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"EPHPHATHA - BE
OPENED!" COMMUNION SUNDAY Reading: Mark 7:24-37 Preached at Baldwin
Presbyterian Church on September 6th 2009 Marks gospel gave us two stories about Jesus. In the first story He encounters a Gentile
woman. Through losing an argument with her He opens her life in such a way as
healing comes into her situation. In the second story He encounters a man deaf and unable to speak. Jesus
takes him aside, touches his ears and tongue, and proclaims God's Word,
"Ephphatha! - Be Opened". "And his ears were opened and
the impediment of his tongue was removed" (verse 35). Linking the two stories is the "Ephphatha" idea, the notion
that to learn of the Kingdom, and experience the touch of God's love on our
then we need to "Be Opened". We need to be open to those who are
different from us. To understand their way of seeing things and knowing
things will give us an enriched perspective.
We need to be opened, as the deaf and mute man was open, to hear the
Word of God in ways we have not heard God before. In my own life I’ve certainly learnt that moving from one culture to
another forces you to 'be opened'. To experience things and look at things
through a different lens. Long Island
is not West Virginia. Road kill, Red-Necks, Nascar and beating the Baptists
to a good table for Sunday lunch are not regular items of conversation I’ve
heard on Long Island. And the USA is not Great Britain. Whilst American and British cultures
have much in common, there are also big differences. One of the hardest to
adapt to is the shape of the year, it's times of celebrations and times for
time off are different. In Great Britain there is no Labor Day, or July 4th Fireworks, or Columbus
Day or Martin Luther King Day or Thanksgiving Holiday. Instead there are May
Day Holidays, Bank Holiday weekends, Bonfire Night, and Queens Birthday
holidays, all of which happen at different times than vacations over here.
You have to adapt to a new shape to your year. Turn on a television set in Britain to watch the news and things will be
told differently than they tell it on U.S. broadcasts. In Britain you'll have
maybe ten minutes of items that cover home news and news about countries that
make up the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, India, and often just a
snippet of something happening in the U.S.A. Then there'll be the really important stuff. Five minutes or more of
Football (or rather Soccer!) results, Cricket scores and maybe a little
Rugby, Snooker or Grand Prix racing. Not a mention of Baseball, Basketball,
Ice Hockey, NFL, Super Bowls or World Series. A popular movie few years’ back was called 'The Matrix.' The Matrix was
set in the future, at a time when somebody else is controlling everything
that a human being perceives. The Matrix is the computer program that creates
the reality that the humans think is real life; what they do, what they see,
what they feel, what they believe. The hero of the film, a character played by Keanna Reeves, is 'Neo', who
along with a small band of enlightened folk, fights to bring the Matrix down.
Every culture has its Matrix. We look at life and the world around us
through a particular lens. Decisions are made as to what we see and don’t
see. A whole variety of forces guide those choices. Political and Religious
Concerns. Corporate Business. Historical and Geographical factors. Special
Interest groups. No one person or group makes up the matrix through which we
view the world, but that matrix exists nonetheless. Different cultures see
things from different positions. The same is true of every person. We all see things from a different
perspective. We all have our own personal matrix, our own personal lens
through which we view the world. It was exactly the same in Jesus time. Look at this story of his
encounter with the Syrio Phoenician woman. The woman is a Gentile; He calls
her a dog! Hardly a term of endearment. He tells her that it’s not His job to
go after the Gentiles because He has been sent to the house of Israel. Now
whether Jesus is saying these things out of a desire to reveal to the
disciples their own prejudices, or whether Jesus is here revealing His
humanity is something for the theologians to debate. The point here is that the woman is open for Jesus to help her. She has a
faith that is open enough to accept help from a Jew with whom she does not
share beliefs or culture. She reasons
with Him, "Yes,
Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." And Jesus, who according to
Matthew is deeply impressed by the woman’s faith, speaks the word and it
frees the woman’s daughter from what had been troubling her. Because she is
open to the unfamiliar in Jesus Christ, healing comes into her situation. The account then moves on to the encounter Jesus has with the deaf and
speech-impaired man. He takes him aside and again a work of healing takes
place. "Ephphatha” says Jesus “ Be Opened". The man begins to
praise God. We gravitate towards those we have things in common with, not those with
whom we have differences. It’s a hard enough task to understand the world
through our own eyes, without trying to understand how somebody else may see
things. To challenge our own convictions, our own prejudices, our own
preconceptions is decidedly uncomfortable. But have you yet found a verse yet in the bible that tells us that to be
a disciple means to be comfortable? On
the contrary Jesus calls us to take up a cross and follow Him! Jesus calls us to challenge the ideas and
the presumptions that surround our lives. Jesus calls to us; "Ephphatha
- Be Opened". Another scene in the movie ‘The Matrix’ has the hero, ‘Neo’, being
offered to make a choice between swallowing a blue pill or a red pill. He has to take one of them. If he takes the
blue pill, everything will be back to normal. He will not have to deal with
challenging the Matrix. He will just
have the same old life he always had. If he takes the red pill, there will be no turning back. He will start to
see the Matrix for what it is and have to face life with a different take on
reality, a reality he might not like and which will cause him to challenge so
much of what he once thought made up his world! The challenge that Jesus lays before us is no less dramatic. As we experience His love in our hearts, if
we are to be faithful, we cannot dictate where we want His love to lead us.
We cannot choose the challenges that God will bring before us. We cannot
request to be excused from active service. "Ephphatha - Be Opened" says Jesus. Listen for the unfamiliar
sound. It may well be the voice of God. "Ephphatha - Be Opened"
says Jesus. As you encounter different experiences and challenges, don’t be
afraid. Learn from the differences. "Ephphatha - Be Opened",
says Jesus. Don’t believe everything you read and hear. Realize that there is
always another side to the story. "Ephphatha - Be Opened", says Jesus. You are not wholly right
and you are not wholly wrong. You are a disciple. Being a disciple means
learning that in some things you have been mistaken, about other things you
have been ignorant and about most things there is still a lot you need to
know. "Ephphatha - Be Opened" says Jesus. Open your heart to my love.
Follow where I will lead. And my Holy Spirit will guide you every step of the
way. You will discover resources that you never knew were there. You will see
things that you never imagined for yourself. Life will not be more of the
same! “Ephphatha - Be Opened” to receive
God’s love through breaking bread and sharing wine. Taste and see that the
Lord is good. Lay your life here and now before God and seek to live in a way
that brings glory and honor to Christ’s name. Two stories from Marks gospel encourage us this morning to be opened up
to what God can do in our lives through Jesus Christ. Maybe that thought
alone is something a little foreign to us. God being active in my situation;
bring sense and order to my life? But that is exactly what the Gentile woman
experienced. And a man who couldn’t hear or speak is opened to God’s Word and begins
to praise His name. Isn’t that so often what we need as we travel through our
days? A new perspective? We to need to seek for God’s Holy Spirit to open our
lives to God’s Word. As a church community and as individuals we need to hear
the voice of Jesus saying to us
“Ephphatha - Be Opened” May God help us to open up our hearts to Jesus love as we meet around
this sacred table. For to God’s name be the glory. Amen. Rev Adrian.J.Pratt
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