Jesus took the man aside and, taking the very mud and earth
from which Adam was created by God, re-created this man’s ears. “Let us create
man in our image” was now, in this miraculous moment, “Be opened!” “Be
re-created! Become who you really are!”
Can you imagine being there? One among the crowd as Jesus
crests the hill to your hometown? The curiosity, the excitement, the sense that
you are in the presence of greatness, and then the wonder when one of your own
is taken aside and miraculously cured … It had to have been electric.
There was another man … One that wasn’t named in this
passage, but who was there, I’m sure. In fact, he was the reason why any of the
towns in that area – the Decapolis – had come out to meet Jesus. That man’s
name was Legion.
Well, actually, it wasn’t Legion, per se. That was the
demon’s name that was possessing him. Do you know this story?
There was a man that lived among graveyards to the southeast
of the Decapolis. For a reference point, the Decapolis was a series of towns on
the north side of the Sea of Galilee. The man who was possessed by Legion had
been kicked out of the Decapolis and was now dwelling in the graveyards on the
eastern bank of the Sea of Galilee. He was there because the demons that had
possessed him had made him savage and violent. He would even break the chains
by which the people tried to restrain him.
Jesus had come to him several weeks before this healing
of the deaf man that we see today.
Jesus came to the man possessed by Legion and freed the
man. (Let’s call that man Joshua, for simplicity). So, Jesus comes to Joshua and miraculously expels the demons. The demons flee into the pig herds nearby –
and the pigs stampede down the cliffs and into the Sea of Galilee where they
drown. The pig-herders see this and the people of the area (the Gerasenes) hear
about it and they beg Jesus to leave the area. Which He does.
But before Jesus goes, Joshua pleads to be able to remain
with Jesus. And what does Jesus say?
No. Instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you” (Mk 6:19)
Can you imagine the disappointment? This man is full of
grace and the holy spirit; he is free and has a new lease on life and has every
reason to follow Jesus with great zeal. Some of us would say, “Well, I’m coming
with you anyway!”
But, instead of being disappointed, Joshua went home and “began
to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed”
(Mk 6:20).
To put it simply, Joshua obeyed.
That word – to obey – comes from the latin, “ob+audire.”
It means to listen – but not just simply to listen with the ears. It more
literally means to “lean in and listen” as though you were leaning in to hear
the desires of the heart.
Joshua’s heart had been healed that day. And because of
that, it hears very clearly what Jesus desired: “I desire you to go home and
show your family what I have done for you.” And that’s what Joshua did.
That is why, when Jesus crests the hill of the Decapolis,
all of the people there come out to meet Jesus. They have all heard what Jesus had
done for their Joshua. All had heard this Good News. All but one: the man who
was deaf.
Which brings us up to the miracle where Jesus says, “Be
opened!”
So, all of this can be summarized by saying: if Joshua
had not listened with his heart and obeyed Jesus’ request, then the town would
not have been ready to receive Jesus and the deaf man may not have come out to
be healed.
+
“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what God has ready
for those who love him.” We hear that said in reference to heaven, oftentimes.
But I think that also applies to our earthly life. We really have not seen and
heard what God has ready for us – but it is ready for us!
When Joshua went back home after being freed from Legion,
he could have thought that he would never see Jesus again. And I think it is
safe to say that he didn’t imagine much that Jesus would come and visit his
hometown. And, more – that he, Joshua – would be a critical instrument in the
preparation for his coming; that he, Joshua, was the one who would “make
straight His paths.”
So, of all the excitement, wonder, and electricity that
day when Jesus crested the brow of the hill, I think the one who had reason for
greatest astonishment was Joshua.
“Here He is!” Joshua could cry out to his hometown! “This
is the one! This is the one I told you about!”
I look forward to that day. That day will happen. Jesus
will crest the brow of our earthly existence. And I was say: “There He is!
There is the one that I told you about!”
I pray that your hearts will be prepared for that day.
That preparation comes by listening. Listen to Jesus
speaking to you, coming to your ears and, more importantly, to your heart. Listen
to Him! If He tells you to forgive someone, forgive! If He calls you to speak
without cursing, then clean up your speech! Do not be disappointed when He
gives you a task to do – it could be the most important task He has given
anyone that day. It could bring the conversion of your town! Ob audire! Lean in
and listen to His heart!
And there will come a time, dear friends, when your ears –
which were blessed and opened at your baptism for this very purpose – there will
come a time when your ears will not hear. Deafness comes for many. Some cannot
hear today’s homily. Will their hearts be opened who cannot hear? I hope their hearts are already opened. Are yours? … Will
your heart be able to hear when your ears are no longer able?
Be opened!
See? The Lord is cresting the hill!
Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he
comes to save you! (Is 35:4)
