When a bit of Heaven is opened…

HOMILY: Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Mark 7:31-37

5 September 2021 

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

I recently heard a medical practitioner lament that COVID is the most complex disease that mankind has ever encountered. He said, “Every day, it seems we discover how this disease finds new ways to kill mankind. I cannot see a light at the end of this tunnel.”  I found myself wanting to cover my ears to save me from more anxiety. Everywhere it seems experts are discussing the emerging virus strains that are more contagious and vaccine-resistant.  We seem nowhere close to the end of the pandemic and I find myself asking more frequently, “What is the world coming to?” And together with the faithful I cry out in prayer: “God save us! 

On this Sunday’s Gospel, we are told that after performing some ritual gestures in the healing of the deaf-mute man, Jesus looks to heaven and groans and then says to the man: “Be opened!” (Ephphatha!). Then the gospel narrates… “And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed and he spoke plainly.” (Mark 7:35) The act of healing the deaf-mute man is one of the signs Isaiah gives in the First Reading that marks the restoration of Israel — their return from exile.  Isaiah says that when God comes to save Israel… “the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared…” (Isaiah 35:5) In today’s reading, a deaf-mute is healed. In the next chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we will hear about the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. If you think about it, when Jesus healed these people, Israel was still under Roman rule. They did not have their independence so technically they still needed saving or deliverance. Nonetheless, by witnessing these signs, the people recognised the saving act of God saying: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:37)

“Be opened!” Don’t you think it is a strange command to restore the speech and hearing of a person? No one says “Open your ears” to hear or “Open your tongue or vocal chords” to speak, right?  I think, as Jesus gives this command, he opens up a little bit of Heaven in the deaf-mute man. We believe that in Heaven there is only wholeness. To experience this bodily restoration is to have a foretaste of the heavenly life, where God reigns supreme in a place (or state of being) where there is no death and decay. Is this also your idea of Heaven? I think sometimes we miss out on the signs that Heaven is for us, because we have a different idea of Heaven. For others, Heaven is an endless party or a huge family reunion. There are those who perceive heaven to be an open bar or an impressive buffet that never runs out of food. For others looking for peace, it is a vast garden of flowers or perhaps a serene beach with perpetual sunny days…. Now that we are stuck in cyclical quarantines, we have no mass gatherings so no big family get togethers, no parties, no drinking at bars and no more tarrying at buffets; no trips to the beach or botanical gardens except for a privileged few.  What happens to us when these experiences of what we perceive as “heaven” are now obscured from us? It becomes so difficult to feel and discern the presence and saving power of God.  It becomes so hard to see Him at work. How is God saving us from the pandemic when virus variants keep emerging one after the other?  Many of us are drowning in sorrow and despair. Even the most faithful of us are getting wiped out and overcome by the waves of grief and helplessness. 

Perhaps this command of Jesus to “Be opened!” are words we must learn to cling to.  To those of us also in need of deliverance from all of our present woes, these words are very powerful. At the very utterance of Jesus, heaven is opened and the gifts of His kingdom dispensed on those in need. That is the best “ayuda” we can hope for during this pandemic. We are invited to come to Jesus that He may open us to the reality of God’s presence in our midst, even in the vulnerabilities of life. In Jesus, we find that heaven is not a completely far off place (a state of being) closed off to us until our death… In fact, we can draw strength to persevere from the little bits of heaven we still experience despite the restrictions.  Isn’t heaven in the joy elicited by a friend’s smile, the tender hug of a caring mother, or the protective arm of a father, the dedicated service of a public servant, and even in the care shown by medical frontliners going beyond their duty by offering their patients words of comfort and consolation in moments of grief or fear. Most of the time heaven is found in the most ordinary things of life that we take for granted.  Yet these are ways Jesus OPENS UP heaven in us. These are ways God revives us, and strengthens our resolve to push forward and overcome what trials beset us and what else lies ahead.  We are invited to keep the faith and to entrust ourselves more fully to the will of our God who is compassionate and loving toward us. There is no human circumstance where God will abandon His people. He wants us to triumph on earth that we may spend eternity in heaven as His adopted children and therefore His heirs. 

We pray that like the deaf-mute man, Jesus will continue to open Heaven for us. Hence, as we have a foretaste of our heavenly inheritance, we may be inspired to help one another fix our hearts on the day of our deliverance, to expect it and to claim it!   When we pray the Lord’s Prayer throughout the bleakness and uncertainty of our present life, we ought to pray with greater conviction… “Thy Kingdom Come”… knowing that God saves His people and He will bring healing and wholeness, peace and justice.  We ask that Heaven open its gates for us… so that in our answered prayers we may receive hope in abundance and a foretaste of what we ultimately aspire for.