Except for this ancient image of Jesus putting his spit-covered finger in a deaf-mute's mouth, there are no images from "classical art" which portray the contact of Yeshua's spittle with another human being's tongue. This exchange of bodily fluids is such a basic, carnal act that it does permit aesthetization. The miracle that Yeshua works in today's Gospel reading is not "pretty" in any artistic sense but recalls the elemental interaction of sexual union which is the only behavior in which human beings routinely exchange bodily fluids.
September 6, 2015
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 128
Alan: Of today's three lectionary readings, I draw your attention to the Gospel of Mark, the earliest and shortest gospel, characterized by its "brusqueness" and head-long rush.
Notably, Jesus (Yeshua in transliterated Hebrew), works a miracle in a particularly earthy way.
This earthiness is accentuated in the Spanish language translation where Jesus does not just "put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touch his tongue."
Instead, he "puts his fingers (plural) into the man's ears and touches the deaf mute's tongue with his own saliva."
This mixing of bodily fluids (in the Spanish but not English translation) is not so much "revealing" as "startling" for we know in our bones that the mixing of bodily fluids between two human beings typically occurs only during sexual activity.
I also want to focus Jesus' admonition in the wake of "today's" miracle: "He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it."
This predictable disobedience may be "nothing more" than a rhetorical device but it is also remarkable that Jesus does not expect to be obeyed.
Indeed, he deliberately says one thing - in full expectation, apparently, that he will be disobeyed even more animatedly than otherwise.
If Jesus can say one very clear thing while expecting -- and even wanting!?! -- an antithetical response, what are we to make of "biblical literalism?"
Today's full gospel reading in Spanish:
Evangelio
Mc 7, 31-37
En aquel tiempo, salió Jesús de la región de Tiro y vino de nuevo, por Sidón, al mar de Galilea, atravesando la región de Decápolis. Le llevaron entonces a un hombre sordo y tartamudo, y le suplicaban que le impusiera las manos. Él lo apartó a un lado de la gente, le metió los dedos en los oídos y le tocó la lengua con saliva. Después, mirando al cielo, suspiró y le dijo: “¡Effetá!” (que quiere decir “¡Abrete!”). Al momento se le abrieron los oídos, se le soltó la traba de la lengua y empezó a hablar sin dificultad.
Él les mandó que no lo dijeran a nadie; pero cuanto más se lo mandaba, ellos con más insistencia lo proclamaban; y todos estaban asombrados y decían: “¡Qué bien lo hace todo! Hace oír a los sordos y hablar a los mudos”.
Él les mandó que no lo dijeran a nadie; pero cuanto más se lo mandaba, ellos con más insistencia lo proclamaban; y todos estaban asombrados y decían: “¡Qué bien lo hace todo! Hace oír a los sordos y hablar a los mudos”.
All of today's English language lectionary readings:
Reading 1 IS 35:4-7A
Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Reading 2 JAS 2:1-5
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please, ”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ” or “Sit at my feet, ”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
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.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please, ”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there, ” or “Sit at my feet, ”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?
Gospel MK 7:31-37
Again Jesus left the district of Tyreand went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
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.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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