A sermon on Mark 7:31-37

By Fr. Mike Paraniuk
St. Mary Catholic Church
St. Benignus Catholic Church 
St. Mary Queen of Heaven
and Holy Trinity Catholic Church

Long before Amazon came to be, there were the peddlers who roamed the streets of Greece 800 years before Jesus was born. These peddlers pushed their carts loaded with all types of items from toys to tools and pottery to papyrus. The peddlers would walk the streets yelling out, "What do you need?" 

Then, curious children and their moms would come to the peddler to see if they needed something he was selling. 

Jesus was like the Divine Peddler whom people rushed to in time of need. "And people brought to him (Jesus) a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him." (Mark 7:32.) 

There are two things about this healing that reveals God's great love. 

Jesus touched this man's tongue with his fingers. The human tongue is very dirty, harboring 500 different types of bacteria. Touching another's tongue is pretty gross. Jesus could have healed this man in a cleaner way, but He chose to put his finger into this man's dirty mouth. 

Why did Jesus heal this way? I believe Jesus was showing that God is not afraid to touch the dirtiest part of our lives with his unconditional compassion. God is willing to walk into the dirt of our sin not to condemn but to clean. God's compassion moves Him to embrace you even when you stink. Remember what the father did when he first caught site of his Prodigal Son? "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him." (Luke 15:20.) 

I seriously doubt the son took a bath to wash off the pig poop that stained his clothes. If no one gave him food, I doubt they gave him water. Did the father care his son stunk not just from pig slop but from his disloyalty? Nope. The father was too busy celebrating his son's return to notice the smell. I define God's unconditional compassion in this way. God opens His Heart to me the most when I deserve it the least. 

Jesus reveals God's great love again in Mark 7:34 "And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!,” (which means, “Be opened!”)." 

Mark uses the word "stenazo," which translates as a "groan." It is a deep sigh that comes from feeling the hurt or pain of another. The deaf mute felt pain from his birth. He was made fun of, rejected and unwanted. The unconditional compassion of Jesus embraced this man intimately because he suffered. Jesus personally removed his suffering.

The closest I have come to understand God's unconditional compassion is when I ministered to a man at the Care Unit that treated the drug addicted. He was a gifted, intelligent man who could have had a bright future except for his heroin addiction that messed up his life over and over again. The reason for his addiction was not just physical but spiritual. He could not accept that God loved him. He had done so many bad things he despaired of God's forgiveness. He used to joke that if he ever entered a church the walls would fall on him. I tried so hard to help him "look up to heaven" and see a compassionate God who forgives everything. I often told him, "The Blood of Jesus washes away even the worst sin."

Sadly, he could not embrace God's Grace.

I lost track of him for several years until one day I received a call from a hospital. A man had requested to see me, but no name was given. I walked into the room and there he was. He contracted HIV/ AIDS from a dirty needle. I gowned up, put on a mask and sat by his side. I looked at his emaciated body covered with sores. He asked for the Last Rites. I sighed from frustration. This didn't have to be. If he could only have believed in God's love for him, he would have found recovery. He didn't have to get AIDS.

I applied the Holy Oil using thick blue gloves which were used in the 1980s when near an AIDS patient. People at that time thought AIDS could be acquired by touch or breathing. After finishing the rites, he did something that frightened me. He reached out his arms for a hug. At first, I panicked. I didn't want to get AIDS. But could I preach how much God loved him if I didn't show God's love to him? I held my breath, reached into the bed and embraced him.

He said, "No one has touched me in a long time." 

I replied, "God's been trying to touch you for a long time. He's happy you finally touched Him back."

The hospital informed me he passed soon after our visit. I sighed again, not from frustration but from relief. He found out the walls of Heaven didn't fall on him. May you have the unconditional compassion of Jesus. Relieve suffering wherever you find it.