Healing the deaf and the dumb

Fr. Leo Pabayo .

OUR Lord proclaimed the good news of salvation sometimes by means of words and sometimes by actions. The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel, according to Matthew, is a good example of the first. The Sermon is lengthy and the lessons taught are sometimes detailed. In other instances he makes known the good news of salvation by means of action. These are also sometimes detailed like in the case of the healing of the deaf and dumb. The Gospel reading on Sunday was one example of this. By looking at the details we already learn some lessons about the way that the Gospel was proclaimed by St. Mark or by the apostle for whom St. Mark was writing for. St. Mark was said to have been close to the Apostle St. Peter and was St. Peter’s interpreter in Rome. This already tells us that the Gospel stories are basically about the words and acts of Christ that actually happened and are not merely the fabrication of on overly imaginative writer.

The Gospel reading starts with some details on who, where, when, why, how, etc. the narrative is about. St. Mark writes the way a journalist would write on certain events. He made sure that details relevant to the story are given. St. Mark begins his Gospel narrative by saying, “Returning from the territory of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee, right through the Decapolis territory.” Further investigation by the experts on the Gospel reveal the reason why Jesus was in that area. He was avoiding the Jewish authorities in Galilee who were out to arrest him. This was a roundabout way that passes by the pagan territory along the border of the province of Galilee where some of his enemies were already looking for a chance to arrest him .

The Gospel narrative then proceeds to narrate Jesus’ meeting with the people of Decapolis and the deaf and dumb man that they brought to him to be cured. The healing that transpires is reported in detail by the Apostle or disciple who witnessed the healing and whose memory of it remained vivid in his mind.

We should find it very striking and significant that the Gospel records the action and word used by Jesus in healing the deaf and dumb. The disciple or apostle who narrated this story surely had a vivid memory of this happening so that he remembered exactly the word Jesus used in curing the deaf and dumb man. The word he used is the word “Ephphata.” This is an Aramaic word. Aramaic was the language that Jesus spoke.

We know now that before this was written, it was proclaimed orally or verbally. The disciples and apostles who preached it according to their own language. It was only later that it was written down. When it was written it was written first in Greek. It was then translated later into Latin. From Latin it was translated probably into the different European languages like Spanish, French, Italian, German, etc. then much later in the other world languages of the world including like our own Tagalog, Bisaya, etc.. But in all these languages certain words were written in the original language of Our Lord, namely Aramaic. This was because the narrator had a very vivid memory of the way that Jesus said it, like in this case, the word “Ehphatha.”

Some spiritual lessons that we learn from this Gospel episode is that the deaf and dumb was brought to Jesus by some of his friends or neighbors out of their compassion for the man.  The healing would not have happened if people did not care.  The deaf and dumb man could not help himself. He had no way of knowing about Jesus and his power to heal. By being deaf and dumb the man was unaware of the talk that was going around that Jesus could heal the sick. He could not communicate what he thought and felt about the things that were going on around him. This tells us that other people can be helped if others care to help them.

Toward the end of this episode Jesus tells the people not to tell others about what just happened. Why this prohibition? This is another mystery in this episode that would be good for us to reflect on.

If a doctor is going to put up a clinic to help the sick it would be but natural for him to make known to the people the services that he offers. But in the Gospel we just read, Jesus tells the people who witness the healing not to tell others about it. Why?

We might think that this could be because he was already deluged by people wanting to be healed or by people bringing their sick to him.

But the more real reason is deeper than that. He already knew that the healing of the body that he did would not yet be total nor the most important part of his proclamation of the Gospel. What he wanted was not only the healing of the body but more importantly was the healing from our sinfulness. Unless we are healed of our sinfulness, no real permanent healing can really happen. He was aware of this then when this Gospel episode happened as he is aware of it now.

He was aware of our pathetic efforts to heal or to be healed. In our time, millions if not billions are spent in research and studies on how we can be healed of the various illnesses that now then then appear to afflict man. But the healing that happen are as we know only temporary.  The science of medicine can give man a new lease in life. But man eventually dies.

Christ came to effect the once and for all healing that results from the healing of our sinfulness. It is the healing that is brought about by repentance and the forgiveness of sin by Christ. He would accomplish this by his sacrifice on the cross and by his resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Man will experience this total healing by his own dying to all that is sinful and by his rising to a new life in Christ.

We will have some experience this even now as the saints have given witness to it. When we read the biographies of the saints we can see how they lived out the gifts of the Holy Spirit by lives that were full of joy, goddess, kindness, patience, forgiveness, honesty, faith, hope, love, etc. But its final fulfillment will be in the hereafter when we are perfectly blessed with a new body, that as St. Paul said, will be like that of the Risen  Body of Christ.

One thing that we will notice in the Gospel narratives is that some of them give the details on the place where such a narrative happened.  In certain narrative it simply says, “At that time…” In the present narrative it states where this episode in the life of Our Lord happened. One conclusion we can draw from this is that this episode therefore comes from the memory of the disciple or apostle narrating it. He or along with the other who were witnesses to this remembered, vividly where, when and how this happened.