Open up!

Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up! ‘Then looking up to heaven, [Jesus] sighed [or perhaps Jesus groaned] and said to [the deaf man who had an impediment in his speech] , "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." (Mark 7:34 NRSV) Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up!

There are a few times in the Gospels where we have words not in the koine Greek of the Gospels nor even in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, but in the Aramaic that is probably what Jesus and his disciples actually spoke. Aramaic is a Hebrew variation. Like Hebrew, it is one of those languages that belongs to the Middle Eastern family of languages which includes Arabic.

In our Gospel story for today, we hear one of those times when Aramaic is used: Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up!

Now when we run across these Aramaic words, scholars have been inclined to think that perhaps it is in these stories that we come closest to hearing something of the actual words that Jesus spoke: Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up! Because if the word is there in Aramaic, then perhaps it has been transmitted from its first use and the first observers of the ministry of Jesus.

Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up! Here, in this story in the Mark, the command is firstly to a deaf person with a speech impediment. It is a story of physical healing. Open up! Be healed! Be whole! Participate in the world around you fully!

But the fact that those words seem to have endured would indicate that they don’t just relate to one particular incident—however miraculous that incident may have been. The fact that the Aramaic word has persisted in the Greek text suggests that it had and indeed has a powerful, symbolic role in talking about and explaining the significance of Jesus, not for that one person, but for all of humanity, for us.

That word would appear to have said something and indeed say something not just about what Jesus might have done on one occasion, but something about what the ministry of Jesus offered and offers as a whole. Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up!

There are people who look into Christianity from outside who don’t see what that Aramaic word is all about. They see Christianity as something that doesn’t open things up, but rather closes things down. They may understand Christianity as being about being put in a straight jacket, rather than wearing practical, comfortable clothing that protects and allows for good movement. They may think about Christianity as a set of rules, rather than a way of living that is open to God and the things of God.

But this Aramaic word preserved in the Markan text speaks of a different understanding of what Christianity is all about: Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up! It speaks of an approach to life with God that is freeing and healing; that brings hope and wholeness; that prompts the full participation of people in the life with which we have been gifted.

Just prior to the use of this word in the text, we have heard another story of freedom: the story of a Gentile woman who claims for herself and her daughter a place at God’s table; and of a Jesus who opens himself up to the possibilities that God offers for all people and not just for some. Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up! This life is for all!

Christianity is about opening up: opening up to God; opening up to others; opening up to those who are most closed off; opening up for those who are most closed off; opening up those who are most closed off. The imagery of the healing of a man who is deaf and mute is also the promise of giving voice to the silent and opening the ears of those who do not listen. It is a picture of people being able to enter fully into the life for which they have been created. Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up!

So, what does that mean for us now? Where are we being called to be open in our lives? In what ways are we being called to open up to the fullness of the life with which we have been gifted?

The Ephphatha rite is part of the sacrament of baptism. When today, I said to Archer, “May the Lord open your ears to hear God’s Word and your mouth to proclaim God’s praise!”, and touched his ears and his mouth, I was technically doing the Ephphatha rite, the ritual that is drawn from this very Gospel text. None of you thought that what was happening was a physical healing, because we know that Archer is a healthy baby who can hear and can speak, or at least make his voice heard, very well! Rather, we were offering God’s blessing upon Archer to participate in God’s life fully, to hear God’s Word and do it, to know God’s goodness and proclaim it in word and deed.

And that is what we have been called to in our baptism—the hearing and doing of God’s Word, the knowing and proclaiming of God’s goodness—in order that others might also hear and do and know and proclaim; in order that others might fully participate in the life with which we have been gifted by God. Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up!

That opening up is an opening up for all people, not just for some; even for those people whom we sometimes wonder about. Everybody, Jew and Gentile; slave and free; male and female; gay and straight; married and unmarried; young and old and in-between; Anglo and Asian, African and Islander, Arabic and Aboriginal; Green and Labor, Liberal and Independent--the Ephphatha is a blessing for everyone and a promise for all. Ephphatha! Be opened! Open up! This is the freedom for which we were created; the freedom to which we have been called; the freedom which has been accomplished in Jesus for us; and the freedom into which we have been baptised—the freedom of full participation in the life with which God has gifted us!

Strengthened & Equipped!

Give up or keep going? Give up or keep going?! Give up or keep going…

How many times have you confronted that question in your life? That’s the question confronted by the disciples in our Gospel reading today—give up or keep going? And Jesus is the one who poses it.

