23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: Isaiah 35:4-7a
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
Reading II: James 2:1-5
Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
The curing of the deaf-mute is much more than a story about a person’s physical handicap. The pagan man could not hear the good news of Jesus much less proclaim it, because he was deaf and dumb. Jesus wants this man too to receive the message of God’s love and communicate it to others. It is not only the pagan man who was deaf-mute. Jesus addresses all of us and He says to us today, “Be open,” “Ephphatha.” Many of us live with the same handicap. We are deaf to the Word of God. We find it difficult to hear and listen to the cries of the poor and needy. Many of us are mute. We see so many deplorable things. We see the face of poverty and sufferings of countless people. Yet, we choose to keep quiet and remain indifferent to their plight. Our hearts have hardened.
Jesus took the deaf-mute man away from the crowd. It indicates Jesus’ sensitivity to the man’s feelings. He does not want him to be the center of attraction, the object of a show or the victim of embarrassment. There are many people who do not feel at ease in a crowd and become deaf-mute. They want to say something but clam up. We need sensitivity to make them open up. Like Jesus, we may have to take them aside for a private talk. Jesus came to teach that his kingdom is wide open to all people, that God’s love and mercy are for all.
Efren Tomas
In 2004, Father Efren arrived on Maui, Hawaii to be the Pastor of Christ The King Catholic Church in Kahului, Maui until 2012. He calls Christ The King his home because this was his first parish in Hawaii.
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