Ephphatha, Be Opened!

When was the last time you were really frustrated by not being able to communicate? Maybe your phone broke and you couldn’t call when you needed to. Maybe you were in a noisy crowd and no one could hear you. Or maybe you’ve visited someone in the hospital who had lost their ability to speak; it’s painful for them, and it’s painful for those who love them.

In today’s Gospel, we meet a man who has lived his whole life in that kind of frustration. He cannot hear. He can hardly speak. He is trapped in silence. And Jesus, with one word, opens what was closed. “Ephphatha—Be opened!” Immediately, he can hear. Immediately, he can speak.

But the miracle is more than about one man’s ears. It’s about the condition of all humanity under sin. Sin closes our ears to God’s Word and ties our tongues so we cannot confess His name rightly. And Christ comes to open our ears and loosen our tongues, so that faith may live in us and praise and right confession may live on our lips.

Find out more in this sermon for the 12th Sunday after Trinity from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!