Ephpheta! Be Opened!

Gospel Reflection for September 8, 2024 - Mark 7:31-37

And again going out of the coasts of Tyre, he came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

And they bring to him one deaf and dumb; and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him.

And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue:

And looking up to heaven, he groaned, and said to him: Ephpheta, which is, Be thou opened.

And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right.

And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it.

And so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. (Mark 7:31-37 DRA)

The Gospel reading for this week has a special importance for me personally. For most of my life, beginning when I was around 6-7, I have suffered from a speech impediment. It is not a physical problem, in the sense of a mouth/tongue or neurological disorder, but, like most stutters, it is primarily psychological. The translation used by the NAB is interesting here (whereas the DRA gives it as simply “dumb”); it’s difficult to say whether this man’s speech impediment was due to his deafness, or to a physical or mental issue. Either way, it hits home for me, as speech impediments are very little appreciated in society – and in a way I thank God for that, because it means few people have to deal with it – and for most, it is hard to imagine being unable to speak to other people comfortably, not just due to social anxiety or self-esteem issues but to an inability to speak, never knowing exactly when it will happen or how bad it will be. In school and in other social interactions, I have routinely avoided speaking if I can help it, including in meetings or groups I could have joined in college, and unfortunately many people around me, particularly family members, have only made my situation worse.

My purpose with this reflection is not to describe or complain about my problems. Instead, I intend to focus on Christ’s miraculous healing in this Gospel passage. Dr. Brant Pitre notes that this is not an “ordinary” healing miracle (if any of them can be described as such), but by deliberately fulfilling this prophecy of Isaias, Our Lord reveals His divinity, since Isaias doesn’t merely say that the Messiah will do this, but God Himself at the new Exodus. Many modern biblical scholars will try to say that the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) hide or even lack altogether a clear affirmation of Jesus’s divinity, but this “messianic secret,” as it is called, is revealed by Christ subtly and gradually, with the intention of giving people the freedom to choose whether or not to believe in Him. This prophetic fulfillment is one of the most explicit statements of the divinity of Christ in St. Mark’s Gospel. Any Jewish witnesses of it would have known immediately that He is claiming to be not only the Messiah, but the Son of God incarnate.

I opened this reflection with a mention of my own speech impediment for two reasons. First, for Christians and for a large portion of the world today, stories of Christ’s miraculous healings are so familiar that they can often become routine. In a world where technology can heal many of the afflictions that plagued ancient people, including leprosy and, depending on the condition, even certain types of blindness and deafness, these miracles can even seem outdated or quaint. But when we read or hear these miracles, we should allow ourselves to feel the wonder that they truly deserve.

Christ uses no medicine, no devices for His healings; nor does He even rely on prayer to accomplish them. Rather, by the mere power of His word, the effects of sin and death, the signs of the dominion of Satan on Earth, are instantly destroyed. These are “the works of the devil” that the Son of God came to defeat. (1 Jn 3:8) And no matter how powerful our modern medicine may seem, and it indeed is a blessing (though one could also argue that, through eugenics, narcotics and carcinogens, as well as modern weapons, car wrecks and other evils, it causes as much harm as it cures), there will always be some things which it cannot mend – not so for Christ, for whom, as God, “all things are possible.” (Mt 19:26)

The second reason for my opening paragraph follows from the first. In the modern world, particularly in the pluralistic West under the liberal influence of the Enlightenment, Christians (arguably Catholics most of all) are often too afraid or even ashamed to preach the Gospel boldly to all. We fear offending people, or seeming intolerant or fanatical, or judgmentally forcing our beliefs on others, or perhaps appearing old-fashioned and superstitious. Religion is a private matter now, something best kept behind closed doors, like a bad habit or unsightly affliction.

The many people in the gospels who cried out to Christ as He passed by, begging Him for His mercy and healing even as the crowds and the apostles themselves told them to be quiet, had a kind of childlike faith that is foreign to us today. For Catholics, we are frequently put to shame by the Evangelicals, Mormons and others who, despite their many errors, still have the courage to preach the Gospel to strangers, risking their anger or mockery for the sake of offering them the saving grace of Christ.

This is the deeper significance of Christ’s healing of the man in this Gospel reading, just as all of His miracles were done primarily for a higher, spiritual significance, beyond the mere healing of medical issues. No matter how healthy we are, we will still die, but more profoundly, those who hear, see and speak perfectly are sometimes deaf and blind to the Gospel and mute in preaching it to the world, as Christ repeatedly reminds His audiences, especially those like the Pharisees who considered themselves the most religious and devout. St. Bede thus taught, “[H]e is deaf and dumb, who neither has ears to hear the words of God, nor opens his mouth to speak them, and such must be presented to the Lord for healing, by men who have already learned to hear and speak the divine oracles.” (Catena Aurea)

In this context, it could seem incomprehensible why Christ would tell the crowds not to proclaim what He did, but as St. Augustine explains,

If however He, as one Who knew the present and the future wills of men, knew that they would proclaim Him the more in proportion as He forbade them, why did He give them this command? If it were not that He wished to prove to men who are idle, how much more joyfully, with how much greater obedience, they whom He commands to proclaim Him should preach, when they who were forbidden could not hold their peace. (Catena Aurea)

Christ uses the disobedience of the crowd to teach us, who believe ourselves to be His disciples, what we must do: “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.” (Lk 128) And: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Mt 28:19) Ultimately, the vocation of a Christian is to be what St. Paul called “ambassadors” for Christ, (2 Cor 5:20) heralds of the Kingdom of God. We will not help anyone by downplaying the Faith, acquiescing to other religions or irreligion, watering down real disagreements and conflicts, ignoring errors and excusing or blessing sins – we will only leave them in the chains of sin which lead to eternal damnation. May we not be found derelict in our duties when we stand to account before the throne of our King.