Summary

             When Jesus healed the man who was deaf, he also restored him to wholeness, to his community and to relationship with God. God’s surprising grace comes into our lives as well, restoring us in ways that we never expected.

Rejoining the Conversation

            David Worlobah does mission work among the deaf in Liberia. At his school, he teaches sign language and job skills to deaf students. In addition to working directly with the students, he seeks to change attitudes in the surrounding area. In that society, persons with disabilities are considered of little value. He makes the poignant observation that until beginning studies at his school, many of his students did not realize that they had names. Their deafness deprived them of the pleasures of hearing, the esteem of their culture, the opportunity to work and feel productive and even their identity.

            We should be careful about stories like this one. Worlobah reminds us of our ministry to persons who are hearing impaired. He reminds us of the cost that hearing loss can impose on people. He reminds us that we have a prophetic ministry in the church to speak out for those who face hurtful attitudes. Nevertheless, we must be careful in our attitudes toward persons with disabilities. It is condescending to see them only as objects of pity. They have a contribution to make to all of us. We should be careful even about admiring their courage, as though any accomplishment at all might be remarkable. As much as possible, we should see persons with disabilities in all of their humanity, living in interdependence with the rest of us. We should do all we can to enable them to live that way, remembering what they have to contribute to us and to teach us.

            With that in mind, we see in his poignant reminder of the deprivation that deafness can cause the important affirmation that God’s creation is good but not all that God wants it to be. God wants a creation that exists in peace and wholeness. In the violence around us, and even within our own bodies, we can see that God’s creation does not exist in wholeness.

Healing the deaf man

            Mark’s gospel shows us that Jesus came to bring God’s kingdom near. When God’s kingdom comes in its fullness, the creation will be restored to the peace God wills for it. Jesus’ healings are part of the breaking forth of that kingdom. Jesus’ healings enable us to see and experience that incursion of something new, moving toward the fullness of God’s kingdom.

            Here in Mark 7, Jesus engages in an enabling ministry. This is the only account in all of scripture of the healing of a person who is deaf. The biblical authors preserved several accounts of persons with crippling conditions or blindness being healed, but this is the only account of a deaf person hearing again. The problems encountered by deaf people in contemporary society can be daunting; in the ancient world they would have been even more severe. Hearing loss deprived persons of conversation, the enjoyment of music, participation in community life. Literacy rates were low, sign language had not been invented and any gestures would have been rudimentary. That was the reality of the ancient world.

            As we think about what scripture teaches on the subject of hearing, we begin to see just how significant this healing story is. In Hebrew, the word for “hear” also meant “obey.” The assumption was that really to hear God’s word was to begin to obey it. One of the most important Old Testament verses for Israelite faith was Deuteronomy 6:4, often called the Shema, from the word for hear: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” The key to understanding the faith of the community began with hearing. In the contemporary church we would never say that hearing-impaired persons were without faith, but in the ancient world, everyone assumed that faith began with hearing. So when Jesus healed this man, he also restored him to wholeness, to his community and to relationship with God.

The reality of hearing loss

            One way we can look at this story is to see our responsibility toward persons who are hearing impaired. We can learn what David Worlobah has learned. He has found joy in his mission work. He declares that he sees grace in the lives of his students, “Every time I see their faces, I see happiness, good future and God’s unconditional love.” We can engage in enabling ministries that free others and bring us blessings.

            We are not just called to ministry with others by this story in Mark. We do not have to stand apart from this deaf man in the narrative and look at our ministry to him. We need the ministry of Jesus as well. We can see what the deaf man has to teach us about our own lives. We share some things in common with him. In certain ways, we can stand in his shoes.

            We will likely not face blindness or paralysis. As we become older, though, many of us will face the loss of our hearing. Conversations will become dimmer. We will miss more and more words. Sounds will not be as clear. We have the benefit of technology and reading, so that we will not face the hardships the man in the passage faced. Still, many of us will face the reality of hearing loss. Pastors sit in the living rooms of older parishioners. We listen to their heartfelt anguish over skipping church because it is too embarrassing to ask people over and over to repeat themselves.

            Just as the man in this narrative, we worship a God who offers grace. Even if we do not experience a sudden and complete healing of deafness, we worship a God who loves us despite our conditions. We worship a God who has inspired technology to help the deaf. We worship a God who desires wholeness for us, and promises us a resurrection body that is whole and sound, so that we are not cut off from others. If we face the reality of hearing loss, we are not alone. We worship a God who will give us the strength to accept what is and to continue to live in faith.

            Even if our ears work perfectly, we are sometimes cut off from those we wish to be in relationship with. Shyness might keep us from speaking to someone we want to get to know. Sometimes we just cannot find the words to say, even to those who are closest to us. We may love someone deeply, but not know how to tell them. It is easy to see the sad irony of our day. We have computers, cell phones and Blackberrys, but we still can’t say what is on our hearts. We have Facebook, but we too often don’t know how to be real friends with people. We are all more alike than different, but we can’t get past differences like skin color and culture to forge bonds with people who have much to offer us. Even with acute hearing we can feel isolated and lonely.

Surprised by grace

            We share with the man in this story the reality that Jesus surprises us with grace. If the man was deaf, he likely could not communicate with the people who brought him to Jesus. An anonymous “they” bring the man to Jesus. Our best assumption is that they could not tell him where they were taking him and what Jesus could do for him. As they took him to Jesus, he perhaps was even anxious about what might happen. “They” spoke to Jesus on the man’s behalf. He likely did not realize until it happened that he would regain his hearing and ability to speak.

            What a rush of joy that would feel like to us. We do not always know how the risen Christ will change us, bless us, restore us. Christ can surprise us with joy when we are at our lowest point. Christ can show us a way when we think we are blocked off. Christ can bring someone into our lives when we think we face nothing but loneliness. Christ can give us the words to say to someone when we just can’t seem to get our mouths to work. This story is not just about those who are physically deaf; it is also about us and the surprising grace that comes into our lives in ways that we never expected.

            Those who saw this healing proclaimed that Jesus does all things well. That language echoes the creation story, when God declared that the creation was good. Jesus was helping one deaf man, but he was also restoring the creation to what God intended, to its goodness. For those who bear up under disability and for all of us in our loneliness, our inability to make connections with others the way we wish, God has brought the kingdom near. Let us be open to the surprising ways that we might experience the incursion of that kingdom.