Monday, September 06, 2021

Sermon - Mark 7:31-37 - Pentecost 15

 


Mark 7:31–37

“Ephatha!”

Only a few times in the New Testament do we get to hear the actual words of Jesus in the Aramaic language.  In these cases our English Bibles don’t translate, but give us the actual sounds of the words Jesus made – and we have one of these today.  Some others – well one was when he said to the little girl who had died, “Talitha Cumi”, that is, “Little Girl, arise”.  And of course his quotation of Psalm 22 from the cross, “Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachthani”, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Today we hear a third example from our Savior’s own lips, the simple command, “Ephatha!”, “be opened!”

Now, there’s plenty to say about this one little word.  In opening the ears of a deaf man, Jesus drops yet another calling card of the Messiah.  As Isaiah prophesied,

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.

 

But more than that, Jesus illustrates again for us, as he so often does, the power of his word.  The same word which created all things – let there be light, let there be birds and fish, let us make man in our image…. Now the creative and restorative word brings a new physical reality.  The same word which casts out demons and all manner of diseases.  The same living word, himself made flesh, which comes that we might hear and believe.

 

Now, of course, this Ephatha had to be spoken to the deaf man, because he was suffering under one of the many effects of sin.  And while he himself didn’t cause his deafness by his own sin – at least not directly – he was no doubt a sinner living in the broken sinful world.  So, too, for us – though we do cause many of our own problems by our own sin, sometimes we are simply the victims of the brokenness of the world, and either some other sinner affects us, or even nature itself inflicts on us some disease or accident.

On one level this story is so simple.  Jesus sees a man who has a need, and he helps him.  He’s the only one who can help him.  And he makes it right.  He heals the man’s ears and loosens his tongue.  He restores him completely, giving him the full functionality of his members that the rest of us take for granted.  Jesus does nothing half-way.

 

Now, you and I are also in a predicament, and it’s not too unlike the deaf-mute man.  Although it is in a way far worse.  According to our sin, the Bible tells us, we are helpless and lost.  We are blind, dead, and enemies of God.  But another biblical picture of our fallen condition is that of deafness.  Jesus often remarks, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear”.

 

The problem is that in our sin, we don’t have ears to hear.  Or to put it another way, we are deaf to God’s word.  We don’t want to hear the law.  We don’t want to hear how sinful we are.  We certainly don’t want to hear the punishments we deserve.  That’s why Scripture warns us about those with “itching ears”, and the preachers who only preach to scratch that itch, to say what unrepentant sinners want to hear, not what we all need to hear.  Without Jesus we are lost in so many ways – and pick your metaphor – we can’t help ourselves.

 

And so it stands as a reminder that Jesus helps us, too.  He sees us in our condition, and he has compassion.  He sees our suffering, our inability, our brokenness, and he comes to heal.  But it’s far more than just physical healing.  Jesus goes to the root of the problem.  He opens the spiritual ears that are cemented shut by sin.  He gives us ears to hear the very Gospel of his free forgiveness.  He frees the tongue from its blasphemies and loosens in us the prayers and praises of one who has now come to faith.  Faith comes by hearing, after all.  And what we believe in our heart we confess with our lips.

 

But think about it.  If the man is deaf, can he even hear the “Ephatha”?  Well not if I say it.  No mere man could.  But the divine word gives what it expects.  It provides what it commands.  It creates a new reality.  And this is a hint of something far greater to come.

 

The ear of a deaf man is not the only thing Jesus has come to make open.  The seal of deafness is not the only one he comes to break.  For on the third day, after he had done all his suffering and rested in his borrowed tomb, Jesus had a new and better Ephatha to complete.  He opened the grave.  His angels rolled back the stone, and he rolled back death in a glorious resurrection.  He opened the grave with the ease that your dad opens the pickle jar.  And life broke forth.

 

But not just for himself.  His ephatha is your ephatha.  His empty tomb foreshadows your own.  When he comes again in glory with all his angels, with the final trumpet call and the glorious shout of victory, then the dead in Christ will rise.  He will say the greater ephatha to all the graves of his people.  He will call us to the same life that he stole back from death and hell.  And we will be fully restored, not just spiritually, but also physically, and even eternally.  What a day that will be!

 

Heaven itself is opened to us in Jesus Christ.  And this, even now.  For every time the word of absolution is spoken to you, the gates of heaven are opened.  Every time we repent and return to our baptismal grace, we are restored.  Every time we humbly approach his table and receive the body and blood of our Lord, our invitation to the heavenly banquet is renewed – for where there is forgiveness, there is also life and salvation.

What will be ours one day in full – is ours already, even now, by promise.  And the Holy Spirit is the deposit, the guarantee of the greater blessings to come.  Now we see dimly, but then we shall see fully.  Now we suffer in a body of death, but we know who will save us, and restore not just our ears and tongues, but also eyes, heart, hands, yes our whole selves.  That’s the promise of the resurrection.  That’s our hope.

And take comfort in this, too, Christians.  While we wait for his salvation to appear, while we finish our course of days upon this earth, he has not left us alone.  Our God in with us, even to the end of the age.  Jesus also reigns on his throne, a benevolent king who hears our prayers, brings our prayers to the Father, and even sends his Spirit to teach us to pray and to pray on our behalf.

In Jesus, the very ears of God are “Ephatha” for us.  God’s ear is inclined to our prayers, he desires them and wants to answer them.  He regards our prayers favorably.  Not because of us, but because of Christ.  He hears our prayers only through Christ.  This is why we pray in Jesus’ name.

Now let’s take this last statement from the crowd, “He has done all things well”.  This is far more than just a cheer for another good work of Jesus, a sort of “for he’s a jolly good fellow” type thing. It confesses that by healing the deaf man, Jesus sort of ticks the last box on the list of Messianic signs of healing. 

But like many who comment in the pages of Scripture, their words mean more than they intend.  Jesus has done all things well.  He completes everything he set out to do, everything the Father asked of him – a perfect life fulfilling the law.  A perfect fulfillment of all messianic prophecies.  A perfect suffering and death to atone for all sin.  A perfect resurrection.  A perfect ascension and reign and he will return at the perfect time to bring history to its close.  He has done all things well, and done them for you, dear Christian.

So keep your ears open to his word, which will continue to instruct and forgive you, direct and strengthen you this whole life through.  Pray without ceasing to the one whose ear is inclined to you, to answer for your good.  And look forward to the day when he says his final ephatha to your grave, calling you forth to the eternal reward Christ has won for us all.  For he has done all things well, for you.

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