Sermon: Trinity 12 - 2020

30 August 2020

Text: Mark 7:31-37 (Isa 29:17-24, 2 Cor 3:4-11)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Although the New Testament was written in Greek, sometimes the original Hebrew or Aramaic word is so important that it comes out in its original language.

The word “Ephphatha” is one of these extraordinary words.  St. Mark even provides us with the translation: “Be opened.”  Our Lord Jesus uses this command to open the ears of a deaf man, and to release his tongue.  And our Lord doesn’t tell the man’s ears to “open,” but rather “be opened.”  For they cannot open themselves, but are rather acted on by the Word of God: “Be opened.”

So why is this so important?  Why is this word said in the original language, like the words “Alleluia” and “Amen”?  

Dear friends, the man’s ears needed to be opened because they were closed.  His impediment prevented him from hearing the Word of God.  St. Paul teaches us that “faith comes by hearing… the Word of Christ.”  And this is what makes deafness so terrible.  His ears needed opened because they were closed.  The gateway to faith was slammed shut for this poor man.  And like every sickness, the culprit is sin: probably not his own sin, but the sin of the world, the sin of our ancestors, the sin that surrounds us and dominates our world.  The deaf man is a victim of sin, and thus a victim of Satan.  Apart from God’s grace, he is headed to a certain death, an eternal death, which is the rightful penalty for sin.

But Jesus has come into our broken world to fix it, to fling open the gates of heaven that have been closed to us.  He comes so that “the deaf shall hear the words of a book,” as the prophet Isaiah preaches.  For the words of the book of the Scriptures are life-giving – if you hear them.

Most people are not physically deaf, but spiritually deaf.  They do not hear God’s Word because their ears are filled with the clutter and noise of this world.  One cannot hear the Word, the live-giving Word, the faith-giving Word, the words of eternal life – if one is not present to hear them.  To those who do not follow Jesus, who do not gather where He gathers us: at the font, at the altar, and at the pulpit – they are deaf to the Word.  And they slowly close in on themselves, and their faith shrivels and shrinks, eventually to nothing.

Dear friends, Jesus comes to open our ears and our eyes.  The miracles of healing the deaf and the blind point to a greater reality: to cure us of our spiritual deafness and blindness, and to blast open that which was closed, namely, the gate to eternal life.  For even the closed graves will be opened, and the dead in Christ will rise.  

And so our Lord has compassion on this victim of sin and the devil.  He “sighed” with compassion at the state of this poor man.  He used His fingers and His spittle and His Word to restore this man to wholeness, to open His ears, and open the door to eternal life.

“Ephphatha… Be opened.”

And not only were his ears opened, and He could hear the Word of God, but so too was his tongue “released, and he spoke plainly.”  He could not only hear the Word, but also repeat it.  He could not only listen, but confess it.  The word “released” is very important.  It means that his tongue was previously enslaved or held hostage.  And it is only the Word that can release anything from this kind of bondage, even the tongue of a man suffering the kind of infirmity that even makes faith difficult.

But this is not difficult for Jesus, dear friends.  “One little Word” can fell the “old evil foe,” as we sing in the great hymn.

This idea of opening our ears and our mouths has been understood by the church as pointing us to Holy Baptism.  In St. Mark’s very short account of our Lord’s baptism, he speaks of the heavens being opened, and the Holy Spirit descending.  There is so much meaning packed into this word “opened.”  

For when a baby is baptized, his ears are opened to hear the Word of God.  And when an adult – who has already been converted by hearing the Word – is baptized, his ears have already been opened.  In some baptismal liturgies, there is actually a prayer called the Ephphatha, that goes like this: “The Lord has made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May He soon touch your ears to receive His word, and your mouth to proclaim His faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father. Amen.”

And this prayer would come before the baptism of an adult, and after the baptism of a child.  Holy Baptism opens the ears of a child to hear and believe the Word, and releases the tongue of the child to soon confess the faith and sing praise to God.  And if a person has heard the proclamation of the Word prior to Holy Baptism, his ears have already been opened, his tongue has already been released, and his baptism opens the portal to eternity by giving him the gift of the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, with certitude and clarity, even as a baptized adult has heard this Word with his ears and believes it, and confesses this Word with his tongue and proclaims it.

The whole life of the Christian is an “Ephphatha” – constantly being opened to the Word of God by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He commands that our ears “Be opened” when our sins are forgiven, and when we hear the proclamation of the Gospel.  And by His grace, at His Word, we gather with others whose ears have also been opened, and our tongues, having been released by God’s Word, speak the creed, give thanks to God, sing praise to His name, and confess the good news in the hearing of others, “more zealously proclaiming it.”  

For we are baptized, our ears have been opened, our tongues have been released, the heavens have been opened to us, and the Holy Spirit has descended upon us.  And even as the “letter” of the law “kills,” even so, “the Spirit gives life.”  By faith, our hearts are opened by the Word, and the Spirit comes to us, our ears remain open and attentive to the Word, and our tongues are released to speak the good news.

Let us pray that we may never allow our ears to be closed by the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, but that the Word of God may continually open to us the way to eternal life!  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.