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!