EPHPHATHA!

Ephphatha Be opened! Let your light shine! Let there be light! Be healed!

Jesus uses the passive imperative. Haha! :o)  Passive imperative is almost an oxymoron. Imperative implies action…it is a command…non-negotiable. Do it! Just do it! Passive implies inactivity and by association laziness. In our culture a passive person is a victim, or someone who just chooses by not choosing and then lets things happen to them. Passive implies that there are forces outside of us that make things happen. In American English, passive is so non-active that it is corrected when we use it in our essays for class. My computer will automatically remind me that I am using the passive tense.

So the other day I was in church and the scripture passage was from Mark, telling about Jesus healing the deaf man who also couldn’t speak. As he touches the man’s ears and tongue, he states, “Ephphatha,” (be opened). I was so curious about the inclusion of this word in the scripture. Why did the Greek writer insert this Hebrew word in?  So I looked it up. I kept looking until I found the origin.  Ephphatha is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew and Aramaic. But the meaning is still within it. It is passive imperative. It took me a little while to get it actually. What does that mean? Passive imperative? And then it hit me. Jesus is asking the man to let it happen, to allow the healing to happen. He’s not  saying “I heal you,” or “Heal!” He is saying, “be healed.”

Recently, something happened that made me question my ability to be a good friend. The more I thought about it, the darker I got. I kept going back to this little girl who thinks she is never going to be good enough for anyone. As I shared my struggle with a couple of friends, I started to hear this passive imperative from them too. Essentially, they were saying, “Let us love you. Let your light shine. Allow yourself to be loved.” And no one said it but I also heard the word patience. Be patient. Let it happen.

Then I was talking with a pastor friend about ephphatha. He said that God used the same passive imperative to bring creation into being. It wasn’t a non-negotiable command. It was an invitation for the light to come. Let there be light. Let there be morning. Let there be night. And the light came. And it was good. And in the new testament, Jesus invites us to let our light shine. My friend are asking that too.

So my challenge this week is ephphatha…be opened. This means I have to take the word “try” out of my sentence for now. I’m not going to try. I’m going to allow myself to be opened….be opened to everything and anything….be opened to healing within me and healing within my friend….healing for all of us. Be opened to possibilities and hope, love and peace. Be opened. Let it happen. And it will happen. And it is good.

 Be opened! Let your light shine! Let there be light! Be healed!