“He has done everything well, He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak!”  Quite a testimonial that the people give to Jesus as they run around talking about him!  But isn’t it interesting that they are willing to talk about what he did, but they’re not willing to listen to what he says!  Jesus specifically asks them not to talk about it, but here they are – shouting it all over the neighbourhood!

When we hear this story today, it may be a bit confusing because it may not be immediately obvious why Jesus tells the people not to talk about the miracle.  After all, if you or I had witnessed such an amazing thing personally it would be hard not to want to tell everyone about it.  But for Jesus, the purpose of the miracle was not to prove he could do it since he had already shown the people great signs.  The purpose was certainly not to show off either since he avoided publicity whenever he could - remember how he quietly took the man aside first before he cured him and how, after the miracle of the loaves and fishes, he faded away when the people wanted to take him and make him King?

The purpose was not even just to help the deaf man hear, although that was a true kindness, but the real purpose was to help the deaf man listen.  The purpose of writing down this miracle in the Gospel is not to help us be amazed, but to help us listen, listen to the word of God.

You remember how each of the Gospels say that Jesus performed many signs and wonders that are not written down, and yet this one was because Mark knew how important it was that we learn to listen!  When Jesus says “Ephphatha! – Be Opened!” it is a command, not a request.  He doesn’t say, “Please!” - and these words are meant to be heard, not just by the deaf man back then, but by all of us today! 

This word, “Ephphatha” is so powerful that we use it today in our baptism ceremony for children.  The minister of Baptism touches each child on the ears and the mouth, just like Jesus did, and says “Be Opened”, not just to ask for the ability to hear and talk but specifically for the ability to listen to God’s word and to share it with others.

You see, as Baptized Christians, it is our duty to take up where Jesus left off and to carry on his work.  That is why we have the Gospels to guide us and the Eucharist to strengthen us!  Jesus knew that he only had so much time living among us on the earth as a human being and that he couldn’t get to everyone in the time he had, so he tried to take the focus off what he alone could do and put it back on what he could teach us so that we could have his words with us forever, even after he no longer walked among us.

Right now, all of our children and young people are back at school.  That’s funny, I don’t hear any cheering… ?  Except maybe from the parents!  But we could ask, why send our children to school?  Why not just do everything for them every time they need it, “Here son, let me add those numbers together for you” or “Yes dear, just bring that to me and I’ll read it to you!”  We want our children to grow and be self-sufficient.

There’s also an old proverb that says, “Give a man a fish and you’ve fed him for one day – teach a man how to fish and you’ve fed him for life!”

This is what Jesus intended for us, that we be taught how to live by God’s word and experience God’s love and action ourselves, not just from the hand of Jesus.

Jesus knew that while these people were running around exclaiming about the miracle, they were focusing on Jesus’ power and maybe even hoping they could get him to do something special for them, instead of letting their ears be opened and listening to him.  This is why he told them not to talk, because while they were talking, they couldn’t listen.

Too bad, they didn’t do a very good job at it!  We have to ask ourselves if we do a very good job at it.  There’s another old saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth and that means we are supposed to listen twice as much as we talk. 

Now some people take that too far.  There was a president of the United States in the nineteen-twenties called Calvin Coolidge and everyone called him “Silent Cal” because he spoke very little.  One story said that he went to church one Sunday morning, but his wife was not feeling well so she stayed home.  When he got back to the White House, his wife asked him, “Did the preacher give a good sermon?” and Cal said “Yup!”

So his wife tried again, and asked, “What was it about?”

Cal replied, “Sin!”

So his exasperated wife said, “Well, what did he say about it?”

Cal answered, “He’s against it!”

Now, another thing to realize is that when Jesus commands “Be opened!”, he knows that many of us who have no problem with our physical hearing still choose to be deaf and not hear the things we don’t want to hear.  As James says in his letter that we read today, we let our prejudices act as filters and we let things such as how someone looks or where they come from get in the way of our willingness to listen to them, even when they be speaking with a message from God. 

The people of Jesus time were willing to talk about the wonderful miracle and spread it all around, I guess they were like the paparazzi of their time before there were newspapers, but they missed the point when they wouldn’t stop and listen.

In our prayers, it is so important to give some time for silence.  God is happy when we talk to him in our prayers, but he is also happy when we are quiet and give him a chance to talk to us in our hearts. 

We all know how hard it is to just sit in silence, especially when we are trying to sit in silence before God, because the noise of the world intrudes everywhere to block him out, and our thoughts try to take over anytime we try to free our minds to be open.  The best answer is to practice, to remember to pray every day to begin the communications and to take some quiet time, even a few moments, every day to be ready to listen to God.

Jesus even “makes the deaf to hear” – let’s not miss out on our chance to listen