HOMILY FOR 23rd SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

1.Is 35:4-7

2.James 2:1-5

3.Mark 7:31-37

" The sheer humanity of Jesus"

There is a little story of a blind vendor selling some candies and other items on side walk during Christmas season. As people were rushing, her bamboo tray was bumped. She tried to grope for her wares( goods). On that occasion nobody seemed to mind her as they hurried past her. Then a man stooped to pick up her things and returned them in her bamboo tray. She asked the kind of gentleman, " Are you Christ?"

Yes this gentleman, for this blind woman, was Christ. There are many opportunities given to us by which we are faced with people who need help, but how often do we respond? We are invited in this Sunday to be vigilant for those opportunities and to allow Christ to reach out, through us, to others in need by love we show them.

In today's gospel , a deaf -mute approach Jesus and pleaded him to heal him. But Jesus took him off by himself away from the crowd. Jesus could have cured him right in front of the crowd. It' s because he knew the situation of the deaf- mute. He showed his tenderness and wanted to get involve and have interest in the situation of the person. In other words he is compassionate and sympathetic the predicament of this deaf person.

We can ask ourselves this question in our today's mass that why in that way does Jesus do the miracle, taking  away the person from  the people's eyes? It is likely that the deaf person has developed an inferiority complex because of his handicap. Deaf- mute persons are normally shy because they can hardly communicate and in this sense they are incommunicado. People can be impatient with them and can laugh at their impediment. We find their gestures and sin language comical and even annoying. While the blind are able to relate with others through conversations, listening to the radio, attending talks and even reading books in Braille, the deaf mute are almost completely cut off from the society. They have a little part in everyday community's affairs.

Thus it clearly understandable that individuals who are deaf-mute are not comfortable in the presence of many people. Christ recognized this special need that He took time to be alone with this deaf-mute person. In this way, the man would not be embarrassed and can still receive the loving assurance of Christ.

The story of the healing of the deaf mute person is our story too. There is no any organ in our bodies in our dealing with God as our ear. We shall hear, not so much see or speak. God purposely had given us two ears but only one mouth. It is because we have to listen to God always. True listening will result in praising the Lord and in prayer.

Contextualizing the reading in our own lives, we can understand that it is not only this person and a pagan too who was a deaf-mute. Many of us Christians live with the same handicap. Sometimes we are deaf to the word of God. The complaint of the Old Testament that people's heart is hardened is still valid today. We are convinced that we are good Christians because we have adopted some religious practices. We have our devotion to our Lady of Perpetual help but we have no friendly word for the Lady next door. We have our homes decorated with statues of Jesus and the saints, yet we are not authentic in our practical ways of life. Being members of the universal church means being open to all teaching of our mother church including social justice, to be open to all goodness implanted in the heart of people belonging to other religions or cultures.

The word of Jesus " Ephphata!" ( ' Be opened'), is a very important word for each one of us. There is an agent need for us Christians to be opened to the World around us, yet because of our pretensions and weaknesses we pretend not to see or hear the evil around us especially when we hear the beneficiaries of the wrong acts. Like for example during the election, we vote those candidates who are not worthy of the positions and have bad track records because we benefited some of their "graces." In our today's situation how many needy are there crying for our attention and yet we don't hear the cries of the poor and don't see their needs. We feel that we have too many problems already. Better keep our ears, eyes and mouths shut and our hands too.

To really listen requires more silence than words, more adoration than study and more faith than reason. To listen we must be quite; to receive we must be ready; to receive the word of God we must switch off all other sounds and this in fact is not easy, it is still a challenge to our faith. How many of can maintain internal silence awaiting for the word of God? How many of us can really pray and really mean the prayer of Samuel: " Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." Let us start practicing this right now. It is not a matter of God failing to communicate with us but we, rather failing to allow God to speak to us. His tender  whispers of love fall on deaf ears. The distractions of the world have desensitized human ears to an extent that man can no longer hear the voice of God through His word, the busyness of life and the hardness of the heart.  

At the end of stage one in the story of the blind man, the man sees, but not clearly. In today's story the man can speak, but not clearly. The Greek word that Mark uses, mogilalos means speach impendment rather than absolute dumbness. It is a rare word occurring in only one other place in the Greek Bible, precisely in today's first reading, in the phrase "the tongue of the speechless." These stories have special relevance in our Christian faith. There some Christians who are not so much absolutely blind or dumb as suffering from a condition of blurred vision and impeded speech. People who wear glasses will appreciate how the finest details become marvelously clear when they put glasses on. We need the same kind of Clarity in regard to our faith.

Theologically, the healing of the dumb man and the blind man are represented by Mark as Messianic signs. In the last sentence of today's gospel, " He has done all things" could mean " he has well fulfilled the Messianic prophecies." The amazement of the crowd is not merely at the healings themselves but at their Messianic significance. They begin to wonder whether Jesus could be the long promised Messiah, the anointed one, who is to bring in a new age. In the gospel of St. Mark, Jesus keeps his Messiah-hood a secret, but it begins to leak out in spite of his commands to tell no one. Some, notably St Peter, have glimpse of Jesus' Messianic identity, but they only half understand, and soon fall into crude misinterpretations, thinking of power and fame rather than the way of the Cross.  The full revelation of the messiah is with held until after his death and resurrection.

Making distinctions

When it comes it is very difficult for us not to make distinctions. We invariable favor some over others. We choose some and not others. A man chooses one woman to be his wife out of several he may have come to know. A woman chooses one man to be her husband. We choose our friends, and some people choose their friends carefully. Parents will care their own children over other children, a thing that is obviously common. In this morning second reading James calls on members of the church not show favor  on the basis of the so called social class. James is saying that certain forms of favoritism are never accepted within the community of believers. Every one has to be treated equally regardless of their social background; in the context of worship there are to be no special seats for the more socially prominent. He insists that in all areas of church's life everyone should feel equally valued.

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