Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost/September 9, 2018 Mark 7:14-23/Can You Hear Me Now? Holy Spirit Lutheran Church Pastor Jerry Stobaugh He even makes the deaf hear One cell phone company for years, used the image of man walking around with his phone to his ear, saying, Can you hear me now? It was clever because it suggests something the phone company would be foolish to say out loud, their service is absolutely unfailing in any place and under any circumstances. Contrast that image, with our Gospel this morning shows us Jesus giving a deaf man the ability to hear and to speak. This account of the healing of the deaf man intrigues me and thus fires up my analyst mind. There seems to be both more and less going on than we assume. Here is a deaf man, deaf from birth, or did it start later? Don t know because the Bible doesn t say. The text tells us the man spoke with difficulty. Was this due to a separate physical impediment, or to his deafness? Again, we don t have enough information. On the other hand, if the man could not hear ever in his life, he would not know how words were supposed to sound, or be pronounced. Simply giving him his hearing would not make him instantly able to speak clearly. He would need time to learn, and connect the sounds to words. So, when Jesus gave him hearing; that would only partly make him able to speak well. Clearly Jesus did more than simply give his hearing back; He also cleared up the man s speech problems. They brought this man to Jesus. Who the man was is not explained. Why those who brought him expected Jesus to be able to fix things is not clear. Also some interpreters have difficulty with
what Jesus did. He took the man aside, although where aside was is not explained. If you are out in the open country, taking the man aside from the crowd could be as little as putting His own body between the crowd and the man, or perhaps there was a building there. We are left to wonder. Then Jesus puts His fingers into the man s ears and spits. Many preachers go on and on about the healing touch, and some interpreters have Jesus spitting and then touching the man s tongue with the spittle. I wasn t there, so I can only speculate, but this is what I think: Jesus was dealing with a deaf man, so He was basically doing signs for the guy. Jesus usually healed with a word, and He spoke in this healing as well, so I think what Jesus was doing was telling the deaf man what He was about to do. He put His fingers into the man s ears to communicate He was going to fix his hearing, and He touched the man s tongue to tell him He was going to fix his speech. I think the spitting was to communicate to the man the impediment of his tongue was going to be spit out, as it were, not to touch the man s tongue with Jesus spit. The idea seems kind of gross, not impossible, just unlikely. Then Jesus spoke the Word Ephphatha! that is, Be opened! He spoke in Aramaic, the language of the home. This suggests the man may have heard some at one time, and Jesus was speaking a language the man would have heard as a child. The power of Jesus words do not depend on our understanding, but Jesus always seems to want to be understood when He speaks and when He heals. Scripture reports Jesus spoke in Aramaic when He raised Jarius daughter, too, so I suspect Jesus wanted the first words heard by this man to be clearly understood by him; and with that word, the man was healed. He could hear, and he could suddenly speak clearly.
This miracle gave the people more evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. He fulfilled the prophecies spoken of the day to come in which the deaf would hear, as in today s reading from the prophet Isaiah [Is 35:5], Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. When the people marveled at Jesus and said He does all things well, they were connecting Him, in their minds, to such prophecies. Making the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak were the sorts of things everyone knew only God could do, or someone through whom God worked. Only God does all things well, remember? In creation, each day God looked and it was good, and at the end, behold it was very good! Their analysis of what Jesus did was a confession, of sorts. I find it interesting the more Jesus tried to keep the people from talking about what He had done, the more they talked about it. Could this be an illustration of human sinfulness, always needing to do what they have been commanded not to do? I don t think that is the purpose of reporting here. I think it was simply the people could not keep it quiet. They had witnessed something wonderful and miraculous, and just had to tell others about it. It was new and it was miraculous! Jesus may not have wanted them talking about it so much because He was not here for the purpose of only healing physical ailments. This kind of attention would bring people to Him for healing, but not necessarily for knowledge or understanding, or for forgiveness. While He walked among us, Jesus did many healings, but that was not why He was here, and His miracles generally were performed for the purpose of identification, not just because someone needed healing. Jesus fulfilled prophecy with His miracles. He identified Himself as the Promised One of Scriptures. He was making sure people understood who He was and clearly saw He was doing what the Bible said He would do, so when He died on the cross in our
place and for our sins, it would make sense. They would look at those prophecies too and understand. Jesus was dealing with the symptoms of sin and the results of sin among men. Sin causes illness, deafness, and all sorts of troubles, all the way to death, because that is where sin takes us. Remember, The wages of sin is death. In these healing miracles, Jesus confronts the symptoms of sin and heals. Just as He is master over the symptoms, He is also master over the cause. On the cross, Jesus cured the problem of sin by taking it onto Himself and paying the penalty. Now our sins are forgiven, and our death is changed into a temporary thing. We shall rise from death just as the deaf man s ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was loosened. Jesus has done both. He continues to open the ears of sinful men, and causes them to hear of His great love. We hear with more than just our ears, our hearts are also opened and we are taught to believe by the power of the Word. Just as the deaf man could also speak by same healing Word, we are forgiven our sins and given everlasting life with Jesus in the same miracle that opened our ears to hear and believe the grace of God. We are also taught to speak, for, as St. Paul writes to the Corinthians [1 Cor 12:3], Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed! and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. We are given the power to confess Christ by same Word which He uses to convert us. It is not given to us by the decision of the human heart or mind, but by the Word of God, through which the Holy Spirit opens our ears to faith and mouths to confess. It is the work of God in us just as completely as the healing of the deaf man on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.
Our conversion, and our subsequent ability to honestly confess Christ echo the healing of the deaf man in our Gospel today. The truth is, this lesson merely wants to show you the Christ. Jesus was demonstrating who He is by doing things only God can do, by fulfilling prophecy, and by dealing with the symptoms of sin in a powerful and decisive way. There is no statement of faith saving anyone made in this lesson. Jesus is simply demonstrating His power, and doing it in a way that also shows you His compassion and His humility. This miracle shows you Jesus is truly God, and should give you comfort. Our Savior has the power, and has the compassion to meet your needs, whatever they may be. This is He who died for you. Can you hear me now?