To Hear and To Speak

The healing of the deaf man with a speech impediment is told only in the Gospel according to St. Mark. Why was this? Besides the recounting of a miracle, what message was Mark trying to convey to his readers?

Saint Mark addressed his Gospel to gentile converts living in Rome at the time of the first persecution of Christians under Nero. The followers of Christ were driven underground, literally, into the catacombs. They were a persecuted people. They could not openly speak the Lord’s name nor hear His words. They were in a very real sense, deaf and mute.

Mark emphasizes God’s presence among the people in the person of Jesus. The miracles are very real and immediate. In today’s reading our attention is drawn to the physical reality of a hand, a finger, ears, tongue, and spitting. In Jesus, God has truly come in the flesh.

He has come to set us free. He opens our ears so that we may hear His word, and loosens our tongue to praise His name even in the face of persecution. Mark prepared us for this as well.

"They will hand you over to the courts. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will be arraigned before governors and kings because of me, as a witness before them.

But the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

You will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” Mark 13:9-10, 13

Pax Vobiscum
23 Sunday in Ordinary Time