In our Gospel today, Mark 7:31-37, people brought a deaf man to Jesus and begged him to lay hands on the man and heal him. Jesus put his finger in the man’s ears and then he spit on his fingers and touched the man’s tongue. Jesus then looked up to the heavens and groaned with deep sympathy and compassion for the man, and then commanded “Be Opened”, and the man was immediately cured.
I can’t help but think of times when Jesus must be watching in heaven and groaning with deep sympathy and compassion for what we are going through. We may watch our loved ones suffer and even die from Covid, cancer, and other diseases. We may see people suffer from violence at the hands of others, and even see people so depressed from this isolation they harm themselves.
We are reminded today by this Gospel that Jesus is our compassionate healer. He aches so much when we suffer that he groans with empathy, as he wept for his friend Lazarus. He longs for us to come to him so he can touch us and heal us. If we are suffering, or others in our lives are suffering, we need to go to him to allow him to heal us.
As our Gospel ends today: The people were astonished and said, “he has done all things well!” When is the last time we allowed ourselves to be astonished by what Jesus does for us?
De Colores, Deacon Kevin
