Spirituality of the Readings
He Began to Teach Them
Jesus cures a deaf mute in this Sunday’s reading and arouses astonishment in the crowd. (Gospel)
Some of us tend to think that the healing of people was the main goal in Jesus’ life. Yet, after this Sunday there are only four more healings by Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. Earlier (in the first seven chapters) he had worked so many cures that people were mobbing him.
And that was the trouble. He was in danger of becoming famous as a wonder-worker. People were besieging him at every stop, thinking that he would solve their problems. If only he gave back their health, or if only he took away their poverty and death, or if only—well, you name it. He was in danger of receiving the illustrious “fifteen minutes of fame,” and only that.
But would such celebrity really reveal God’s love for the world and its peoples? Jesus wanted to go further. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus stopped the miracles and began a new phase of his mission.
He turned his face toward Jerusalem. And the cross.
This change of direction will come next week. Suddenly and without warning Jesus will say to the disciples, “the Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise” (Mk 9:31). What more shocking statement could this famous and supposedly invincible leader and healer make to them?
How could death go together with healing?
A married couple told me of the death of their tiny son, and how they had prayed so hard for his healing. They said that their prayers were not answered. Yet somehow they discovered that God had been present throughout the dying, that God had been immersed in their son’s life and death, and that this intimate presence was enough, more than enough for those left behind. Their sorrow was bathed in love, and their son was safe in God’s arms.
The point? A human person is made to be loved by God, not merely to have good health, riches, or reputation. Real life consists of love exchanged with God and with others, not just in seeming to be a leader or a success. There is a greater good than this, a relationship with the divine being, a seeking of the one who is already close. Such an intimate relationship sends us out to help give that love to the world. Miracle cures help for a while, but pretty soon the suffering world has to be faced as such, in its full suffering self.
As a result, Jesus moved toward the events that would show God’s solidarity with us in our anguish, in our rejections, and in that famous event which each and every one of us will face sooner or later: death. God gives us, beyond cures—which are wonderful yet partial—companionship within every instant of our life, not just in this or that particular need.
This Sunday at Mass, let us ask ourselves whether the intimate presence of God is part of what we desire in our own lives. Do we know that Christ is deeply involved with each of us? Do we let his love flow into us and from within us to others, or must it just fight its way through?
Let’s pray to hear, as the deaf man finally could.
John Foley, SJ
**From Saint Louis University