St. Mark 7:31–37

Then [Jesus] returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

There are videos on YouTube, that show babies or young children who, through a hearing aid, are hearing their parents’ voices for the first time. Maybe you’ve seen these before; there are many of them, and they’re all very similar to each other. The hearing aid is applied, the parent starts to speak, and the child looks in a way we might describe as “astonished”—that word from our text. The astonishment is followed in most cases with what could never be mistaken as anything but pure joy. A giant smile comes across the little face of that little person who has had her ears opened to hear the happy sound of her parent’s voice.

Hearing is so important to us. God’s gift of our ears gives us great joy in life, the ability to hear music, and laughter, the sounds of nature, the voices of loved ones. If we have hearing, it’s hard to imagine life without it (though, sadly, some are unable to hear).

A man is brought to Jesus in our text. He has this disability. He can’t hear, and can’t speak clearly for that reason. Whoever is bringing him to Jesus has in mind what must be done; they must beg Jesus to lay His hand on him. But, how have they known to do this? Well, in Mark’s previous chapter he has discussed Jesus’ feeding the five thousand, walking on water, healing the sick at Gennesaret. Following the last of those miracles, Mark writes: And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well (6:56). So, it makes sense that the companions of this man knew that he might well be helped by Jesus.

Jesus, indeed, helps Him. He heals his ears so they can hear. Also, as part of the miracle, the man is able to speak clearly now. The way Jesus goes about this healing is to say, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

Effortlessly, Jesus fixes what’s broken—even with our bodies. He’s the maker of them; so it isn’t any problem for Him to fix them, if He so chooses (if it’s best for us that it happen). There isn’t anything He can’t do to help us. And, He wants to fix what’s broken. That’s why He’s here. Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah is talking about the time when this Messiah will come, and about the fact that He’ll be bringing relief to those who are suffering. All of this was fulfilled when Jesus came and ministered to the people.

Ephphatha—Be opened. A couple of chapters back in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus had told the Parable of the Sower, about God’s Word being proclaimed to various kinds of listeners (including, also, those who aren’t listening at all). And He told a parable about a lamp put under a basket (about the light of the Word being hidden so it can’t benefit people). At the end of these parables, He says, If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear (Mark 4:23).”

That word Ephphatha is historically associated with Baptisms in the Church. It’s not hard to see why when we think about what Baptism is. The Spirit comes to a person through the water and Word, and opens what has been closed off. He opens the person’s ears spiritually-speaking. By nature they haven’t been able to receive the message that would save them—the Gospel message, the message of God’s grace in Christ. Their old nature has resisted it. The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God (Romans 8:7)—The Bible says. St. Paul writes that, actually. In another of his letters, he says to his readers similarly, You once were alienated and hostile in mind (Colossians 1:21). It’s been like ears that are deaf. Human hearts, since the Fall Into Sin,  are naturally closed to God. In Baptism, it’s as if the Spirit comes to the person and says, Ephphatha—Be opened.

And faith is begun in that person. And there is a palpable result. Remember what we said about those videos of young children who have heard their parents’ voices for the first time. We said, The hearing aid is applied, the parent starts to speak, and the child looks in a way we might describe as “astonished”. The astonishment is followed with the look of pure joy.

Similarly, when Baptism is applied—when the pastor says, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” and the Word is proclaimed to the person (now believing through the Spirit’s work) the person’s reaction might be described, if we were able to see it, as astonished. What follows is pure joy, because the guilt of sin that divided him from God has been removed. God’s merciful forgiveness has taken its place. The forgiveness is in the blood of Jesus, the righteous One Who died on a cross for the world’s sins.

The companions of the man in our text knew that the solution for their friend’s problem was to go to Jesus, go to the One Who does amazing things—things no one else can do. Go to Him and ask for His help, knowing that He wants to help. We’ve seen all of it on display in this text. He doesn’t hesitate to meet the man’s need. He demonstrates His divine power. He demonstrates the compassion of God. That going to Jesus with our concerns is our best move goes without saying from what we see in this text. The man’s companions were right.

And yet, so much of the time going to Jesus with our concerns hasn’t been our first move, has it? Our first move has been more like the move of those who haven’t had their spiritual hearing restored in Baptism, and through faith that comes from hearing Christ’s Word. Our first move has been to do a lot of fretting, worrying that our needs won’t have any solution. It has been to panic. It has been to act like those who don’t know Christ, who don’t know the One Who opens ears that haven’t worked, so that they work again! “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith (Matthew 8:26)?”—Jesus said one time to His disciples. He was there with them, after all!

Couldn’t He say it to you, too? Couldn’t He say to you, Why haven’t you more often come to me like the companions of that man who couldn’t hear? Haven’t you seen the result in the Scriptures? Haven’t you seen that there isn’t anything that I can’t do for you? Haven’t seen My desire to help you in even the littlest things in life? But if He were to say something like that to you, He wouldn’t be saying it to create distance between you and Him, but rather to draw you close to Him with a merciful invitation.

He is the righteous One Who has humbled Himself so that you might be exalted. He has obeyed perfectly so that you could be considered to have done so. He has suffered and bled so that the punishment you deserved could be accomplished and put on your account as paid. There isn’t anything you needed in your relationship with God that He hasn’t provided. You are forgiven and restored to God in Him.

Now, He invites you to come to Him like the companions of the man in our text, with any concern. To whom else is there to go? No doubt the people in our text had gone to doctors who weren’t able to be of help. Were they to have put their faith in some other sort of God nothing would have happened. There wasn’t any other solution that they were going to come up with for themselves. Jesus was their solution.

He is yours, too. God be praised that He has opened your spiritual ears to hear and receive His gracious message of salvation. God be praised that you have Him to turn to in any trouble, the One Whose ability and compassion are so clearly presented in Scriptural texts like ours for this morning. He invites you to come to Him so that He can help you.

You indeed have come to Him this morning in a place like this so that He might help you. He gives you the things no one else can give. He gives you the Word of Truth in which the Spirit works to nourish the faith begun in you long ago. He gives you at His Table, the very body and blood shed for the remission of your sins. You have known, like the deaf man’s companions, what must be done so that you might have the help you need. You have come to beg of Jesus, that He might lay His hand on you, that He might give you comfort in response to your confession, strengthening in your weakness, hope in your longing.

Ephphatha—Be opened. The most important phrase for you to hear with the opened ears of faith is, your sins are forgiven. The astonishment you might feel at hearing those words is in the realization that it could really be true—that even your sins are truly forgiven. The pure joy that follows is in anticipating the inheritance that awaits you in God’s kingdom—opened for you by His grace. God be praised. Amen.