When others who were following him decide that what he is saying is too hard and leave, Jesus turns to his inner circle and asks whether that’s what they want to do too. “What about you? You’re free to join them if you want to give up on me too.” “Have you had enough? Are you ready to give up too? Or are you prepared to keep going?” Give up or keep going!

Now that’s confronting! This is the rabbi they been following around for a while—someone who seemed to offer some hope for people who were really, really in need of hope. And now this guy is giving them a kind of ultimatum or at least the chance for them to get off the hook: “If you want to go, you can go too.”

And I know that there have been times in my faith journey when I’ve wanted to go, I’ve wanted to give up, because the story is too hard, the news is too difficult to convey, the messenger is so often misunderstood, and there’s so much baggage that has accrued to Christianity that what people sometimes think is Christian is hardly Christian at all. It’s too hard, too difficult—it’s like pushing a boulder uphill.

So just what has Jesus been saying that seems to have turned so many away? It’s pretty graphic stuff. Chew on me and I will become part of you, and you will become part of me. God is the source of my life; and I will be the source of yours; and not just the source of human life now, but of eternal life, of life in God forever.

This stuff is hard. This stuff doesn’t make a lot of sense. And maybe it’s hard for us to understand just how hard this stuff in the Gospel of John might have sounded because the imagery is so steeped in our Christian tradition; but in the first century it’s the emerging Christian story and it’s working with the Jewish story, but changing it, and change is hard!

Give up or keep going?

The disciples are confronted with a changing tradition; and it’s hard to know what’s the right way forward when the ground seems so slippery. What if you put your foot wrong? It’s not just about stumbling, it’s about whether you’re in relationship with God or not, whether you are walking in God’s way or not, so when things seem to be changing, how can you know what the right path is?

And when the way seems so uncertain, it can be very discouraging. We like nice maps, good directions, an accurate GPS. We like to know that we’re on the right path; we’re not being led astray; we are walking the path that has been set for us… by God.

Give up or keep going?

But Jesus has given them a clue—a clue to the discernment of the Spirit’s leading. He’s already given them (and us) a clue when he’s been speaking to those others who chose to leave and to those who remain, at least for the time being. “Everything I’ve said to you is life-giving. Everything I’ve said to you is life-giving.” That’s the clue! That’s the way to know the way! The good news of Jesus is life-giving!

Give up or keep going? What is the path that leads to life; and not just the sort of life guaranteed by bread, but the life guaranteed by God—life that is fulfilling and abundant and freeing—real life, the life that comes with freedom, proper freedom—not the freedom to do what I like, the freedom of acting in accordance with God’s intent without being afraid that you might not be on the right path—the freedom of being in God. Now that’s scary!

Because at first it sounds very much like I’m not in control, like I can’t plan my destiny, like I’m going to be in a straight jacket, but it’s not! It’s the only proper freedom there is. No wonder “When the people who had been following Jesus heard him say these things, many of them began to say, ‘Who can stomach what this man teaches? It is too tough by far.’” And the shutters were up! Because it barely sounds like freedom at all.

So Jesus wants to see if the disciples’ shutters have come up too. And Simon Peter responds and essentially his response is that the disciples who remain have caught on that Jesus’ words are life; and that Jesus’ life is God’s life; and that they are being invited to enter into the life of Jesus, the life of God.

And that is the invitation to us: give up or keep going? And when you’re making your decision, make sure you choose life, make sure you know what life you’re choosing—the only real life that there is, life in Jesus, life in God. Whether something is life-giving or death-dealing is the clue to whether it is of God! That is the struggle in which we are engaged—the struggle for that which is life-giving and the struggle against that which is death-dealing. That is the reality that Jesus is checking out with his disciples—do they know what it is that gives life? Do they know whom it is who gives life? Because if they don’t, they might as well leave now; because they will be defenceless. They will not be able to discern the life to which they have been called, let alone the armour which it provides them for the journey—an armour not of military might and physical strength, but of the things of God—truth and righteousness, peace and faith, and above all salvation.

So in order to keep discerning the right path, in order to keep connected to the way of life, we need to keep in relationship with God; and for the disciples, that relationship is firsthand with Jesus; and the disciples of Jesus that firsthand relationship is made possible because of Jesus who is God and did enter God’s world in order to show what real life is, in order to demonstrate what real life is, and in order to give that real life to all who only choose to ask. Give up or keep going? Live life or succumb that which hinders and even extinguishes life.

“Lord, who else could we turn to? Your words have opened our eyes to life without limit. You have won our trust and we are convinced that you are God’s Holy One.”