2 Kings 5:1-15ab
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45
Psalm 42 or 42:1-7
If there are no ears to hear a tree crashing to the forest floor, is there still the sound of a falling tree? Is "good news" still good news if there are no ears to hear the message?
Suppose you are given an urgent message to deliver but you are in the middle of a noisy crowd and no one can hear a word you're saying. Suppose, also, that you are being pursued by enemies intent against your life, and you dare not stay long in one place.
Maybe you could run through the crowd, shouting, "follow me; get your good news here." But would anybody listen? Would anybody pay attention? Chances are no one would hear a word you were saying.
Jesus found himself in a similar situation, full of devine purpose but short on precious time to grab the ears of those who were not accustomed to hearing.
You and I might have a problem getting heard in this noisy world, but Jesus had special means at His disposal. He had the power to heal diseases and silence the voice of demons. He could work miracles.
Yes, Jesus' acts of healing were acts of compassion, but they served another purpose too. He had a message from God that could not be delivered to closed ears.
Healing people of horrible diseases provided an expedient way of getting people's attention so they could hear the good news he brought to them of God's loving grace and plan for their salvation.
But working miracles to get people's attention had a downside too. Jesus' popularity grew by leaps and bounds and word of his miracles spread quickly.
But popularity was not what Jesus had in mind. He wanted for the healing to carry with it a spiritual obligation, and feared that rumors of miracles would gather the curious and foster cries for help only in physical terms, hindering the delivery of the real message.
When the leper came to Jesus kneeling and begging him, saying, "If you choose, you can make me clean," Mark tells us, "Jesus was moved with pity." and stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"
Immediately the disease left the man, and he was healed and made clean. Not wanting the act to become one of mere show, bringing more people only for the benefits, Jesus admonished the man, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
But the man paid little attention to Jesus' warning and went out proclaiming the miracle freely to all he saw and the real message was lost to the crowds and Jesus could no longer go openly into the towns, but stayed out in the country, away from the attention of his enemies who would do him harm.
There in the country, people came to him from all over and they were awed by his miracles and, one by one, they began to listen to the message Jesus brought of the coming of the Kingdom of God and eternal life for all who believe and have faith in Him.
Through his miracle of healing, people were brought to attention and through baptism they were adopted as God's children and made members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.
The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God's family, the forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit. These are the gifts Jesus offered to those who would listen and believe.
When an infant is presented for baptism by his parents, it is so that they may share citizenship in the Covenant, membership in Christ, and redemption by God.
This is the gift that parents, already blessed with God's grace, bring to their child as they offer her to God through Baptism that she may share in all the benefits of her membership of Christ.
And so, today, we open our ears and listen to the message, and we celebrate the Life and Jesus, the son of God. And today, Tim and Carmella bring before us their child named "Catianna" , making the promise to bring her up within the Church, that she may know Christ and be able to follow Him.
Jesus captured the people's attention through the awesome gift of healing, so that the message could be delivered in time. And because they heard the message, we have heard it too that we may come to God through faith.
As Jesus came with his gift of healing, each of us, in turn, bring our individual gifts into our communities, passing on the same message Jesus brought to earth so long ago.
Through our kindness, through our compassion, through our caring, and through our quest for peace, we each bring the message forward, passing it on to our children, our families, our friends and our neighbors, near and across the globe.
Let us not make the mistake of thinking that God's creation is finished. It is not. The message God sent to us through the life and Death of his son, Jesus Christ is not obsolete. The story lives today through us as surely as it did when Jesus healed the sick so that he could be heard.
As we play our role in God's creation, let us, with ears to hear, share His message that it will be carried forward to those yet to come and take up the Cross of Jesus to follow after Him.
Let us each be a living testimony to the Glory of God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.