DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
St. Mark 7:31-37
(4/5)
Gospel for Saturday of the Fourth Week of the Great Fast
The
Spiritual Senses: St. Mark 7:31-37, especially vs. 34: “Then,
looking up to heaven, [Jesus] sighed, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’
that is, ‘Be opened.’”
Ah, Beloved of the Lord, here’s the question:
“Will we allow Christ Jesus our Lord to open our hearts? Will we obey Him?” Here is a man who could neither hear nor use his
ordinary articulatory organs for speech.
However, the man heard the Divine command, “Ephphatha!,” and
“...he spoke plainly” (vs. 35). After that, there was no silencing him
nor his friends (vs. 36). The voice
of the Incarnate Lord of the Creation overturned the order of nature by which
the man was closed off. After his
healing, the man and all present proclaimed widely “...He has done all
things well” (vs. 37).
Ah, but consider your spiritual senses, for we humans have two
sets of sensory organs. Normally,
human beings have organs of sight, speech, and hearing by which to receive
impressions from the physical world.
The experience and teaching of the Apostles and the Holy Fathers is
that, normally, all of us also have inward, sensory organs, capacities of the
heart. What St. Mark reveals,
herein, is that these “senses of the heart” are largely darkened in
most of us, being tied or deadened.
Yes, this is true even for those with impaired physical sight or
hearing.
There is supernatural birth, however. In Holy Baptism, God commands these
inner faculties to “Be Opened!” In the Baptismal Mystery we took
“refuge under the shelter of [God’s] wings,” when the Priest
asked God to heal and open these inner senses - “to open the eyes of his
soul,” and he also prays for the awakening of the spiritual ears,
“Unto the hearing of faith.” The Mystery of Christ aims to release
the spiritual senses of the Faithful to Truth.
Each time we return to the Mysteries of Christ - as in Confession or
when receiving the Holy Gifts of the Body and Blood of the Lord - we are
seeking healing for our dumb spiritual senses, that Christ our God might unify
our spiritual and physical senses, so that both sets of our eyes and ears,
inward and outward, might work as one.
In the words of St. Simeon Metaphrastes, we beg the Lord to put His hand
upon us and “enlighten as one [our] five senses....”
Who has not encountered terrible seasons when the spiritual senses are
closed off to God and to others?
The Prophet David knew such inner silence and darkness: “And now,
what is my patient endurance? Is it
not the Lord? Yea, my hope is from
Thee. From all mine iniquities
deliver me; Thou hast made me a reproach to the foolish. I was dumb and opened not my mouth, for
Thou hast made me. Take away from
me Thy scourges...” (Ps. 38:10-13).
Are the spiritual senses removed?
No, they are present. God is
present! Trace the problem to sin.
Definitely, sin renders us spiritually blind, dumb, and speechless. Apparently, earlier in his life, the man
whom the Lord healed in the Decapolis was able to speak and hear physically,
for customarily the Evangelists report when one was born deaf or dumb and was
then healed (Jn. 9:1). How did his
closing off occur? Perhaps by
demonic power, by his own sins, as a result of the sins of others, or even from
a physical accident. Whatever the
cause, he was reduced to total silence.
But listen! The Lord touched
more than his physical organs of speech and hearing. The Lord Jesus spoke to the man’s
spiritual ears. The results show
that the unfortunate one heard his Creator (Mk. 7:34,35). The Lord “enlightened as one his
five senses.” Of course the
man declared with both his tongues, “He has done all things well”
(vs. 37).
Beloved, in repentance, in need, let us cry to God with the words of the
Prophet David:
“...lo,
my lips I shall not restrain; Lord, Thou knowest it. Thy righteousness have I not hid in my
heart;...Thy truth from the great assemblage. But Thou, O Lord, remove not Thy
compassions far from me; let Thy mercy and Thy truth continually help
me.” (Ps. 39:12-15)