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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany

February 15, 2023

The Invitatory

The Lord has shown forth his glory. Come let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Reading: Mark 7:31-37

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones

During the first two summers of my law school education I was a District Court Commissioner. I gave bail hearings for those arrested in Baltimore. In those days women who were arrested were all held at one location. One afternoon I had reason to work there. There was one woman in the lock-up (jail) who seemed to warrant a mental illness evaluation and referral for treatment. I was taken to her cell and had begun a conversation with her, when she spit on me. I was, to say the least, shocked. Her irrational behavior and belligerent attitude convinced me that she needed to be evaluated and I recommended her for the referral. It took a while for me to recover from the shock. There is something abhorrent about being spat upon.

This passage from Mark is one of two in which Jesus spits upon a man in order to prompt healing. (See my meditation for February 10.) Employing spitting to effect a cure is rather unique in the Gospels. Placed in historical context, spitting was an expression of scorn. Given my experience, I wonder if this expression persists into the twentieth century. Jesus was spat upon at the time of his arrest. Spitting robs a person of honor through public humiliation. Interestingly, it was believed that saliva had therapeutic value. It would seem that its function was to promote healing with both the blind and the deaf man.

These two narrative miracle stories that form a pair are peculiar to the Gospel. In more modern literature the literary form came to be known as twice told tales, stories or accounts that are well known from repeated telling. Perhaps this is a new form being employed in Mark’s Gospel. Though there are distinct differences between the two narratives, it is hard to resist the possibility that these are twice told tales. So much of the language is the same. “They brought him and they begged him to lay his hand on him/ touch him, etc.” Jesus spits on both the blind and the deaf man. Acknowledging that one man is deaf and the other blind, the similarities in words are remarkable. Bear in mind that our vocabulary is limited when it comes to the rendering of a miracle story. That, of course, preserves its wonder. What is unique in the healing of the deaf man is that the healing takes place gradually. The second imposition of Jesus’ hands does not have a parallel in the Gospels.

Why two similar healing stories that occur so close together? Perhaps this question concerns the meaning of discipleship, not necessarily resolved in either story. It may be that Mark, anxious to see the truth of Jesus’ ministry, found a fragmentary account of the healing of the blind man to adapt to the healing of the deaf man. Or perhaps Mark anticipated the coming opposition to Jesus and his ministry and wanted to bolster others’ faith. I imagine it is a matter for our contemplation also. We must struggle with our own spiritual “disabilities’ of blindness and deafness and are in need of similar support.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

     hallowed be thy Name,

     thy kingdom come,

     thy will be done,

         on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

     as we forgive those

         who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

     but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

     and the power, and the glory,

     for ever and ever. Amen.