Sunday, September 6th, 2009
- Father Jim Boccabella
- Sep 6, 2009
- Series: Father Jim Boccabella Homilies
Ephphatha!
What a powerful word this is. Some commentators suggest that Mark used the original Aramaic word because the Greek translation of it would not have carried the same meaning, the same sense of power that this word invokes. It seems a little like “Open, sesame”, or maybe like “abracadabra”, except this is no fairy tale, this is not magic. This is the power of the Almighty God commanding the elements, exercising His power over His creation, putting order where there was disorder. Ephphatha! Be opened! It is a command that cannot be ignored. Something has to happen in response.
As a weak, a very weak, analogy to this powerful word, look at what many of us carry in our pockets or purses – the remote control for our vehicles. From some distance away we can push a button, and the doors to the car will unlock, even open up. Some controls will even start our car for us, or signal the need for emergency help, open our garage doors. A radio-wave Ephphatha commands our vehicle or house to let us in, and it responds. How handy this kind of device would be in other situations.
How many times have you been in an argument, and became frustrated at your opponent’s inability, whether on purpose or not, to see your side. There just seems to be something that blocks comprehension of where you are coming from, of the logic you employed to come to your conclusion, the conclusion you are trying to bring your opponent to at least see and acknowledge, if not outright accept. You want to pull out your remote control and point it at your partner and say,” Ephphatha! Be open!” “At least consider my side. If you see a flaw in my logic, or in my conclusion, show me. And, if you cannot find a flaw, then consider accepting my conclusion, not based on whether you like it, but based on whether there is truth in my conclusion.” How many lasting grudges, how much hateful speech, how much controversy could disappear if we had one of those remote control devices to govern these discussions.
Today, there’s too much going on. Because of the 24-hour news cycle we have too much information, too many subjects on which we are expected to be experts so as to be able to hold our own with the best of the pundits. Because of the advances of technology, we have more and more ways to be tuned in, plugged in, texted in, so that there is no quiet space, no place to allow our thoughts breathing space, no place for communion with God. The art of communication becomes lost, because we isolate ourselves from the humanness that we are, that others are, the humanness in which we can share our selves, face to face, one with the other, in an exchange of our common experience. Advances in technology tend to reduce life itself purely to problems that we have not yet solved, to a complex but still mechanical existence in which we are only cogs, little bits of machinery that operate in a big bit of machinery. We become interchangeable, indistinct, unimportant, disposable. Ephphatha!
Life is not a problem to be solved, it is a mystery which can only be approached with awe, revered with honor, explored in prayer. Our Almighty Father, out of a superabundance of love, created us to share in that love, to grow in that love, to be more than machines that respond to the click of a button, to be more than pets for whom everything is provided. God created us to be partners in our salvation. God created us for a divine dialogue in which we cannot provide any answers, but only respond in awe as He reveals to us the true nature of our existence, the unimaginable reaches of the possibilities of what human beings are, what they can be. Jesus is the firstborn of that perfect human, of what we can be. He is also the Second Person of the Trinity, which we cannot be; but in the mystery of our humanity, we can reach well beyond the physical and even cognitive limitations that we experience here in our daily lives. This is what Jesus wants to share with us, to reveal to us the heretofore undreamed of power of His simple command, to love God and one another.
But again, we are not machines, to respond to the click of a button. God created us to be partners. Jesus could command a change in created matter; He could command the deaf man’s ears to be opened, for his speech impediment to be gone. But He would not, although He could, He would not exercise that same control over hearts. He commanded the others not to tell anyone about what had happened. They disobeyed. God, in wanting us to be partners in our salvation, gave us the free will to open our hearts or close them to His command. His commands are not for His benefit; they are for ours. It is in following His commands that we become more fully human, more of what we can truly be.
And this is what Jesus wants to share with us today, in this Eucharist. As we come forward to receive His Body and Blood at Communion, let us ask Him to issue this same command to the ears and mouths of our hearts. Ephphatha! Be opened! Let us then respond, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. Lord, transform me, heal me, show me your presence.” Let us willingly respond to Jesus’ call, open our hearts at His command, and follow where He wishes to lead us, follow Him to everlasting life in heaven.
