Be Open and Say it LOUD

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."

Today, Mark lets us see Jesus at work once again.  He happens upon a man who was deaf and he also had a speech impediment. With his touch, Jesus cures the man and at once, in the KJV the words used are "straight away" he was able to hear and speak.  

Did Jesus have to use his body to fix the body of another person?  No, He would have simply been able to will the person to be able to speak and hear and it would be done.  He would not have had to utter a word to make the miracle happen and yet we are told that he said the Aramaic word that means "be opened."  Why would He do that if he did not have to?  There has to be a reason otherwise it would not be in the Bible.  Every detail in the Bible is important, so what do we have here?  

There is more to what is being done here than meets the eye.  True, the beggar was made to hear and was now able to speak but what Jesus did, what His command meant was that the man should now be opened to the Kingdom of Heaven for God had worked a great wonder in his life.  Jesus cautioned him to tell no one what had transpired but he and the crowd would not be silent. 

Jesus wants to cure us as well. We have been deaf too long to the promptings of the Spirit.  We have been mute as well, avoiding telling others about the kingdom and about Jesus.  But worse than that, we have strayed from God's mercy.  This is a very special time.  Jesus will not turn you away if you come back to Him.  Open your ears and hear the voice of the Spirit as He reveals to you your sins and lights the way to the confessional for you.  Open your mouth and tell God what He already knows, that you are a sinner, that you have sinned, that it is now time you want to confess what you have done and you want to turn away from evil and begin to commit good acts and to commit yourself to Christ. 

Time grows shorter every day. The time of mercy will have to end someday and then will follow the Day of Justice.  Please consider going to confession.  Even if it has been decades since you last went, go this weekend if you can.  You are being called by name.  Jesus wants to work with you in conquering sin.  He knows you by name.  He knows what is in your heart, He needs you to come to Him and ask for the help that you need.  He will not abandon you and he will put a ring on your finger, kill the fatted calf and hold a party when you come back to Him.  Fear or embarrassment are two deadly reasons why you might stay away.  But the formula is:        Fear + Embarrassment = Pride.