Last week, I was at the local Catholic school for a meeting.  While I was waiting for the meeting to begin, one of the primary grades paraded down the hallway on their way to lunch.  One little guy raised a fist in which he had clenched a dollar bill.  He announced proudly, “I have a dollar!” 

At age six or seven, having a dollar to crumple in one’s hand is surely reason to celebrate, but I suspected that there might be some underlying motivation for his joyous announcement.  I asked what he was going to do with his dollar, and he responded, “I’m going to buy ice cream!”  “Of course,” I said, “ice cream is always the wise choice.” 

In today’s Gospel reading, the Gospel author tells a story about Jesus healing a deaf man with a speech impediment and, like the primary student with a dollar for ice cream, the author had an underlying motivation that explains the meaning of the story. 

Faith healing similar to Jesus’ miracles was common in the ancient world.  In the absence of effective medical interventions, people were willing to do almost anything to find relief from their physical and emotional maladies.  Faith healing in the ancient world often involved physical gestures and mystical words like we see in the Gospel reading, but it rarely produced the desired results. 

Jesus followed the accepted pattern of faith healing, with two notable exceptions.  Jesus touched the man’s deaf ears and spat on his inarticulate tongue; then, he spoke a command in Aramaic.  So far, his performance would have been familiar to his audience.   

Surprisingly, the man was healed immediately; this would have been uncommon, even unheard-of, at the time.  Then, Jesus did a very strange thing; he commanded the man not to talk about how he had been healed.  Whereas most faith healers would have welcomed the attention and free advertising, Jesus avoided self-promotion. 

Jesus’ unwillingness to impress the crowds was an expression of two central aspects of his ministry.  First, he knew how easy it would be for people to misunderstand him; for that reason, he did not draw attention to his divine nature until he hung on the Cross.  Second, there was an underlying motivation for his miracles; he intended his miracles to proclaim in actions the same announcement he proclaimed in words, namely, that God was accomplishing what God had promised in the Scriptures. 

Today’s first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, is one of the many examples of God’s promise to redeem God’s People from their suffering and shame.  Isaiah said, “Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.” (Isa. 35:4)  Then, the prophet lists some of the signs that will accompany God’s vindication: the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the lame will walk.  Jesus’ miracles provided the prophetic signs of healing, and his preaching announced the proximity of God’s vindication. 

Prior to his encounter with Jesus, the deaf and mute man could neither hear nor speak clearly.  In his encounter with Jesus, he was able to hear Jesus’ call and respond to Jesus’ commands.  In this miraculous cure, the Gospel author portrays Jesus as exercising Divine power to open people’s hearts and minds to the meaning of God’s saving word.  The Gospel author was motivated by an underlying expectation much like the underlying expectation of the young student looking forward to ice cream at lunch.  The Gospel author expected his church community to give their full attention to God’s word. 

Sometimes, I get the impression that Mass attendees perceive the Scripture readings at Mass as a task to be checked on a list, that is, something perfunctory but not valuable.  The Scripture readings provided for Sunday Liturgy don’t function to fill up time and space before we get down to the business of receiving Holy Communion and going home.  Rather, the Scripture readings are integral to receiving Holy Communion.   

The Scriptures instruct us about the identity and mission of the Savior whom we receive in the Eucharist.  In the absence of this instruction, our faith is not merely blind faith, it is deaf and mute faith, as well. 

Today, we are both the intended audience for Jesus’ words and the intended recipients of his healing power.  We remain outside his reach until we learn to hear God’s word in the Scriptures; for that reason, giving our full attention to God’s word in the Scriptures is always the wise choice.