He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, Ephphatha! (which means, be opened!) — the looking up to heaven communicates prayer and divine petition. The deep sigh (anastenaxas) may express Jesus' emotional engagement with the suffering he is about to heal — the same kind of compassion response as in chapter 6. Ephphatha (Aramaic for be opened) is another preserved Aramaic word in Mark, characteristic of the eyewitness tradition. The single Aramaic word addressed to the man's closed ears and tongue — be opened — is the command of creation applied to the limitations of disability.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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