“Ephphatha!” – “Be opened!”
Mark 7:31–37 31Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.
32They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 33Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. 37They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
With God's own retribution, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. (Isaiah 35:4, 5). Amen.
Jesus is nearby! Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin excitedly find their friend, Heresh. The last time Jesus was in the area, he healed two crazy men of their demon possession (Matthew 8:28-34).
Daniel signs the name “Jesus” to Heresh. Heresh has been deaf from birth. His parents named him after his physical disability – “Heresh” – which is the Hebrew word for “deaf.” Heresh’s deafness also created a speech impediment.
Heresh doesn’t quite understand what the big deal is about going to see this Jesus. Obviously, he hasn’t heard about any of Jesus’ healing miracles. For his entire life, he hasn’t heard anything. But being deaf and mute, he has nothing else to do. So, he joins his friends. On the way through the Decapolis, the friends take turns signing to Heresh about all the healing that Jesus has been doing in their region and how Jesus is the promised Son of God.
The four friends find Jesus. It’s easy to figure out where Jesus is in the city. A huge crowd is surrounding him. It seems like everyone in the Decapolis is there bringing to Jesus their lame, blind, and crippled (Matthew 15:30). And Jesus is healing all of them.
Daniel, Joseph, Benjamin, and Heresh wait patiently in line to approach Jesus. Finally, when it’s their turn, Joseph pleads with Jesus, “My friend, Heresh, was born deaf. He can speak a little, but only the three of us can really understand him. You’ve healed so many today. Will you lay hands on Heresh to heal him, too?”
Jesus immediately takes Heresh away from the crowds to avoid all the commotion. Heresh can focus Jesus and Jesus can focus on Heresh.
Since Heresh can’t hear, Jesus does some visual actions to convey what he is about to do. He puts his fingers into Heresh’s ears as if to say, “I’m going to fix what’s wrong with your ears.” He spits and touches Heresh’s tongue. “I’m going to fix that, as well.”
Heresh wonders why Jesus is using spittle. But, he thinks, that if his mom could use her spittle to wash his childhood face when it became dirty, then surely the spittle of the Son of God can fix his tied tongue.
Jesus looks up to heaven to communicate from where this blessing is coming. He prays: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).
Then Jesus sighs. Jesus is moved with emotion as he deals with the damage that sin has done to one of his children.
Now Jesus is ready to commence with the healing. To open Heresh’s closed ears, Jesus speaks a word – a funny-sounding word, “Ephphatha.” It may sound strange to our ears, but it is a powerful word – precisely because the Great Physician proclaims it. “Ephphatha.” It’s an Aramaic word, which is the language that Jesus speaks. “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And when the Son of God speaks, things happen.
The same fingers that formed man out of clay now reform Heresh’s inner ear canal. The same divine power that opened the floodgates to fill the oceans at creation, now opens Heresh’s ears to hear the flooding of sounds both strange and wonderful at the same time. For the first time, he can hear sounds … words … music! He is released from his prison of silence.
Heresh’s name, which means “deaf” doesn’t fit any more. He can hear for the first time in his life! Tears of joy stream down his face.
He starts praising God. And now he is even more amazed! He hears his own voice! His tongue is set free and he speaks … clearly. No learning how to enunciate. No speech impediment. He can hear and speak clearly. When Jesus heals someone, there is full restoration. He never does things half-way. Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “With God's own retribution, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged” (Isaiah 35:5-6).
Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin can hear Heresh’s voice calling to them. For the first time! They find their friend and they are hugging and laughing and crying and praising God. They tell everyone they see about Jesus, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37)!
At one time or another, all of us are going to have to endure some kind of ailments. It could be knee or back surgery, arthritis or migraines, cataracts or root canals, stroke or heart attack, cancer or dementia. We trust that God has the power to heal us completely. He may do that miraculously or through modern medicine. Or God may heal us partially as we continue to endure the ailment. Or God may not heal us at all, so we learn patience and so others learn from us about perseverance.
However God chooses to deal with us, we trust that he is caring for us individually. He is aware of all things, yet he gives each of us tender, individual care, just as Jesus did with this deaf and mute man. Jesus sighs when he sees what sin and Satan has inflicted upon us. He gives the specific healing that we need at that specific time. Whether we are completely healed, or we still struggle physically, Jesus always deals with us in grace.
