Homily: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

     In todays Gospel passage there are several things that Mark is revealing to his readers. I would like to focus on two of them.

(1) JESUS HAS COME NOT JUST FOR THE JEWS BUT FOR THE GENTILES (all of Humanity) AS WELL. 

     

     If we look at a map we can see something strange about Jesus’ route described in the first verse we read. “Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee into the district of the Decapolis.” Now this would be like saying “He left Washington by way of New York to get to Atlanta.” Several commentators on this passage claim that Mark was simply confused. I personally think Mark knew exactly what he was writing and was using the geography to infer that Jesus was traveling completely through Gentile territory. He had turned His focus from the Jews, who had by and large rejected Him, to turn to the Gentiles. 

     When Jesus arrived, we can see that the Gentiles in this territory receive Jesus much more hospitably than the Jews had previously. Rather than asking Him to leave their territory, they bring Him those who are in need of healing because they have probably heard of his great works and recognize Him, not as a heretic or a blasphemer, but as a great worker of miracles. 

     Mark is emphasizing that the Gentiles are also to be heirs to the great blessings of God. The Greek term Mark chose to describe the “speech impediment” with which this man is afflicted is only ever used one other time in Sacred Scripture. It appears in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in the Book of Isaiah. “Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; Then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy.” This was in reference to the joy of the chosen people upon returning from the Babylonian Exhile. Now Mark is referring to the fact that the Gentiles will be called to join in this joy in the promised land of salvation. 

(2) JESUS WISHES TO HEAL EACH OF US AS INDIVIDUALS THROUGH A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP.

    

 Rather than heal the man in front of the crowd, we see Jesus pull him aside. The description of this healing miracle is probably one of the most physically specific in all the Gospels. Jesus physically touches the mans ears and spits on His finger and touches it to the man’s tongue. While we of course think that’s frankly gross, in Jesus’ day, saliva was believed to have great healing effects. The more important thing to recognize is that Jesus heals the man instantaneously and completely through His touch and His word. We hear that Jesus looked to heaven and groaned. He looked to His Father above and was groaning at the sadness of the broken human condition resulting from the plague of sin in the world. 

     After all this has taken place we hear the reaction of the crowd. Rather than urging Jesus to leave their territory driven by fear and and anger they simply proclaim: “He as done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” These people simply proclaimed the truth of what they had seen. In that lies a lesson for us. Do we have a personal relationship with our Lord? Do we allow him to heal our deafness and our silence? Our Lord Jesus desires to meet us, to know us, to journey with us, to love us. Simply put by St. John of the Cross:

     “In the first place it should be known that if anyone is seeking God, the Beloved is seeking that person much more.”