THE PROOF OF THE CAKE IS IN THE EATING …

Next Sunday’s Gospel text (23 Sunday) shows it quite clearly. We have to keep in mind one important fact: ‘Christ was no showman’; He never performed a miracle to draw attention. Jesus took the man aside, away from the crowd, all by himself. This shows respect for the individual; that is the way Christ treats each and every one of us … He still is a master of psychology’. Christ realized that deaf people are a little embarrassed. Sometimes it is much better to be dumb, or blind than deaf.

A deaf person knows that he cannot hear, and when someone in a crowd shouts at him and try to make him hear, in his excitement he becomes all the more helpless. Jesus showed the most tender consideration for the feelings of a man for whom life was very difficult. Throughout the whole miracle Jesus acted as if He was performing ‘a dumb-show’. He put His hands in the man’s ear … without saying anything; and touched his tongue with spittle. In those days people believed that spittle had a curative power (this is found in the writings of the historian Suetonius).

The whole narrative shows us so clearly that Jesus did not consider this man  merely as a ‘case’, He considered him and treated him as an individual. This man had a special need and a special problem, and with the most tender consideration Jesus dealt with him accordingly. In His dealing with this person, Jesus spared his embarrassment and feelings and left him to feel at ease.

The only sound, the only word that came out of Christ’s lips was the order “Ephphatha!” which means , “Be opened!”. The man’s ears were opened and the bond which which held his tongue was loosened, and the man spoke correctly. All the people were amazed  beyond measure, and declared that He had done all things well. Do you recall in Genesis , after every ‘creation’ God declared and saw ‘that all was good’ ? That is God’s verdict since the creation of the world, and is still IS.

When Jesus came, bringing healing to men’s bodies and salvation to their souls, He had begun the work of Creation all over again. In the beginning everything had been good, man’s sin had spoilt it all; and now Jesus was bringing back the beauty of God to the world, which man’s sin had rendered ugly.