Be Opened

23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Mk 7:31-37

September 8, 2024

It may seem silly to ask a six-year-old to have life goals, but his dad had laid down a challenge: Learn to “pump” on the swing set by yourself before the end of summer. Like any six-year-old, he likes to be outside and play. All the better if he can play with his brother or cousins. And what better place to play than on the swing set? But if you need someone to push you to get started, and no one is around, it is a lonely place to be.

So, after months of interruption, procrastination, and hesitation, on the last day of summer, he was so proud to show off how he could “pump.” His dad said, he should have made the goal July 4th.

Being open to new ideas can be hard. It really doesn’t matter if you are six years old, forty-six years old, or eighty-six years old. I like doing what I’m doing, thank you very much, and I shall continue to do so. The way I do things suits me just fine, and I intend to continue to do it that way. Period.

Jesus encountered a lot of this kind of thinking. Today’s Gospel shows us the story of Jesus telling a deaf man to “Be Open!” If I read the Gospel literally, it’s about spit and ears. If I read the Gospel with God’s heart, however, I hear our God imploring me to open my mind and heart to all of God’s wonderous possibilities.

Let’s be honest. Christ did not incarnate himself to play in the mud. Jesus came to show me a better way to live. It’s a better way because it’s not rooted in right or wrong, good or evil. It’s a life rooted in total acceptance of everyone, showing “no partiality” as it says in the Letter from James. It’s a life of service to the marginalized.

It’s a challenge to society to treat everyone with equality and respect, regardless of their social status, country of birth, skin tone, gender, age, and all other factors that led to the othering of human beings. It’s a life of being open to see each and every person as a child of God, just as I want to be seen likewise.

I know this won’t be easy. Every morning, I wake up and tell myself (and God), today is the day when I’m going to nail this task called life. And every evening, I go to sleep asking forgiveness for the many opportunities I squandered to be Christ to someone.

But I am determined to “be strong, [and] fear not! Here is [my] God.{Is 35:4} Knowing that I have God dwelling in my soul, gives me the courage to face each day anew. With an open mind and an open heart, I will try to see as God sees. I will try my very best to do as Jesus did. And in those far too frequent moments when my heart closes, instead of opens to the other person, I will remember Jesus proclaiming, “Ephphatha!”— “Be opened!”

Every Day.

© 2024 by Timothy J. Doppel

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