For the next weeks, the liturgy continues to feature the Letter of James as the second reading. The selection today is a good background for what is now often called the ‘preferential option for the poor and vulnerable’ – those who God particularly asks us to care for.
The readings are available online here.
Isaiah 35:4-7
This reading is background for the Gospel today, with the verses on the unsealing of deaf ears and stumbling tongues singing for joy. It is a general promise of future salvation, written in poetic imagery of flowering in the southern deserts of Palestine. Living in such climates makes people especially cherish the times of new growth. It would later be taken as showing symbolically what the time of the Messiah would be like.
Psalm 145:7-10
The psalm has the Isaiah ideas of the Lord as both saviour and one who heals – though here blind are mentioned rather than deaf. It also prepares for the second reading from James with its emphasis on those most in need of help.
James 1:1-5
In our reading last week, the writer focused on caring for the poor. Here they are still his concern, combined with pointed criticism about Christians who are overly impressed by the wealthy when it is the oppressed who are God’s special elect. It is a distinction easy to see in today’s world where the rich, powerful, and famous are honoured and envied, while so often the poor are ignored, or even insulted and blamed for their own unavoidable poverty. It is a temptation for our churches as well, where sometimes wealthy donors enjoy publicity and special favours in return for their giving. James asks if we are immune from making such distinctions. Whom do we admire and honour, and who are those we find easy to ignore – or even blame?
Mark 7:31-37
This is a healing found only in the gospel of Mark, and while it shows Jesus’ care and carefulness, it may also have a symbolic application. Some modern commentators seem puzzled or bothered that the methods of touch and spittle which were used by contemporary ‘miracle workers’ and therefore are seen as ‘unworthy’ of Jesus. Saliva was believed at the time to have healing powers; perhaps from observing that animals often use it on their injuries and care of young, but spitting both then and now are more seen as disgusting and contemptuous.
In the details in this account, I however, see Jesus showing sensitivity, knowledge and communication skills as well as healing powers. First, he takes the man away from the crowd, which was probably noisy and certainly distracting – not the situation where to hear sounds for the first time would be comfortable! (People who first get hearing aids now also may experience a confusing burst of noises when they start to hear better, until their brains adjust to the levels of sound.) Being deaf, the man may not even know why he has been brought to Jesus. Jesus anticipates modern ‘sign language’ as putting his fingers into the ears and touching the tongue indicates the parts he will heal. Lifting his eyes to heaven is not known as part of the miracle worker’s techniques; in so doing Jesus is indicating that he is praying and not working magic. The first words the man will hear show Jesus has given him a miracle.
Repeating the Aramaic words used by Jesus are more frequent in Mark than the other gospels. It preserves some of the earliest memories of the disciples. The same idea of ‘opened’ is in our reading from Isaiah 35 for miracles of messianic age, and the word translated in our reading as ‘an impediment in his speech’ is a rare one, found otherwise only in scripture in Isaiah 35:6. It would seem Mark is making a subtle allusion to the prophet and thus he is hinting that Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise.
The order to tell no one is in a few of Mark’s healing stories, but nearly always ignored. Here he stresses the excessive response when they ignore him, and he also uses the word translated ‘published’ or ‘proclaimed’ which he has used before as describing Jesus’ own mission; it is also a favourite of Isaiah. So perhaps what Mark is suggesting here is that the crowd saw the messianic implications of this healing and are therefore excited by the possibility that the Messiah/Christ has come. The wild excitement, which is natural if that is what they are thinking of, arises in part over their mistaken idea of what the Messiah will be like. At this point in the gospel that view was shared by the disciples. We are being taken in the liturgy to the pivotal point of Mark, where Peter identifies him as the Messiah, but still must be taught that for Jesus this comes through suffering and not power and prestige in the world.
This healing, as C.E.B Cranfield says in his study of Mark, may also have a symbolic meaning of the disciples being ‘deaf’ to God’s teaching and unable to tell others until a deeper faith allows them to believe in and then to preach a suffering Messiah. In another section of Isaiah, 42:19ff, Israel is condemned at the unworthy servant of the Lord: ‘Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send?’ Something similar will shortly be put on Jesus’ lips in Mark 8:18.
Joan Griffith
Suggestions for prayer or reflection
Spend a moment in silence, then ask: ‘in what way am I blind or unable to speak well?’ See if an answer comes up.
If you wish, you can ask a follow-on question like, ‘And what should I do then?’ or ‘Will you heal this for me?’ or ‘When, where, and about-what should my mouth “be opened”?’
See what comes up for you, or what might change in subtle ways in the coming weeks.