Get
to Know Jesus
Rev. Jack Peterson
Reprinted by permission of "The Arlington Catholic Herald"
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Mark wrote to explain
Christ
to the new Gentile converts.
I invite you
to pick up your Bible and slowly page through one of the four
Gospels, reading the titles of the small sections. Take notice of how
much time Jesus spends with those who are hurting and
struggling, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually. It is truly remarkable
how much time and attention Jesus devotes to those who are
broken and suffering.
In today’s Gospel, people
bring to Our Lord a deaf man who has a speech impediment. Once
again, Our Lord demonstrates that he has a special place in his
Sacred Heart for those carrying heavy burdens. Jesus cares for us
more than we can imagine. We
weeps with those who weep. His heart is moved with pity for the
crowds who are like sheep without a shepherd. He cries at the
death of his friend, Lazarus. He calls the blind man
Bartimaeus to his side when his disciples try to send him away. Jesus came to manifest
to the world the great love of God. He came to heal, to
encourage, to reveal earth-shattering truths and to grant hope
to every hurting person.
In today’s passage from
Mark’s Gospel, Jesus takes the deaf man off by himself away from
the crowd. Perhaps,
Jesus knew that this person, because of his two serious
disabilities, would find it very hard to accept Jesus’
compassion and receive healing at the hands of Christ in the
presence of a large crowd.
On the other hand, perhaps Jesus simply wanted to be
alone with this man and grant him the grace of a very personal
encounter with the Son of the Living God. In the Gospels, Jesus
was constantly setting up opportunities for such personal
encounters. He did
so with many, including the Samaritan woman at the well. Matthew
the tax collector and the Apostle Nathaniel.
Do you realize that Jesus is
pursuing you? He is
trying to set up opportunities for the who of you to be alone,
for you to get to know him intimately and experience the
merciful, healing, and life-giving grace that results from an
encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.
Are you open to such encounters? Are you turning your
back on the Lord? Are you making genuine efforts to create space
in your life for such encounters?
It is quite interesting that
Jesus says to the deaf man, “Ephphatha,” which means “Be
opened.” Practically
speaking, it addresses the physical need to repair the defect or
injury that caused his deafness.
Jesus “opens” his ears that he might hear again. Imagine what a gift it
was to this man. What
a gift -to hear the voice of your spouse, the laughter of a
child, the song of a bird or the trickling of a brook.
However, Jesus greatly
desired that this man’s whole being “be opened” to the great
truths of our faith. Jesus
wanted him to know even more about the love of God, the beauty o
the Holy Trinity, the depths of God’s mercy and the Gospel way
of life that led to life in abundance.
I encourage you to go for a
walk with Christ this week.
Allow him, in prayer, to take you by the hand and led you
on this walk. What
might Jesus say to you to encourage your change you? What would you like to
say to Jesus? What
kind of healing do you need at this moment in your life? Do you believe that
Jesus wants to heal you? “Be
opened.”
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