The Gospel reading this morning tells us about a miracle of Jesus – the healing of a man who was deaf and who had a speech impediment.

He was shut-in a place where he couldn’t hear anybody. No one could perceive his cries for help.

He had been born deaf, or at least had been deaf, from early childhood. His deafness had led to an inability to speak – since he was unable to hear the sounds of others. He lived shut-off from the world of sound - he couldn’t hear sound and he couldn’t make meaningful sound. However, he had a fully functioning mind. He knew full well he was locked inside of his own world, alone with the thoughts that only he could hear.

So we can only imagine his hopes and dreams of maybe someday being set free of his disability. That perhaps someday there would be a way for him to hear - and then he would learn to talk, and he could be a part of the world around him. And once again, we can only imagine his thoughts and frustrations: his knowing that there was life going on all around him, but never being able to be a part of it.

He could see people talking, see them laughing, but he could never join in. And the times that he did try and speak and join in with the others, all that would come out were unintelligible mumblings.

Kids probably laughed at him. And adults likely discouraged his efforts to communicate because they believed his condition was caused by some type of SIN in his life. He was in a sense held prisoner by his situation. But then along comes Jesus!

It’s interesting to see how Jesus heals him, not with a word and a dismissal: “Be healed - go your way.” He could have done that, but He didn’t. Rather, he took the man aside and put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with His own saliva.

The most important verse however, is verse 34. It says: then, looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha”, that is, “Be Opened”.

Our Lord’s intention is to teach us through this story that being spiritual deaf and mute is likely a result of sin, and that His touch is required in order to be freed (in order to “be opened).

Have you seen situations like this in real life: when the effects of sin have isolated people from the world around them; when for all intents and purposes someone has been locked away in their own private, dark, lonely prison? What about you and me? Does this ever happen to us? While we may be able to talk and hear and understand just fine, we still often suffer silently. In many ways we become imprisoned just like the man in the Gospel story. We become unable to hear or speak God’s word.

Have you ever felt trapped by a sin you committed in the past? Something you did that you wish with all your heart that you could take back. You would give anything in the world to change something you did - but you can’t change it and it still haunts you. The guilt and the shame you carry around feels like a trap. You wish you could open up and tell someone, but you can’t, because the risks are too great. You come to church and you have been told you are forgiven - but the trap of guilt just won’t let you go. You wonder if you’ll ever get out.

In most cases, it is your own private little sin, no one knows about it but you.

You’ve tried to stop doing it, but you can’t. When you come to church sometimes you feel bad about it and you vow to change. But it is always right there, tugging at your sleeve. No matter how hard you try, that habitual sin ends up pulling you back down. You can’t seem to break away from it. Every time you try, the door to your private prison of sin slams shut in your face. You wonder - like the man in the story - if you’ll ever get out.

And it is also possible that you are suffering as a result of a sin that isn’t yours. You didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to you in a particular instance. You know it wasn’t your fault that it happened, yet someone chose to inflicted pain on you, you were only a victim of their darkness. But it doesn’t matter because you still suffer from it. What that other person did stays with you, and you feel like you are pinned down by it. It won’t let you go. You wonder – like the man in the story - if you’ll ever get out.

And it is also possible that you are suffering as a result of a sin that isn’t yours. You didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to you in a particular instance. You know it wasn’t your fault that it happened, yet someone chose to inflicted pain on you, you were only a victim of their darkness. But it doesn’t matter because you still suffer from it. What that other person did stays with you, and you feel like you are pinned down by it. It won’t let you go. You wonder – like the man in the story - if you’ll ever get out.

We suffer as a result of sin in our lives (Whether our own and/or the sins of others). Ever since the “Fall” of Adam and Eve, humanity has been trapped in this prison of sinfulness. Where there should be joy there is pain. Where there should be light, there is darkness. However, as illustrated in today’s Gospel, there is GOOD NEWS! Into the darkness steps a man!

He came into the world by being born of a virgin. He is the very Son of God. He came to do something about the darkness caused by sin! He came to OPEN the Kingdom of God for those who are trapped!

We see Him doing just that in today’s Gospel lesson. He takes the deaf and mute man off to the side. He pushes His fingers into the man’s ears. He spits and places it on the man’s tongue (important observation). He uses His body parts and bodily fluids as the physical means to heal this man of his ailment. He looks up into heaven and lets out a great sigh. Then He speaks the word Ephphatha, BE OPENED! Those are the first words the man has ever heard. And it is those words that set him free.

Also important to note, he was released from his prison by the “Word” of Jesus, “BE OPENED”! Not only did the man hear those words but he understood what they meant! The door to his prison hadn’t just been cracked open a little bit - it was swung wide OPEN.

He didn’t have to go through the process of learning the language. He was healed so completely that he knew it already! It says that he immediately began to speak clearly!! He was so completely OPENED, so completely set free, that he could understand and speak a language he had never even heard before. That’s what happens when Jesus uses His chosen means and attaches the power of His Word to them. People are completely healed and completely OPENED.

And the same holds true for the trapped sinners of today - including us and the people around us - that are helpless to help themselves. We need to BE OPENED just as much as the man in the lesson today. We need to be set free as well. Jesus knew that, that’s why He came in the 1st place. He knew that we couldn’t possibly make it on our own.

Jesus knew that left alone we would die without ever being set free. And He loves us too much to just sit by and watch it happen, so He did something about it.

To rescue us from the trap of guilt and shame over a sin of the past, He walked into a trap willingly when Judas brought the men to the Garden that night. Jesus knew what was going on but He let Himself be trapped so that you and I don’t have to be. To pay the price - to post our bail and get us out of our prison of private sin, Jesus allowed himself to be taken to a prison and beaten. He walked into a prison so you and I could walk out of one! To free us from our sin and the sin of others that pins us down, He let His own body be pinned down by nails to a wooden Cross. He chose to let himself be pinned down by the sins of others so we could be free. The Light of the world allowed His life to be snuffed out.

Why, because it was the only way for heaven to BE OPENED for us. Through His sacrifice on the cross, the doors of heaven that were locked have been swung WIDE OPEN!

Three days after our Lord’s burial, we see the Grandest Opening of them all. The stone is rolled away!!! The tomb is empty. Christ is alive again! And He promises that our graves will look like that on the Last Day. WIDE OPEN! Empty, because when Jesus opens us and sets us free, He frees us from death itself! His life, His death and His resurrection what sets us free.

We have a new freedom like never before. We have new life in Christ. Our sin is completely wiped out! Jesus used His body and His bodily fluids once again to perform an OPENING.

The difference is that - for you and me, its not fingers and spit, it is the body and blood. The very same Body and Blood offered here today in the Holy Eucharist – The Lord’s Supper. Through the Word and Sacraments of the Church, Jesus says, EPHPHATHA – BE OPENED – BE FREE!

Amen.