Mark 7:31–37
“Ephatha!”
Only a few times in the New Testament do we get to hear the
actual words of Jesus in the Aramaic language.
In these cases our English Bibles don’t translate, but give us the
actual sounds of the words Jesus made – and we have one of these today. Some others – well one was when he said to
the little girl who had died, “Talitha Cumi”, that is, “Little Girl,
arise”. And of course his quotation of
Psalm 22 from the cross, “Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani”, “My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?”
Today we hear a third example from our Savior’s own lips,
the simple command, “Ephatha!”, “be opened!”
Now, there’s plenty to say about this one little word. In opening the ears of a deaf man, Jesus
drops yet another calling card of the Messiah.
As Isaiah prophesied,
Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears
of the deaf unstopped;
then shall
the lame man leap like a deer,
and the
tongue of the mute sing for joy.
But more
than that, Jesus illustrates again for us, as he so often does, the power of
his word. The same word which created
all things – let there be light, let there be birds and fish, let us make man
in our image…. Now the creative and restorative word brings a new physical
reality. The same word which casts out
demons and all manner of diseases. The
same living word, himself made flesh, which comes that we might hear and
believe.
Now, of
course, this Ephatha had to be spoken to the deaf man, because he was suffering
under one of the many effects of sin.
And while he himself didn’t cause his deafness by his own sin – at least
not directly – he was no doubt a sinner living in the broken sinful world. So, too, for us – though we do cause many of
our own problems by our own sin, sometimes we are simply the victims of the
brokenness of the world, and either some other sinner affects us, or even
nature itself inflicts on us some disease or accident.
On one level
this story is so simple. Jesus sees a
man who has a need, and he helps him.
He’s the only one who can help him.
And he makes it right. He heals
the man’s ears and loosens his tongue.
He restores him completely, giving him the full functionality of his members
that the rest of us take for granted.
Jesus does nothing half-way.
Now, you and
I are also in a predicament, and it’s not too unlike the deaf-mute man. Although it is in a way far worse. According to our sin, the Bible tells us, we
are helpless and lost. We are blind,
dead, and enemies of God. But another
biblical picture of our fallen condition is that of deafness. Jesus often remarks, “he who has ears to
hear, let him hear”.
The problem
is that in our sin, we don’t have ears to hear.
Or to put it another way, we are deaf to God’s word. We don’t want to hear the law. We don’t want to hear how sinful we are. We certainly don’t want to hear the
punishments we deserve. That’s why
Scripture warns us about those with “itching ears”, and the preachers who only
preach to scratch that itch, to say what unrepentant sinners want to hear, not
what we all need to hear. Without Jesus
we are lost in so many ways – and pick your metaphor – we can’t help ourselves.
And so it
stands as a reminder that Jesus helps us, too.
He sees us in our condition, and he has compassion. He sees our suffering, our inability, our
brokenness, and he comes to heal. But
it’s far more than just physical healing.
Jesus goes to the root of the problem.
He opens the spiritual ears that are cemented shut by sin. He gives us ears to hear the very Gospel of
his free forgiveness. He frees the
tongue from its blasphemies and loosens in us the prayers and praises of one
who has now come to faith. Faith comes
by hearing, after all. And what we
believe in our heart we confess with our lips.
But think
about it. If the man is deaf, can he
even hear the “Ephatha”? Well not if I
say it. No mere man could. But the divine word gives what it
expects. It provides what it commands. It creates a new reality. And this is a hint of something far greater
to come.
The ear of a
deaf man is not the only thing Jesus has come to make open. The seal of deafness is not the only one he
comes to break. For on the third day,
after he had done all his suffering and rested in his borrowed tomb, Jesus had
a new and better Ephatha to complete. He
opened the grave. His angels rolled back
the stone, and he rolled back death in a glorious resurrection. He opened the grave with the ease that your
dad opens the pickle jar. And life broke
forth.
But not just
for himself. His ephatha is your
ephatha. His empty tomb foreshadows your
own. When he comes again in glory with
all his angels, with the final trumpet call and the glorious shout of victory,
then the dead in Christ will rise. He
will say the greater ephatha to all the graves of his people. He will call us to the same life that he
stole back from death and hell. And we
will be fully restored, not just spiritually, but also physically, and even
eternally. What a day that will be!
Heaven itself is opened to us in Jesus Christ. And this, even now. For every time the word of absolution is
spoken to you, the gates of heaven are opened.
Every time we repent and return to our baptismal grace, we are
restored. Every time we humbly approach
his table and receive the body and blood of our Lord, our invitation to the
heavenly banquet is renewed – for where there is forgiveness, there is also
life and salvation.
What will be ours one day in full – is ours already, even
now, by promise. And the Holy Spirit is
the deposit, the guarantee of the greater blessings to come. Now we see dimly, but then we shall see
fully. Now we suffer in a body of death,
but we know who will save us, and restore not just our ears and tongues, but
also eyes, heart, hands, yes our whole selves.
That’s the promise of the resurrection.
That’s our hope.
And take comfort in this, too, Christians. While we wait for his salvation to appear,
while we finish our course of days upon this earth, he has not left us
alone. Our God in with us, even to the
end of the age. Jesus also reigns on his
throne, a benevolent king who hears our prayers, brings our prayers to the
Father, and even sends his Spirit to teach us to pray and to pray on our
behalf.
In Jesus, the very ears of God are “Ephatha” for us. God’s ear is inclined to our prayers, he
desires them and wants to answer them.
He regards our prayers favorably.
Not because of us, but because of Christ. He hears our prayers only through
Christ. This is why we pray in Jesus’
name.
Now let’s take this last statement from the crowd, “He has
done all things well”. This is far more
than just a cheer for another good work of Jesus, a sort of “for he’s a jolly
good fellow” type thing. It confesses that by healing the deaf man, Jesus sort
of ticks the last box on the list of Messianic signs of healing.
But like many who comment in the pages of Scripture, their
words mean more than they intend. Jesus
has done all things well. He completes
everything he set out to do, everything the Father asked of him – a perfect
life fulfilling the law. A perfect
fulfillment of all messianic prophecies.
A perfect suffering and death to atone for all sin. A perfect resurrection. A perfect ascension and reign and he will
return at the perfect time to bring history to its close. He has done all things well, and done them
for you, dear Christian.
So keep your ears open to his word, which will continue to
instruct and forgive you, direct and strengthen you this whole life
through. Pray without ceasing to the one
whose ear is inclined to you, to answer for your good. And look forward to the day when he says his
final ephatha to your grave, calling you forth to the eternal reward Christ has
won for us all. For he has done all
things well, for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment