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▼Text of Gospel from Last Week, leading into Text of Gospel Today: Sept. 8
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with ceremonially unclean, that is, unwashed, hands, they questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. For the Pharisees did not eat without carefully washing their hands, without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups, jugs, kettles and such. —Next, 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. [Mark 7]
Today’s Gospel and last weekend’s one reminds me of what we Catholics believe in about Christ Jesus—that He is the Sacrament of God. He is The Living Sign of God among us, Who came in flesh and blood, while also being Divine (though His divinity was not obvious outside of His miracles—or as the Scripture says “a divinity not to be grasped at” or “possess and equality with God, but not to be used by Jesus as something to His own advantage or to be exploited.”)
He used baptism for a Sacrament sign for how to pass on His forgiveness. It was a ritual practiced by his precursor John the Baptist to indicate a new reform in one’s life, but Jesus adopted it and used it for a real reform for humanity, to become one with Jesus’ Mercy, really—not just symbolically. It was to be using the sign of water, and the prayer for His participation in the act—and you have a Sacrament-ministry encounter with God in Christ.
Even on the more basic level, Jesus offers a healing action to poor sick persons by using his own spittle and saliva from his mouth, to give a deaf man his hearing back. This is the Decapolis region, no—not Annapolis—but the 10 cities region called the Decapolis. In another case, Jesus takes dirt and spittle and rubs it on a person’s blind eyes, and uses it to make the person really see again.
These are real accounts of God among us in Christ Jesus.
There is not something specific of how much dirt or spittle He used, nor whether a baptized person was to be dunked or have water poured over them or sprinkled on them, nor of how many times.
The First Church recognized that Jesus asked for the formula of baptizing in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—so we turned it into three water pourings or immersions for a Baptism Sacrament. The recipient receives mercy to their sinful heart and a change for it to house the Spirit of Christ from now on—in this Sacrament used.
The important aspect of it all was that the Living Jesus is doing a healing or even fundamentally a conversion action by these ordained manners. Water, and sometimes oil, which is put on a person, is done for His communication of Grace in time of a divine action. It helps mark the occasion. The Lord likes to use signs. He uses simple signs, too.
I recalls James chapter 5 which has the apostle instruct his First Century Church to have a seriously sick person to call for the priest to lay on hands in Christ’ Name—praying in his Holy Orders and the passed-on ministry of Christ the Priest—and then for him to apply oil and pray for healing or deliverance to the person in this life into the peace and comfort of God.
It is using the elements that God has made… which He wants as applied as a sign of a special time of His encounter with us, to keep saving and keep healing His people, using His own Church and people for extending on His work. Thus, we can make some sense of this gospel account of Jesus helping a deaf man to hear. It is also an example which can be used in a baptism of a new believer, with just prayers made and a touch to the ears that this person may not be deaf to the Gospel, but rather hear it well.
We Catholics believe in Christ Jesus as the Sacrament-Encounter-God. Most Christians don’t or else they only agree just in the baptism one. They won’t call it sacrament, though, and sometimes they want to change it up. Some Pentecostals don’t focus on the baptism action of grace but more upon whether a person will speak in tongues, a holy language of unknown words to the believer to start uttering without knowledgeable effort. We Catholics don’t wait for that babbling sign to confirm that Christ has come.
Another baptism dispute that will divide some Christians from us Catholics (and historical Christianity of the ages) is over pastors who insist on only full immersion baptisms as the only “real” baptisms. Their insistence or demands for going under are over-blown, but for the ages of Christian faith other pouring methods have been always quite orthodox, valid and faithful to Christ Jesus. Sometimes we will do a full-immersion one, upon request, but not because it is the only right method. The action of Christ and His Grace does not insist on a person going ‘neath the waters, but just that His Grace is asked for in the baptism action. Jesus also asked that it be done in the Name of the Holy Trinity. We pour the waters three times to be sure to name all Three Persons in the Rite. Yet some fundamentalist Christian pastors insisting on their use of pools or actual dunking tanks as to where and how to baptize a person—or even only upon using a river, pond or lake for the dramatic task of fully putting a person underwater.
Last weekend in this Mark 7 Gospel account we heard of the over-insistence of the Pharisees on ritual-washing methods, so I remind you of that. The Pharisees were wrong to tell Jesus what to do otherwise and to tell Him about what holiness looks like.
