People commented that “it was a miracle” to watch, and that it brought them to tears.  It was such a personal and sacred moment, to see little Jonathan receive the gift of hearing.  The people who witnessed Jesus healing the deaf man must have felt much the same. In that culture, to be deaf would have isolated that man terribly.  With no job training or assistance, how could he support a family?  Disability was considered God’s punishment, so he would be shunned and not permitted to attend synagogue. 

Jesus sees the man’s whole terrible situation in a flash.  He understands the whole, real person, his pain, his exclusion from the community.  It’s not just a “quickie healing”—Jesus enters deeply and personally into the man’s life story—to restore him.  And this is the deeper meaning of the miracle:  Jesus is already starting his mission to restore the whole creation to its original state of blessings and beauty as God created it, before evil entered the creation. 

We are living in a time where we hear more of vices than of virtues. In a time where virtuous living seems to be the abnormal way of life whereas vices are praised with the loudest of voices and with the grandeur of visual glamour. Hence, the problem of our time goes beyond that of being deaf to the physical sound of things but much deeper to being deaf to the voice of virtue and God-founded values. The sound of ‘Ephphatha’ we need to hear in our times is not just to open our physical ears, but also our inner ears to hear what the Lord says to us and to loosen the ligaments of our tongues to announce the Good News that we hear to everybody. 
 

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WELCOME

We welcome two new people to our parish staff:

Susan Young: Susan begins on Tuesday, September 7th as the part-time secretary at St. John’s. Susan’s primary responsibilities include assisting those who come to the office, serving as the bulletin editor, and taking care of our social media platforms: the parish web page, Facebook, Flocknotes and the Ministry Scheduling Program.  

Meghan Murphy: Megan begins on Tuesday, September 7th as the full time Youth Minister. Meghan’s responsibilities include all programing for middle and high school students, including youth gatherings, retreats, service projects, CYM sports teams, the Appalachia Mission Trip and social events.