St. Paul prayed for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. God allowed the thorn to remain in Paul’s flesh. When God allows our thorn to remain in our flesh, we need to be reminded of the words God spoke to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
We don’t know if it is Jesus’ will to heal us physically. Thankfully, we know that it is Jesus’ divine will to heal us of our spiritual ailments.
What are those spiritual ailments? Sadly, they are ones that are often self-imposed. We tune out God’s voice so we can live in sin with our boyfriend or girlfriend. We turn a deaf ear to God’s peace so we can walk in the door in the afternoon ready for a family fight. We close our ears to God’s love so our hearts are filled with resentment and revenge.
We turn a blind eye to the beauty of God’s creation so we may complain about whatever piddly annoyance aggravates us. We fail to see God’s overarching will for our lives so we are consumed
with worry and doubt. We are so nearsighted looking only at the trinkets of this world that we miss out on the treasures of the world to come.
We shut up our mouths, so we do not give God the glory he deserves because of our lack of worship. We close our lips, so we do not avail ourselves of God’s almighty power because of our lack of prayer. We are afraid to speak God’s truths to our children, so we don’t share our saving faith with them.
We don’t read our Bibles. We skip worship. We don’t pray with our children. We have no clue what the voice of our Savior really sounds like. We have no idea what God’s holy will for our lives really looks like. We live for ourselves and let the Savior just walk on by.
We have become comfortable with our deafness. We have become complacent in our blindness. Like Jesus warned: We have eyes but fail to see. We have ears but fail to hear (Mark 8:18).
Thank the Lord that this is why Jesus came. Satan has ruined what God made perfect. Sin has twisted the beauty of the human body. Jesus came to fix what Satan has broken. He came to heal what humanity has hurt. He came to save sinners from the damnation they deserve.
“He has done all things well,” the people said when Jesus healed the deaf and mute man. Jesus has done all things well, but the supreme thing he has done well is to rescue, redeem, and reclaim a world of lost, blind, deaf, and dying sinners.
Jesus does the fixing at the cross. All the damage that Satan caused – disease and disability and death – Jesus reverses it. All the people not living right and enjoying their sin – Jesus saves them from it. All the spiritual blindness and deafness that we allow in our daily lives – Jesus heals us from it.
We humans are out of step with God. We disobey God’s will and rebel against our Creator. And everything is messed up – our bodies, our lives, even our souls. You are here today because you know you aren’t perfect. You realize that you need a perfect Savior. You need the Great Physician to heal your physical deficiencies and your spiritual diseases.
And that’s who Jesus is.
Jesus is the perfect Son of God who came down from heaven to be our Savior. He took on our flesh. He came face to face with Satan. He came to put finger to ear and spittle to tongue with the effects of our sin. He lived the perfect life of always having an open ear to the voice of his Father and an open mouth to praise his Lord. Jesus gave that perfection to us. His holiness covers our sinfulness, heals our blind eyes, opens our deaf ears, loosens our mute tongues, and softens our hard hearts.
Jesus went to the cross to finish the job of fixing us. With the scourge marks in his back and the crown of thorns pounded into his skull and the nails in his hands and feet – Jesus saved us. That’s why the sign language for Jesus is no longer five letters. The universal sign language for Jesus is touching the tip of the middle finger into the palm of the other hand and doing the same in reverse. The sign for Jesus is the nails through his palms on the cross.
On the cross, Jesus bore the sins of our selfishness, our laziness, our lack of worship, our disobedience to his holy will, etc. He was the innocent who bore the penalty for the guilty. Jesus became our Substitute and our Savior. He spoke his own “Ephphatha” at his tomb and opened the grave so he could walk out.
Our physical ailments may continue to plague us and even kill us. But our spiritual ailments have been covered, forgiven, and eternally healed through faith in the Great Physician of body and soul.
Ephphatha. Jesus has slammed shut the doors of hell and opened wide the gates of heaven.
Ephaphatha. Jesus will open your grave on the Last Day.
Ephaphatha. Jesus has opened your heart to him through Baptism and his holy Word. Now you can believe. Now you can hear. Now you can speak. Your ears have been opened to hear the voice of the Lord. Your tongue has been loosened to praise your Savior for what he has done for you. Your heart has been healed. Your soul has been saved.
But my once broken but now healed brothers and sisters in Christ, the best is yet to come. Because of Jesus you will soon see the glories of heaven. You will hear the praise of the angels. You will sing the song of the saints.
Ephphatha. Amen.
He who has an ear, let him hear (Mark 4:23). Amen.