EPHPHATHA

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 5^th Friday in Ordinary Time is, “Ephphatha.”

It’s a word that appears in today’s gospel from Mark 7: 31-37.    

I’ve noticed in books and articles on preaching that it’s not a smart move to use Greek words when preaching.

I disagree with that rule - even though I know people might say, “It’s Greek to me.”

Many times when I’m looking at the readings for the Mass to help me come up with a homily, I look at the Greek when it comes to the New Testament readings - simply because the New Testament is written in Greek. We  had 4 years of Greek in the seminary - and when I read the Greek text and look at word studies - at times I get opened up to a new insight.

Anyone can do this - with the rich resources on line - looking at both the Hebrew text for the Jewish scriptures and the Greek for the New Testament.

ARAMAIC

Having said that about Greek and Hebrew, interestingly - as you know - Jesus spoke Aramaic - and so that’s going back two steps from the English version of the Gospel that we get here in church.

From time to time - like today - we get an Aramaic word - “Ephphatha.” It is translated in our text into Greek with the word, “Dianoigtheti’ - and one English translation is, “Be Opened.”

So the Aramaic word or phrase that we heard is: “Ephphatha.” I break it up this way: Eph pha  tha.

A SIGN IN EVERY MEETING HALL

For a homily thought - is there any meeting hall in any church in our whole world - that is called the “Ephphatha Hall”?

Wouldn’t today’s gospel reading from Mark  be a great reading for every meeting - for every Parish Council, School Boards, Staff Meetings, what have you - and then all pray that all be opened.

And notice in the gospel the man who is healed needs healing of his ability to listen and his ability to speak.

Ears and tongue …. don’t we all need healing of both?

We are very aware of people we have met through the years who have were born with a  hearing problem - and sometimes because of that - they pronounce words in a way that others find difficult to decipher or grasp.

So this man is healed of both by Jesus. May we all.

Next we are aware of husbands and wives, priests and parishioners, who have no trouble with the pronunciation of words - but they have problems listening - listening - listening.

So that’s why I think this gospel is a great gospel for meetings - and a great name for a meeting place - and a great chance for prayer.

CONCLUSION

The psalm for today - Psalm 81 - has God speaking - and pleading - that we hear his voice. It has God saying something we have all said about others, “If only my people would hear me.”

“If only my kids would listen to me…. If only my wife would hear me …. If only my husband would listen …. If only so and so would shut up and clean out his ears….”

But listening and speaking - communication problems - continue - and the result is division.

That’s the whole theme of today’s first reading. We are tribal. We are after our turf - our viewpoint - and as a result - we spilt apart over and over and over again.[Cf. 1 Kings 11: 29-32; 12:19]

Ephphatha! Be opened!

OOOOOOOOOO

Painting on top: Deaf and Dumb Man Cured, by Ian Pollock, EICH Gallefy

Painting near End: Christ Heals the Deaf Mute at the Decapolis, Bartholomeus Breenbergh, 1635.