Day: August 22, 2021

“Ephphatha,that is, be opened”

Are hearing and seeing merely passive senses? If so then what does that mean in terms of the activity of thought? Something seen is received by the eye; something heard is received by the ear. This suggests an activity, the activity of seeing and the activity of hearing.

What is seen and heard are there for the understanding. There is something communicated, the meaning of which we enter into through the profound activity of understanding. There is an acting upon what has been received. It is not just words which are heard or something which is seen that is received. What the words signify, what the vision reveals, is given to be understood. As Paul puts it, “the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.” Such is the spirit of understanding.

Our understanding is our wrestling with the significance of things. It is a profoundly spiritual activity. It speaks to who we are in the sight of God – those to whom God reveals himself and into whose presence he gathers us. Hearing and seeing, as the senses of understanding, are the ‘intellectual senses.’ They signify an acting upon what is received. There is a similar double-sidedness to our “being opened”.

In the Gospel for today, “they bring unto [Jesus] one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech.” They beseech the healing touch of Jesus upon the one that is deaf and at least impeded in his speech to the point that others must speak for him. There is, in response, the putting of his fingers into his ears, a spitting upon the ground, the touching of his tongue – all outward, tangible and physical acts – but, as well, there is Jesus’ “looking up to heaven,” his sighing and his saying unto him “Ephphatha, be opened.” There is, in short, a healing: “and straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.”

As with all the healing miracles of the gospels, they signify the restoration of our humanity. What is wanted is not the deformity of our being but its constant progress towards perfection. What is wanted is our being made totally and completely adequate to the truth of God; in short, our being opened to God signals our willingness to do what God wills for us. The project of the Trinity season is the constant process of being transformed more and more into who we are in Christ through our being opened to his grace and glory.

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