For if you change from inhumanity to
alms giving, you have stretched fourth the hand that was withered. If you
withdraw from theaters and go to church, you have cured the lame foot. If
you draw back your eyes from a harlot ... you have opened them when they were
blind ... These are the greatest miracles. - Saint John Chrysostom
(Gospel Text: Mk 7:31-37)
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of
Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man
who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from
the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned,
and said to him,
"Ephphatha!"-- that
is, "Be opened!" --
And immediately the man's ears were
opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and
they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute
speak."
“Be opened”!
This story tells us that Jesus wants
to open our ears and our hearts. So give him the chance to do this for you! Let
him take you away from the crowd of everyday life. Put aside the demands of
your life for just a few minutes each day so that you can hear him speak words
of love and promise to you. Let his voice melt any fears, anxieties, or doubts
in your heart.
Unfortunately, many Christians remain
in the crowd. We have closed our ears to God. Our culture has "water
down" the gospel to make it more and more palatable to a lukewarm, secularized
"Christianity." When our ears are not open to Jesus, we are like the crowd.
Jesus is still the same today (Heb
13:8). He's still praying that our ears would be open to the Word of God.
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