The radical message of the first reading presents God as a vengeful being:
“Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you” (Isaiah 35:4)
While this notion may not be displeasing to everyone, it remains a curious one… Does God exact his vengeance by repaying evil with evil? Is it a case of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” as the law of retaliation suggests?..
Quite the opposite, this overly human view of vengeance does not align with the concept of divine retribution. On a completely different level, divine retribution consists of giving a second chance and repaying good for evil, making “springs gush forth in the desert”, causing “the lame to leap”, “the deaf to hear”, and “the mute to sing” as Isaiah describes (cf. Isaiah 35:5-6).
Thus, God’s retribution pays special attention to the poor of all kinds: the sick, the infirm, the needy, the homeless, the despised, and the rejected.
As the Gospel of this Sunday attests, Jesus fully enacts God’s retribution. Through simple gestures, by speaking just two words, “Be opened!” (Mark 7:34), he heals a deaf-mute.
Spoken two thousand years ago, this word “Ephphatha!” still resounds today, and God’s retribution continues to apply to us.
Who among us is without poverty? In what ways are we not all poor? Who, in one way or another, is not deaf and mute? We all experience illness, infirmity, difficulties in life, and ultimately the greatest evil: our own sin.
Knowing our hearts and their weaknesses, Christ repeats to us, “Ephphatha! Be opened!” To heal our souls, he offers us his Word of life and the Eucharist every day. Bread that nourishes, mercy that lifts us up, Christ strengthens both our bodies and souls through his sacraments.
With our renewed strength, we can in turn work to bring about this second chance offered by God, becoming instruments in his hands each time we help someone worse off than ourselves.
“Ephphatha, be opened!” Jesus says to us today. Do not close yourself off, do not be afraid to proclaim through your life and brotherly love the wonders of God!
Isaiah 35:4-7a / James 2:1-5 / Mark 7:31-37
From the Gospel according to Mark
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
For today’s readings, please refer to Vatican News.
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