I haven't been able to forget the Gospel lesson from two weeks ago - Mark 7:31-37. You might remember it - the healing of a deaf and mute man. Some of the man's friends brought the fellow to Jesus and asked for the Lord's help. Jesus responded in a way we've haven't seen from Him in the Gospels. Verse 33 reads: After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue. Sometimes Jesus heals with a simple touch and sometimes just by speaking a word. In this case, what better way to communicate to a deaf and mute man what the Lord intended to do for him?
Next, Jesus sighs deeply and then speaks one word, Ephphatha, which means, "Be opened!" The good news in verse 35 reads: At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
This text is important to me and my family because my oldest grandson needed his tongue to be loosened. At a time when toddlers begin to form words, my grandson was mute. Fortunately, my daughter and her husband quickly sought help and finally found a learned doctor who diagnosed my grandson with apraxia. In layman's terms, those with apraxia know in their brain that they want to communicate with words but, for some reason, the brain and tongue don't seem to work together. The best my grandson could do was to grunt and groan a bit.
Night after night, my family and I would pray, "Lord, loosen his tongue! Help him to speak!" And the Lord answered our prayer.
Not as dramatically as the story of the deaf and mute man but miraculous none the less. With the help of a caring and patient speech therapist, my grandson slowly began to form words. The difficult consonants became easier to speak. Certain letter that he couldn't pronounce suddenly became easier. The progress was slow but still remarkable.
Now, at age four, my grandson talks up a storm. He has no trouble communicating with his parents, family, teachers, friends and total strangers! He often sits on my lap during children's messages and a newer member of our church was surprised to learn that he had apraxia. "He talks so well and so clearly," she said. "I think there have been a few times when he was going to take over for you and do the message himself."
After all my grandson has been through, I wouldn't mind at all.
Thank you, Jesus, for answering our prayer!
