Hearing Restored

Mark 7:31-37

Leaving Tyre, Jesus travels 25 miles to Sidon near the eastern shore of the Lake of Galilee. Following His meeting with a Gentile woman urging Him to rescue her child, “Go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter;” Mark 7:29 - Jesus heals a man (brought by caring friends,) who was deaf and could hardly speak. Mark 7:32  He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha" (Be opened.) Mark 7:34   

We are born spiritually deaf. There is a communication barrier between us and God.  Like the deaf man of this story, we may have been brought to Jesus by someone who cared enough to bring us to the One who could heal our spiritual deafness, (and we had to trust Him.)

During a clinical exercise as a student nurse, I had a small taste of the anxiety of communication barriers. With cotton in our ears, eyes blind-folded and tape over our mouths, students were placed on gurneys with classmates poking, prodding and lifting us from gurney to wheel chair.  We “got it!” Although we understood the purpose of the object lesson, we had to be open to the experience and trust the care-giver.

We must be opened to be alone with Him -

Opened to hear Him instruct, teach, and mature us through His Word -

Opened to hear and understand His message of love and compassion -

Opened to open our mouths and speak His Word to others -

Opened to introduce others to Jesus, so He may say to them – 

"Ephphatha!  Be opened!"