The Gospel story for the 23rd Week in Ordinary time, in this year of St. Mark, is astonishing and rich with lessons for growing disciples!
Jesus is on the move. He is a Jew among Gentiles. His reputation has preceded Him so they bring to Him a deaf man who has an impediment in his speech. They are looking for a miracle but they are not going to get it without a masterclass in discipleship. Jesus must take the man away from the miracle mongers. They are well intentioned but they are spiritually weak. They are not yet ready to know ‘the secret of the Kingdom of God’ (Mk.4:11,34).
Ears detect sounds. Tongues produce sounds. But it is the heart, the spiritual centre of a person, that speaks. If the heart is open to the Spirit, then a person can hear and speak about spiritual things. If a person cannot hear or speak, it is because they have hardened their hearts and closed themselves off from the truth.
When Jesus pits His fingers in the man’s ears, he reverses the flow of attention. The man is no longer struggling to hear what is happening outside of himself. He listens inwardly, to his heart. Jesus spits on His hand and touches the man’s tongue with His spit. Spit comes from the inside and symbolises the Spirit. Jesus is connecting His spirit, the Holy Spirit, to the man’s spirit. Now He, and the man, are in full communion with each other.
Then Jesus looks up to heaven. Since His own Baptism, the heavens remain permanently open to Jesus. God is available, the Holy Spirit always descending as Love. But people must look Up! They must open their hearts to sacred things. With a sigh, Jesus opens the man to God through His own openness to God. His words, ‘Be Opened’ are not addressed to the man’s ears. It is a command to the heart to be open to the Love that is flowing through the Beloved Son. When he opens his hearts, his ears are unplugged and his tongue is loosened. This should be the story that is told – but it isn’t.
In Marks Gospel Jesus is portrayed, not as powerful, but as one who has given up on power and moved to strength. His gentle strength is a key brushstroke in Mark’s portrait. His strength comes from the certainty that He is loved by God and the certainty that He is the bearer of the Holy Spirit into a world of suffering and darkness. His strength is constant. It permeates all that He says and all that He does. No one can pull Him away from His core conviction. He holds fast to The Voice He heard at His Baptism.
But what is amazing is to watch Him in His endless quest to give this steady strength to his disciples. He only engages with what gives Him life; and that is giving life and love to others! It’s such a beautifully simple teaching. That if we can hold onto the inner strength that comes from a heart drenched by love, if we can avoid getting sucked into the power mongering of others, we will make miracles. Here is testimony to the power of one. It is even greater testimony to the strength of a Community which refuses the lure of power over others.
Jesus, the healer, holds onto wholeness in a broken world. He will not allow anyone to suck Him into their chaos. Instead He brings Himself. If we let Him, He will stick His fingers in our ears so that we will be guided by the spiritual centre of our hearts. He will give His Spirit to anyone who asks. When our heart is United with His Heart we are fully open to God. Only then, when we hear God speak can we act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly in the world.
