Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Deacon's Bench

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Homily for September 9, 2012: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homily for September 9, 2012: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last updated on: September 8, 2011 at 10:48 am by Deacon Greg Kandra

Homily for September 9, 2012: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2011-09-08T10:48:55-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

[Click here for readings]

Reading this miracle story in Mark’s gospel this week, the first person I thought of was Sarah Churman.

Sarah Churman was born 30 years ago completely deaf. All she could hear was something that sounded like a chain saw. Hearing aids didn’t help, but she was sensitive to vibrations. If someone wanted her attention, and she couldn’t see them, they’d have to stomp on the floor. In time, she managed to learn how to read lips, and even learned how to speak.

As the years went on, Sarah fell in love, married, had children—and she lived her life in a cone of silence.

But all that changed in the summer of 2011. When she was 29, Sarah had a cochlear implant—an electronic device implanted surgically in her ear that could, if it worked, finally bring her the gift of sound.

The operation had risks. Among other things, there was no telling how Sarah might react to having her life suddenly saturated with sound. Some find the results disturbing. But she decided it was worth it, and went ahead with the operation.

Eight weeks after the surgery, she went to the doctor to have the implant turned on for the first time. Her husband thought it might be a moment to remember, so he brought along his video camera to record it. He later downloaded it onto YouTube, which is where I saw it. It’s only 90 seconds long, but what he captured is just extraordinary.

Sarah sits with a woman technician, who adjusts a device near her ear, and then turns on the implant.

“It’s beeping,” Sarah says, and she laughs.

“That means your device is on,” the technician says. “Can you tell?”

And Sarah nods. She begins to laugh nervously.

But then something happens. You realize: she can’t quite believe it. Thirty years of silence have been broken. For the first time ever, she’s hearing things, small things, little noises. A chair squeaking, papers rustling. Breathing. Laughing. The emotion is overwhelming. Her hand flies up to her mouth and she begins to cry. The technician tries to reassure her, “But it’s exciting,”she says, and Sarah nods.

The technician tells her to try and get used to the sound, and then asks Sarah what it sounds like.

There’s a long moment of silence as Sarah covers her face with her hands. She can’t stop crying, and she can’t quite put it into words.

“Do you hear yourself?,” the technician says. “Yes,” Sarah replies. And then, with an embarrassed laugh, she admits: “But I don’t want to hear myself cry.”

That moment on YouTube created a sensation. Nearly 14 million people have watched it so far, and Sarah has interviewed extensively on radio and TV. One of those who spoke with her at length was Dick Gordon on Public Radio. And she told him it was a shock. There’s an element of comfort, she said, to waking up every morning, knowing what to expect. Change, she said, is hard. Her husband took her to the Outback steakhouse afterward, she said, and the sensation of biting into a crouton in a salad, hearing it crunch, was like an earthquake.

She described the morning after, being in the kitchen, and hearing for the first time her children playing and fighting, like kids do. And she sat on the kitchen floor and just bawled. Her husband came in and asked if she was all right.

She said yes, but asked, “Have they always sounded like this?” He told her yeah, that’s pretty much what they sound like all the time. And she kept on crying and said it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Sarah also talked about the moment she knew everything had changed, the instant she could hear.

“Before anyone spoke,” she said, “before I moved, before I breathed or swallowed, there was just complete silence and clarity.”

I imagine the deaf man in the gospel may have experienced something similar—but with one important difference.

Science didn’t give him sound, or give him speech.

It was Jesus. It was an encounter with the living God.

Because Jesus touched him, shared his humanity with him—even shared his spit with him—the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was freed.

“Here is your God,” Isaiah writes. “He comes to save you… Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared…”

Here is your God.

Here is our salvation, told in the story of one man—a story so amazing that the people who witnessed it just couldn’t keep to themselves. That deaf man’s name has been lost to history—though millions, if not billions, know his story.

Whether we realize it or not, his story is our story.

To all of us who feel isolated, cut off, living in a cone of silence…Christ reaches out.

To all of us who feel lonely or different, damaged or confused, to all of us who struggle to understand…Christ bends down and touches us.

To all of us who have closed ourselves off from love, from change, from the possibility of miracles…Christ calls out:

Ephatha!

Be opened.

This miracle teaches us that an encounter with Christ brings something we all need, something Sarah Churman experienced in her first seconds in the hearing world: clarity. It brings understanding. What was muffled becomes clear. Everything suddenly make sense!

And after letting Christ into our lives, we are finally able to express something that could never quite put into words.

We are made new.

So, with this miracle on our minds, we ask ourselves: what does this gospel say about us? What kind of deafness hangs over us?

Do we tune out what God is telling us, and listen instead to the chattering and droning of the world around us?

And: how is our speech impaired? Do we muddle the gospel message? All too often, we don’t speak it plainly, or live it plainly. We compromise. We hedge. We make excuses. We sin.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

As Sarah Churman explained, change is hard. We can become comfortable in the midst of our own deafness – whether physical or spiritual.

But Christ calls out to each of us: Ephatha! Be opened!

Let the walls come down.

Let Jesus in.

Because if we do… the result may be nothing short of a miracle.

Homilies

Previous Post

September 8, 2011

"Faithful Citizenship"? What's that?

Next Post

September 8, 2011 Remembering 9/11: "Love is more powerful than hate"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Mad Men" 9/11 advent All Things New Amazing video amazing videos amazon america Anglicans Anti-Catholicism art ascension thursday ash wednesday Atheists baltimore Bible Bishops Blogging bonnie engstrom Books bridgeport Brooklyn Chaplains children christian art christmas Church Churches CNEWA Converts criticism Deacons Death Penalty easter eastern christian Eastern Christians Ecumenism Education education Eucharist Europe euthanasia Evangelization Exorcism Family Feasts Gay rights Good Friday Great links Great Moments in Journalism Hanging with the saints heather renshaw Hispanic Catholics Hispanics History homelies Homilies Humor Hymn of the Week Immigration indianapolis Inspiration Interfaith news ireland Jesus Jews Journalism Judaism lent Liturgy logos Marriage Mary Media Medical news Mental health Middle East Monks Movies Music Muslims My world and welcome to it New Evangelization new york News Nuns Parenting Parish life peoria Persecution politics Politics Pope pope francis pope john paul Prayer Preaching Priests Pro-life Quote of the day radio rebecca frech ripp Ripped from the headlines rippred from the headlines Sacraments saints Scripture sex abuse Sex abuse crisis SEX ABUSE CRISIS TAGGED WITH: SEX ABUSE CRISIS The people in the pews the visitation project theatre This & that Thomas Merton Trappists TV Uncategorized uncategorized Vatican VATICAN vocation Vocations Voices & Views Women Worth a thousand words Writing Year of Faith year of mercy young people

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was sold into slavery by his brothers?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judah Benjamin Dan Joseph

Books by This Author Books by Deacon Greg Kandra

See All Titles »