• Proverbs 22:1-2,8-9,22-23

Many of the wisdom sayings in the canonical Book of Proverbs were borrowed from Egypt and other neighbors, some verbatim and others as variations.  They were used to educate the young in the ways of a happy life.  These excerpts vaunt the value of a good reputation, which can be gained by feeding the poor and otherwise not oppressing them

• Psalm 125

The psalmist compares “those who trust in the Lord” to the imposing mound of rock and stone, Mt. Sinai, which endures whatever structures are built and destroyed on it over the centuries.  The psalmist then pleads, “Restore, O Lord, our fortunes” as surely as rain fills dried up water beds.  Even those who “sow in tears will reap in glad song.”

OR

• Isaiah 35:4-7a

Isaiah’s doxology (all of chapter 35) describes the always reliable results of God-in-action: the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute sing, even the parched earth is renewed with life-giving water.

• Psalm 146

The psalmist contrasts human authorities, whose administrations come and go, with trust in God, “the maker of heaven and earth” who is “faithful forever.”  The Lord “does justice,” feeds the poor, “gives sight to the blind,” makes the bent over stand upright.  “The Lord loves the righteous.”  The Lord gives special attention to the traveler in an alien country, and orphans and widows.  But the “way of the wicked” the Lord twists.

• James 2:1-10

Using the classic Greek format of a dialogue, the writer designated as “James” asks rhetorical questions and then answers them.  Does favoritism in the church reflect “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?”  For example, when an obviously well-off person walks into your church and you offer her a good seat immediately but you tell a less affluent person “stand here,” you upend what the Lord wants.  “Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith?”  After all, it is the rich who oppress you, because only they can afford to take you to court.  Another question: What good is it if you say you have faith but then ignore someone who is naked or lacks daily food?  Pious cliches, like “Go in peace,” mean nothing without actions that actually alleviate someone’s suffering.

• Mark 7:24-37

Having just antagonized the Pharisees for their prioritizing “tradition” over a spectacular display of God’s abundance made possible by Jesus, he breaches another religious tradition, according to Mark’s narrative, by going to the home of a Gentile.  This Gentile woman pleads with Jesus for her daughter.  Jesus responds, “Let the children [Jews] be fed first… and not throw food to the dogs [non-Jews].”  But the woman astutely replies that even dogs get the crumbs under the table.  Mark describes Jesus as quite taken –“touched”– by the woman’s response and he responds, “for saying that, you may go” and you will find your daughter healed, which she did.  Jesus moves on, deeper into Gentile territory.  The crowds introduce Jesus to a deaf man who also has a speech impediment.  They beg Jesus to lay hands on him.  Jesus leads the man away from the crowds to a private place.  In vivid detail, Mark describes how Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears, spat and then touched the man’s tongue, while sighing “Ephphatha,” which we are told means “Be opened.”  The man immediately hears and speaks plainly!  Jesus orders the man not to tell anyone what has happened in private between them.  But the healed deaf and mute man becomes an irrepressible witness.  Soon, the whole crowd is in awe of Jesus.  (N.B. The Gentile woman’s daughter who was healed by Jesus never met Jesus; but Jesus intimately touched the ears and tongue of the deaf and tongue-tied man.)

All the readings and the two alternative responsory psalms and today’s gospel make one thing clear:  when God acts, certain things always happen– justice gets done, the hungry get fed, the blind see, the bent over stand up straight, and all kinds of human needs are met, especially among the most vulnerable; also,  frequently singing breaks out!

Mark’s account of the healing of the deaf and mute man stands out from all the other healing accounts in Mark’s gospel and the other three gospels for its shocking touchiness.  Jesus puts his fingers into the man’s ears, he touches the man’s tongue (and spits, too!). 

Corpus, by Jean-Luc Nancy has initiated  widespread and significant responses, including the last book completed by Jacques Derrida, On Touching– Jean-Luc Nancy.  Derrida begins his book by reviewing major Western writers on the topic of “touching,” and declares –“Jean-Luc Nancy, the greatest thinker about touch of all times….” (p.4)  Derrida’s inquiry inspired by Nancy’s Corpus goes in many directions, including an inspiring section about Jesus.  Derrida, the non-practicing Jews, writes:

“…all the Gospels present the Christic body not only as a body of light and revelation, but, in a hardly less essential way, as a body touching  as much as touched, as flesh that is touched-touching.” (pp 99-100)

Derrida’s  (and Nancy’s) larger discussion of “touch” notes that at the “edge” or “limit” of human touch, another sense of touch begins.  It is known when we say that we have been deeply “touched”  by someone’s kindness or generosity, for example.  After listing many of the ways Jesus touched others and was touched, in both senses, including the incident in our gospel today, Derrida writes:

“Not only is Jesus touching, being the Toucher, he is also the Touched one, and not only first in the sense that we have just identified (that is, touched in his heart by heartfelt merciful compassion): he is there as well for the touching; he can and must be touched.” (p. 101)

The deaf man is intimately “touched” by Jesus and is healed; Jesus is “touched” by the pleading of the non-Jewish mother and her daughter, who never met Jesus,  is healed!

Those who have been “touched” by Jesus and have known personally and firsthand the healing for themselves that comes from his “touch” become irrepressible witnesses and want to eagerly “touch” others and relieve their oppression.  As the biblical witnesses plainly and consistently say– that is where God reliably appears!  The blind see, the starving eat, the bent over stand up, the real, actual needs of real people are actually given tangible (another sense of “touch”) relief.