Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak

I was nearly 2 years old before I started talking after which point my mother said I never stopped. For those who are not familiar with child development, this is quite late to begin forming words and start stringing them together. There was nothing physically wrong with me, I simply had no need to talk. I had an older sister you see who did it for me.

Jen wants this. Jen needs that. She thoroughly embraced her role as an older sister, still does in many aspects. As a youngest child, many of us stereotypically speaking, are taught there is no need to do something if someone else is going to do it for you.

However, this coddling that occurs has some serious complications associated with it. Turns out you see, if you don’t do something on your own, the longer you wait, the harder it is to do it. Imagine learning to ride a bike, or ice skate as an adult when you have a solid grasp of the pain of falling on your ass and how much farther it is from the ground than when you were a child.

Your body is also not familiar with these motions. Your muscles and bones don’t want to move in these new directions, in new ways, and can be highly resistive to it. I could easily go back to last week’s sermon and talk about resistance to changing traditions but rest assured that is not where this sermon is headed. This sermon is about healing not breaking.

Because my mouth had made little to no attempts in formulating words, I had a speech impediment for many many years. I spent nearly the entirety of my elementary and middle school days going to speech therapy trying to learn the letter “R.” Not only did I make a horrible pirate, but my name “Jennifer Porter” was also insanely difficult for me to pronounce. Hence, I ask that you call me Pastor Jen as Pastor Sayers is a phoentic nightmare to me and all my fellow speech therapy students who struggle with S’s and R’s. Nevermind, this lovely passage where Jesus shows off his linguistic skills where uttering the commandment “Ephphatha.”

Imagine for just a moment growing up, changing schools every couple of years, repeatedly being asked to introduce yourself to a room full of cruel condescending strangers because let’s face it, children are mean, when you struggle trying to pronounce your own name. While my mother attests that while I home, I never stopped talking, you were unlikely to here a peep out of me while I was at school. They actually thought I was shy, can you believe it?

I tell you this story because I want you to try and understand this deaf man a little bit better and understand that his circumstances are not as unique and unimaginable as one might think. How many in here are hard of hearing? I know I am. My hearing is both exceptional and problematic. While I can hear a pin drop in three rooms away, I often struggle to distinguish voices through other sounds.

But, God gave me this life and every trial and tribulation in it. God gave me this voice to use to His glory. All that I have, God has given to me. All that I lack, was never mine to begin with. If I had a dream of being a WNBA player, it wasn’t going to happen.  But, with God’s gifts, whatever God does decide to give you, come great expectations.

To be deaf and mute has deeper implications than just not being able to hear and having difficulty speaking. There is a whole realm of other annoyances that spawn from it. Imagine how difficult it is to develop social skills when you can neither hear what someone else is saying or you struggle to communicate with them especially if you have a speech impediment where people make fun of you so you either hesitate to even try communicating or avoid it altogether?

Jesus just gave this man a voice and let him hear. I shudder to think the things that man could now hear that were being said about him. I heard tons of charming colorful things growing up about my own difficulties speaking. And, because of my own past, I struggle to envision this act of brining someone to Jesus as being one completely of kindness but instead feel a mockery of both the one being brought to be healed and the crowd’s challenge to Jesus’ ability and worth. From my personal history, it is easier to view the crowds action as mockery than kindness. But without a doubt, I feel nothing but love from Jesus, compassion for both the man brought and those who lack understanding who brought him.

Jesus did not heal the man in public, he took him aside in private, away from the crowd. I do not envy this man. God gave him not just a voice to speak but also ears to hear. These things he gave to be used for God’s glory, not to glorify himself.  His ears were opened, his tongue was released. God’s expectations of what to do with them were just beginning. A destiny to become added to the list of biblical character I cannot help but wonder what happened to him after God intervened in his life so dramatically.  But, there’s not follow-up. We go back to our main story line.

Jesus then orders, not the man whom he healed, but the witnesses to this miracle, to tell no one. What happens? The more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

Ever notice how people want to go around and shout on the mountaintops the gifts and miracles of someone else’s life? Look how God has blessed you! Look what God has done for you and to you! Your life is amazing! Everyone, look how amazing this person is! See how God has called them to do great things!

What about you? Why are you not out there proclaiming all the great things God has called you to do? Even worse, why are you not out there living it?

He has done everything well. Everything, that includes you.

Stop being disobedient Christians. Stop saying you believe in Christ but not acknowledging what has been done in your own life. Using whatever it is that Jesus spit on in your life. Use whatever Jesus has opened, whatever Jesus has released in your life. Stop looking at others and what they are called to do and look at yourself.

It is not your job to zealously proclaim what God has done for someone else. It is your job to proudly utilized to the best of your ability what Jesus pulled you specifically aside for.

Jesus didn’t want his deeds proclaimed loudly in the streets. Jesus wanted God’s gifts to be quietly used. Our beloved deaf and mute man spoke plainly, he didn’t have my loud obnoxious, cut through the air so even the deaf can hear voice, he spoke plainly. I am certain he did great things. None of which are recorded in this book but all of them God’s will in the world. Not for the man’s glory but for God’s.

I never would have dreamed growing up that my life’s work would be centered around communicating with others. I did not beg to be given a tongue that could articulate well. Quite honestly, I was against it. I just wanted to hide in the back corner, let people think I was dumb, and endure my existence but no, others begged for me. If I would have known where this path was going to lead me, I would have fought even harder against it.

But, here we are.

I however am not ordering you to tell no one. I want you to tell everyone you meet. Invite everyone you know. I want you to say on your own behalf that your life has been changed for the better. I want you to hear what Jesus is saying to you and follow his orders whatever they may be. He has spit on your eyes and loosed your tongue.

Ephphatha. Be opened.

Be open to whatever God has planned for you this week. Whatever God is calling you to do. From my experience, the longer you put something off, the harder it is to overcome. Don’t let someone else live your life for you. God gave it to you for a reason. Find out what it is.

May, the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
And give you peace

Text: Mark 7: 31-37