Trong sứ vụ công khai của Ngài, Chúa Giêsu đã làm rất nhiều phép lạ, chữa khỏi bệnh tật cho biết bao nhiêu người. Tuy nhiên đây không phải là phần quan trọng nhất trong sứ mệnh của Ngài. Mục đích duy nhất của Chúa Giêsu là để rao giảng Tin Mừng về Nước Thiên Chúa. Tất cả những sự kiện kỳ diệu và phép lạ Ngài đã làm đó chỉ là phương tiện rao giảng của Ngài..
Tin Mừng hôm nay đã mô tả một sự kiện rất đặc biệt, việc Chúa Giêsu chữa bệnh cho một người vừa bị điếc và câm. Đó là một sự đặc biệt, bởi vì Chúa Giêsu không những chỉ chữa lành cái không có khả năng để nói và nghe của người đàn ộng này, Ngài không những chỉ làm cho một số thay đổi trong cơ thể của người đó, để các giác quan của ông ta đã có thể làm việc đúng cách. Ngài đã ra lệnh cho người đàn ông đó được mở ra. Và điều đó có ý nghĩa gì? Vấn đề ở đây là người đàn ông vừa điếc, vừa câm đó được chữa lành. Ông đã nghe được nhưng ông ta đã không thể nghe. Ông đã nói được, nhưng ông ta đã không thể rao giảng. Mặc dù Chúa Giêsu đã cấm ông ta không được nói với ai về việc Chúa đã chữa cho ông được lành. nhưng ông ta đã hoàn toàn phớt lờ lệnh cấm của Chúa Giêsu. Chúa Giêsu đã tiến tới một bước đầu tiên và chữa lành cơ thể của người đàn ông đấy, nhưng người đàn ông này đã không chịu bước đến bước thứ hai: ông đã không chịu mở lòng mình. Ông trở thành một người theo Chúa Giêsu một cách nông cạn, những người chỉ biết chú ý vào sự kiện nhỏ nhen, để làm mất đi cái tầm nhìn vào bức ảnh lớn hơn, đó là Nước Thiên Chúa.'
Friday - 5th Week in Ordinary Time
During his public ministry Jesus performed many miracles, healed many people. However, this was not the most important part of Jesus’ mission. His sole purpose was to preach the Kingdom of God. All of these miraculous events were only meaning of this preaching.
Today’s gospel describes a very special event — the healing of a deaf man. It is special, because Jesus healed not only his inability to hear and speak. He did not only make some changes in his body, so that his senses were able to work properly. He asked that the man be opened. What does that mean?
The point is, this healed man was able to hear but he was not able to listen. He was able to speak, but he was not able to preach. Although Jesus ordered him to tell no one about it, he completely ignored Jesus’ command. Jesus took a first step and healed the man’s body, but this man did not take the second step: he did open himself. He became a shallow follower of Jesus, one who focused on this small event, losing sight of the bigger picture the Kingdom of God. Lord Jesus, open our eyes, open our mind, open our heart and show us the sense and the meaning of Your mission.
Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark 7:37
This line is the conclusion to the story of Jesus healing a deaf man who also had a speech impediment. The man was brought to Jesus, Jesus took him off by himself, cried out “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”), and the man was cured. And though this was an incredible gift to this man and an act of great mercy toward him, it also reveals that God wants to use us to draw others to Himself.
On a natural level, we all lack the ability to hear the voice of God when He speaks. We need the gift of grace for this. As a result, on a natural level, we are also incapable of speaking the many truths that God wants us to speak. This story teaches us that God also desires to heal our ears so as to hear His gentle voice and to loosen our tongues so that we can become His mouthpiece.
But this story is not only about God speaking to each one of us; it also reveals our duty to bring others to Christ who do not know Him. The friends of this man brought him to Jesus. And Jesus took the man off by himself. This gives us insight into how we help others to come to know our Lord’s voice. Oftentimes when we want to share the Gospel with another, we tend to talk to them and try to rationally convince them to turn their lives to Christ. And though this can bear good fruit at times, the real goal we must have is to help them to go off with our Lord by themselves for a while so that Jesus can do the healing.
If your ears have truly been opened by our Lord, then your tongue will also be loosened. And only if your tongue is loosened will God be able to draw others to Himself through you. Otherwise your act of evangelizing will only be based on your effort alone. Therefore, if you have people in your life who do not appear to be listening to the voice of God and following His holy will, then first and foremost commit yourself to listening to our Lord yourself. Let your ears hear Him. And when you do hear Him, it will be His voice that, in turn, speaks through you in the way He desires to reach out to others.
