Ephphatha! Be Opened!
MARK 7:32-37 (English Version for the Deaf, Baker Book House,
Grand Rapids, Michigan)
While Jesus was there, some people
brought a man to him. This man was deaf and could not talk. The people
begged Jesus to put his hand on the man to heal him.
Jesus led the man away from the people to
be alone with him. Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears.
Then Jesus spit and touched the man's tongue. Jesus looked up to the
sky and made a breathing sound. Jesus said to the man, "Ephphatha!"
(This means, "Open!") When Jesus did this, the man was able to hear.
The man was able to use his tongue and spoke clearly.
The people were really amazed. The
people said, "Jesus does everything in a good way. Jesus makes deaf
people able to hear. And the people who can't talk--Jesus makes them
able to talk."
Several years ago there lived in the city of Oslo, Norway, an eleven
year old boy named Kjell Omahr Mørk. ["Kjell" is pronounced "Kyell."]
Since the name Kjell is so common in Norway, this lad preferred to have
his friends call him Omahr.
Young Omahr liked to go out riding his bike after school, and to go visiting
friends. One evening as he was riding home, his path took him down a hill.
He pedaled at full steam, going as fast as he could. The setting
sun was in Omahr's eyes, so he did not notice that there was a truck parked
at the side of the street. Young Omahr plowed into that truck, went
flying off his bike, and was knocked unconscious.
A few days later he woke up in the hospital recovering from a skull fracture.
He seemed to be recovering quite well, and soon was able to return home.
But in a very short time, the city of Oslo was hit by an outbreak of spinal
meningitis. Today he suspects that because of his recent head injury, he
was highly susceptible to the disease.
So he found himself in the hospital again, waking up a second time from
a coma, finding that his world had suddenly gone silent. Young Omahr,
who was a promising singer in the boys choir and the tuba player in the
school band, was now deaf.
We might think it was a tragedy; and it seemed so at the time.
But if you were to ask Omahr how he felt about his deafness today, he would
tell you, "God closed my ears so He could open my heart. You see,"
says Omahr, "Even though I was a good Norwegian, and all good Norwegians
are Lutherans, personally Jesus was a stranger to me. But God used
my deafness to get my attention. And through the care and concern of
Christian friends, God drew me to Himself."
Through the support of Omahr's pastor, he was able to come to United
States, receive a college education, and eventually graduate from one of
our Synodical seminaries. After serving in pastoral ministry in LCMS
deaf congregations, Rev. Mørk returned to his native Norway, where
today he shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Sign Language, continuing
his service in deaf ministry in Oslo.
While Omahr Mørk was having this amazing encounter with God, God
was working in the life of another deaf man here in the United States, Mr.
Robert Case.
Like Omahr, Bob Case was deafened by an attack of spinal meningitis.
But in Bob's case, he was just under four years of age when he became deaf.
Through his childhood and teen years, Bob attended two residential state
schools for the deaf. After graduation, he married a young deaf lady
he had met earlier while visiting family in another state. Bob found
employment at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri, where
he made a good living helping to build jet airplanes.
But the Spirit of God touched Bob in such a way that he sensed God's
call to enter full time ministry. From the perspective of Bob's friends,
it was a poorly timed call. Bob was fast approaching his 40th birthday.
He had a wife and five children. He had a good job with good security.
He had merely a high school diploma behind his name. And he was deaf.
Yet where God calls, He also provides the means. Bob Case obtained
a university degree while he worked full time as a lay-minister for a deaf
congregation, and eventually he graduated from seminary. Ever since
then, Rev. Robert Case has served in the pastoral ministry of the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.
And the list goes on. We could tell stories of pastors, teachers,
lay ministers, parish workers, even missionaries on other continents, who
are all deaf. But even though their physical ears do not work, their
hearts are very much in tune with the Still Small Voice of the Spirit of
God. And even though you would find their speech strained, distorted,
and hard to understand, their lives are an eloquent testimony of power and
love of God.
Why should we hear their stories? So we can be moved with pity
over the plight of the people we now label as "disabled?" No,
not that. Or are we to praise the heroic achievements of successful
deaf people? No, not even that.
The stories of people like Omahr Mørk and Bob Case cause
us to consider: How is it in our lives?
What is more tragic: Ears that do not work, but a heart that is sensitive
to the Voice of God; or ears that hear just fine, but are so filled with
noise and clatter that God cannot get a word in edgewise?
What is more pitiable: A tongue that has never learned the skill of fluent
speech; or a tongue that talks all the time, but never says anything of
the Law and Love of God?
Let us look again at the story of the healing of the deaf man in Mark
7, and put ourselves in the place of that deaf man, to consider our condition
of spiritual deafness that all of us suffer from birth, and recognize the
healing that Jesus offers us.
While Jesus was there, some people brought a man to
him. This man was deaf and could not talk ...
Apparently this man was born deaf. He was unable to speak
the ancient Aramaic language exactly for the same reason you and I are
unable to speak the ancient Aramaic language: He never heard it as he was
growing up.
Notice that he was brought to Jesus by some friends. Why couldn't
he have brought himself? There is no indication in the text that he
was mobility impaired. He had two good legs and could walk. Certainly
he must have heard stories about this one called Jesus who had come to this
same region just a few months earlier and worked a mighty miracle [Mark
5]. He must have heard about Jesus...
