“Ephphatha”
Mark 7:34
Foreign wordSettledJesus
And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, 'Ephphatha!' which means, 'Be opened!' (Mark 7:34 BSB)
* Aramaic for 'be opened'; the actual word Jesus spoke, preserved by Mark.
What it sounds like today
Another magic-sounding foreign word.
The cultural key
Aramaic again, translated on the spot by Mark: 'Be opened.' Watch the whole scene through the deaf man's eyes: Jesus takes him aside privately, puts fingers in his ears, touches his tongue, looks up to heaven, sighs. Every step is visible. For a man who cannot hear a word, Jesus performs the healing in sign language before he performs it in fact. Behind the crowd's verdict ('He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak') stands Isaiah 35:5–6, the promised age when the ears of the deaf are unstopped.
Recovered meaning
The healer adapts his method to the man: communication first, cure second. And the crowd, quoting Isaiah back, names what the healing claims: the promised restoration has begun.
Parallels: Isaiah 35:5–6