{"id":2628,"date":"2018-09-09T12:38:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T16:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2628"},"modified":"2018-09-09T12:38:33","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T16:38:33","slug":"23rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/23rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

23rd<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nIsaiah 35:4-7a
\nPsalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10a
\nJames 2:1-5
\nMark 7:31-37
\nSeptember 9, 2018<\/p>\n

Many times we hear of \u201ccrowds\u201d that come to Jesus.\u00a0 The Jews had been waiting for a 1,000 years for a messiah who was the heir of David.\u00a0 So, some of the Jews were coming to him to see if he could be the one.<\/p>\n

We would expect Jesus to draw a crowd in Jewish territory.\u00a0 Today we hear that Jesus has travelled \u201cinto the district of the Decapolis<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 This would be a Roman territory.\u00a0 So the people would not be Jewish.\u00a0 Yet, even there word has spread about Jesus.<\/p>\n

The people had heard about the miracles Jesus did, driving out demons and curing people.\u00a0 So, the local people brought to Jesus \u201ca deaf man who had a speech impediment<\/em>,\u201d seeking a miracle by asking Jesus \u201cto lay his hand on him<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The laying of hands is a gesture of invoking God\u2019s grace on the person.\u00a0 Jesus does heal the man but not quite in the way they expected.\u00a0 The laying of hands involves \u201ctouch\u201d symbolizing care.<\/p>\n

With compassion, Jesus touches the man but in a different way than expected.\u00a0 \u00a0Rather than simply lay his hands on the man\u2019s head, Jesus put \u201chis finger into the man\u2019s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 His contact with the man is at the point of the man\u2019s impairments, his deafness in his ears and his speech impediment on his tongue.<\/p>\n

Jesus does more.\u00a0 He \u201clooked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, \u201cEphphatha\u201d \u2013 that is, \u201cBe opened.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Jesus speaks one word, \u201cEphphatha<\/em>\u201d and the man is immediately healed.<\/p>\n

Imagine how the man must have felt!\u00a0 How much he might have had to say!\u00a0 Where might he begin?<\/p>\n

He began by, despite Jesus direction \u201cnot to tell anyone<\/em>,\u201d by going out and telling everyone he could find.\u00a0 He did this in joy.\u00a0 He did this in gratitude for his healing.\u00a0 The man who had been deaf and unable to speak proclaimed the good news.<\/p>\n

Are you deaf?\u00a0 If you are hearing what I am saying, you must have some hearing ability but how good?\u00a0 As we get older, we can have diminished physical hearing.\u00a0 They have wonderful hearing aids to help with this but the point I really want to get to is do we hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us.\u00a0 Physical hearing aids (like the one I am wearing) aren\u2019t the solution here.<\/p>\n

What keeps us from hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to us, from hearing God whispering in our \u201cears\u201d?\u00a0 Are we too busy with earthly activities to hear Jesus?\u00a0 Do we fill our entire day with earthly activities whether it be a job, school, sports, and\/or plays?<\/p>\n

Even when we hear the sound of Christian words, are we listening?<\/p>\n

For example, there are a couple of Christian radios stations in the area.\u00a0 Depending on where you live you might even be able to get a Catholic radio station out of Rochester.\u00a0 Perhaps you turn it on for the Christian music.\u00a0 Are you listening to the music or the Christian message?<\/p>\n

Right now you found time to come to church.\u00a0 You have heard the sound of God\u2019s words in the scripture but were you listening?\u00a0 Right now, you hear the sound emitting from my mouth but do you hear what the Spirit is saying to you?<\/p>\n

We need to ask Jesus to help us open our ears to hear what God is saying to us in the readings, in music, and through the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 last words to his disciples before ascending told them to go out and proclaim the good news.\u00a0 To do so, we must first listen to God\u2019s Word for ourselves.\u00a0 This means opening our ears.<\/p>\n

Remember the word that Jesus spoke to the deaf man?\u00a0 Ephphatha!<\/em>\u00a0 When we do a baptism at Mass, the last words I use at the end of the baptism are \u201cThe Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.\u00a0 May he soon touch years to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baptism is a beginning, not an end.\u00a0 We have much to learn.\u00a0 Confirmation is a stepping stone.\u00a0 It is not a completion<\/em><\/strong> of our Catholic education.\u00a0 God still has move to reveal to us.\u00a0 What you know, what I know<\/em><\/strong> with a Master of Divinity is only a beginning.\u00a0 It is not just learning commandments to list.\u00a0 It is to find their meaning and take it into our hearts.\u00a0 It is to seek to live them out.<\/p>\n

Continuing our Catholic \u201ceducation\u201d begins in continuing to come to Mass where God\u2019s Word is proclaimed and explained.\u00a0 Can you do more?\u00a0 For instance, we know we are supposed to forgive but what does this mean?\u00a0 In the first week of October, I will be doing a talk on forgiveness.<\/p>\n

May the Lord help you to listen to his words with your mind and your soul.\u00a0 May you then in turn share God\u2019s words with others in what you do and say.<\/p>\n

Jesus healed the man of his deafness and speech impediment.\u00a0 He wants to do the same for us on a much deeper level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Isaiah 35:4-7a Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10a James 2:1-5 Mark 7:31-37 September 9, 2018 Many times we hear of \u201ccrowds\u201d that come to Jesus.\u00a0 The Jews had been waiting for a 1,000 years for a messiah who was the heir of David.\u00a0 So, some of the Jews were coming …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,82],"tags":[497],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Go","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2629,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions\/2629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}