Sermon - Trinity XII - Mark 7:31-37 - 2018

“And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed…” A sigh can say a lot. There are sighs of contentment, sighs of relief, sighs of sadness, sighs of frustration, sighs of anger; but what kind of sigh is this? A couple weeks ago we heard Jesus weep for Jerusalem, now we hear Jesus sigh. 

Overall, not just the sigh, this whole miraculous healing is a unique one. Jesus can heal someone just by them touching his cloak, He can heal people who aren’t even in front of Him, but here Jesus makes a big to-do about it. He takes this deaf-mute man aside privately, “He put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha.”” The whole thing is strange if you ask me.

It’s unique, not because this particular disabled man was himself special or different than any other person who needed healing, but because Jesus wishes to direct our attention to this miracle. He points today to the fact that “He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Not only this deaf-mute man, but all people. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World!” Christ opens our ears and releases our tongues so that we may hear and speak the Gospel.

So Jesus’ sigh is not for this man only, but His is a common sigh for the whole human race. He doesn’t look only upon this deaf-mute man, but He looks to heaven, He looks upon all those people who have descended from Adam. All people who are infected with the depravities of this life. So Christ is concerned not with this one man only, but He is concerned with the ears and tongues of you and me. It is for us whom Jesus sighs.

Christ is He of whom it was foretold in Isaiah, that “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall be opened.” So Jesus commands our ears “Ephphatha, be opened! And immediately, his ears were opened, his tongue was released from bondage, and he spoke rightly.”

Our ears have been opened, which implies that our ears were previously shut-up, they were closed and couldn’t hear. Just as when your ears get plugged up, you go to the doctor who removes this nasty chunk of wax from your ears, so have our ears been plugged by the filthiness of sin. Satan likes to fill our ears with his soft, gentle, deplorable voice so that we can hear nothing else. If your ears are plugged, then you cannot hear the glad song of the comforting Gospel, instead you remain in Satan’s hold and bondage.

So indeed, if our ears have been plugged up by Satan, our tongue has been chained up with the deceiver as well. If we cannot hear the Gospel, neither can we speak it. Thus it is the devil’s delight that our ears wouldn’t hear the truth of the Gospel nor our lips to declare the glories of God. But Jesus opens your ears and releases your tongue. 

We like the deaf-mute man are powerless to hear the Gospel and proclaim it aloud. “We are not sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.” God alone is He who opens our ears. “No one can say that Jesus is the Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” This faith to confess Jesus as Lord comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Your ears are opened and unplugged by hearing God’s Word. “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book.” Which book but the good book filled with God’s Word of life and healing. Your ears are opened by the Word of God in order to hear the Word of God. 

Oh but pastor, what about those people who are deaf today? Can they not hear God’s Word and have faith? Let me answer: There are many people who cannot hear sounds, yet have faith; there are also many people who can hear even the most subtle sound, yet have no faith. The hearing Christ gives goes beyond simple sound, as His Word can penetrate the ears of the deaf, the eyes of the blind, and the minds of the simple. Make no mistake, the Lord God gives faith, no temporal disability can prohibit His Word.

Jesus has opened our ears and lips to the Gospel, He alone has taken sin and its effects upon Himself. Your inability to hear and speak the Gospel has been carried to the cross, it is finished already. Yet Jesus sighs.

He sighs because He knows that even with our ears unstopped and tongues loosed, we will choose to ignore the Gospel and fill our mouths with lies and deceit. Christ is so loving and kind that it grieves Him to know that we will sin even after we’ve been healed and made whole. He knows that no sin goes unpunished, just as He wept for Jerusalem who would be punished for their sin. Jesus is so compassionate and loving that He is never delighted by sin but is ever filled with sorrow over our sin.

Jesus sets before us two bodily organs which lead us into many besetting sins: ears and tongues. These two organs are most vital for the Christian, since with the ears we hear of Christ’s most glorious sacrifice for us, and with the tongue we confess our faith which Jesus has planted in us. 

Yet with the ears, we listen not only to the voice of our Savior, but we hear also the voice of false prophets who spread lies and deceit. I know words seem like such little things, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Certainly, it seems like such a terrible thing when people are hurt by others physically, chemicals burn us to bits, bombs tear us apart, and guns fill us with holes. Yet one killed with a gun still lives, perhaps not in this life but in the kingdom of heaven above. But one who hears false preachers and believes them, may die a peaceful death for now but spends eternity in hell. One false preacher with a loose tongue, who claims to come in the name of the Lord, can lead countless souls with open ears to hell.

So Jesus sighs because with our ears unstopped we can hear all the babbling enticing lies of the enemy. What do you fear? Terrorists, gunmen, germs, sickness, accidents, storms? Those may be frightening, they can do a little harm, but they don’t hold a candle to a person who claims to be a Christian and meddles with the scriptures. That one can do you far worse harm. So even after Jesus has loosed the tongue and opened the ears, the devil runs the lips of false preachers and warms the ears of hearers to his false teaching. 

St. Paul is right, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” God has opened our ears to hear the pure, sweet, perfect Gospel and yet we turn away and would rather listen to lies and abominations that suit our ears. 

So take caution to whom you listen! Beware of false prophets, people who sound nice, look nice, and make you feel good. Beware of those who speak on TV, beware of those who write in books, beware of those who sing on the radio. Just because they’re good ole boys, or registered in your political party, or belong to your church body, test what they say against God’s pure Word. This goes for your pastor too! Don’t judge your pastor based upon his ability to speak or how nice he is, but listen to him based upon the Word of God!

Words are dangerous, not really the ones spoken by bullies that make us feel badly, those are easy to guard against and avoid, we don’t like to hear them. The most dangerous words are those that sound good to our ears and yet are not true to God’s Word.

Just as we must guard our ears, so must we guard our tongues. While the 8th commandment teaches us not to speak poorly of our neighbor, and this is most certainly true, gossiping about others is sinful and hurtful. Stop doing that. But what is most pertinent here is that which we must speak with our tongues.

Within your God given vocations in life, your lips are to be filled with the Gospel of Jesus. Let your lips be filled with the praise of the Lord. This Gospel has meaning for us today in our daily lives, Jesus wishes to teach us and shape us even now. His words are practical and relevant in our lives. So don’t be afraid to speak His Word publicly and privately.

He has opened our ears and tongues to the Gospel, He has healed us and removed from us the bondage of sin and death. You are made whole again like the deaf-mute man! Hear the Word of God, defend against all lies and falsehoods, and zealously proclaim what Christ has done for you and for all people! 

Let us pray: God, give us your grace so that we may act and live as you have enabled us to speak and hear. Amen.