Be
Open!
March 4 with Celebration of Our Lord’s Supper
(Three part series on healing in the Gospel of Mark)
Scripture: Psalm 22: 23-31read responsively and Mark
7:31-37
INTRODUCTION
TO SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm
22 is categorized as an individual lament, in which the psalm singer cries out
to God for deliverance from some life-threatening situation. Jesus cried out
its opening line from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Our lectionary reading for today is may be less familiar as it speaks with
praise that all people can come to God for assurance and deliverance.
Psalm
22: 23-31 read responsively
23
You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
31and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.
Mark 7:31-37
Returning to the stories of healing in Mark, Jesus heals both hearing and speech. Once again it is friends who bring the man to Jesus’ attention and care. Jesus uses an Aramaic word that means to be open. Where in our lives to we need Jesus to open us to hear and speak Good News?
Then
he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea
of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who
had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He
took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his
ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed
and said to him, “Ephphatha,”[1] that
is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released,
and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he
ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond
measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear
and the mute to speak.”
In Father Gerry Pierse’s commentary on this healing story he recalls a man who was healed after years of being deaf and even losing his ability to speak. “At first I talked and talked - I needed to release what was bottled up inside me. I would try to talking with everyone I met. Then I realized that I was over-talking. I was not listening and I was hurting people by inflicting myself on them. I started trying to listen; to do this I had to stop talking and open not only my ears but also my heart. Then I discovered that most hearing people are deaf. I learned too that most people had speech impediments - we can never communicate exactly what we want to say. The greatest tragedy is not to be deaf and dumb but it is to have these faculties and never REALLY use them to listen below the surface of things."[2]
As
with many of the healing stories when Jesus cures the deaf and dumb man, he
warns the man not to tell others because Jesus was interested in promoting a
deeper kind of healing. Jesus wanted people to come to the wholeness found in
the Kingdom of God. It seems to be in
our nature to look for sensational phenomena, like the curing of the physically
deaf, and fail to appreciate or recognize relational and spiritual deafness
from which we all suffer. To me this
photo by Andy Hooper is an amazing example of deep healing. It speaks to the wholeness of spirit. It is what Jesus wants for all of us. The command Jesus makes to the deaf man’s
disability is to be open. Being deaf,
being closed to God’s grace keeps us form sharing the Good News
We
come to this table broken in body, mind and spirit. Jesus’ sacrifice opens us to the amazing
possibilities when we love first, we risk running when we have no feet. I would change the title of this picture from,
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” To
“The only disability in life is a closed heart and mind.” May you see in the broken body of Christ a
healing for the whole world. May you see
in His blood shed for our sins, a new relationship with God and one
another.
Henri
Nouwen writes about visiting his friend Trevor who was a handicapped member of
the Daybreak Community. Trevor was being
evaluated at a hospital. When Henri
called to make arrangements to come visit his friend, the chaplain wanted Henri
to meet with local clergy and leaders of the community. Henri agreed but when he arrived at the
hospital his friend Trevor was nowhere to be found. Upon inquiring Henri was told that he could
see Trevor after the rather exclusive lunch that had been planned. As you can imagine Henri Nouwen would have none
of it and insisted that if he was eating with them so was his friend,
Trevor. So Trevor joined his friend
Henri and the gathered notables. Just as the lunch begins, Trevor stands and
lifts his glass saying, “Ladies and gentlemen… a toast!” Henri watched the discomfort ripple through
the room and then Trevor began to sing:
If you’re happy and you
know it, lift your glass!
If you’re happy and you
know it, lift your glass!
Soon
everyone was standing and singing loudly under Trevor’s direction and the mood
in the room drastically changed from a gathering of strangers to a place of
welcome, open to the other.[3]
Jesus
says, “Be open!” This is more than a
command to heal a deaf man. It is a
command to heal our hearts and our minds.
Be open to all that God has created us together to be. Amen.
[1] (begins
with the name of the letter f:
ef-fä-thä)
[2] http://www.bibleclaret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleB/B_23rdSunOT.htm
[3]
Henri J.M. Nouwen, Can You Drink The Cup?
Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 1996 p.63ff
found the Andy Hooper picture on facebook but you can learn more about this great sports photographer from http://www.andyhooper.co.uk/Profile.html
