MARK 7:31-37 Jesus and his original disciples spoke Aramaic, a cousin language to Hebrew that the Jews

learned when they were away from Jerusalem for 70 years during the Babylonian Captivity. But the Holy Spirit recorded the New Testament Scriptures in Greek. There are a few places, however, where the Holy Spirit recorded a few of the words of Jesus, or of St. Paul, in Aramaic. We should pay careful attention to these places. The Holy Spirit takes us into the room where the dead body of Jairus' daughter lies. We are ear-witnesses to Jesus' words to her: Talitha koum! Little girl, get up! We're there in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus wrestles in a bloody agony of prayer. We hear Jesus say, Abba! the Aramaic word for Father. Jesus is in agony, writhing on the ground, yet he has an attitude of perfect love, perfect trust, and perfect obedience to his heavenly Father. We hear Jesus cry out from the cross, Eli, eli, lama sabacthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's a quote from Psalm 22; but it's in Aramaic, not in Hebrew. It's in the language that the little boy Jesus learned at the synagogue school in Nazareth. He memorized the Scriptures as a child, and he turned to those Scriptures as he was dying, teaching you that you can turn to the Scriptures in your times of need. In our Gospel for today, we hear Jesus say, Ephphatha! Be opened! Jesus speaks these almighty words, and the Word produces the result. The ears of the deaf are unstopped, as Isaiah the prophet foretold they would be when Jesus came to earth. The tongue of the mute man shouts for joy, again as Isaiah foretold. The organs of hearing and speech are set free by Jesus' word to fulfill the functions for which Jesus made them. The deaf man's ears are now opened to hear God's Word. This is important, because, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The mute man's tongue is loosed. This is important, for it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Yes, this man's ears and tongue are opened. They are ephphatha'd. But more than ears and lips are opened. The man himself is opened to the work of the Holy Spirit. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. He can now hear Jesus' preaching. That preaching will tell him that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Scriptures of the prophets. Jesus has come to live a perfect life in obedience to the will of his heavenly Father. Jesus has come to suffer and die on the cross to open heaven to us sinners. Jesus has come to open the tomb, rising to life in his resurrection, so that we who belong to him will rise from the dead too, and follow him to heaven where he already reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus has opened you. At your baptism, the Holy Spirit opened your heart. He used the word of Jesus. He said to you, Ephphatha! Be opened! And the Word did what it commanded. The Word of Jesus connected to the water opened your heart and opened your ears. When you were like the deaf and mute man, you were called to faith in Jesus. Yes, little children too can believe in Jesus. Little infants, who can't confess their faith in words, can still believe in Jesus. We give thanks to the Lord Jesus for this, that he opens hearts to believe and he opens mouths to confess his saving name. Jesus told the deaf-mute man not to tell anyone what Jesus had done for him. We speculate as to why Jesus gave this command. There were other people to whom Jesus gave similar instructions after he had performed a miracle of healing for them. The most likely explanation is that Jesus didn't want to be known as a mere miracle worker. There were many of those in Israel. Jesus himself tells us there were others in Israel who cast out demons. He told us that at the last day, there will be many who

come before him, shouting that they performed miracles in Jesus' name. But he will say to them, I never knew you! Jesus doesn't want to be known as only a miracle worker. He doesn't want us to think of him only as someone who can help us with our physical problems. This is a powerful rebuke to those churches today which busy themselves with improving the condition of humanity in our sinful world with all sorts of social ministries. You'll notice that I said, Jesus doesn't want to be known ONLY as a miracle worker. Make no mistake: Jesus did indeed heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers. Jesus is concerned about our physical and our spiritual needs. He is concerned with the sufferings and sorrows that come to people in a world that groans in the pain brought by sin. The church does have a legitimate ministry of compassion to those who suffer in the world. But that isn't our only, our even our primary, ministry. Our primary focus is people's sin and their salvation through Jesus. If we give people a comfortable life on planet earth, and then they die without faith in Jesus and spend an eternity in hell, they are no better off than the rich man in Jesus' story, who received his good things, but then was in unending agony in hellfire. So, Jesus commanded the man to be silent about what Jesus had done for him. The right time to declare Jesus' miracles would indeed come. It would come after Jesus' resurrection from the dead, his greatest miracle. Then would the time for the apostolic proclamation: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him. That would be the right time, when the apostles would be able to connect Jesus' miracles to his work of paying for our sins. So, Christian, Jesus opens your ears to hear his Word. And he looses your tongue to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Jesus sends you out into the world to announce to all people that Jesus has saved you from your sins.