Guy goes into a pet shop and buys a canary. Brings the canary back home. He takes the cover off the cage and notices the canary’s got one leg. He says, “This is nuts. I want my money back,” so goes back to the canary shop owner and says, “Hey, buddy. I bought this canary from you, but I demand my money back. The canary’s only got one leg.” The pet shop owner said, “What’d you want, a singer or a dancer?”

The pet shop owner missed the whole point, but the little boy in this following story does not miss the entire point. A large truck got wedged in an underpass in a very tiny western town. The truck stuck under the underpass couldn’t go forwards or backwards, and traffic was lined up for miles. The authorities were lost on what to do.

Finally, a little boy who had been watching the entire scene said to the officials, “Hey, mister, you want to know how to get the truck loose?” The man in a very irritated voice said, “So I assume you know how to loosen this truck?” The little boy said, “Well, I think so. Just let a little air out of the truck’s tires.” The officials did, and it worked.

Sometimes we miss the obvious. We think we have all the answers. We’re really asleep behind the wheel of life. Many times we’ll sometimes ask, “Do you see what I’m saying? Do you understand my point?” These questions are really asking, “Do you understand?”

How many times have we told someone, “Didn’t you hear what I just said, or are you deaf or something?” Didn’t you hear what I just said, or are you deaf or something can really be tarnslated as, don’t you get it? Don’t you understand?

In today’s gospel, the deaf man hears and understands what others cannot, the word spoken by God. Today’s gospel is really our story. In some ways, each of us is a deaf man brought before Jesus. The miracle story is not necessarily to tell us what Jesus did, but rather who he was. Touched by the Lord, we give witness. Let’s wake up, listen up. Let’s open our ears. Ephphatha, be opened and open to God’s life and possibilities, open to God’s presence to life, for life is a mystery to be lived and not a problem to be solved.