Title: Opening Ears and Loosening Tongues
Scripture: Mark 7:31-37
Sermon Summary: This sermon explores the miraculous healing of a deaf and mute man by Jesus in the Decapolis, emphasizing the deeper spiritual significance of this act. It draws parallels between physical healing and spiritual transformation, highlighting how Christ's touch not only restores physical faculties but also opens hearts to faith and enables believers to proclaim God's word. The sermon underscores the importance of continually receiving God's word and sacraments to maintain spiritual health and avoid falling back into spiritual deafness and muteness.
Key Points:
- Jesus' miracles are purposeful and specific, not arbitrary
- The physical healing of the deaf-mute man symbolizes spiritual healing and awakening to faith
- Christ uses physical means (touch, saliva) to perform miracles, foreshadowing sacramental theology
- Baptism is the means of spiritual healing and rebirth
- The importance of continually hearing God's word and confessing faith to avoid spiritual regression
- Christ's healing power stems from His sacrificial death on the cross
Transcript:
A man who was deaf and who was mute was brought to Jesus when those in the Decapolis heard he was coming. This man couldn't hear, and due to his deafness, probably had a speech impediment since he was a small child. He could not mimic speech because he's never heard it before, and that means he's never heard the word of God before. It's not like they had sign language back then. It's not like they had ASL. So this man was totally deaf and lost. Now, Jesus has done many miracles up to this point, but this one is very specific. This one is unique. This one is personal, and this one is up close. He wanted to heal this specific deaf and mute man in this specific place because God doesn't do arbitrary things, and he doesn't do anything by accident. He doesn't do anything by accident. He doesn't do anything by accident. Instead, he does all things well because he does all things for a purpose. Now, the Gospels are full of Jesus' miracles, his merciful healing of the sick, of the demon-possessed, and the injured, and these miracles all also happened at specific times and in specific places. What had been marred by sin in the world, Jesus was taking upon himself. Jesus has the will, and he has the mercy, to do these things for sinful mankind, and by doing these things, he also proves who he is, the Christ. When John the Baptist sends some disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Christ, what does Jesus say to them? Look at my works. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
Jesus is who he says he is, and does the things which the Christ does. He does heal the sick, he does cast out demons, and he does heal the injured. He did so then, and he does even still today. How many times have you seen a cancer patient pull through? How many times have you seen, by medical intervention, bones heal? And how many times have you seen the sick get their health back? Jesus is merciful even today, and even today. But we're not all naive. We know the effect of sin on the world. Whatever lives will eventually die. And if you are aged, older, you remember when your body was a little bit more healthy, a little bit more able, and you remember when you had a sharper mind. And all of you who are young, you will also age, and your mind will get duller, and your health will begin to fail as well.
So what is left? Is all hope really lost? God's merciful, and he does give health to whomever he pleases. But because of the effect of sin on each one of us, we will all go the way of the earth. We will all die, unless we see Christ our Lord come again in his glory first. God doesn't give perfect health forever, even though he grants it for a time. But what he does give, is something greater. Something more magnificent. He offers faith, and he offers eternal life to each one of you. The healing of this deaf mutant man is a great example of Christ's mercy, but it's not all that's happening here. Like I said before, God doesn't act arbitrarily. Why else would he go out of his way to the Decapolis to find this man at this specific place? Why take his fingers and plunge them into this man, ears and take some of his own spit and place it on this man's tongue. Why so specific? It's to teach and it's to teach each one of us that there's something more to this miracle. It's to show that Jesus heals more than just the body. After all, this deaf mute man would one day die. His tongue would be bound again in death, his ears deaf again in death. Jesus' physical healing of this man is a blessing and it shows his great power and love, but the greater miracle is healing us unto faith in him and unto salvation. Like this deaf mute man, Christ opens each one of our ears, our ears that were once deaf, and he heals each of our tongues, each one of our tongues that were once changed. We were cursed with a lack of faith in God, a lack of trust in God, and with the complete direction and inclination to sin. Many of you probably have had ears that have worked your whole life or you've been able to speak plainly and without much difficulty, but before God brought you to faith, you were not able to confess him as Lord. And you did not trust him. But thanks