, we can now understand the richness and depth of all the stories, and delve beneath the surface to find an eye-opening lesson for ourselves.

For most any of the incidents in this gospel story, a parallel manifestation lives in our own lives if we can listen closely and clearly enough.  For Example, when we read that this deaf and speechless man could not go to Jesus on his own, there is a parallel in our own lives.  We were taken to baptism by our parents, and in some instances we were 'taken' (in quotes) by our  spiritual god parents.  That doesn't mean we relax and wait for others to do that, except as infants, but that once we are older WE have to make our way to the baptismal font on our own.

We have to face our own faith questions; we have to decide to turn toward the path of this man who was God becoming human, if not as children then surely as adults.

I can't possibly cover all the points in the gospel, but let me give you a few examples of what I mean.

The man was 'brought' to Jesus--an act of love and compassion. That whole subject, love and compassion, runs through this story. The deaf and  would never of his own volition have appeared in the company of Jesus and his friends. What does this mean to us personally?  We were 'taken' to Jesus in Baptism, and then sometime later in life we either did or did not consciously make a decision to travel with Jesus.  In my life, and surely in yours too, there have been many other persons who accompanied us, perhaps even shoved us a bit.  Some of them are right here in this room.  The story of this miracle brings us face to face with whether WE, ourselves, will accept Jesus' gentle hand on our own ears, and hear him say "Ephphtha."To accept the invitation to "be opened" would surely disturb our comfortable lives.

Why didn't the deaf man simply  walk into Jesus' camp and say Jesus heal me? Well, since he cannot speak he could hardly do that, and since he has been a recluse, a  marginalized  person, he does not have the sense of well-being to show himself in such a public way.  He is, in that moment, our example.  We know how many times in our own
lives we have backed away from a life-changing truth, or lost our courage as we were supposed to go forward to a difficult challenge.


When Jesus puts his  fingers into the man's ears we could read that as saying Jesus stopped up the ears with Himself in order to open them to the world at large with Him as our companion.

Another example lies in the very words "Be Opened." when Jesus charges the senses of hearing and speech in the man, Jesus is speaking of far more than the senses.   Jesus is addressing the whole man . . . open up your whole life is what Jesus is saying.  Thus we too are being challenged to open our lives.  Sigmund Freud, the great
psychiatrist, an unusual person not formerly referred to as authority in a place like this, says that 9/10ths of our life is closed down; we live on 1/10th of the power we really have.

If I go through this, and other NT stories, parables, etc., I will always be able to find these two levels----the literal one (the story on the surface) and the figurative or symbolic and deeper meaning, the one that blows me over!

Now the former deaf mute can hear and speak, which must have been a dazzling experience for the man.

What effect does that have on the man? Clearly he is filled with new hope, and clearly he is now returned to the community from whom he had been separated for so long.  He is singing and shouting out his story. I can imagine I might be the same, if I were him.

What experience do we have that compares with this?  Have you ever truly rejoiced and been so thankful that you just couldn't be quiet about the great blessing you have received??

In our first reading today, we have already read about this. Looking at that first reading for today, we find: "Be strong, fear not!" And Isaiah goes on to give us the great promise that God will come and save us. AND Isaiah tells us we will know when that time comes because, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped."

The people who saw this miracle in our gospel story KNEW the Isaiah reading, many of them by heart! THEY were seeing the proof of Isaiah's prophecy before their very eyes.

Friends, I believe we see proof of God's love for us, proof promises being kept, every day of our lives, still.  I believe we have the ability to have our OWN ears opened, and that the life we are invited to live as the People of God, as Jesus' representatives on this earth, will, in fact, be made possible by this merciful God who keeps the promises.

I believe that part of our purpose as a community is to BRING EACH OTHER face to face with the One who has the power to change us for the better.  I pray for the courage to be an example of that for you, and I pray that we will take one another by the hand and lead us where we need to be,

Throughout His ministry, Jesus violated many of their oral laws. He mixed freely with tax collectors and sinners which made him ceremoniously unclean. He shared meals with Gentiles and social outcasts, He broke the Sabbath by healing people and He and his disciples ate with defiled or unwashed hands. In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was guilty of law breaking and blasphemy. He, Jesus, could not possibly be an advocate for God and the Torah .

Have any of you been in the Pharisaic camp? Have any of you placed more emphasis on the rule than the Spirit? I have!!! Eating meat on Friday was a serious sin, not unlike murder, and saving the soul required a trip to the confessional. Such a Pharisee type law would have Jesus, I believe, saying something like this: "Next Friday prepare your hamburger, but also prepare one dozen more, take them to the St. Francis Dining Hall, and there, share your meal with the hungry. Even today, certain fundamentalist Christian groups proclaim salvation to be attainable ONLY through their particular brand of Christianity, and I remember a time in my earlier years when my church insisted anyone outside of the Catholic faith was probably doomed. I did not disagree---if it was a church law and proclamation, it must be true! Sounds like a Pharisee does it not? Jesus would undoubtedly say to these exclusionists, the Father's love and care embrace both Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner, go, be as ONE, united with God.

All of the Good News, the entire content of New Testament scripture, no matter how diverse and unreal many of the stories about Jesus seem to be, the distilled essence of the message is simply this, Jesus is COMPASSION.!!

In all of the virtues of Compassion---- caring, love, empathy, justice, equality, we see Jesus above and beyond all else!!!! The primary challenge of our Christian life is in the attempt to emulate this compassionate Jesus. He is our direction to the Kingdom of God...