Dear saints, last week we saw that we cannot be sufficient in ourselves. We cannot be righteous by looking at our own actions and deeds. Nor by noting the good things we do and contrasting them with the evil things others do. Remember the cry of the tax collector: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Today we have it confirmed that our sufficiency is from God.
We find our Lord is in a Gentile area, the Decapolis. He has recently been in Tyre and Sidon where he healed the demon-possessed daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, a woman who showed our Lord extraordinary faith. And now he is brought a deaf man with a speech impediment. Those bringing him to Jesus beg the Lord to heal the man.
The man and those who bring him are probably not Jewish. They may know of Jesus as a healer, but likely not as the foretold Messiah. The man is brought in the hope of the power of healing. And we hear that Jesus takes the man away from the crowds and, in private, heals him. But this healing was just a bit different. Jesus does not simply look at the man and say, “Be healed.” He could have. He has done that; in fact, he has healed someone who is not even near him, as he does the demon-possessed daughter in the previous passage.
This time, Jesus is physical. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears; he uses saliva and touches the man’s tongue. Finally, he speaks. He looks to heaven, he sighs, and says, “Ephphatha.” The word St. Mark uses for sigh is found six other times in the New Testament. Five of those six the English word is a form of groan. This is not a positive or happy sigh. It indicates an undesirable circumstance. In the New Testament creation groans, believers who are suffering groan, and Jesus groans. He does so in today’s lesson and also in frustration at the Pharisees. Groaning in the New Testament comes from sorrow. Because of suffering that is the result of sin.
This groaning of Jesus and the words, “Be opened,” accomplish what they set out to do: The man’s ears are opened, and his tongue is released. The man who had deaf ears and a speech impediment can now hear and speak. But not only can he speak, but he speaks plainly. With no practice, with no therapy, he speaks rightly. Jesus makes his ears and mouth work perfectly.
This account is a historical narrative. It really happened. And it really happened like St. Mark tells us it did. Yet just because this is a historical account, it does not mean there are not spiritual things that we should glean from it. So, what is there for us in this account?
First, the word we get speech impediment from. It is used one other time, in the Greek version of the Old Testament, in Isaiah 35. In the preceding chapters, Isaiah has told of the impending doom that God would bring upon not only unrepentant Israel but upon the unrepentant world. It will be laid waste; desolate. Wild animals shall dwell in the ruined cities as if they were desert wastelands. This is the picture of divine judgment. But then we get to chapter 35. And the climax of the passage is: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”
Did you catch it? Did you hear our word for speech impediment? It is found in the tongue of the mute, as it will sing for joy. This is wonderful news for all who hear! But what is it referencing? The prophet foretells the coming of the Messiah. It is the Savior who will do these things. It is Immanuel who will tread for his people the Way of Holiness.
However, there is a problem. And the problem is that all people are by nature blind, deaf, lame, and mute. All people are by nature unable to see the Truth, to rightly hear the Word of God, to walk in holiness, or to speak rightly concerning our Creator. We are numbered among the people in the chapters leading up to what I read from Isaiah who deserve destruction, for we are among those who rebel against God. And if we had any doubt about this, we would only need to hear the Apostle Paul when he reminds the Romans that, “None is righteous…no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside…no one does good, not even one.”
And yet, out of mercy, we are among those who have been made whole. Though we are unable to hear and comprehend the Word of God, God comes to you and to me and interferes with us. Last week, the tax collector goes down to his house justified because he relied on God for his justification and righteousness. But he could only do that through the work of God through the Holy Spirit. This is precisely what we confess: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
By the work of the Holy Spirit, your spiritually maligned body is made whole. Blind to the Truth, you now see. Deaf to God’s Word, you now hear and receive it gladly. Unable to walk, you are made strong and put on the straight road of righteousness. Unable to speak rightly, you now learn and confess the orthodox, the correct, faith.
It is as if God himself touched you and wiped saliva on you. It is as if the Lord said to you, “Ephphatha.” And in a sense, he did just that. When Jesus puts his fingers into the ears of this man, he was opening the man’s soul to faith via the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But for you, he takes you into his arms through his called minister. That man, whoever he was, spoke the Word of God over you and put water upon you. And with that, the Holy Spirit works upon you the miracle of opening your ears and fixing your tongue.
Your Lord continues to speak to you through his Word and his ministers. He speaks to you that your opened ears would be open to not only instruction but to the grace he offers. Indeed, our sufficiency is from God. He takes on our flesh. He keeps his Law for us. He dies in our place. He overcomes the gates of hell. And he rises from the dead, guaranteeing that we will too.
Our natural response to all this is praise, for our God does all this out of compassion and steadfast love for us, his lost creation. We confess, like the tax collector, that we are sinners. We plead for his mercy, that he would atone and wash away our sins. We confess that we require his grace. And he comes to us and reminds us of what he has done. That he has forgiven our sins. He has made atonement for you and has cleansed you of your sins. He graciously comes to you and heals your soul. By his grace, he justifies you. And, through the work of the Holy Spirit, is working continually in you and through you. Working until the very day he calls you to himself, making you into the person He created you to be. Praise be to God! His work is sufficient. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller
Peace Lutheran Church
Alcester, SD
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