Reflect, today, upon this Gospel scene. Ponder, especially, the friends of this man as they are inspired to bring him to Jesus. Ask our Lord to use you in a similar way. Prayerfully ponder those in your life whom God wants to call to Himself through your mediation and place yourself at the service of our Lord so that His voice can speak through you in the way He chooses.
My good Jesus, please open my ears to hear all that You wish to say to me and please loosen my tongue so that I will become a mouthpiece of Your holy word to others. I offer myself to You for Your glory and pray that You will use me in accord with Your holy will. Jesus, I fully trust in You.
Friday 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, from the beginning you wanted your people to be a kingdom of priests. You raised up Moses, the humblest man on earth, to lead your people out of slavery and through the desert to the Promised Land. You chose David, a man after your own heart, to be the king of your people and summon all nations to worship you. You also have chosen me for a mission. Help me to discern your will today and follow it.
1. Ahijah’s Prophecy: The tragic division of the kingdom of David and Solomon was foretold by the prophet Ahijah in the First Reading. When Ahijah encountered Jeroboam on the road, he tore his garment into twelve pieces and gave ten of them to Jeroboam, who was the officer in charge of forced labor in Solomon’s kingdom (1 Kings 11:28). This prophetic action foretold the day when Jeroboam would lead the ten northern tribes into rebellion and establish them as the Kingdom of Israel. God’s rending of the kingdom was a punishment for Solomon’s idolatry and sin. When Solomon heard Ahijah’s prophecy, he sought to kill Jeroboam and this forced Jeroboam to flee to Egypt in exile until the death of Solomon in 930 B.C.
2. The Kingdom of Israel Split from the Kingdom of Judah: After the death of Solomon, the twelve tribes of Israel gathered in Shechem to ask King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, to decrease their taxes and forced labor. When Rehoboam refused, the ten northern tribes revolted and chose Jeroboam, recently returned from exile in Egypt, as their new king. This rebellion split the kingdom of David into two kingdoms – the Kingdom of Israel in the north led by Jeroboam and the Kingdom of Judah in the south led by Rehoboam. Now, Jeroboam could have been a good king. Instead, he chose the path of evil and led the northern kingdom into the sin of idolatry. To keep Israel from going to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem and being tempted to rejoin the Kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam set up false idols in the sanctuaries of Bethel and Dan, established a rival priesthood, and proclaimed a new feast day for the people of Israel.
3. The Kingdom of God is extended to the Gentiles: In contrast to the wicked Jeroboam, who led the northern tribes of Israel into idolatry, Jesus sought to bring the lost tribes of Israel, who were scattered among the Gentile nations, back to the worship of the one true Lord God. In the Gospel, Jesus has been traveling throughout Gentile territories and is now in the district of the Decapolis, a Gentile region east of the Sea of Galilee and ancient Israel. Unlike Jesus’ first visit to the Decapolis, in which the crowds begged Jesus to leave (Mark 5:17), the Gentile crowds now welcome Jesus and bring him a deaf and mute man to be healed by Jesus. By healing the man, Jesus is extending the blessings of the Kingdom of God to the Gentiles. This new ministry to the Gentiles will be continued in the next story in Mark’s Gospel – the feeding of the four thousand in Gentile territory.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you were sent into this world to redeem and save all people. I need to be healed by you. Open my ears to hear your Word. Loosen my tongue to proclaim your Word. Strengthen my spirit to follow your Word.
Friday 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer: Jesus, I want my life to be opened up to you. I want to open the ears of my heart, to be able to listen to your voice, now that I am here alone with you. Give me the grace to focus my eyes on you, and to have the patience to wait while you act. Let me not be too rushed to stop and be with you. Remove what holds me back from receiving all you have to give me.
1. Away by Himself: Many of Christ’s miracles were done in public, some in the middle of a crowd, sometimes while everyone was walking and people were pressing on him. But for this man, Jesus needed time alone. We may have been touched by Christ in the middle of a crowd, supported by others, able to rejoice with those present. And then there are times when he wants us all to himself, or rather, he wants us to have him all to ourselves. We need this kind of encounter with Christ, the one that happens in secret, away from the crowd. He uses these moments to open our minds and hearts so that we can better receive his love.
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