Why the secrecy? Sunday readings 23rd B (Y-not question the Sunday Readings)

Thanks for that CathyT.
Perhaps Jesus didn't wish to become popular as a physical healer.That's one reason to keep the secret?! He came after all as a spiritual one?!
He did perform the physical miracles to establish his credibility as a spiritual leader, I feel.But naturally people want physical healing primarily.
He was trying to open the spiritual, hearts, ears and eyes more than the physical ones?!
Just trying to discern.
georgeh

Cathy, thank you for your insights.
The saying you used; “let your presence be your present” to me is very relevant.

I learnt today that this miracle story only appears in Mark’s gospel.
Mark must have had a specific purpose to include it.
Was he emphasising that perhaps the disciples had not yet understood what Jesus was really on about?
Was he suggesting that the disciples had not yet heard the real message?
Is that why he wrote that Jesus told them not to spread the story of ‘miracles’? - Because that was a misunderstanding of the real message?

When we apply that message to our world it would seem to be very pointedly relevant and accurate.
Are our ears open to the real message?
And if they are, are our tongues loosened to proclaim that message?
Whatever the distractions might be, it seems rather obvious that today real people have been silenced and do not speak.
Incredibly enough it is the often extremist ‘twitterers’ who are listened to and quoted by the media. If a view isn’t extreme it is boring and not worth reporting. It kills ratings and readership.
We need to be courageous and gutsy to regain the power of speech and proclaim the answers that Jesus teaches us to attain the ‘reign of God’, to strive for a world that is characterised by fairness, justice, compassion and selflessness.
Do we spend our Christian lives staying voluntarily deaf and dumb?
And yet we do know that Christ’s message is such ‘Good News’ that we should all be wanting to tell it enthusiastically.
Do we suffer from deliberate selective deafness and dumbness?
My gut feeling is that this is probably true, although I recognise that we are faced with incredible hurdles and obstacles that are put in place by the massive distractions presented by modern media and culture, but also by the incredibly conservative ‘voice of Church authority’.
It seems to me that modern religious thinking and insight is continually being severely discouraged.
In the olden days we learnt the catechism off by heart.
After high school there just seemed to be nothing else to be learnt as far as religion was concerned.
Many of our adult Catholics seem to be stuck at that stage of religious thinking.
They may not realise it but they have become deaf!
And, being deaf, they cannot speak either.
They have nothing to say, nothing to share.
They may be highly qualified in their secular profession but are basically illiterate in their faith.

Catholica has alerted me to spend more time listening and absorbing.
Unfortunately I am not too skilled at sharing the nitty gritty of the ‘Good News’.
And sometimes it is not easy to separate the distracting noise from the constructive insights.
But if we really ‘hear’ Christ then we have to act on it.

"All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks. The art of life is to get the message."
- Malcolm Muggeridge

A Prayer for the World
Let the rain come and wash away
the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds
held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory
of the hurt, the neglect.
Then let the sun come out and
fill the sky with rainbows.
Let the warmth of the sun heal us
wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that
we can see each other clearly.
So that we can see beyond labels,
beyond accents, gender or skin color.
Let the warmth and brightness
of the sun melt our selfishness.
So that we can share the joys and
feel the sorrows of our neighbors.
And let the light of the sun
be so strong that we will see all
people as our neighbors.
Let the earth, nourished by rain,
bring forth flowers
to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts
to reach upward to heaven.
Amen.

—Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
(Author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People)

I read somewhere that the amount of space in the Gospels devoted to the hurt or poor when compared to any other issue we might be interested in, suggests that the sick and needy are more important than any other reality.

Fr Brian Gleeson sent through this commentary on today's readings...

Every time we find ourselves listening to the stories of God at Mass, we need to ask ourselves two questions:
1. Where am I in the story?
2. Where are we in the story?
Let's apply that now to the story we hear today about the healing by Jesus of a handicapped man, handicapped by being both deaf and dumb.

Our first response to this story might be: 'Well, I'm not deaf, and I'm not dumb. I'm not handicapped. Or if I am, not much! So what's the story got to do with me?' The fact is, we've all got limitations, we've all got handicaps, and we've all got wounds. Just because ours are not as visible and as obvious as that of the man in the gospels, doesn't make them any less real.

In one way or another we are all wounded and hurting. We see this in husbands who take refuge in work because they are no longer attracted to their wives. We see it in wives who are wounded by lack of attention and affection from their husbands. We see it in parents who are fighting and arguing with their children. We see it in children who are not getting the love they need, or who are feeling smothered by over-possessive parents.

Some people carry deep wounds from bad experiences as a child. Others are wounded by sickness, or by the death of a loved one. Some are wounded by the infidelity of their partner, or by not being able to accept themselves as they are. Some are wounded by failures at work or in relationships. Others are wounded by being unable to forgive or forget. Some are wounded by being rejected by someone they love.

