Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

This guide is drawn from the Scriptures the Church appoints for the day.

Opening Prayer

Almighty God, who openest the ears of the deaf and loosest the tongue of the dumb, be present with us as we gather about thy Word. Open our ears to hear what thou wouldest say to us this day, and open our lips that we may speak of thee plainly and without fear to one another. Grant that what we take up in this hour we may carry with us into the week that follows. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gathering

Before anyone opens a Bible, call to mind a time when someone spoke on your behalf, or carried a need of yours to a person who could actually do something about it, and tell the group who it was and what it meant to you to be spoken for.

The Reading

We are in the long green stretch of Trinity, and this Sunday the Church sets before us a healing that happens away from the crowd, in Gentile country east of Galilee, where our Lord takes one man aside and gives him back both his hearing and his speech.

Gospel · St. Mark 7:31-37

AND again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Anyone who wishes to sit longer with the day will find the other appointed texts in Deuteronomy 11:8-21, Psalm 139, and 2 Corinthians 3:4-9.

Talking It Through

1. St. Mark tells us the man was brought by others, and that it was they who besought our Lord to put his hand upon him. What do you notice about how much this man is able to do for himself in the account, and how much is done for him?
2. Christ takes him aside from the multitude, puts his fingers into his ears, touches his tongue, looks up to heaven, and sighs before He says anything. What might each of those actions have meant to a man who could not hear one word of what was happening to him?
3. The one word our Lord speaks is Ephphatha, and St. Mark keeps it in the tongue Christ actually spoke rather than rendering it into Greek with the rest. What do you make of that single word staying in the Church’s memory the way it has?
4. The collect for today says that God is always more ready to hear than we to pray, and is wont to give more than either we desire or deserve. His friends asked only that a hand be laid upon him. Where do you see that collect at work in what actually happened?
5. Christ charged them that they should tell no man, and the more He charged them, the more a great deal they published it. How do you understand that charge, and how do you understand their refusal to keep it?
6. The verdict of the crowd was, He hath done all things well. What might it look like for a person to arrive at that same verdict slowly, over years of ordinary life, rather than in a moment of astonishment?

Bringing It Home

One might take the single word of this Gospel up as a prayer for the week, saying Ephphatha, be opened, before opening the Scriptures or before coming into church, asking that the ears be opened before the page is ever read. There is also an old practice of praying for those who cannot pray for themselves, or will not, and this Gospel makes a plain case for it, so consider carrying one such person to our Lord each day this week, as those friends carried theirs.

Closing Prayer

O Lord, who didst sigh over the affliction of one man and speak the word that opened him, keep us in thy care through the week that is before us. Grant that what we have heard this day be not lost upon us, but bear fruit in patience and in charity toward those thou hast set beside us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.