By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
Then Jesus looked up to heaven, gave a deep groan, and said to the man, “Ephphatha,”which means, “Open up!” At once the man was able to hear, his speech impediment was removed, and he began to talk without any trouble.
Mark 7:34-35
The past two weeks were quite a challenge to me due to an ENT condition. My ears were ringing and felt like pressurized when one is under water. The temporary discomfort affects the hearing but more on my disposition but gave me sense of deeper realization and appreciation of the beauty of life with all its God-given senses and body faculties. Thank God the problem in my ears are better after visits from as many ENT specialists. And as I read the gospel lesson for this week on the healing of a deaf-dumb person I have better understanding of these disabilities.
***
The itinerant healer-preacher is on the move again. Jesus and company passed through a territory near the ancient city of Tyre. Jesus did not want others to know he was around probably because he needed to rest. But he could not stay hidden. A woman with a demon-possessed daughter came before him pleading for Jesus intervention. Despite the woman’s unpopular status because of gender and ethnicity, of being a woman and a Gentile, she bravely brought her case to Jesus. Her persistence and faith released her daughter from evil-possession in a miraculous fashion! The healing happened even if the daughter was at home. This miraculous healing preludes another dumbfounding healing which took place in another community near the shore of Lake Galilee.
***
A man who was deaf and could hardly speak was brought to Jesus to restore the defective body organs. Jesus took the patient away in their lonesome and in a most dramatic way ‘put his fingers in the man’s ears, spat, and touched the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up to heaven, gave a deep groan, and said to the man, “Ephphatha,”which means, “Open up!” (Mark 7:33-34). At once the man was able to hear, his speech impediment was removed, and he began to talk without any trouble.
***
Looking around us today, in some sense, being deaf and mute has some natural advantages. Persons with these infirmities or physical disabilities did not have to hear on TV and radio about the government’s shameless corruptions and incompetence of not providing enough rice for the Filipino people and feel sick about it. They did not have to listen to lies and stupidities of the president’s spokespersons, government officials, and politicians about the problems of the whole nation; the long winded sermons of pastors, priests, and bishops that only them can understand; the noise that the neighborhood karaoke produces; the gossips in the streets; and the curses and foul-mouthed highest leader of the land.
Dumb persons need not lie, speak ill of others or concoct stories against the others to assassinate their characters. Conversely, having gifted the sense of hearing and tool of speaking, we should use such tools to the optimum for the benefit of those in need especially those living in the margins. More often than not we chose to be ensconced in our comfort zones and preferred convenience than service and sacrifice albeit sacrifice and service are the seal and zeal of Christ’s followers and disciples. We take for granted our ability to hear and speak, but both gifts are meant for a purpose even greater than human communication. In a deeper sense, they are our means of listening to God and speaking his word. Truth is, what we hear and what we say determine to a great extent what we do and they make us the persons we are.
***
Taking this reality of deaf-dumb affliction to the whole of human existence it can be seen as the plight of the whole human race. It is about us in so far as we refuse to listen to what God is saying to us and act upon it. We all need the healing hand of Jesus Christ to make us hear and speak the message of God properly. This reminds me of the token given to Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio when he came over last week as speaker on West Philippine Sea Issue sponsored by the Ecumenical Wednesday Forum at the UCCP Baguio Burnham Church. It was a wood carving of the three monkeys of ‘hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil’. It amazes at the same time amuses me of the meaning and symbolism it convey relative to the issues churning in the Philippine justice system and the whole society wherein authorities who are supposed to be on the vanguards preferred the conveniences of the three monkeys.
***
We all need the healing hand of Jesus to remove deafness and dumbness from our being so that we can make full use of these faculties. We can be deaf and dumb just like the man in the story because we ignore or refuse to give a listening ear to the lonely, the troubled and those worried and crying out in the margins of society. We can also have the speaking problems to our friends and neighbors due to simple misunderstanding deepened due to envy and pride.
***
We can learn a profound lesson for our faith journey from this story aside from Jesus as a wonderful healer. The lesson is that the greatest tragedy of all is not to be born deaf and dumb, but to have ears and fail to hear and to have tongues and fail to speak. We are the deaf and dumb who need to be brought to Jesus for his healing touch, which brings communication where there are silences, companionship where there is loneliness, and encouragement where there is despair.
***
Singer-composer Freddie Aguilar captured to lyrics and music the other side of this reality of human incapabilities in his song Bulag, Pipi, at Bingi:
Sa bawat yugto ng buhay, may wasto at may mali
Sa bawat nilalang ay may bulag, may pipi at may bingi
Madilim ang ‘yong paligid, hating-gabing walang hanggan
Anyo at kulay ng mundo sa ‘yo’y pinagkaitan
H’wag mabahala, kaibigan, isinilang ka mang ganyan
Isang bulag sa kamunduhan, ligtas ka sa kasalanan
‘Di nalalayo sa ‘yo ang tunay na mundo
Marami sa ami’y nabubuhay nang tulad mo
‘Di makita, ‘di madinig, minsa’y nauutal
Patungo sa hinahangad na buhay na banal
Ibigin mo mang umawit, hindi mo makuhang gawin
Sigaw ng puso’t damdamin wala sa ‘yong pumapansin
Sampung daliri, kaibigan, d’yan ka nila pakikinggan
Pipi ka man nang isinilang, dakila ka sa sinuman
Ano sa ‘yo ang musika, sa ‘yo ba’y mahalaga
Matahimik mong paligid, awitan ay ‘di madinig
Mapalad ka, o kaibigan, napakaingay ng mundo
Sa isang binging katulad mo, walang daing, walang gulo
