Text: Mark 7:31-37
Facebook live: As deaf we hear!
34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
In our Old Testament lesson Isaiah proclaims:
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
God’s promised saving is assured! What Isaiah proclaimed and what the Lord assures is that He will come and save you.”
What does this look like in the world?
For many the costs of life have become overwhelming. What inflation has done to costs requires salvation for some. They can’t keep up. The burden is too great. The cost, too high. The one who lowers the cost or picks up the tab in a sense is a savior for the needs of the body.
In our gospel lesson today, St. Mark tells of a man brought to Jesus who is deaf and has a speech impediment. He can’t hear and what he says might be unintelligible to most.
In high school I had a classmate named Mark Maddock. Mark was born with a physical condition that left his speech difficult to understand for some. He was a year older but attended class with his younger brother Jeff. They went through class and graduated together. Mark served as a helper for the football and baseball teams as his brother played. When Mark talked, it was easy for me to understand and answer, because I heard him in school and at afterschool activities. My dad would ask me, “How do you know what he is saying?” To my dad is seemed hard to understand but for me it was just Mark. I just understood. Mark was a friend.
Those in our gospel today were friends of the man and they brought him to Jesus. They desired salvation in an earthly sense.
Open his ears and make his speech clear!
Often in life we too desire this healing for ourselves and others. It seems especially true in our church for knee surgeries! Some have little problems while others have problems that seem to go on and on, requiring multiple surgeries and much rehab.
Pain and suffering never seems to end.
… and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
Your friends, family, and loved ones at church lift you in prayer.
We bring your needs to Jesus and ask for healing.
We all hope to see you whole and healthy again!
You do too.
33 And [Jesus] taking him aside from the crowd privately,
Jesus wants a relationship with the ones who need healing.
He wants you to know him and all he desires to give you.
He desires that your eyes and ears “Be opened.” To his loving care and his saving work, for you!
Physical healing is for a time.
Spiritual healing is for eternity!
In our lesson Jesus gets the man’s attention.
First, he speaks with him privately.
He uses the common language of the people, which Saint Mark actually gives us the specific Aramaic word that Jesus used and its meaning.
he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
Healing complete … or is it?
Our Old Testament continues:
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
Our bulleting cover has a picture of this event. The back of the cover says:
The beautiful picture of healing in Isaiah was literally fulfilled by Jesus. In his hands, “the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Now keep in mind, that this bears witness to the greater need and the greater healing.
Opened ears will close, and loosed tongues will become silent again.
The wages of sin is death, and we have no hope of seeing Jesus as savior apart from the means he has given of word and sacrament.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
Through baptism our thirsty lives born in the dryness of death are quenched, and the wilderness of sin gives way to a life-giving pool of peace and forgiveness.
Your ears hear the eternal choir of joy and your eyes see the salvation of our God in Christ Jesus for all who believe, and we proclaim with mouths and tongues loosed, singing - how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!
Good new for we who are blind, deaf and mute, for sure!
For you who have been dealing with knee problems – and you know who you are:
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
No pain, no suffering, no second opinion, no redo on the surgery. Just a forever with the one who has healed you eternally!
So yes, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of temporal deaf and muteness with the healing of the man in our lesson, but his greater work come in the opening of ears and mouths for you and me and for all who believe to the reality of who he is, and what he has done, by his earthly life, death on a cross, and bodily resurrection for you!
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
What had been scavengers in the wilderness of life, now rest in the reeds and rushes of God’s lush forgiveness.
No longer is a second surgery or baptism needed.
The one Baptism has marked you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified and you are healed from sin and given a new life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well
The Lord’s peace and healing be with you all, now and forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
Our bulleting cover has a picture of this event. The back of the cover says:
The beautiful picture of healing in Isaiah was literally fulfilled by Jesus. In his hands, “the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Now keep in mind, that this bears witness to the greater need and the greater healing.
Opened ears will close, and loosed tongues will become silent again.
The wages of sin is death, and we have no hope of seeing Jesus as savior apart from the means he has given of word and sacrament.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
Through baptism our thirsty lives born in the dryness of death are quenched, and the wilderness of sin gives way to a life-giving pool of peace and forgiveness.
Your ears hear the eternal choir of joy and your eyes see the salvation of our God in Christ Jesus for all who believe, and we proclaim with mouths and tongues loosed, singing - how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!
Good new for we who are blind, deaf and mute, for sure!
For you who have been dealing with knee problems – and you know who you are:
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
No pain, no suffering, no second opinion, no redo on the surgery. Just a forever with the one who has healed you eternally!
So yes, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of temporal deaf and muteness with the healing of the man in our lesson, but his greater work come in the opening of ears and mouths for you and me and for all who believe to the reality of who he is, and what he has done, by his earthly life, death on a cross, and bodily resurrection for you!
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
What had been scavengers in the wilderness of life, now rest in the reeds and rushes of God’s lush forgiveness.
No longer is a second surgery or baptism needed.
The one Baptism has marked you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified and you are healed from sin and given a new life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well
The Lord’s peace and healing be with you all, now and forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
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