In
this morning’s Gospel as Jesus heals the deaf and speech-impaired man, we watch as grace intrudes, amazing grace, mercy in abundance expressed in the infinitely
tender touch of Jesus. Jesus is God’s word in opposition to all sickness and
evil and pain. Jesus enfleshes the words of the prophet Isaiah from the
First Reading: “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God; he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to
save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf
unstopped…then the tongue of the mute will sing.” This morning these words are fulfilled in our hearing . The Kingdom is now, here among us in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
He
reverses and restores, breaking through dead ends with hope and the promise of
a new way through. This is what Jesus wants, this constant eruption of the
Kingdom. Jesus’ healing restores this man to his family, his kinsfolk, and his
friends. He is no longer isolated by his malady. Jesus gives this man back to
ordinariness. He will be able to hear a friend say hello, hear her laugh; hear
a breeze blow through the trees. He will at last be able to speak clearly, tell
someone a story; whisper I love you. He can simply blend in again. Jesus has
given this man back to ordinariness, blessed ordinariness. It is after all
where he always comes to meet us.
God
only wants to be ordinary. It is why Jesus has come, God with us, near us, in
us. The ordinary is charged forever with his kind, incessant presence. God longs
to be ordinary, not taken for granted, but here, always here with us. Why else
would he choose to be a child, why else a small town carpenter and a wandering teacher?
Why else allow himself to be done in by thugs and jealous bureaucrats? Why else
choose to be hidden in a morsel of bread on our altar?
Excerpts
from this morning’s homily.