be to God that he has cured our deaf ears and he has released our tongues. And in fact, Jesus has done this by his own instituted means. He uses physical stuff, physical actions to do his work. In fact, he does it all the time. He does it immediately, as in the opposite of immediately, meaning he uses an external thing to do his own work. He does his own work through something else. Did he need to thrust his fingers into this man's ears or place his spit on this man's tongue? Well, no, he did not. He could have healed him simply by speaking, by willing it to be so. And that's not to discount the word. The word of God is a medium itself and carries out God's will. But in this instance, and for this specific man, he chose to do it this specific way. And that's because his actions mean something. These aren't simply just empty signs pointing to something else, but they're signs that do the thing which they signify. After all, isn't that how the sacraments work? It's a physical thing attached with the word of God. It is the gospel in physical form and applied to each of you personally. Let's take baptism as a great example. What is baptism? Well, baptism is, not just plain water, but it is the water included in God's command and combined with God's word. With just water, it's no baptism. Instead, both water and the word are needed for the forgiveness of sins to be delivered to you, for faith to be given, and for the new man to be born. And then this faith, which is given in the baptism, receives the very gifts that it gives.
And speaking of baptism, the Christian church really took our gospel reading to heart. They saw what was going on here. So at one time, in the prayers surrounding baptism, the pastor would actually speak the same words Christ said to this deaf, mute man, ephphatha, that is, be opened. And he'd say that over the person about to be baptized, he touched the person's ear and the person's mouth. And that was to show what would happen in the baptism. The curing of deafness and the releasing of a bound tongue. And why the ear? Because faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And why the mouth? Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. In this sacrament of baptism, the person is opened to the Holy Spirit and a new man is born. One who can hear the word of God and believe it. And one who can confess Jesus Christ as Lord. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise. And so with the faith given in the baptism, the Christian can't help but declare God's praises. He cannot help but speak the things God has done for him in Christ Jesus. When Jesus healed this deaf, mute man, he couldn't help but proclaim, Christ either. So much so that when Jesus charged them to tell no one what had happened, they proclaimed him all the more. And so the same goes for us. We can't help but tell of the Jesus who healed this blind, this deaf, mute man, who healed with his hands, and how he could only do so because those hands were nailed to a cross. And how Jesus could only heal with his spit because he would be spat upon. And so the same goes for us. We can't help but tell of the Jesus who healed this blind, this deaf, mute man, who And he can only give us forgiveness of sins because he took all of our sins onto himself. He got up close and personal with this man. And he wants to get up close and personal with you too. He wants to forgive your sins through his own instituted means of grace. He wants to take away your sin because he's already put them all on himself. But knowing all this, how often do we take what we know to be true for granted? If the word of God isn't always on your lips and always in your ears, you are at risk to have a bound tongue again and deaf ears again. And if you're not going to listen to God, Satan is crashing at the door and he's ready to speak to you instead. How often have you belittled your own Christian faith before others? Jesus says, if you are ashamed of me before men, then I will be ashamed of you before my heavenly father. If you stop coming to church to receive the forgiveness of sins and to hear the word of God, that deafness and that muteness will be yours again. You're in danger of that. And you will not be able to speak of Christ and you will not be able to confess him as Lord. Now our text says that this deaf mute man spoke plainly, like your Jesus miracle. And yes, that's true. He once couldn't speak for others to understand him and then he could. But what that also means is that he could speak correctly, as in rightly, about his Lord in front of him, about the God of Israel, that he is the Christ and that he will save his people from their sins. And so if you do not hear the word of God, you will be in danger of not being able to do that.
Don't do any of that. Don't avoid Jesus. Don't go back into the crowd which doesn't know him. He wants to bless you. He wants to heal you. And he wants to heal you with those hands that were nailed to the cross. Because after all, he still bears the scars of the crucifixion in his resurrected body as a testimony of his love to each one of you. Confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, because he's given you faith to do so. He has released your tongue. He has cured your deafness. And he has done all things well for you.