By Harry T. Cook

Mark 7: 31-37

You can read such a story as this one about the man who was deaf and whose speech was garbled until Jesus touched him, then exclaim, “It’s a miracle,” and consider that you have heard the word and go home contentedly to lunch. Or you can give it just a minute more and ask what the story may mean now, and might have meant even when it was first told.

The key words in this story may be these: Jesus sighed, and said to him “Ephphata,” that is, be opened. And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

The message I get from this is that you can’t speak plainly unless and until you hear plainly. – I remember well my first graduate-level course in Hebrew Old Testament taught by an internationally respected scholar who over his professorial lifetime forgot more about the bible than any 500 practicing clergy members would ever know. The professor’s name was Helmer Ringgren. He was of Scandinavian parentage and spoke English with a thick accent, but he spoke it slowly and spoke as little as possible. His lecture on any given day was not really a lecture at all, but talking points to prod discussion of the assigned passage.

There was one unforgettable character in the class who came to graduate school fresh from a bible college in Kentucky. He knew, of course, exactly what the bible said and attempted to challenge Prof. Ringgren on every point. The more the student spoke, the more loopy his reasoning and garbled his speech became. Prof. Ringgren listened patiently, and finally said in that ponderous accent something like this: “In za case you effer learn iny ting verse learning and serefore haff iny ting to say verse hearing, you may giff za lecture. But today iss to sit down and learn one sing.”

It is often said that the bible is public property and that anyone is entitled to his or opinion about what anything in it says or means. Well-meaning Christians gather around tables every day in churches cross the globe to pore over the bible and, without a single nod to 200 years of scholarship, set forth the meaning of its contents with alarming pride and certitude. Should one better versed than they attempt even gently to correct them, the would-be corrector is greeted with one of the most unhelpful statements ever crafted in the English language: WE’RE ENTITLED TO OUR OWN OPINION.

Yeah, OK.

Meanwhile, the order of things in today’s gospel is: open ears first, then open mouth. Learn before opining. No one is entitled to his own opinion about anything until he or she has done the reading, the work, the study, the research, the analysis, the consideration and without having thoroughly thought through whatever is at issue.

Part of what’s making institutional religion less and less helpful today is its intellectual deafness and the resultant babble that comes out of the mouths of its constituents. The opening of the ears needs to begin at the local level – in Sunday schools like ours and in adult education courses. As Prof. Ringgren said: “In za case you effer learn iny ting verse learning and serefore haff iny ting to say verse hearing, you may giff za lecture. But today iss to sit down and learn one sing.” – In other words: open ears first, then mouth.

© Copyright 2006, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.

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