He still makes the deaf hear and the mute speak

In this Sunday’s gospel lesson some people brought Jesus a man who was deaf and mute. Jesus took him aside and: “put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.” (Mark 7:33-35)

The miracles recorded in the Gospels always point to and reveal Jesus’ identity as God’s Son and his authority as God’s Son. His miracles always represent a fulfillment of what was written about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Jesus said: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44). The physical ailment Jesus healed always pointed to an impediment to our faith in God. Jesus’ healing of the physical ailment represented his desire to, and promise to, heal the impediment to faith represented by the physical disease or ailment.

Today’s Gospel lesson pointed me back to Moses and his encounter with God at the burning bush. God had called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses was overwhelmed by God’s request. To lead God’s people out of bondage in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land required persuasive and authoritative speech. Moses spoke plainly to God about his lack of faith in himself. He said: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10).

God spoke to Moses’ lack of faith in himself and of God’s judgment in appointing him as God’s spokesman. “The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:11-12). God asserted his authority over deafness, muteness and all manner of impediments to speech and promised to help Moses.

Exodus 4 testifies that Moses continued to object to God’s call to him to believe that God could give him the ability to speak for God. God relented and allowed Moses’ brother Aaron to speak for Moses.   God would give Moses the words to speak. Moses would communicate God’s words to Aaron, who, in turn, would speak to the people. Despite this concession, God had none-the-less, asserted his authority over human deafness, muteness and promised to touch ears, minds, and mouths so that God’s will could be communicated to others.

The Old Testament testifies that God’s saints were moved by providence to acknowledge and confess their spiritual deafness and muteness and beg God for a cure. King David is one of those saints. God’s hand was once upon David. He came to feel God’s wrath and see his folly and his sin. King David confessed deafness and muteness and asked God for help. God came to him and cured his spiritual deafness and muteness. The Holy Spirit inspired David to write Psalm 38. David taught us to pray:

¹³I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
    like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴I have become like one who does not hear,
    whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵Lord, I wait for you;
    you will answer, Lord my God……..
²² Come quickly to help me,
    my Lord and my Savior.

God responded to David’s plea for a cure for his deafness and muteness. We find this promise in this Sunday’s Old Testament lesson - Isaiah 35:4-7a. In these verses Isaiah promised God’s chosen people that God would come to them, save them (verse 4), the ears of the deaf would be unstopped (verse 5), and the mute tongue would shout for joy (verse 6). In this Sunday’s Gospel lesson, Jesus had literally unstopped a man’s ears and allowed his mute tongue to speak. In performing these miracles, Jesus had fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah 35 declared   that when ears are unstopped and muted tongues speak, God had come to save His people. This miracle revealed Jesus’ divinity. Only God could have miraculously unstop deaf ears and unmute a muted tongue. The miracle was s sign of Jesus’ divine sonship and authority over deafness and muteness. The miracle is also a sign that Jesus has authority over spiritual deafness and muteness. The Gospel lesson is a promise from Jesus to cure our spiritual deafness and muteness.

Jesus has given his Church and each member thereof, the Great Commission. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:10-20) The fulfillment of the Great Commission is a daunting task. Jesus words should chasten us. Like Moses we should say that we are not qualified. We are not eloquent speakers. Like David we should confess that our sinfulness makes us deaf to the Lord’s words. We must confess that we are bombarded with a deafening din of voices that claim to speak for God and dare to instruct us and claim to be messengers from God. Like David we must confess that our sinfulness makes us mute and unable to speak to the Lord or for the Lord.   Jesus promised to be with us and to cure us. He promises to touch our ears. He promises that he will silence the din of voices around us. We will hear his word loud and clear. He promises to touch our tongues and open our lips.

This miracle has happened to me hundreds of times. As a pastor I often found myself in the room of a dying person. The person lying in the bed was in desperate need. They needed to hear Jesus’ voice. They needed to come to him and respond to him. But, there was an impediment to that person hearing Jesus’ voice. A part of that impediment was me. Like Moses, I was afraid. I had no doubt that God had sent me to this person. Many voices went through my head. I heard advice and strategies from professors, authors and peers. Despite all my training and experience, I felt incompetent, and unable to speak. Jesus called me to have faith in the face of my fears. He called me to believe that he would work on my ears and my tongue and the ears and tongue of the one lying in the bed. I prayed a simple prayer. Help me Jesus! Help us Jesus!   He always helped.

Today the noise and din of the world around us continues be deafening. Jesus continues to send us out. He continues to chasten and encourage us, for his sake, so that people are freed from bondage to sin, death and the devil.

15th Sunday After Pentecost