Saturday of the third week of Advent: Be Opened!

Presence

At any time of the day or night, we can call on Jesus.  He is always waiting, listening for our call.  What a wonderful blessing. No phone needed, no e-mails, just a whisper

Scripture

Mark 7: 31-37

Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Reflection

Ephphatha! (be opened!) When Jesus’ original Aramaic words are used in the Gospels, they accentuate the intimacy of a moment and the deeply personal nature of Jesus’ communication. Think of talitha koum, “little girl, arise!” (Mark 5:41); eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani! “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34); and Abba, “father” (Mark 14:36).
However, this particular encounter is extraordinary. Jesus’ sigh of sympathy indicates a deep understanding of the silent, isolated world this poor man inhabited. Unable to hear, unable to speak. This intimacy of this healing is almost shocking – Jesus placing his fingers into the man’s ears and his own spittle into the man’s mouth. The raw physicality of his actions powerfully demonstrates that Jesus has completely entered humanity. Here, he transcends traditional boundaries in order to effect profound change.
When we are spiritually and emotionally paralysed, unable to receive God’s love, and cut off from the spiritual energies within our souls, we need to allow Christ into ourselves, to receive his words in our very core, to lay ourselves completely open to his healing power. Ephphatha!

Prayer

Jesus, bring me away from the crowd to a place apart. Breathe the command into my very depths – ephphatha!  Liberate me from all the things that keep me from you and from others. Blast open the locked doors of my speech and my hearing. Free me to hear the voices that cry out to me. Unloose my tongue to speak words of comfort. Unshackle my hands to touch others with tenderness and love. 

Amen

Glory to you, Father, source of all being,

to you, Jesus, Word made flesh,

to you Holy Spirit, Comforter,

as it was before time began,

is now and shall be into the future.

Amen.