Ephphatha ---- Be Opened

Ephphatha … Ephphatha … Ephphatha

This is an Aramaic word remaining in the Greek text. Aramaic was the common language of Jesus, the disciples, and the people of Galilee. For them the word ephphatha meant, be opened.

There are not many Aramaic words preserved in Greek scripture; only a few in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. The Gospel of Mark is written in rough Greek, obviously by an Aramaic speaker and thinker. It has been suggested that the Gospel of Mark kept four Aramaic phrases because it was too difficult to translate a full meaning into Greek; this argument seems a little weak. Perhaps the words were kept, as eye-witness accounts of words heard by Jesus; their inclusion verifies the events. The words spoken deeply moved the hearers, such that they were remembered and passed on in the telling of the story.  Or maybe something entirely different is to draw our attention.

The three other times Aramaic words are used in Mark are interesting:

Jesus says to a dead girl, Talitha koum “little girl, get up.” And the little girl begins to breath. The Aramaic words come at the climax of raising a child from death.

Jesus uses the word, Abba, while praying that last night in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Aramaic word being a familial address, a heart felt prayer and conversation to ‘daddy,’ or ‘papa.’

And Jesus cries from the cross, Eloi eloi, lama sabacthoni, “my God, my God why have you forsaken me?” These Aramaic words were a familiar phrase from Psalm 22; for Jesus a hymn he knew by heart.

On all of these occasions, Aramaic words are spoken from a depth of emotion beyond human comprehension; the words are breathy – with sighing – the words come from a place of physical inadequacy and spiritual longing; from the depths of contemplation, with a desire to understand mystery, and to express a deep seeded compassion.

Ephphatha … Ephphatha … Ephphatha

This is an important word; one we are to pay attention to.  It is a word that comes at the climax of a building story.  At the beginning of the story Jesus is intentionally travelling to Gentile territory.  It seems that Jesus is taking a break from God’s Chosen People.  Jesus is going somewhere, where no one will ask him to interpret the Law or pose impossible questions to answer.  He is going somewhere, where no one wonders if he is the Messiah, where no one comes looking for signs and wonders in the form of a miracle. Jesus, for the moment, has closed-up shop; he is closed for business.

While Jesus is closed for business, word still gets around – his words and deeds proceed him.

Jesus encounters people who are open and seeking the God of Word and compassion.

An outsider, that is a woman, from outside the land of Israel, from outside the Law of Moses, from a people who are an ancient enemy of Israel, comes to Jesus demanding him to be open for business.  She is an outsider to Jesus’ frame of reference. She is an unaccompanied female who dares to speak to him, a stranger; and asks that he might heal her daughter of an unclean spirit. Jesus is closed for business.  One knows by the response he gives to the woman; face to face he calls her a dog.  Jesus is not open to offering Word or compassion to this outsider.  After the woman’s perseverance and wit, Jesus reluctantly grants her request.

Leaving the scene, Jesus continues to journey into the Gentile territory of the Decapolis.  Despite the interruption Jesus is still closed for business. And once again, Jesus encounters an outsider seeking healing and wholeness.  This time the outsider is a Gentile man who has been cut-off from society because he is deaf and has a speech impediment; communication is difficult.

At the height of the healing, after spitting, and touching the man’s ears, Jesus says: ephphatha. Jesus says the word aloud to a man who can not hear the word, remember the man is deaf.  Who is the spoken word for?

Ephphatha, at the climax of the story is the hinge -the point! Could the word have been spoken for Jesus’ sake?

Ephphatha, be opened! Be open to the outsider- to the woman, to the enemy, to the unclean, to the non-Jew…

In that moment, when the word passed Jesus’ lips, -in the sighing of the word- did something break within Jesus’ being?  Was something way down in the depths of his spirit changed? Within the heart of Jesus, a place opened, from whence compassion drown the judgement he had made of the outsider, and mercy trumped his preconceived notions and understanding of his mission. Compassion and mercy were for all people, no matter how much on the outside they seemed to be. To fulfill the Law, to love God and neighbour, Jesus had to hear, had to feel the command: Ephphatha, be opened!

This Aramaic word remains in the text because eye-witnesses saw that it was an occasion of great depth for Jesus.  The spoken word was for Jesus, so that Jesus’ ministry would move forward, working from the depths of his being.  Open for business, Jesus now journeys towards the cross, where compassion and mercy are freely offered to all.

The prophet Isaiah calls: Say to those of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear.  Here is God. God will come with vengeance and recompense. God will come and save you.“ Then will the eyes of the blind be open, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless will sing for joy.

A fearful heart --- Was this what Jesus experienced when he first encountered the outsiders? Is a fearful heart, one that is closed for business? Jesus was unprepared to offer compassion and mercy, as he had not contemplated God’s response.  The Isaiah passage reminds the hearer that God is here, that God will come and save.  It also says that God will come with vengeance and recompense – this response of God’s is to be understand as a response, not of smiting, but, rather, of restorative justice.  And as restorative justice is applied, - hearts are burst open- people are set free; and the eyes of the blind see, the ears of the deaf are unstopped, the lame walk, the mute sing. When hearts are opened, eyes see beyond bias and judgement, ears listen for the cry of the outsider, and feet leap to offer compassion, -- when hearts are open there is healing and wholeness for all.

The Hebrew root word from which ephatha comes, is a word translated, to open wide; to loosen, to begin, to plough, to carve.  It can mean to let go free, to break forth, to en-grave, to loose-self.

The word holds within it a sense that opening is only the beginning. Once open, one’s heart, can be ploughed – learn new things, be seeded with knowledge and new ideas; to be open is to have one’s heart engraved with compassion and mercy, in the meeting and loving of another, particularly those we see as outsiders.  To be open is to let go of oneself…to not be afraid…which means free to actively seek encounters with the outsider.

Jesus needed the word, ephphatha, to slip through his lips, to open himself as a conduit for the compassion and mercy of God, which opened the ears of the deaf man. Jesus needed to hear - to say- the word, to open himself for those whom he considered outsiders.  It is interesting to ponder that perhaps Jesus experienced, as Isaiah called it, “a fearful heart.” Was Jesus afraid to share the message beyond his people? Was Jesus afraid that if word got out, he would be unwanted by his own, and overwhelmed by Gentile peoples? Did Jesus fear, not having enough power, stamina, or compassion? Did Jesus have doubts about himself, wonder how big his ministry was to be, and worry about what other’s thought? Whatever the fear, the fear was dissipated with the word, ephphatha.

Could it be that this Aramaic word was preserved in the Greek text, as a way for us to dissipate our fears, so that we would be opened, to offer compassion and mercy to the outsider -whomever we may deem the outsider to be? All we need do is follow Jesus example, with a sigh – that means in deep breathes- to say the Word as prayer, as a command- and we will loose-self, to be overwhelmed with compassion and mercy, to be liberated by  God’s grace to be neighbour…may this be so.

Ephphatha…ephphatha…ephphatha