Ephphatha! Be Opened!

Deacon Tom writes

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“Ephphatha!”- “Be Opened!”

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Jesus says two simple words to the deaf man and he is able to hear.  His life changed in an instant.  There is a newness to the world he has been living in but in which he was not fully participating.  In an instant he is complete, made whole, reunited to his community from which he was isolated somewhat, and ready, perhaps, to begin life anew.

There are many such events recorded in the gospels that demonstrate Jesus had power over the natural world.  He changed water into wine, walked on water, calmed the sea, multiplied the loaves and fished.  But Jesus’ greatest power lies in his power to heal as we read in today’s gospel.  And he uses that power to set this man free from the loneliness and isolation that his deafness has caused.

The words we hear in the gospel today are powerful, “Be opened”.  They challenge us to look into our lives and find those attitudes and behaviors that stand in stark contrast to the openness that God asks of us.   Are we “open” to forgive someone who has hurt us?  Are we “open” to letting go of longstanding and often bitter resentments? Are we willing to change our bad behaviors that find gossiping, criticizing, biased toward or thinking that we are better than others? 

When we are “opened” to the Word of God, our lives change as, in today’s gospel, this man’s life was changed.  We don’t know the details on what changed.  We only know that he and those who witnessed this amazing event were told not to tell anyone what happened.   Yet, they were “astonished” and there was no way for them to keep this a secret.  That’s because God never disappoints.  There is nothing that we could ever do that God in turn does not use for our good.  That’s the deeper meaning of faith.  That’s the “openness” that God longs for so that he can fill us with every good thing in our time of need.  Openness is our invitation to God to come into our lives.  Let’s spend some time today getting ourselves ready for our Guest who is nearer to us than we are ourselves.  

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image Credit: betweensermons.com: 

Pick a Number From One to Ten

Deacon Tom writes

“Pick a Number From One to Ten”

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Have you ever seen the Mel Brooks skit about the Fifteen Commandments?  It seems that when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, he originally had three tablets each containing five commandments inscribed by God. But when Moses got to the bottom of the mountain, he dropped one of the tablets. Moses looked over his shoulder at the Lord who was still in the cloud at the top and asked Him, “What should I do, Lord?”  God replied, “Let’s go with ten!”

How many commandments do we need to live wholesome, peaceful, and humble lives?  Jesus takes the Ten Commandments and reduces them to a single one with two equal parts… “Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength; and, love your neighbor as yourself”. So when Jesus is challenged by some Pharisees about washing his hands before eating, he calls them what they are…hypocrites. Jesus knows that this notion of ritualistic purity is a diversion from doing the real work that God calls us to do. In fact, a lot of the work God calls us to do is pretty dirty if not totally ritualistically unclean. Working with the homeless or in AIDS clinics or Soup Kitchens may get your hands dirty but such activity is sure to open your eyes to a level of poverty and how deprived of personal hygiene many poor and indigent men, women, and children experience day to day. There is a large contingency of our brothers and sisters today for whom eating off of dirty plates is the least of their problems.  Newsflash… Jesus is not worried about us eating from dirty dishes! The filth Jesus wants to alert and cleans us from is that which comes from within – our hardheartedness, our deafness to the needs and concerns of others, our self-centeredness, our out of control desires, our lusting for what’s not ours. So again, how many commandments do we need to save us from ourselves?  Ten?  Seventeen?  Do we decide which number is right for us – just like the Serta sleep bed, or are we going to listen to what the teacher has to say…and take up our cross and follow him by loving God and placing ourselves in the service of one another?

God didn’t bring us into creation to get caught up in the minutia. We do need rules to guide and govern our lives. And so Jesus gave us some simple ones to live by. If we want to live happy and fulfilling lives, we must see in ourselves and in each other the dignity that God has given to us. We must come to recognize that God dwells in each and every one of us. And, we must realize that we come to know, love, and serve him by knowing, loving, and serving one another. We don’t need a lot of rules to live a[i] good life. Rather we must, in the words of St. Paul, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only” following Jesus’ example by Loving God and each other.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

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