to him, “Ephphetha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to
tell anyone, but the more he insisted on this, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well;
he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.

Lectio Divina:

READ: Jesus is now constantly on the move. In the territory of Decapolis, a
deaf who has difficulty speaking came to Jesus for healing. Taking him apart
from the crowd, Jesus made use of the traditional healing technique of the
time. The man is healed and immediately proclaimed it to others despite Jesus’
prohibition not to tell anyone. This elicit admiration and astonishment to all
who heard about the miracle.

REFLECT: Jesus’ movement is now limited to the outskirts of Jerusalem. As
much as possible He shies away from the center of power. His enemies are on
the lookout and they are powerful in their turf. So He goes to the peripheries
and continues to do His mission. In one of His sorties, a mute man with speech
difficulty is brought to Him for healing. This man needs others to articulate his
request. That is why friends are necessary to pray and intercede for us to Jesus
when we are deafened and render incapable of speech by our problems and
trials. They will say what we cannot articulate in front of God because of our
situation. And Jesus responded by healing the deaf and mute man with the
traditional form of healing. He could heal the man in countless different ways
that would set Him apart from other healers, yet He did not. Jesus respects
human processes as an expression of His deep incarnation into human realities.
And so, if the Son of God find it not beneath His dignity to be human as much
as possible like the rest, we too should recover our deep sense of respect for
our common humanity.

RESPOND: There are many people who cannot hear God’s voice nor have the
capacity to pray to God what they need most. They need accompaniment until
they get their spiritual hearing and their spiritual voice back. Is there such a
person in your circle of relationships. Be his or her ears and voice today. Pray and
bring their petitions to God so that God could act on them promptly.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2021