In this episode of Mark 7, some people don’t get it that Jesus could simply use His spittle for a miracle, not having to produce some grand gesture or dramatic work. The key was that Jesus was the One working the work. He brings the healing or conversion. Some churches today seek all the special effects. God does not need it, really.
His grace outpoured is given on His terms, not ours. Some Christians outside of Catholicism want to improve or dramatize the works of The Lord. That’s not needed. Jesus also lays out what He wants. He is the One Who said “Let the little children come unto Me, for to them belong the kingdom of God, too.” Thus, we do Catholic baptism of children and infants. We do household baptisms, as well, when a whole family comes into faith. It was done so in the ministry of Christ and the apostles, at it continues today. Other churches stand in opposition to baptism of children. Maybe they forget that Grace is God’s free gift and it’s given by One Who came among us as a babe and child first, before His adult ministry revelation.
Back to the dunking bit, according to even the Jewish Encyclopedia, the baptismal washing of hands (of ancient times) could be performed either by pouring or immersion; so the fundamentalist Christians who insist only on immersion baptism cleaning ignore this clear background of Jewish practice of cleansing. It can be immersion or pouring over cleaning. Scripture says of Elisha that he poured water (2 Kings 3:11) upon the hands of Elijah, meaning that he was washed to be his disciple. In the Old Testament, too, hands also could be purified by immersion; even while there also was an immersion of the entire body in a regular ritual “mikweh” bath of the Jews. Yet Baptism brings the inner cleansing and renewal that humanity so greatly seeks out in goodness.
A pastor insisted that all converts to be must be plunged. So I asked, plunged by Christ into His mercy, or plunged by you far into the waters? If by you, then just how deep should you go to be effective?! Why not go to the Acapulco Cliffs for a dive off of it of pastor and the converting sinner—I’ve hear that its 41 meters of a dive!
But Christ has taken us and plunged us into His Grace in the Sacrament—isn’t that the depth we are looking for? In Micah 7 the prophet of old forecasts what our Messiah/Deliverer/Savior would do: “Who is a God like you, who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our iniquities? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins! (Micah 7:18-19)
Baptism in the Lord has emphasis on the work of Christ in it, and of our following in it as He asked for. We are brought into union with Him Who once was baptized in the Jordan, then months later died on the Cross to save sinners. We don’t need to get to the Jordan, nor be put on a Cross in Jerusalem for salvation—He brings it to us and in a Holy Sacrament instituted by Him to give out this grace. He instructed His Church on what to do and how to do it in His pleasure, that is, in baptism, and we are still doing it. Baptism enters one’s life into Christ, leading to other Sacraments.
In healing work, too, it is not in the dramatics and how a prayer is done but it is in Who is prayed to— Our Lord Jesus Christ—and for faith to be exercised and trust put into His Name and Good Will. Borrowing from Jesus’ simple act in healing the deaf man, a healing minister called to serve Christ the Healer can just simply stand in front of a person in need and say:
In the Name of Christ Jesus the Lord, be healed. Confess your need to Him, O friend, and in all humility just wait upon His answer, for He loves you. God be glorified here. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
It is that simple. We present ourselves to God in our needs. Lord have mercy and compassion on us, who cry out to You. Amen.
Years ago I had someone invite me to Constitution Hall for a Healing Service by some named minister. There was much dramatics, and a cost for the attendance, and many appeals for other ‘donations’ for God’s work. I realized that much of it was out of line. I won’t go to those things any more.
On the other hand, I once heard of a minister that received a big healing of God and just needed expenses for meal and lodging to come share their testimony to our parish. He had other medical needs and costs going on in his life, but he just wanted clearly to get some basic help getting the Gospel message out and to stoke faith in people for their own healing. There was not any dramatics or money appeals or such—just a traveler in Christ showing you how The Lord is trustworthy and good. I brought him to St. Edward parish in the 2000’s and to this parish in the 2020’s— Brian Pusateri. His ragamuffin approach was great. It was in the spirit of today’s gospel and the healing in the Decapolis account. Simple. Moving. All centered on God.
Much of our Sacrament Life in the Church is down to earth like Jesus did before in the Word account. He is the same Lord today. His is the God and man approach, the works Giver Who is meeting people of faith open to His care, who aren’t putting conditions on Him, or looking only to a magical, convenient sign from God to serve them, the center of attention. Sacraments are experiences of the Kingdom of God among us, and hoping to live in communion with God, hoping for healing—Say but the Word, Lord, and your servant shall be healed.