Both Sides
Read Mark 7:31-37
At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. –Mark 7:35
In 2022, the Best Picture Academy Award went to Coda, the first movie to win that award from a streaming service (Apple+), as well as the first film to feature a predominantly deaf cast. If you’ve never seen the movie, “CODA” is an acronym for “Child(ren) Of Deaf Adults.” The story follows a young woman, Rudy, who is the only hearing member of her family. Ruby has a particular talent that she is unable to share with her family—singing.
Ruby’s talent is discovered by her high school choral director, who helps her to develop her gift and secures for her a coveted audition at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Ruby, though, feels torn between her responsibility for her family (who depend on her for their fishing business) and the pull to pursue her dreams. For their part, her family struggles with feelings of rejection, partly because Ruby kept this part of her life secret from them for so long.
Ruby’s family, though, chooses to support her dream, and they accompany her to the audition in Boston. Even though they can’t hear her, they sneak onto the balcony to watch her perform. Midway through the song (Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides”), Ruby begins signing the words that she is singing. It is clear that she is no longer singing for the judges but for her family that looks on with love. (If you’ve never seen the movie, I encourage you to take four minutes and watch this scene—it moves me to tears every time.
What makes this scene so powerful is that it’s about connection—people sharing with one another a world they can never fully experience and understand. Another classic you may remember, Mr. Holland’s Opus, explores the same themes from the opposite direction, with a dad who struggles both to share his love of music with his deaf son and to see and appreciate his son’s world in turn.
Mark is the only Gospel to include this story in which Jesus opens a man’s ears and loosens his tongue. It is a direct fulfillment of a Messianic prophecy from Isaiah 35:
“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.” (vv. 5-6)
To me, the significance of this miracle lies in the specific ways this man is healed—his hearing and his voice. The miracle is about how we communicate and share our lives with one another. Remember that Jesus lamented that many people can “hear” but not “understand.” Sometimes, even with perfect hearing, we struggle to see and understand one another.
The good news is in the singular command Jesus gives to the man’s ears: Ephphatha! (Be opened!) This is the command God speaks to us whenever we close our ears and eyes to another’s experience. Be opened! See and hear those around you. Share your life with them. Recognize the love that surrounds you. Be opened, and be made whole.
Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen. Open our mouths, and give us graceful words to share. Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus. Amen.