Dear friends,
Today’s worship service, in its entirety, may be viewed here:
If you’d prefer to listen to the gospel reading and sermon, you may do so here:
Today’s sermon is based on Isaiah 35:4-7a, Psalm 146, and Mark 7:24-37.
Isaiah 35:4-7a
4Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7athe burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7athe burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.
Psalm 146
1Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3Put not your trust in rulers,
in mortals in whom there is no help.
4When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish.
5Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help,
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
6who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps promises forever;
7who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.
The Lord sets the captive free.
8The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9The Lord cares for the stranger;
the Lord sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
10The Lord shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3Put not your trust in rulers,
in mortals in whom there is no help.
4When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish.
5Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help,
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
6who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps promises forever;
7who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.
The Lord sets the captive free.
8The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9The Lord cares for the stranger;
the Lord sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
10The Lord shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
Mark 7:24-37
24[Jesus] set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Then looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is “Be opened.”
Looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed.
Elsewhere in scripture, this word translated here as sighed is used to describe the inward groaning of humanity while we wait for redemption (Romans 8:23). Longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:2), we groan under our burden (2 Corinthians 5:4). It’s a word that, literally, has to do with feeling pressure from what is coming. It’s internal and unexpressed. (Read more about the original Greek word here.)
Looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed.
JESUS sighed.
The one who was baptized by John in the river Jordan, and as he was coming up out of the water heard a voice from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased…this one looked up to heaven and sighed.
The one who fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish; the one who walked on water and stilled the storm; the one who understood the kingdom of God as a present reality, near at hand…this one looked up to heaven and sighed.
What a comfort. We are not alone in our sighing. When we draw near to the suffering of those we love, when we listen to the news and wonder what has happened to the world we thought we knew, when there are no words left to express our deepest longings, when all we can do is sigh…we are not alone.
This world’s Savior sighed in the presence of human suffering.
It’s curious, though, that this is the only time Jesus is reported as doing so. What made this experience different? Jesus had already healed all sorts of suffering ones—people with leprosy, people paralyzed, people with withered hands and hemorrhaging bodies, people he could reach out and touch and people he healed from a distance. But only now, in the presence of this deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, does Jesus look up to heaven and sigh.
What makes this experience of human suffering different? What makes this experience of healing different?
Looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to the man, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
Pope Benedict XVI, in a sermon on this gospel reading, said that this little word, “Ephphatha—Be opened,” sums up Christ’s entire mission. He became man so that man, made inwardly deaf and dumb by sin, would become able to hear the voice of God, the voice of love speaking to his heart, and learn to speak in the language of love, to communicate with God and with others. (Read more here.)
What makes this experience of healing different? And what might distinguish the sighing of Jesus from our own sighs? Jesus sighs, feeling the pressure not of what has happened to destroy life, as we so often sigh in the presence of suffering, but rather the pressure of what is coming to bring life. What is coming, through Jesus, is nothing less than openness to God, the pressure of God’s love bearing down and breaking open burdened, barricaded hearts.
This encounter is the epitome of Jesus’ healing work for the sake of all God’s beloved creation. This man is healed by the presence of Jesus. His ears are opened and his tongue is released. And his healing is sign and symbol of the healing Jesus brings for all humanity.
Jesus looks up to heaven and sighs. He feels the pressure of God’s abiding love being birthed into a world in need. This beloved child of God—the one with whom God is well pleased—feels the pressure of new birth. What is coming, through Jesus, is weary, wary, silenced, closed off bodies, minds and spirits opening to God, the pressure of new life being born, the groaning—the sighing—of creation experiencing redemption.
Our hope is in the God who redeems this world, who keeps promises forever, who made heaven and earth AND lifts up those who are bowed down.
Our sighing is not in vain. Our prayers are not unheard. Our hope is not misplaced.
We stand in the presence of Jesus who looks to heaven and sighs with the pressure of what is coming, becoming a vessel through whom God’s love bursts into this world and opens us. We feel the pressure of what is coming, the pain of birth, as God opens our ears to hear love, opens our mouths to speak love, opens our lives to be love—to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Jesus opens us to speak: Be strong, do not fear. Here is your God. Salvation is coming. Hope is here. You are open now to love as you have been loved.
In the presence of Jesus today, be opened, beloved. Amen.