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| “Saints Cyril and Methodius” Artist and Date are unknown. |
Reading I: 1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19
Jeroboam left Jerusalem
and the prophet Ahijah the
Shilonite met him on the road.
The two were alone in the
area,
and the prophet was wearing a
new cloak.
Ahijah took off his new
cloak,
tore it into twelve pieces,
and said to Jeroboam:
“Take ten pieces for
yourself;
the LORD, the God of Israel,
says:
‘I will tear away the kingdom
from Solomon’s grasp
and will give you ten of the
tribes.
One tribe shall remain to him
for the sake of David my servant,
and of Jerusalem
the city I have chosen out of
all the tribes of Israel
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Commentary on 1 Kgs 11:29-32; 12:19
This selection from the First Book
of Kings describes how the Kingdom of Israel, united under King David, was
broken apart. God had spoken to Solomon warning him not to worship foreign Gods
(see 1
Kings 11:4-13). As this installment begins, Jeroboam is chosen through the
court prophet Ahijah to take a majority of the people (10 of the twelve tribes)
as their leader. This leaves only one tribe and the city of Jerusalem to
Solomon, and that small portion only out of respect for his father, King David.
With this action and the subsequent
efforts on the part of Jeroboam to make sure the kingdom cannot be reunited
around centralized worship in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 12:26-32), Solomon
is reduced to governing only a fraction of his former kingdom. The reading
concludes taking a verse from the next chapter of the book, summarizing the
dissolution of the united Kingdom of David, and stipulating that it remained
divided “to this day.”
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 81:10-11ab, 12-13, 14-15
R. (11a and
9a) I am the Lord, your God: hear my
voice.
“There shall be no strange
god among you
nor shall you worship any
alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt
R. I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
“My people heard not my
voice,
and Israel
So I gave them up to the
hardness of their hearts;
they walked according to
their own counsels.”
R. I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
“If only my people would hear
me,
and Israel
Quickly would I humble their
enemies;
against their foes I would
turn my hand.”
R. I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.
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Commentary on Ps 81:10-11ab, 12-13, 14-15
Psalm 81 is a prophetic liturgy. The voice is a priest speaking
in God’s name. Through him God warns against the sin of Solomon – worshiping false
gods. It warns that the faithful must remain firm, and if they do, God will be
with them.
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Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
Jesus left the district of
Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee ,
into the district of the Decapolis .
And people brought to him a
deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his
hand on him.
He took him off by himself
away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the
man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his
tongue;
then he looked up to heaven
and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be
opened!”)
And immediately the man’s
ears were opened,
his speech impediment was
removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell
anyone.
But the more he ordered them
not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly
astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and
the mute speak.”
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Commentary on Mk 7:31-37
Returning from his encounter with
the Syrophoenician woman, the Lord now heals the deaf mute. This action,
especially the wording of the final quote: “He has done all things well. He
makes the deaf hear and the mute speak,” which is a paraphrase from Isaiah 35:5-6, demonstrates
the fulfillment of prophecy.
The Lord’s actions are sacramental
in nature, that is, they accomplish what they signify. As the Lord takes the
man aside, he puts his fingers into the man’s mouth and ears. He then sighs or
groans ("he sighed: A sign either of his deep emotion over the
man's pitiful condition, or, as Lohmeyer believes, of Jesus' transcendence,
which is contained by human limits foreign to it." [4]), looking heavenward,
demonstrating his intimate relationship to the father, and says, “ephphatha!,”
or “be opened."
This passage has two unusual characteristics.
First, the Lord takes the man aside, in private, implying something private was
offered by the Messiah. Next, after his cure was effected, he tells the man not
to tell anyone. However, not only does the man continue to do so, but
proclaims it. We are given the sense that the event taking place is significant
in that it is pointedly revelatory, citing a new creation (cf Genesis 1:31).
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Reflection
The Gospel story of Jesus
healing the deaf mute gives us hope that all things are possible in Christ –
through our faith in him. It is clear
that the afflicted man had done nothing to merit the attention of Jesus. We are told that his friends brought him to
Jesus and made the request. The hope we
are given is that, if we encounter some distress in our lives, and if, in good
faith, we bring it to Jesus, he has the power to remove the pain, take care of
the problem. There is a catch in this
case.
If it were so simple to get
Jesus to intervene, there would be no sick; there would be no cancer or
polio. Faith in Jesus and a simple
request would have wiped all of those things out long ago. If Jesus were the “silver bullet” cure, the
word would have long ago spread, and every person with a serious illness would
have converted instantly and brought their request to the Lord.
So we ask, as do multitudes
of sufferers from various diseases or ailments, why is a miraculous cure not
possible? Why does God allow illness to
exist? While God was creating the human
race, why didn’t he just make us immortal?
If we chase that logic down to the final question, we can see that there
are problems. If no one ever died the
world would have long ago been “used up.”
If no one ever died, there would be no one but angels in the Kingdom of Heaven
Jesus cannot be a “silver
bullet,” but he can demonstrate the possibilities of loving him and having
faith in him. There are times, in order
to inspire us, that God, for his own purposes, intercedes in our lives. Miracles are real – they happen – and faith
generally plays a huge part in it. But
it is for God’s purpose not our own.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Saints Cyril and Methodius” Artist and Date are unknown.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New
American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were
developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 42:45, p. 38.
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