Be Opened

“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. ”

By the time she was 9 years old, Maggie, a native of Zambia, had lost both her parents to AIDS. She was taken in by her aunt, a struggling widow with two children, Bright and Dinda.

Soon, however, her aunt died too and the children went to live with their maternal grandmother. Food was scarce despite the long hours they worked frugal gardens— when they should have been in school . Without blankets or bedding, they slept on the cold mud floor, and what few clothes they had were threadbare.

Meanwhile, in another part of the country, the girls' paternal grandmother, Eleanor, could not stop thinking about her grandchildren. She was very distressed by news of the children's condition. So Eleanor packed some money and a change of clothes and boarded a dilapidated bus for the dawn-'til-night journey to reunite with her grandchildren. Maggie and her cousins were happy to go live with their grandmother, even though she was also quite poor.

Fortunately, the timing proved fortuitous.

World Vision was in the process of refocusing its regional work to help Eleanor's community of Zamtan respond to the HIV crisis. A local committee nominated the family for World Vision assistance and found sponsor for all three children. “World Vision helped us with seeds and things we need for farming so we could cultivate again," Eleanor reports . "They gave us blankets, helped with medical care and with everything the children need for school."

World Vision built the family a new home.

"I'm so happy that my gran came to find me. And I'm grateful for the support from World Vision that has enabled me to stay in school," says Maggie. She adds, "I hope kind sponsors will continue to provide for people like me. There are so many other children who need these things as much as I do." [World Vision website]

What price for the life of a child? How much can we do, a world away from such suffering and poverty? We hear the pleas from many organizations, from our own government, from the church in many lands. What can we do in the face of such widespread tragedy? We can cringe and feel sorry and yet powerless to change it. Or we can reach out and find one child, and through that child— a little one with a name and a face and a story —we can find a way.

It's the starfish with our arm flinging it back into the surf. You know the tale…

A little boy is walking on the beach. Last night a great storm washed millions of starfish ashore and this day is breaking bright and sunny. The boy is going from starfish to starfish, picking each one up and throwing it back into the sea. An old man comes by, watches the child for awhile, then decides to comment on what he sees.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm saving these starfish," said the boy.

"There are millions and millions of starfish here, just look down the beach: there are miles of them. You can't get it done before almost all of them are cooked in the sun. It's useless to try. What difference will it make, even if you get some in before the sun gets hot?

The boy picked up a starfish and looked at it thoughtfully. Then he heaved it especially far into the surf.

"It'll make a difference to that one."

These children, offered to us by World Vision, are our starfish.

We can't save the world. Poverty, widespread disease such as the AIDS epidemic in Africa, illiteracy on a national scale, polluted or dried up water sources, and rancid food can seem to us insurmountable evils. Only a governmental aid program can touch such an enormous problem. But World Vision has become an arm of our private concern large enough to reach and touch, not the whole world, but one child at a time . And hope is born.

Jesus walked around the east side of the Sea of Galilee, through the Gentile settlements of Decapolis, ten Greek cities. A man was brought who could neither hear nor speak. People wanted Jesus to heal him. Jesus never did this the same way twice. On this occasion, he stuck his fingers into the man's ears, then with his own saliva, touched the man's tongue. Then He spoke a word of command: Ephphatha : be opened . And the man could hear and he could talk again clearly.

How hard is it to cure deaf ears, to open the mouths of the dumb? If they are willing, and if God wishes it, He merely speaks “Be Opened!” and what was closed is now open. The physically deaf may hear.

But what if one is pretending not to hear? What if, for all the preaching and all the pamphlets and brochures, and all the teaching of values and the words of the Bible— a man remains deaf to what he hears, blind to the evidence of his eyes, solely because he wants to be deaf, blind and dumb? Can God heal that man? “Be Opened!” is spoken, and the man remains mute, staring off into space, unmoved, untouched. How hard is it to cure that deafness?

It may be the hardest thing of all to open in the world. Ali Baba's cave was nothing compared to it. The Treasure of Sierra Madre took no time at all to find. The secrets of the atom were far more easy to open. But the way into a human heart is impossible, even for God, sometimes. When a heart is closed, cold, turned away; God Himself will not use His ultimate power to force it open . He will coax it, woo it, call to it, even break it. But a heart can remain closed even to God. That's free will, as God gave it to us. Our hearts can remain closed even to Him. I know. My heart is a mystery even to me—sometimes I don't know what will reach it, open it, change it, work into it a new way, a way to love.

There are so many ways God speaks to us: do we ever hear His voice? Jesus said that His own sheep hear Him, the Good Shepherd. Are our ears stuffed with wax, natural barriers to hearing, or are they stuffed with cotton?

He said: “Ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.” Matthew 26:11 He even said to the rich man, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Matthew 19:21 Fulfilling His mission on earth, and the sign of Messiah, He told the Baptist: “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear , the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Matthew 11:5 And to the church at Laodicea, Jesus wrote: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Rev. 3:20

I know that some of you can't afford $30 a month for the sponsorship of a World Vision child. God bless you. Some of you already do this, too. There are some, however, who spend more in a week on lattes or mochas at St. Arbuck's. A dollar a day can turn the world around, at least for that one, or that one you're looking at.

This one is Mohammedawol. He is 8 years old and lives in Ethiopia in a family of 8. His name tells us that he is Moslem. A Christian family in America sponsoring his schooling, fresh water, some food, and a real program for saving his generation from the HIV/AIDS crisis that threatens his entire continent says something to a Moslem that propaganda cannot. Love gets through . But you can't have him: the Hansens are taking this one home. But there are others, and you are looking at them. Pass these around.

Here's all you do. Pick one . These are the actual cases offered to our church from World Vision. If we take them, these children are ours to support. If not, in November they will cycle back and go to other willing donors. Fill out the card, make out a check for your first month's sponsorship of $30, and just give us back the envelope . We will take it from there. You will get a monthly statement of your donations, and every year, a thank you letter from your child, with a recent picture and a chance to communicate with him or her.

I think God is speaking to at least some of you. Look these over. Take one, if God puts that little face on your heart. If He's speaking and you're hearing Him. If we run out of them, we can get more. Let God break your heart open, that you may hear His voice, and speak the wonders of His grace and blessing to you.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen .

PFH+