From Division to Restoration

Today’s readings show us two very different kinds of separation.

One is created by human pride.
The other is healed by divine compassion.

In the first reading from 1 Kings,
the prophet Ahijah meets Jeroboam.

He tears a cloak into twelve pieces and gives ten to Jeroboam.

This dramatic sign reveals the fracture of the kingdom.

Israel will be divided
because Solomon’s heart has been divided.

What was once united is now torn.

And Scripture concludes with a stark line:

“So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”

Sin leaves a legacy.

Not just in individuals, but in communities.

Division does not heal itself.

This prepares us for the Gospel from Mark.

Jesus meets a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment.

He is isolated.

He cannot hear clearly.
He cannot speak plainly.

Jesus does not heal him from a distance.

He takes him aside.
He touches his ears and tongue.
He looks up to heaven and sighs.

“Ephphatha — Be opened.”

And the man is restored.

He hears. He speaks.

Where sin divides, Christ reunites.

This healing is not just physical.

It is symbolic.

To be deaf is to be cut off.

To be unable to speak is to be unable to participate.

Jesus restores communion.

This contrast lies at the heart of today’s message.

The kingdom is torn because hearts were divided.

The man is healed because Christ draws near.

God’s work is always restoration.

Human sin is always fragmentation.

This Gospel speaks deeply to the Church.

We are meant to be a people who hear God’s word and speak His praise.

But when sin enters —
pride, fear, resentment —
we become deaf to grace
and unable to speak truthfully.

Jesus does not abandon us in this state.

He comes close.

He touches what is wounded.

He speaks the word that opens us again.

“Be opened.”

That word is spoken
over every baptism. Over every confession. Over every Eucharist.

It is God’s desire
to open us again
to communion.

The world around us
is marked by division.

Families fracture.
Communities polarise.
Hearts close.

The Gospel today
does not deny that.

It shows us
what heals it.

Not argument.
Not force.

Presence.

Compassion.

The touch of Christ.

The man in the Gospel
is not healed in a crowd.

He is healed in relationship.

Jesus meets him
where he is
and restores him.

The kingdom split in Israel
lasted generations.

But one moment with Christ
restores a man
to fullness.

This tells us something essential.

God’s grace
works more deeply
than sin’s damage.

But it must be received.

Jesus does not force open
what refuses to yield.

He invites.

“Be opened.”

Today’s readings ask us:

Where are we closed?

To God.
To others.
To truth.

Where has division taken root?

And are we willing
to let Christ touch what is wounded?

May we hear again
the word spoken to the man
and to us.

“Ephphatha.”

Be opened.

Opened to God.
Opened to healing.
Opened to communion.

For only what is opened
can be restored.