Three words in a strange toungue
Jesus did not speak English, and through he probably knew Greek and Hebrew, most of the time he spoke an early form of Arabic called Aramaic. You don’t really need to know this, except that there ate three occasions when the writers of the New Testament made sure to write down a word or phrase that was spoken in Aramaic and not in Greek or Hebrew.
Three words in a strange tongue - and they are very interesting!
Jesus once healed a deaf man with a speech impediment, and as he did so he said ephphatha! Mark makes sure we know the actual word Jesus spoke (Mark7:33-35). This poor man couldn’t have known what on earth was going on, so Jesus communicated to him in sign language – he removes him from the frightening and confusing crowd, put his fingers in the man’s ears, spat and touched his tongue, and then looked up to heaven and said be opened! (Which is what ephphatha means).
In sign language this translates – “Come over here where it is quiet, it’s just you and me now, (finger in ears) I’m going to heal your ears mate… (spit)… and your tongue I’m going to fix your speech. Not me, (looks up to heaven) the Father”. Then Jesus said the easiest word to lip read on the planet, eff-fa-tha!
Try saying it out loud, eff-fa-tha! Now try it again, silently, just move your lips, eff-fa-tha. Now do it again, miming the first two syllables and saying the last one out loud, eff-fa-THA!
That is what the deaf man heard as Jesus healed him.
Mark new we needed to know the actual word Jesus used so that we saw how carefully he communicated with someone so cut off from everyone. Jesus in action; he never fails to impress!
Dying on the cross Jesus said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” – but Mark and Matthew are careful to record Jesus actual words in Aramaic, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34). It was a desolate moment, the Saviour of the world dying in exile, dying for the sins of the world.
We need to know the original words, otherwise what happened next would not make sense; the onlookers mistook Jesus words as a cry for Elijah to help him. They wait for the Old Testament prophet to show up, but he does not. Jesus dies alone; no-one comes to help him.
Everything in the gospels description of this emphasises Jesus isolation, alienation; his loneliness. They don’t even hear what he said properly; they never did.
Thirty years later, one of the first Christian leaders, a man called Paul, wrote a letter to a church in Greece. Towards the end of the letter he says this:
“If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed Maranatha”
1 Corinthians 16:22
It is a strong and uncompromising end to Paul’s letter, isn’t it? Maranatha, the word means, O Lord, come. It is a prayer that Jesus would return. I think he uses the Aramaic word because it rhymes with the Greek word we translate “he is to be accursed” – anathema. Paul’s sentence runs, “Let him be anathema maranatha”.
Those two punchy words drive home the awesome reality; Jesus will return one day and it is possible to be eternally condemned. We are at the end of another year, that epoch-making event is closer than it was this time last year!
When Jesus returns all humanity will be judged, how we come out of that courtroom depends entirely on how we respond to the message of Jesus today. Let’s put those three Aramaic words together to give a simple and clear message to each one of us this New Year's Eve:
Maranatha – Jesus is going to return and judge my life and yours.
Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani – I deserve eternal exile from God, but Jesus bore this for me. Because of his cross-work I can be forgiven.
Ephphatha – be opened – open your eyes and see that it is true!
Imagine Jesus taking you aside, as he once did the deaf man, and he says to you, “Come over here where it is quiet, it’s just you and me now, I’m going to heal your ears mate…so you can hear me properly....”
Read his lips, “Eff-fa-THA!
Do you get it?