Some of us are more wounded than others. But the deepest wounds are those not visible to the eye. Inside each of us there might be a whole hidden world of suffering.

With some people their inner wounds have driven them to drugs, drink, depression or pornography, or a combination of all four. In others their inner wounds have led to a compulsion to prove themselves, to be successful, to win, to dominate, to show off, and even perhaps to an obsession with helping and saving others, a kind of messiah complex.

On the road to healing, the first step is to own that we really are wounded and hurting. Counselling with a caring counsellor or even deep conversations with a trusted friend, may help us find the source of our frustration and put us on the road to recovery.

But no matter what our wounds are, what needs healing most of all is our heart, our mental and emotional outlook. If only our heart could change we could move on and give so much more to our relationships. But as a result of particular painful experiences, the heart is often left empty, cold and unwelcoming, hard and unyielding, and weighed down with worry and anxiety. Maybe we even find ourselves suffering from a broken heart?

We should not be surprised by any of this. It means that we are human beings, who have hearts of flesh, not hearts of stone. Just the same, our wounded hearts ache to be relieved and healed, so that we can find freedom and deliverance, love and peace, joy and contentment.

This miracle Jesus did on that deaf and dumb man reminds us that hearing is a precious gift. But it is only with the heart, a heart like the heart of Jesus, that we can hear what is hurting others most of all. The cry of someone in need may reach our ears, but if it does not touch our heart we will not feel that person's pain, and we will not do anything about it. The miracle that Jesus worked reminds us that the gift of speech is a precious gift. But if we do not speak our words from the heart, they will be empty, hollow, and a waste of time.

In touching the ears and tongue of that handicapped sufferer, Jesus also touched his wounded heart. More than anything else it was that touch which made him a different person, a new man in fact. That was the real miracle. It's the same for us. For the healing of our wounded, damaged or broken hearts, we must look to Jesus. And we must be ready to look to other human beings, persons who can and will put us together again, who can and will put us on the road to recovery. In this great work, we can experience them as agents of Jesus, the greatest and best healer ever, of wounded, handicapped, and broken people.

Brian's commentaries on Catholica can be found at:
www.catholica.com.au/gc0/bg/index.php

Brian Coyne
[Editor & Publisher]

Thanks for your thoughtful reflection, Cathy.  You raise an interesting point when you say,

'There’s also an element of something feeling “not quite right” in this Sunday’s Gospel passage. At one level, it can be seen as yet another of Jesus’ compassionate healings, this time with the added symbolic meaning of one’s ears being opened to hear the Good News, and one’s mouth being freed up so that you can spread the news. Yet, the strange thing is that Jesus forbids them to tell anyone about it.' 

There is something odd about this, isn't there? Why the call for secrecy, that is given so frequently in the context of miracles?

I enjoyed your  exploring the scholarly views on this 'messianic secret', especially putting it in the context of the culture at the time, and value of a man's honour.  But you add,

'Still, I can’t help feeling there is something deeper and more significant here than just a social convention.'

And I agree. You go on to explore what could be other reasons for Jesus' secrecy, drawing attention to what seem to be Jesus' negative reactions to requests for healings.  That too is puzzling, but actually not evident in this healing of the deaf man.  Jesus simply takes him away from the crowd.  In that intimate, face to face encounter that follows, the man is cured.  His ears are opened,  his speech can flow freely.

In autobiographical stories of women's spiritual journeys, one important moment is often the encounter with a spiritual teacher.  Sometimes there is an immediate and unreserved recognition that this is the one they have been looking for, this is the person who can lead them out of the darkness of spiritual confusion and ignorance into the sunlight of spiritual knowledge, whether that is called union with God, enlightenment, or simply liberation from spiritual ignorance.  And the writers of these stories are just ordinary women, wives and mothers, single woman, all ages, who have been wrestling with the Big Questions about God and the meaning of life.

Now, I suspect that this is what happened to the man who was deaf.  In that intimate encounter with Jesus, his ears were opened, but he was cured not so much of physical deafness as of spiritual deafness.

Among the people who listened to Jesus, few 'had ears to hear', a phrase the Gospel writers seem to repeat. Few people could hear beyond the surface meaning of his words.

The deaf man however, when alone with Jesus, glimpsed within him the presence of a mystery beyond name and form and was  drawn into its territory. That contact with Jesus drew him into what might be called the God space - the Kingdom of God. A place where all  fears and worries fall away.  A place of love and light.  Now he 'knew', now he could 'hear' through the surface of Jesus' words.  And that knowing was an experiential knowing, a mystical experience, which is 'secret' only because no words can adequately express it.  For me, this was the 'messianic secret', a secret which cannot be uncovered by scholarly wondering, but only through experience.

