Out Our Way: The Gospel according to Goliath: 'I see YOU!'

Mark 7:3-37

Raised in the Bear Paws until I bought him, Goliath had a few encounters with the unknown that spooked him.

One that nearly led to him setting off his launch codes was the first time he came across one of those plastic bags folks use to bring home their groceries. My friend Rick calls them, "prarire jelly fish," for they float across the grass in the wind just as a Portugese Man-O-War floats on the waves in the ocean. The prairie variety have no stinging tentacles, but Goliath didn't know that. He simply saw something terrifying and panicked. It took me a while to circle him and quiet him down. Rick showed me what to do next.

He gave me a fishing pole with several plastic bags attached, and holding the lead line, I waved them in front of Goliath, and touched them to the ground. Then I slowly approached and let him see, smell and even touch the dreaded monster. By taking the time to help him understand, we conquered his fear of plastic bags. As a few of the master horse handlers have always said, "You don't break horses, you train 'em." Those who build strong connections with their pards know this is the way.

Jesus understood the importance of taking the time with individuals in teaching them who God is. In the text cited above, Jesus came upon a deaf man whose speech was naturally affected. Some folks cared enough about this man to come ask Jesus for help, and Jesus cared enough about this man not only to help him, but to do it in a way that showed true compassion for the man as an individual.

Like many people who have impairments, this man may have been somewhat sensitive to the fact and embarrassed by it. Jesus took the man out of the crowd and began to heal him in private. The man could not hear, but he could see, and in this healing act, Jesus focused on the visual. He touched the man's ears and his tongue, so the man was aware of what Jesus was doing. He then looked up into heaven so that the man could see he was praying. Then he said the words, "Be open." The man might be deaf but he probably could read lips, and so though he did not hear the command, he understood it. And immediately the man could both hear and speak clearly!

I was reading a story of a young medical student who was doing her residency in a teaching hospital. One of her colleagues referred to a patient as the "broken leg case."  The teaching doctor immediately took him aside and reminded them that the patient was Mr. Smith, and not just his tibia fracture. "A good physician treats the whole patient. He or she is a healer and a professional. The bad physician who sees only the problem to be fixed is merely a technician who has no place in the healing profession."

As you read about the healing of the deaf man, you see that same humanity in Jesus' approach. Jesus healed many people with a word or a touch; he could have done so here as well. But notice the care and compassion Jesus shows for the man himself and not just his condition.

People who have disabilities are often self-conscious about it. To be deaf in the midst of a crowd would be overwhelming. So Jesus took the man out of the crowd that had surrounded them and took him away in private. Notice how he also took into account the man's deafness and so focused on the man's senses of touch and sight. He made a point of touching the man's ears and tongue, and then he directed the man's attention to heaven by looking up so the man would know from whence the healing came. Then he spoke: Not a sentence but a single word in Aramaic, "Ephphatha!" Be opened! The man most likely could read lips, and so even if he could not yet hear, he could understand what Jesus had said.

In this simple text, Mark reminds us that when God looks upon us, He does not merely see the outward things the world sees, but the person - he sees us. When I come out to Goliath in the pasture, his ears go straight up and often he greets me with a nicker or even a full-voiced whinny. Scout actually dances when I come home after work at the store.  They don't see what most folks do, a wrinkled-up, grizzled and gray-haired old man. They see ME! And so does Christ. Thanks, Doc and Scout, for reminding me of that fact from time to time! Maybe I can start seeing others as Christ and my buddies see me.

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John Bruington, Scout and Goliath publish their thoughts on the Church web site at http://www.havrepres.org. The book "Out Our way: Theology Under Saddle," featuring earlier columns, is available Amazon.org.