"You Can't Speak if You Can't Hear" Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Rally Sunday September 7, 2014 Mark 7:31–37
It’s very difficult to speak when you’re deaf. When you talk others hear the sound of your voice. But you also hear yourself. If you can’t hear the sound of your voice it’s extremely difficult to make those sounds. The man in the Gospel reading was deaf. Perhaps because of this he was unable to speak very well. Perhaps he was unable to speak at all. Those that brought him to Jesus were hoping Jesus could help him and Jesus did heal him. But the true miracle Jesus accomplishes is not when he gives hearing to the deaf or speech to the mute or sight to the blind or restoration to the paralyzed. Those are great gifts from God and we pray for such gifts according to His will and are grateful when He grants such miracles. But you would end up searching for an endless array of help from God if you are seeking deliverance from all sorts of ailments and illnesses and injuries. As with the man in the Gospel reading, you come to God with whatever your needs are and accept whatever gracious help He gives you. The gracious help He gave to this man was restoration of hearing and speech. A whole new world was opened up to him. He was now able to hear the words of his loved ones and he was now able to speak to those in his life. But did he miss the most important miracle Christ did for him? Did the people who were amazed at the grace of God in Jesus giving hearing and speech to the man miss the greater work Jesus was accomplishing for him and for all of them? They certainly realized that this was a true blessing from God. In the same way, we are grateful if we or our loved ones are healed from severe illness or injury. They looked to God for blessings. You do the same. You hold to His promises. They looked to His promises as well. The Old Testament promised that God would send the Savior. They knew His promises. They knew the Messiah would come with healing and power and restoration. The Gospel reading today says that when Jesus gave this man hearing and speech “they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” They also did what you would probably do, they told people. They made it known. This was a spectacular thing. It was a great blessing from God. The thing to do would be to make it known to others so they could also believe, right? Well, not according to Jesus. In one of the more puzzling things about Jesus and His ministry, the Gospel reading says that “Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.” We always hear about how we should spread the Good News. You would think Jesus would have loved for them to be making this known. He was the Messiah. He was the one who had come in fulfillment of the prophecies of the Savior. Wouldn’t it be good if the word were spread around? Yes it would. But not if they were spreading around the wrong word. You see, that man was not the only who was deaf. He was not the only one who could not speak properly. They were hearing what Jesus said but they weren’t getting it. They were speaking about what they had seen but it was impeded speech, words not about who Jesus really was and why He really came. That’s why Jesus told them to be quiet. Don’t say anything. Don’t tell people who I am because you don’t know. Don’t tell them what I do because you don’t understand what I do. Who He is is the Savior, not a miracle worker. What He does is open the ears of the deaf and give speech to those who now hear clearly. All your illnesses and debilitations are symptoms. You might think they’re the main thing you’re struggling with, but they’re not. When sin entered the world it brought a whole host of problems. The earth itself is groaning under the weight of sin. The world of sinful people is wearied by the wars and rumors of wars that are so prevalent. Your sinful flesh is far more destructive to your body and soul than any cancer that might ravage your body. Open your ears and hear what God says to you. He wants to restore you in body and soul. He wants to give you healing for your ailments and for your disease of original sin. He wants to give you words to say that truly glorify Him and truly build up others. God wants to do for you what He did for the man in the Gospel reading. Not so much a physical miracle as the people witnessed, but a spiritual one. He wants to open your ears and give you a tongue to speak. It might seem odd that Jesus told the people not to say anything about this fantastic miracle. But Jesus tells you the same thing. Don’t tell anyone about Jesus if you are telling them about the one whose work is something other than what He truly came for. People telling others about miracles of Jesus were telling others about a miracle worker. That’s great, but Jesus accomplished only so many of those, and it’s still the same today. There was one thing He came to do that accomplishes more than the most spectacular miracle, whether it’s feeding 5,000 or 5,000,000; whether it’s giving sight to the blind or bringing hearing to the deaf or removing cancer that has no cure. At a point in His ministry came the moment where He was no longer preaching and teaching. He reached a point where multitudes could have come to Him but there would be no healing or restoration. There came the point where He went to the Garden of Gethsemane so that religious leaders and soldiers could take Him away. There came the point where He was now accomplishing in its fullness the promises of the Savior. All the healings and miracles pointed to this one moment. When He was on the cross there was no one coming up to Him for healing or teaching or help. Those who were there saw one who was helpless. The one who had shown such great power in giving hearing to the deaf was now powerless over the forces that had overtaken Him. If anyone were to tell others about Him, what would it be? Only ears to hear could truly speak of Him and who He is and what He was doing. It was at this moment that Jesus was accomplishing His greatest miracle. He was bringing about restoration that goes far beyond any physical healing, as it was bringing about restoration that lasts forever. God’s greatest miracle is to give you hearing. If you can’t hear, you can’t speak. On the cross He accomplished salvation for you. In the Gospel you hear this salvation spoken right into you. It is the ministry that Paul says in the Epistle reading that gives life. You are given eternal life through your ears. When you hear the Gospel you are forgiven. In His Sacraments Christ gives you this hearing. Jesus working His miracle in the way He did with the man in the Gospel reading shows that this is how He works. He put His fingers in the man’s ears, He touched the man’s tongue with His saliva, He spoke, Ephphatha, “Be Opened.” The Holy Spirit gives you ears to hear in your Baptism. He opens your ears so that you can hear the Gospel. As you live out your Baptism you live as one whose ears need to constantly be opened by Christ. He gives you hearing so that you may hear your Lord open your ears to His words in the Sacrament, “This is My body and blood, given and shed for you for your forgiveness.” Only then can you speak. Hearing what your Lord has said to you, you may speak His praises. Forgiven by Him, you may speak forgiveness to others. Saved by Him, you may speak of the glorious salvation of Christ on the cross to others. You have heard, you may speak as those in the Gospel reading did, “He has done all things well.” Amen. -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