Nevertheless Cathy, we end up in the same place, you and I.  As you say,

 'However, by enabling people to genuinely encounter God, he was empowering them to open their hearts to God's love and this love would then become the wellspring from which their whole lives flowed.'

Sue

Wow !! Thanks CathyT,georgeh,Jerome,Brian and Brian

There is much on Catholica ( particularly James and Enda's posts )that challenges me to think.However these wonderful weekly Gospel reflections prompt me to try and shut up and listen on another level.

My initial reflection was to think (like the earlier healing of the paralytic refrred to by CathyT ) that this scenario couldn't have even taken place without some friends bringing the deaf mute along.Disability in Jesus' time was seen as a punishment from God and sufferers were pushed to the margins if not excluded from society.And yet this man had friends who brought him to Jesus.

How close are we to the marginalised of our communities ?

I found the commentary by Peter Feldmeier in " America" quite useful on the issue of secrecy:

"We see this scenario repeated, especially in Mark’s Gospel. Scholars have called this Mark’s messianic secret. Numerous speculations are offered to explain this oddity. One explanation is that Jesus did not want to be confused with a political messiah, which was surely the expectation of some. In contrast, “the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” (10:45).

Another explanation is that Jesus was intent on proclaiming the kingdom of God; it was about the kingdom, not about him.

Or perhaps the secret works like a narrative irony that shows the message simply could not be kept down. Mark, in fact, tells his Gospel with a style that suggests great urgency and power. The good news of Jesus and his kingdom was just exploding. A counter explanation is that this secret explains why many Jews did not end up believing in him.

I personally lean toward the first explanation, though two or even three of these could be true at the same time."

However I also think there is something in georgeh's point that people primarily wanted physical healing rather than spiritual healing.

Just because we have the ability to hear doesn't mean we actually listen or listen well enough to even appraoch something like understanding.

This passage isn't even half way through Mark's gospel.There have been numerous healings,driving out of evil spirits etc but the number of these episodes start to drop off. Jesus's message of the reign of God still lies elsewhere.Yet those who have been closest to Jesus still don't understand.

As both Jerome and Brian Gleeson so clearly elaborate, life and our encounter with God is so much more than good health and "good standing" in the community.

What could be more inspiring (and humbling ) and provide more insight into the beauty of existence than the performances ( and the life journeys ) of so many of the competitors at the Paralympics.

How open are we to listening to the voices of the most marginalised in a our community ?

There was another challenging passage in Peter Felmeier's commentary which I think resonates with some recent discussions of Catholica :

"The messianic secret can be alive and well in our lives. While some religious people may be more generous and moral than nonreligious folk, most are not dramatically so. The sociologist Christian Smith argues that most religious people in effect live a faith he calls “moral therapeutic deism.” It boils down to this: God wants them to be happy and modestly moral; God makes few demands on them; God promises heaven to anyone who is not egregiously evil; and God is not imagined to be actively part of a person’s everyday life. Religious skeptics rightly ask: What real difference in your life does being a Christian make? "

Cathy lastly - if your brother in law enjoys good wine and has some half decent cellaring conditions - bring him a bottle of good Coonawarra red and tell him its for his 70th.

Maitland

Down the forum a little way in response to Herbie on another subject I have drawn attention to a series of lectures given at Edinburgh University in April this year by Professor of Church History at Oxford, Diarmaid MacCulloch that intersects fairly directly with the question of silence and secrecy in scripture. Professor MacCulloch has recently been receiving significantly good reviews about this 1100+ page book "Christianity: the First 3000 years". This book was also turned into a television series that has been screened on the BBC (but not yet, as far as I know, in Australia). I did upload to the page in the marketplace on his book [LINK], which I have updated today (and pleased to learn the book is available on Kindle for just $9.99 so I've purchased it myself), a short 3 minute video where he provides an explanation of this work and this present series from Edinburgh University. I'll repeat that short video here:

Here's the link to my response to Herbie where you can also watch the first one hour lecture from Diarmaid MacCulloch:
http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=112238

Brian Coyne
[Editor & Publisher]

Thank you everyone for your responses and your varied interpretations of this week's Gospel story. Most passages in the Bible, and especially in the Gospels, can be seen on different levels: the physical and the spiritual, the literal and the symbolic, the "big picture" and the individual applications, and maybe others as well. To borrow a phrase from Fr Gleeson, we all fit in the story, which wouldn't be possible if we had to accept a "one size fits all" interpretation of the texts! So thank you again for the smorgasbord of viewpoints we always get in the "Y-not question the Sunday Readings" thread.

Cathy Taggart

I splash in my poetry puddle
and try to keep God amused. - James Broughton