Spiritual Corner -- The “Word” is the Word of the Lord

“Deaf”, in the Bible, means being bewildered by false sound and rejecting God’s Word. This is a terrible situation and is a serious sickness, yet God has promised to cure it. In order to better understand such a message, we need to frequently repeat the following words: “Lord, please give me a heart that is good at hearing your Word.”

In Mark 7: 31-37, there is an account of how Jesus cured a deaf and dumb person: And people brought to him a deaf and dumb man and begged him to lay his hand upon him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears, and spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him: “Ephphatha!” which means “be opened”. And immediately the man’s ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly…They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear, and the dumb speak.”

“Listen”, usually refers to God, just like what Prophet Isaiah confirmed, “It is not that His ear cannot hear.” (Isaiah 59:1) What God cares are the prayers of His people, their tears and complaints: “If he cries to me, I will hear him, because I am compassionate.” (Exodus 22:27)

However, men are different, they have good ears and eyesight for praises and compliments, but have deaf ears for the pleas of the poor and this is actually a deadly sin. “They stopped their ears, not to hear. And they made their heart as the adamant stone” (Zechariah 7:11-12). Even Prophet Jeremiah described the Israelites as “foolish people who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not.” (Jeremiah 5:21) God asks His people to obey Him and follow His Word, but He is disappointed with their responses. “You dwell in the midst of a provoking house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a provoking house.” (Ezekiel 12:2)

To open the ears is for opening the heart. In both Deuteronomy and the Book of Prophet Micah, people are urged to return, “ Hear, O Israel!” (Deuteronomy 6:4); “You have to hear His Word” (Micah 2:4) Actual evangelization experiences bring about a deep realization that it is not easy to “hear”, to “know how to hear”, and to “understand what is heard”.

Yours,
Sr. Magdalena Yang
Adapted from Celebrating the Word of God