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.'
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.
Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. Mark 7:31–32
Throughout Jesus’ public ministry, His actions, while purely charitable, were often deliberate and provocative. His words and deeds testified to the true meaning of the Mosaic Law by exposing the damaging legalism of many Pharisees, whose misinterpretations deeply influenced God’s Chosen People. For example, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath (cf. Mark 3:1–6) and cured a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years (cf. John 5:1–18). In both cases, Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath rest as interpreted by the Pharisaic traditions. By challenging these restrictive and erroneous interpretations, Jesus demonstrated that the Sabbath is a day for mercy, healing, and honoring God, not a burdensome observance of human traditions. Jesus boldly lived the Mosaic Law as it was intended, while challenging the erroneous practices and beliefs He encountered.
Another act of deliberate and charitable provocation was Jesus’ ministry among the Gentiles. At that time, observant Jews often avoided direct interactions with Gentiles, considering them ritually unclean and outside the covenant community of Israel. Yet Jesus traveled into Gentile regions such as Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus traveled from Tyre to Sidon and then to the Decapolis, where He healed a deaf and mute man. Being predominantly Gentile regions, they were marked by pagan worship, Hellenistic culture, and lifestyles often incompatible with Jewish religious practices. It is likely that Jesus’ companions—the Twelve—were surprised and uneasy during these visits, but that was precisely the point. Their journey to these territories was itself a lesson Jesus intended to teach. By engaging with Gentiles, Jesus revealed that God’s salvation is not limited to Israel but extends to all nations, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham: “All the families of the earth will find blessing in you” (Genesis 12:3). In doing so, Jesus began preparing His disciples to shed nationalistic biases and embrace the universal scope of God’s covenant of salvation.
The healing of the deaf and mute man carries profound significance. First, by performing the miracle in predominantly Gentile territory, Jesus directed its meaning beyond the Jews to all peoples of every nation. The message is clear: By healing the man’s deafness, Jesus teaches that all must hear the saving message of the Gospel. By healing his speech impediment, Jesus further teaches that all who hear the Gospel are called to proclaim it.
Though the manner of this healing—putting “his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue”—is rich with symbolism, it also reveals Jesus’ personal and compassionate approach. For a deaf and mute man, spoken words alone would not have conveyed what Jesus was about to do. By using touch and visible gestures, Jesus communicated with the man in a way he could understand, engaging him personally and tenderly. This reflects the boundless compassion of Jesus, Who meets each of us where we are.
Reflect today on the lesson the Twelve learned as they traveled with Jesus through Gentile and pagan regions. As followers of Christ, we must learn not only from His words but also from His actions. The Creed, the Sacraments, and the moral teachings of the Church are not meant for Catholics alone but for all people. At times, sharing the Gospel might require charitable provocation within the social circles in which we live and work. We must strive to do so in ways that people can understand, setting aside artificial or inconsequential traditions that obstruct the message. True compassion leads us to every person, making us instruments of their salvation, knowing that the message we bring is for all, so that “all the families of the earth” may find blessing in God through you.
My compassionate and provocative Lord, You confidently and lovingly challenged the burdensome and restrictive traditions that had overshadowed the true spirit of the Mosaic Law, pointing Your disciples—and us—to the universal scope of Your saving mission. Grant me the courage and wisdom to be an instrument of Your Gospel to everyone I meet. Help me to love them where they are, with the tenderness and compassion You show, so that they, too, may be drawn into the joy of Your eternal Kingdom. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, lead me not into temptation. Subject me not to the test. Help me overcome the temptations of everyday life so that I may be your faithful child and be docile to the inspirations of your Spirit.
1. Another Healing in Gentile Territory: In the Gospel, Jesus left the district of Tyre, but is still Gentile territory. He has exorcised a demon from a Gentile woman’s daughter, and now he heals a deaf man in Gentile territory. This is fitting since Jesus is reacting to the heated exchange with the Pharisees and scribes over the tradition of the elders. Jesus is anticipating the mission to the Gentiles that his disciples will carry out after his death and resurrection. “Unlike in his prior reception in the Decapolis, when the inhabitants begged him to leave their territory (5:17), now the people bring him a deaf and dumb man. Presumably the mission of the Gerasene no-longer-demoniac met with significant success (5:20)” (Huizenga, Loosing the Lion, 183).
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.
1. The Meaning of the Healing of a Deaf Man: One of the main themes in the “Bread Section” of Mark’s Gospel (Mark 6:33-8:26) is the lack of understanding of Jesus’ disciples. The healing of the deaf man and later of a blind man (Mark 8:22-26) have a symbolic meaning: the healings symbolize the opening of the spiritually deaf ears and blind eyes of Jesus’ disciples: Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?” (Mark 8:18). The healings Jesus performs means that the prophecy of Isaiah 35:5-6 is fulfilled: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing.” Originally, Isaiah’s prophecy refers to the joyful return of the Judeans from the exile in Babylon. By placing the healing of a Gentile between the two bread miracles, “Mark is hinting that the Gentiles too are now heirs to these blessings. Previously deaf to God and mute concerning his saving deeds, now, in response to his mighty works of healing, they are able to hear his voice and sing his praises” (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, 147).
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.
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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