Ephphatha!

“Ephphatha!”

“They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hands on him.  Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.  Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “be opened.”  And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue released, and he spoke plainly.”      

Mark 7: 32-35

            “Faith is a state of openness or trust.”       Alan Watts

“Be opened.”  Jesus was still trying to hide his gift of healing, but he couldn’t refrain from using it.  He had compassion for the people who came to him, some of whom walked for miles carrying their sick and disabled loved ones.  He wasn’t ready to step into the role of Messiah, but he couldn’t withhold his touch from those in need. 

Jesus’ ways of healing were, at times, very organic.  He was a man of the earth.  He spat in the dirt and made a paste for blind eyes, spat and touched the deaf man’s ears and tongue, sighed and breathed on people.  He told them, “your faith has made you whole,” “your sins are forgiven,” “be opened.”  He never claimed the healing as his own work, but as God’s. 

“Be opened” is a profound and powerful injunction.  Be opened in order that you may hear, and see and speak clearly.  His admonition spoke of openness of heart and mind, as well as ears and eyes—openness to this difficult idea that God was establishing a new relationship with God’s people and that everyone was included!  Jesus had moments of uncertainty, as when the gentile woman asked him to heal her daughter.  His first response was to hesitate—he had come only to the children of Israel—but when the woman persisted, his heart opened and her daughter was healed.

  Openness was the guiding principle of Jesus’ ministry.  He blessed faith where he found it; accepted hospitality where it was offered; and he touched, breathed on and healed people who were considered unclean, even demonic.  There was no situation in which Jesus admonished his followers to “be closed.”  This is still the case today—be open, not closed.

Whenever we experience the openness of acceptance and inclusion, the understanding that all are welcome at the table, and healing is free, Jesus’ spirit will be among us.    

Keeping the faith,

Jane