Ephphatha: Be Open to God's Transforming Presence

The Healing of the Deaf and Mute Man

In Mark's Gospel, we encounter one of Jesus' most intimate and symbolic healing miracles. Jesus traveled to the Gentile region of Decapolis (a region of ten interconnected cities east of the Sea of Galilee), where He met a man who was both deaf and mute.

Imagine the isolation this man experienced in a time without modern hearing aids. He couldn't hear Scripture being read in the temple, participate in community prayers and songs, or clearly communicate his own needs and desires.

Mark provides unusually specific details about this healing:

1. Jesus took the man aside privately for an intimate encounter
2. He placed His fingers into the man's ears
3. He spit and touched the man's tongue
4. He spoke the Aramaic word "Ephphatha," meaning "be open"

These personal, even uncomfortable actions demonstrate Christ's willingness to reach in and touch us in our human brokenness.

What Does This Healing Mean for Us?

The effect of Jesus' touch was immediate and complete: "straightway his ears were opened and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain." This was more than physical healing—Jesus restored the man to community, to worship, to relationship. The man could now hear God's word and respond with praise.

Despite Jesus instructing witnesses to tell no one, they couldn't contain their testimony: "they were beyond measure astonished, saying, he hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak."

This miracle fulfills Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah in Isaiah 35:5-6: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb single." In Christ, these promises are realized as signs of God's kingdom, where all creation is being restored.

How Does Baptism Connect to This Healing?

In ancient baptismal liturgies, priests would often perform the "Ephphatha ceremony," touching the ears and mouth of the person being baptized while saying "be open," directly echoing Christ's action in the Gospel.

This ritual acknowledges a spiritual truth: we all enter this world spiritually deaf to God's voice and unable to praise Him properly. Through baptism, we are opened to new life in Christ. As Psalm 139 declares, "for thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

When baptismal waters touch our heads, it is Christ Himself saying, "Ephphatha"—be open to grace, open to faith, open to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

How Does the Eucharist Continue Our Opening?

If baptism marks our initial opening to God's grace, the Holy Eucharist represents its continual fulfillment. At the altar, we experience God's abundant mercy giving us "those good things which we are not worthy to ask."

The Eucharist reflects the miracle in today's gospel:

• We come in our spiritual deafness and muteness, often distracted
• Christ takes us aside into an intimate encounter
• Through His sacramental touch, our spiritual senses are opened
• We hear His Word proclaimed in Scripture and homily
• We taste the bread and wine—physical elements conveying spiritual reality
• Our tongues are loosed to proclaim, "He hath done all things well"

We approach with empty hands, bringing nothing but our need. God fills those hands with Christ Himself. We seek mere sustenance; God gives us the Bread of Heaven. We seek forgiveness; God gives us transformation.

Why Does Anglican Worship Engage All Our Senses?

In Anglican tradition, worship engages all the senses—hearing, smelling, touching, tasting. This is intentional, for God speaks through word and sacrament, through water and oil, through bread and wine, through gesture and posture, in the beauty of holiness.

Each time we gather at the altar, it's like another divine moment of "Ephphatha"—be open. We open our hearts and minds to receive God's incredible gifts, experiencing His grace as we actively participate in His unending love.

What Does It Mean to Be "Encouragers for Christ"?

If Christ has spoken "Ephphatha" to us—if our ears have been opened to hear His word and our tongues loosened to declare His praise—then we must live as "opened ones" in a world still trapped in deafness and silence.

St. Barnabas was called the "Son of Encouragement" because he recognized God's grace at work in others and spoke words that opened them to greater participation in that grace. When others saw only Saul the persecutor, Barnabas saw Paul the Apostle. When others saw only John Mark the deserter, Barnabas saw St. Mark the Evangelist.

To be encouragers for Christ means to participate in His ongoing ministry of opening. We're called to reach out and touch those isolated by their inability to hear God's voice or speak His praise. We speak "Ephphatha" through acts of mercy, words of truth spoken in love, and a community that embodies the openness to which God calls all people.

How Does God Continue to Open Us?

God knows us intimately—not for judgment, but for blessing. He knows precisely what in us needs opening, what areas of our lives remain deaf to His voice or mute to His praise.

The opening Christ offers is not a one-time event but a continuous process. Every day we need to hear "Ephphatha" spoken over our prejudices, fears, comforts, and assumptions. We must allow Christ to take us aside, to touch our areas of deafness and muteness, to open us anew to His transforming presence.

The same Christ who spoke "Ephphatha" to the deaf and mute man speaks it still to us today—through Scripture, through liturgy, through sacraments, and through the community of faith.

Life Application

Our calling is twofold: to be opened and to be openers.

First, we must be open to receive God's abundant mercy, which is "always more ready to hear than we to pray and want to give more than either we desire or deserve."

Second, having been opened, we're called to be openers—to participate in Christ's ongoing work of:

• Opening ears to truth
• Opening mouths to praise
• Opening hearts to love
• Opening hands to service

This week, consider these questions:

1. What areas of my life remain closed to God's voice and transforming work?
2. How can I create space for Christ to speak "Ephphatha" to these closed areas?
3. Who in my life needs encouragement—someone who needs their ears opened to God's truth or their tongue loosened to express their needs or praise?
4. What specific action can I take to be Christ's voice of "Ephphatha" to someone this week?

May the God who opened the ears of the deaf and loosened the tongue of the mute continue to open us to His transforming presence, that we might be true encouragers for Christ in our community and beyond.