Spiritual Deafness: 23rd Sunday in OT

We come from a long line of people who are a little hard of hearing.  And I am not referring to physical deafness as we find in the Gospel today, but spiritual deafness.

 

Our first parents were told to enjoy the blessings of Eden and to only stay away from this one tree: they found themselves outside of paradise hiding from God.

 

Noah tried to warn the people of an impending flood and danger, but many found themselves drowning as the ark sailed away.

 

Moses held his staff, shouted his commandments, and passed his judgments, but his people found themselves grumbling with their false idols outside of God’s law.

 

Samuel told his people about the danger of having a king, but they found themselves with one who hoarded riches and flaunted honor.

 

Jeremiah and Isaiah cried out for the Israelites to return to the Lord, but they found themselves in exile and without hope.

 

And not much needs to be said about Jonah---his trip in the belly of a whale is proof that he could have worked on his listening skills.

 

 

 

Of course, it wasn’t just Old Testament figures that were hard of hearing.  The characters of the New Testament weren’t much better.  The Pharisees couldn’t hear through their hardness of heart and obsession with the law.  The Sadducees couldn’t hear due to their position and status. And the disciples had the Son of God of in their presence and only realized after the fact what Jesus actually was saying to them.

 

I think it is honest to say, we come from a long line of people who struggle with spiritual deafness.

 

But in case we think we have improved in our own time, I think we can say that spiritual deafness is something with which we still struggle:

 

God tells us that his love is unconditional and we only hear the shame of the sins of our past.

 

God tells us that we are made in his image and we only hear the lies we learned as a child.

 

God asks us to place him first above all other things, and we only hear our excuses to neglect honoring him in worship each week.

 

God asks us to protect the dignity of human life and we only hear the false hope of partisan compromise.

 

God asks his Church to stay united and we only hear our personal preference and agenda which trump the common good.

 

Each of us in our own way has struggled with spiritual deafness.  But the Gospel today has the chance to serve as a spiritual hearing aid, a sign language that leads us to new life and peace.  A message that opens ours ears to the promise of salvation.

 

 

A deaf man was brought to Jesus.  One can just imagine his struggle to connect with the world and experience a fullness of life, being that he was also unable to speak.  As it would be still today, it must have required tremendous courage and adversity to overcome his impairment.  Christ showed his compassion on those who are unable able to hear by healing this man’s infirmities.  A finger in the ear, a little saliva, and a miracle of healing had taken place. 

 

Now I think we can all be thankful that Jesus will not be sticking his fingers in our own ears or using saliva on us in order to heal our spiritual deafness.  But I think taking a closer look at Jesus’ own life can reveal to us how we might overcome our own spiritual deafness.

 

 

 

Christ was a man who placed himself around people who were different than him, and ideas that were different from his.  He ate with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes.  He spoke with Pharisees and Sadducees, even though he did not share their same philosophy.  And he even reached outside of his own people when pressured to do so.

 

To overcome our spiritual deafness, I think this can be a starting point for us.  To associate with people who think differently than us, and to hear ideas that are different from our own. Now this is terribly challenging to do.  It is much easier to be around people who think and act like us.  But associating with people who are different helps to reveal the errors of our ways, and opens us up to those things which our spiritual deafness may have been keeping from us.  This is also the reason we continue on in faith formation from as young as a child to the oldest member of our community:  to hear new ideas and be challenged out of our deafness, into the fullness our faith has to offer.

 

Christ is also a perfect example of dialogue.  As the second person of the trinity, in relationship with the Father, they exemplify perfect dialogue.  Each remains open to the other in an exchange of love.  Each has something to share.  Each is able to receive.  And it is the gift of the spirit, true wisdom, that is the result of this perfect dialogue.

 

In order to overcome our spiritual deafness, we must to be people of dialogue.  This requires us to not only be willing to be vulnerable by sharing who we are with others.  But it also requires us to listen intently to others, believing that they have something to share with us.  And to believe that we still have many things to learn in life.

 

Finally, Christ does not compromise truth.  He states very clearly that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can come to his father except through him. He therefore embodies truth.  It can never be divided, it has only one source, and it is only through this truth, who is a person, that one can achieve the fullness of life and salvation.

 

We, too, then, in order to overcome our spiritual deafness must not compromise truth.  This first must be in relationship to the lies to which we each hold.  Lies that we are not good enough, that God could never forgive us, that we could never be loved, or that we are trash.  These lies must be erased by the salvific truth of Jesus.  A truth that calls us his daughters and sons. A truth that offers us forgiveness and compassion. 

 

But this also calls us to throw aside a relativistic and individualistic worldview.  In other words, embracing the truth of Christ means that we do not as individuals determine what is true:  simply because I believe it does not make it true.  Neither does each thought and value have an equal standing in public discourse.  We must have the humility to accept the truth that comes from Christ and his Church, recognizing that when left to our own self to determine what is right, we are only left with division, strife and compromise.

 

The liberation from our spiritual deafness is in reach.  Jesus proved to us in today’s gospel that he wants us all to hear and thus embrace the Good News.  If we trust in his healing power, and strive to associate with those different than us, seek dialogue, and yet never compromise on truth, then we too will have our ears opened.  And we will never be able to resist sharing our savior with the world.  Like the deaf man in the Gospel, we too will shout with joy that God does all things well.

 

Let us proclaim together this day:  Ephphatha---Be opened!!  And be rid of our spiritual deafness forever!!