EPHPHATHA! 

BE OPENED!

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 23 Sunday in Ordinary Time B, comes from today’s Gospel, “Ephphatha! Be opened.”

As you know Mark tells us what the Aramaic word, “Ephphatha” means: “Be opened.”

Some people are deaf. Some people can’t speak. Some people are blocked. Some people are stuck. Some people are not free.

And Jesus says to all people, “Ephphatha! Be Opened!”

It’s the same message we hear from the Book of  Isaiah the prophet - whom we know Jesus read - clearly when he opened up the scriptures in the synagogue at Nazareth in his inaugural address.

THE OTHER GUY

The obvious thing everybody does is to want the other person to change - the other guy or gal to be open - and they don’t see the plank or log jam in their own eye - in their own person - in their own self - as Jesus pointed out.

We have our list of  people we want to see change. I am on some people’s list. You’re on some people’s list. We’re all on someone’s list.

And remember the line in the song in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado, “I’ve got a little list…. I’ve got a little list - of society offenders - who never will be missed.”

And on our list  - under the name each of the persons we want to see change - we have a list of the things about them that we would like them to change. How they speak. How they don’t seem to hear. How they act or don’t act. How they behave.  To us, the other person is deaf or mute or dumb. They don’t listen. They don’t see. And when they speak, they are dumb - just plain stupid.

To get a lot out of the Gospel for today, we have to see that I am the deaf man with the speech impediment. It’s me. It’s not the other person. It’s me. And the prayer for today is to beg Jesus to heal me.

It’s the old message we have heard a dozen times, “Be aware when you point a finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at yourself.

And in the Gospel for today, Jesus takes the man off by himself - away from the crowd - and puts a finger into the man’s ear and then Jesus spits, touches the man’s tongue, looks up to heaven, groans, and says, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

And the man’s ears are opened and his speech impediment is removed and he speaks plainly.

Here I am Jesus. Stop! Do this for me! This is my prayer for today.

THE KID IN THE RETREAT HOUSE

Once upon a time there was a kid - named Jack - who did dishes in a retreat house where I worked. He  was deaf as a wall. And when he spoke, he yelled difficult to understand garbled language. As a result, he was difficult to be with. He was avoided.

I have a life observation: strange rangers are avoided. The more they are avoided - the stranger they become. The stranger they become, the more they are avoided. And on and on and on. It’s a vicious circle.

In warm weather, when the basement windows to the retreat house  kitchen were open, you could hear Jack banging dish trays on the stainless steel table runway that led to  the dish washer - as well as hear him yelling - and yelling very loudly. He couldn’t hear himself, but we could.

People avoided him. People found him difficult.

In that same kitchen doing dishes, was his brother Danny who did not have those handicaps his brother had.

Whenever I read today’s gospel I think of Jack - the brother with the handicap. Did the man in the gospel have the same problems as Jack?

During my time there - two moments stand out with regards this kid.

The first moment was a high school retreat for girls. After lunch when they were having a break some of the girls looked in the open window down into the kitchen and spotted the two brothers doing the dishes. They had eyes only for Danny - no eyes for Jack. 

Unfortunately, Jack thought they were looking through the window at him and he told a few of us that he loved it - that the girls found him good looking and they were staring at him. His brother Danny said nothing.

After the two brothers finished the dishes  - and the kitchen staff put things away - sometimes they would gather outside if the weather was nice and sit on some benches and just chew the fat.

I noticed that Jack was always by himself - at least 15 to 20 yards away from the kitchen staff. His social skills were minus 10 to say the least.

I wasn’t listening to today’s readings that day. To be honest, it was much easier being with normal people - so that’s who I was standing with as a group of girls came up the macadam road towards us.  They spotted Danny - the hunk - the good looking brother. They went over to him to see him up close and personal. Hey it was a retreat without boys.

It was a crushing moment for Jack. He realized  the girls were not interested in him at all. I saw him slam his hand into a tree and he ran inside - down into the kitchen.

We had this old 91 year old priest. He loved to work on the lawns. Want to make it to 91, rake lawns. Keep moving. His nick name was Teddy. I spotted him about 100 yards away. So I went to Teddy and told him what happened to Jack - he had to turn up his hearing aid at first. He put his rake up against the tree and went down the steps to the kitchen basement to find Jack and talk to him. And that he did.

To me it was like Jesus going to the man in today’s gospel and healing him. Teddy and Jack could talk. I had noticed that - and it was good for both of them. Teddy brought a smile back to Jack’s face.

The second thing that happened to Jack was the operation. He went to a specialist in a hospital in New York City and they put some wires into his head  and he had to wear an electronic pack on his side. Slowly he learned to hear and translate basic sounds - and his face was amazing when he could hear sounds now - and he slowly learned to hear and to speak better.

Imagine being a doctor, imagine being a technician and you are able to get a person to hear and to speak for the first time. Imagine being a doctor and you help a person see for the first time because of  a new invention that has some kind of new breakthrough? Imagine being a speech therapist?

That’s the story of someone else - who was able to learn how to speak better and to hear a bit. What about me?

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading brings this looking at self stuff into sharper focus. It’s from the Letter of James.

James writes about what he sees in his local community. 

What do we see in our community, our parish, our Mass - this 7 AM Sunday Mass - with it’s regulars - and with some strangers - where do we hear this second reading hitting home with an ouch.

James writes, “My brothers and sisters, show no partiality….”

I don’t know about you, but I’m guilty about partiality over and over and over again.

James tells us about his community - a man comes in with gold rings and fine clothes and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, don’t we all pay more attention to the rich man?

James says that we make distinctions about people. He says we judge.

He’s writing all this so that we can see that we can be closed to some people - because of their age, weight, color, clothes, accent, affiliations, mannerisms, you name it - James is challenging us to be open.

He’s saying to his community what Jesus said, “Ephphatha - Be opened.”

CONCLUSION: SOME HOMEWORK

This week be open to one person you would ignore. Do it  because you heard today’s readings and you know Jesus is talking to you: Ephphatha: Be opened.”