TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR B
The Gospels do not simply tell us stories of people who lived thousands of years ago; they tell us our story, and today’s Gospel is no different. We encounter a deaf man with a speech impediment living in a pagan land; this man represents each of us.
The text says that Jesus went into the Decapolis region. This was an area of 10 Gentile (pagan) cities. While there were some believers living there, most did not believe. For us who live in the West, this atmosphere of unbelief describes our culture, too. Notice that Jesus does not hesitate to engage with the unbelieving culture in his time, and neither should we.
A man who is deaf and has a speech impediment is brought to Jesus. In our time, in the midst of an increasingly unbelieving culture, many people have become deaf to God’s truth; and because of that kind of deafness, many are silent in the face of sin and unbelief. Many people were never properly catechized. Some of our deafness, however, is acquired, for though spiritual ears were opened at baptism, many haven’t listened. And Jesus wants to change that.
Jesus takes the man away alone to heal him, apart from the crowd. Let’s examine several aspects of this healing.
- He ministers to the man in a way that respects his dignity. The healing is also personal.
- There are images at work here. There are the fingers in the ears, as if Jesus is placing his words in the man’s ears, opening them to God’s word. He touched the man’s tongue. It’s as if to signify, “from his mouth to yours.” Jesus puts his own words into our mouths, too.
- The text says that when the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was loosed, “He spoke plainly.” The Greek word used here is orthos, meaning straight, without deviation, true or correct. It is the root from which we get the English word “orthodoxy.”
The text also reports, “Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it, ‘He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’”
The Lord has healed a man so that he can hear and can speak the word clearly and then tells him to be quiet. Scholars may differ on the interpretation, but I believe that the Lord is being intentionally ironic and “tongue in cheek” when he says, most likely while smiling, “Not a word to anyone now!”
https://www.ncregister.com/features/how-the-lord-heals-the-deaf-man-and-us
Picture: “Christ Healing a Deaf and Mute Man,” Domenico Maggiotto (1713-1794). Public Domain.