But there was a problem: he couldn't hear. It is possible
that someone attempted to give him the gist of the story in gestures and
home-made Sign Language. But in the end, a friend or a relative had
to bring him to Jesus, even before the man really knew who Jesus was.
And so it is for all who are the lost of this world. The Bible
asks: How can people call on Jesus if they do not believe in Him?
And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?
And how can people hear about Him, unless someone tells them? (Romans
10: 14)
The same is true for us. All of us are spiritually born deaf.
There is a communication barrier between us and God, and no amount of desire
or effort on our part will break that barrier and open communication with
God. Just like the man in the story, we had to be brought, brought
by someone who loved us and cared for us enough to bring us to the One who
could heal our spiritual deafness. [Who in your life can you
point to and say: "You introduced me to Jesus!" ?]
The people begged Jesus to put his hand on the man
to heal him. Jesus led the man away from the people to be alone with
him ...
Jesus desires the same for us. He wants to lead us away from
the multitude to be alone with us. Yes, He commands and commends that
we meet regularly in worship and fellowship. But He also desires that
we meet alone with Him regularly, as we tell Him in prayer what is on our
heart, as He tells us in His Word what is on His heart, and as we
pray for the burdens of His heart.
It is a trite but true saying: "If you are too busy to pray, you are
too busy." When our schedules are so full that we cannot spare a
long quiet moment to be alone with God, then there is something in our schedule
that God didn't put there.
Now, when Jesus was alone with the man in our story, Jesus communicated
with him in a way that the man could understand. Our Lord did not shout
at him. Nor did Jesus push under the man's nose dusty theological
tomes written in a language the man couldn't understand. Nor did
Jesus employ any sort of mystical meditation technique. But Jesus
communicated His gracious will for the man's life in a very simple and
obvious way:
Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears. Then
Jesus spit and touched the man's tongue. Jesus looked up to the sky
and made a breathing sound ...
Jesus chose to communicate with the deaf man in a language the man
could understand: Sign Language.
And God does the same for us: He seeks to communicate with you and me
in ways our poor pea-brains can comprehend. He does this in a number
of ways. First, He communicates His plan and purpose for us in everyday
human language through the Bible. And there in the Bible, we see
the most wonderful communication of God's character and love in His Son,
Jesus Christ. God communicated Himself to us on our level by becoming
one of us: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have beheld
His Glory" (John 1:14).
In American Sign Language there is a popular sign for "I Love You."
It is formed by extending the thumb, index finger, and little finger, with
the two middle fingers folded down in front of the palm; the sign is displayed
with the palm facing forward. It is an abbreviation of three letters
of the manual alphabet: ILY.
God also has a Sign for "I Love You." It's the cross.
It was out of love for you
that Jesus allowed His hands and wrists to be pierced
with nails.
It was out of love for you
that Jesus hung suspended halfway between heaven and
hell on a rough wooden beam.
It was out of love for you
that Jesus said; "Father, forgive
them..."
It was out of love for you
that the Father said to His Son's
dark dank cold tomb, "BE OPENED!"
It was out of love for you
that Jesus said, "I go to prepare
a place for you...
and I will come again and take
you home with Me."*
It is that message of love for you that He seeks to communicate with
you every time you open the Scriptures and read His love letter to you,
as He communicates His good purpose and plan for us, just as He did with
the deaf man.
Jesus said to the man, "Ephphatha!" (This means, "Open!")
When Jesus did this, the man was able to hear...
"Ephphatha! Be opened!" When Jesus says it, He does it!
To our hearts Jesus says, "Ephphatha! Be opened!" and by the power
of His Word we hear ...
...the man was able to hear. The man was able
to use his tongue and spoke clearly.
Now the physical healing of the man's auditory system is amazing
enough. But the greater miracle was that the man instantly acquired
the ancient Aramaic language, without having to spend years and years
studying it. (Every pastor wishes he had received this kind of
"healing" when they were studying Greek and Hebrew in the seminary!).
Without ever having learned it, the formerly deaf understood and spoke a
new language.
Again, Jesus does the same thing for us. He not only opens our
hearts to hear God, but He opens our mouths to speak to others about our
wonderful God.
The people were really amazed. The people
said, "Jesus does everything in a good way. Jesus makes deaf people
able to hear. And people who can't talk--Jesus makes them able to
talk."
As our bodies age, we are all painfully aware that we tend to lose
our physical hearing year-by-year. The same thing can
happen to our spiritual hearing as well. Through laziness and neglect,
through busy-ness we can tune out the Still Small Voice of God. To
us again, Jesus says, "Ephphatha! Be Opened!"'
Be Opened to take a moment alone with Him.
Be Opened to pray for the concerns of His heart.
Be Opened to hear Him instruct us, teach us, mature us through
His Word, the Scriptures.
Be Opened to see in His Word His message of love to us.
Be Opened to open our mouths and speak that Word to others.
Be Opened to introduce our friends to Jesus, so He may also say
to them:
"Ephphatha! Be Opened!"
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Note: Rev. Robert Case and Rev. Omahr Mørk have each given permission
to share their stories.
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Rev. Ron Friedrich
Christ Lutheran Church of the Deaf
Silver Spring, Maryland