Genesis 3: 1-8,
Psalm 32:1-2.5.6.7,
Mark 7:31-37 Full Readings
Jesus Unbinds from Sin and Heals Us
Brethren, how did Sin enter into the World? Every culture worth the name has a story of human failure. A little reflection and a little self-knowledge leaves us in no doubt about ourselves. The biblical story in the first reading today tells us how sin entered into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, as they ate the forbidden fruit. In a real sense, What is this sin? Obviously it is tampering with Conscience, but perhaps more specifically pride, the idea that I can make my own rules. The sin of Adam and Eve was the one of pride, trying to be like God, who created human beings and the whole universe in a particular way, each creature with its own God-given rhythms and inter-relationships.
Whenever I overrule conscience it is an act of pride: ‘I know better! I can decide for myself what is good and what is evil.’ Some have thought the sin of Adam and Eve is sexual, for the snake is often a phallic symbol. The immediate rush for loin-cloths might have the same symbolism, but might also be wider, representing simply the awareness of loss of innocence. The tragedy is the loss of innocence after realizing that they have sinned against God.
This story had an important message for us; It is an analysis of things as they are now, as I see in myself. Not so much the loss of innocence as the absence of innocence in all that we do.
When sin entered into the world, God promised a saviour, Jesus whom we see forgiving sins and healing everyone who came to him, both Jews and Gentiles. Today in the gospel, he heals the blind and dumb man.
He goes to the Decapolis, meaning ‘ten cities’ where he met a deaf and mute man. The people asked Jesus to ‘lay his hand upon him’, that is the traditional way of invoking the power of God. Jesus, nonetheless, took the man aside, “put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle, then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, ‘Be opened’. The dumb man’s ears were opened and his tongue was loosened and he began to speak clearly. Joyously, the people spread the news, even when Jesus forbade them. The fact is that it is difficult to withhold good news. And the lesson is that we cannot stereotype God. His ways are not our ways.
Jesus’ activity as he goes around ‘doing all things well’ is the coming of God into the world, the Day of the Lord when the tongues of the dumb will sing for joy. Jesus is the sacrament of God, a promise of God to heal and forgive sins brought into the world by disobedience of one man. In him God is active in the world, bringing peace, healing and joy. In him people met and experienced God. His gestures of putting his fingers into the man’s ears and touching his tongue with spittle are affectionate ways of showing that God is physically at work in him. In a modern hygiene-conscious world such gestures might be frowned upon. But if we are truly acting as the members of Christ’s body in the world we cannot hold back, and from time to time will be involved physically and totally in helping others. We too can bring Christ’s healing in countless simple, but often costly and courageous, ways.
What is the significance of Jesus putting his fingers into the man's ears? Gregory the Great, a church father from the 6th century, comments on this miracle: "The Spirit is called the finger of God. When the Lord puts his fingers into the ears of the deaf mute, he was opening the soul of man to faith through the gifts of the Holy Spirit." The Lord treats each of us with kindness and compassion and he calls us to treat one another in like manner. The Holy Spirit who dwells within us enables us to love as Jesus loves. Do you show kindness and compassion to your neighbors and do you treat them with considerateness as Jesus did?
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and inflame my heart with love and compassion. Make me attentive to the needs of others that I may show them kindness and care. Make me an instrument of your mercy and peace that I may help others find healing and wholeness in you. Amen
Be blessed
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