Ephphatha .... Be opened – Mk 7:31-37
In order to understand the meaning of the miracle of healing the deaf-mute by Jesus, it is worth going back to the beginning of our existence. God, in creating man, gave him the ability to listen and speak. Thanks to these , man heard from God about His love and could respond to Him with his word. We can imagine that when God walked through Paradise in the season of the wind, He liked to take man with Him. They must have talked to each other for a long time. However, what helped to establish a close relationship with God was paralyzed when the first sin was committed. It happened when Eve and Adam decided to listen to the devil's word - a word devoid of love. From then on, their speech was poisoned with falsehood and fear, and the reality turned gloomy.
Jesus takes the deaf man away from the crowd. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears and touches his tongue with saliva. The Aramaic word Ephphatha uttered by Jesus calls us to open ourselves up and go out to freedom. Some commentators also associate it with fertilizing and re-shaping. Just as the Father once made a man out of the dust of the earth with his own hands, now Jesus carves us in a new way, correcting what has been blurred by sin. It allows us to regain divine speech and hearing. When I listen to this passage, I get the impression that Jesus is talking to each of us Ephphatha. He comes to us, he takes us out of the crowd, he takes us aside. And then he says " Be opened " to these spheres in our lives that are closed to His action.
How many people today are mute with a speech impediment and deaf in spirit... their ears are closed to the Gospel; their tongue does not proclaim the Glory of God. Reading this passage, I often ask myself: Do I really hear or is it just my imagination. Do I always speak well or is my speech gibberish that no one understands? Or maybe I'm listening to the wrong thing? Maybe I eavesdrop on conversations that do not concern me and then gossip, slander?
Is my speech - as it is written in the Bible - Yes, yes ... no, no or am I combining, coloring, saying what people want to hear? Are my words full of clichés, empty promises or boasts. Do I listen to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit? Am I trying to follow what I heard? Or maybe I let inspiration from above come in with one ear and let out with the other. The same applies to relations with superiors, friends, in the family. Do I listen or only hear? Do I speak or maybe I just talk, just babble?
It so often happens that we talk a lot and listen little. Someone once said that we have two ears but one mouth and to keep the right proportion -we should twice as much listen than to speak. It often happens that we don't want to listen to someone. Our prejudices against a person are so great that we just close our ears and are not interested in what he/she have to say.
But I will go back to the spiritual side of the Gospel’s passage and to the point of healing. Jesus says the word Ephphatha. – Be Opened. And he also says it to each of us. He wants us to open ourselves so that every sphere of our life is open to His action. That we may open ourselves to the Word of God. That we may open ourselves to our sisters and brothers. Today it is common for people to close themselves off as individuals. And the closure of society. Unfortunately, we also deal with the closure of communities etc. This closure is on two levels. Closing to God, to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, to experiencing the Word of God and to people, staying in our own warmth and creating the so-called "circle of mutual adoration". Jesus wants to come to all these spheres of life, both individual and collective, and say Ephphatha ...
Do we want this? Do we want Jesus to open us up? To get us out of closing? Or maybe think that we are so good, and we want to hear anything but a word: Ephphatha?
We will listen to the Gospel and then discuss how beautiful the Word of God is ... well ... maybe we will even say: how alive, how current, how timeless and how beautifully the Lord Jesus communicated to the Pharisees. So, what if we read, listen, discuss, if we do not open ourselves completely to the Word of God? Leaving a small space is not opening up. Opening must always be wide open, otherwise, we can say that it is repealed. Yes, when we tilt the window, there is always some air in the room, but that way we never ventilate the room.
Just before healing the man, Jesus looks to heaven seeking
for an understanding with the Father. At the same time, he gives an indication that it is precisely by "looking to heaven " that we can seek help for ourselves. Some translate the Greek word "look" as waking up, regaining consciousness. By looking to heaven, we look away from the illusions of our lives. Then we do not have to make our well-being dependent on the behavior of other people. We don't need to wait for people to become more sensitive and loving. This seemingly hostile world we live in will change when we start to change ourselves.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george