Instruction
Scripture: Mark7:24-37
These events took place as Jesus traveled. The first
happened when He was in the region of Tyre and Sidon in the north. This area
was Gentile territory, and Jesus’ interaction there is with a Gentile woman who
begs for her daughter to be exorcised of an unclean spirit. When He returned
from that region, He healed the deaf and mute man. The function of this reading
is such that it challenges us to consider what right we have to be Jesus’
followers and to receive benefits from Him, and to recognize that it is He who
opens us to receive His grace.
Teaching
“Ephphatha,” is a strange looking word in English, but its
meaning is beautiful: “Be opened.” Jesus uttered this word when He healed a man
who was both deaf and unable to speak. He opened the man’s ears to hear His
Word and his mouth to praise God.
In the history of the church the word ephphatha was used in
Baptismal liturgies, which emphasized that a person’s coming to faith was
possible because God had worked in that person to open her ears to hear the Gospel
and be saved. This emphasizes the point that whether it is a Gentile woman
pleading for her daughter, a deaf man who wishes to hear and speak, or any
person who experiences brokenness and the defilement of sin, it is the Word
that the Spirit of God uses to make and keep faith in people.
Life
How has God opened you with His Word? He has brought you to
faith. He has cleansed you. He has given you the opportunity to declare His
praises. He has also opened you to love Him and your neighbor. How great and glorious
God is!
Prayer
This prayer is written
in the themes of Instruction, Thanksgiving, Confession, and Petition.
O Lord, You are teaching us that no one comes to You on
their own. You must open our ears to hear of Jesus’ cross and empty tomb in
such a way that it creates faith in us. You open our hearts and minds to
understand Your Word and receive Your gracious release from everything that
makes us unclean.
Thanks for proclaiming Your Word to us and for opening our
ears to hear and believe. It is amazing how some hear of Your love and
compassion, who know about Jesus’ suffering and death, but that Word does not
lead to faith in them. Thank You for the grace You have shown to us so that we
confess that we believe in Christ crucified, we belong to Your family, and Your
provision of grace is sufficient for us.
We confess that sometimes when we read Your Word, we wrestle
with it. We don’t always understand and we don’t want to believe what You are
saying. Please forgive us for closing ourselves off to Your Word. Forgive us
for believing that You should make Yourself clearer to us, when all we need is
the forgiveness given to us through faith in our risen Lord Jesus.
God, please give us grace and strengthen our faith so that our
ears would be open to hear Your Word in its fullness and to believe it. Grant
us a humble spirit to receive what You give us and to rejoice in it; not
placing ourselves as judges of Your gifts, but as unworthy recipients. And
grant that Your Word would go out through Your people so that many will come to
believe in Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
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