Be Opened
Jeroboam left Jerusalem, and the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the road. The two were alone in the area, and the prophet was wearing a new cloak. Ahijah took off his new cloak, tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam: “Take ten pieces for yourself; the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s grasp and will give you ten of the tribes. 1 Kings 11:29-31
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!") And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. Mark 7:32-35
Piety
Psalm 81
"I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice. If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, quickly would I humble their enemies; against their foes, I would turn my hand." Let us be open to the voice of God!
Study
Everything you always ever wanted to know you can learn from the Wizard of Oz and the Bible. Today, we encounter the bad witch and the good witch. The bad witch is Solomon whose kingdom is divided because he turns his back on the Lord. The "good witch" is the man who was deaf and mute but becomes a good disciple after being healed.
First, the "bad witch:" The last primary unit of the Solomon story tells how the prophet Ahijah announces the divine intention to take the more substantial part of Solomon's kingdom from his control and give it to Jeroboam, Solomon's servant. Symbolically, the story relies upon the image of a cloak as the kingdom. Cloaks and tunics are often critical story elements throughout the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. People did not have much in the way of possessions, and their cloak and tunic were often the only garments that they had.
Jews wore two principal garments, an interior "coat" or "tunic" (an undergarment), and a costlier exterior cloak (outer garment). This cloak was used, not only as a jacket or overcoat during the day but also as a covering to sleep under at night. King Solomon just promoted Jeroboam to an officer, so the new cloak also was symbolic of his official role. By Mosaic law, the outer cloak was an inalienable possession that could not be withheld from a debtor overnight (Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:12-13).[i]
The narrator uses a rich wordplay here. According to the notes in the New American Bible: "In the Hebrew text, the word for Ahijah's cloak (slmh) is indistinguishable from Solomon's name (slmh). People understood that a prophetic gesture such as Ahijah's made a critical impact on the event it announced. Ahijah's cloak tearing embodies the divine action that will tear Solomon's kingdom apart."
Additionally, the tearing of the cloak is a potent symbol:
The rending of one's clothes is an ancient tradition among the Jews, associated with mourning, grief, and loss. The first mention of someone tearing his garments is in Genesis. "When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes" (Genesis 37:29). A short time later, "Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days" (Genesis 37:34) when he thought that the adversaries killed Joseph.[ii]
Why did the Kingdom need to be divided anyway? Solomon had turned to other "gods." Therefore, the Lord punished him for breaking their covenant. The next verse (after today's reading) explains this more completely:"For they have forsaken me and have bowed down to Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh, god of Moab, and Milcom, god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways or done what is right in my eyes, according to my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did." (1 Kings 11:33)
For all of Solomon's legendary wisdom, his wives and others easily attracted him to follow other "gods." His failure to listen to God resulted in the loss of most of his kingdom and the accompanying grief from the rebellion that sprang up by Jeroboam.
However, listening to God can relieve you of loss and grief as we see in the healing scene in the Good News. We are in a section of Mark's Gospel where Jesus rebukes people for disregarding God's commandment but clinging to human traditions. The man who is both deaf and mute approaches Jesus in faith and hope of being healed and Jesus does precisely that. The man and the crowds repay Jesus by going for as good disciples and proclaiming the Good News.
Action
We cannot close our ears like we can close our eyes. However, our mind wanders, and often we do not hear the sounds around us. I always think that trains are pretty loud and noisy. We often hear of examples of people playing on railroad tracks and being hit by trains that they did not know were coming because the victims were paying attention to other things.
The Word of God is like a train coming down the tracks toward us. We can pay attention to the message. Or we can pay attention to other "gods" like Astarte, Chemosh, and Milcom thus blocking out the word of God.
Maybe our Astarte, Chemosh, and Milcom go by other names today. NFL. March Madness. Spring Training. Or perhaps they are Apple, Google, and Facebook. Or maybe they are MSNBC, FOX, and CNN. We have to tune out these other distractions so that we can be open and hear the word of God presented to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment