Sermon 09-28-03

Today’s Gospel lesson is a simple story, but it needs to be understood. A deaf and mute man is healed by Jesus. This was a joyous occasion for the deaf and mute man, because he could now hear and speak. The ability to hear, see, speak, or walk is taken for granted. We don’t know how blessed we are to have our health, until we loose it. Like the deaf man, we all suffer some form of hearing problems. Many have physical hearing impairments and must use hearing aids to help them to hear. Many in here today have no physical problems with their ears, yet suffer from selective hearing. They hear what they want to and tune out what they don’t want to hear. Our spouses can point out our selective hearing problems just like parents can point out selective hearing problems with their children.

About five years ago, I came down sick with the flu and something happened to my drainage passages. It was very subtle and slow, but I started losing my hearing. I didn’t really notice it, but my wife started telling me to turn down the TV, or turn down the radio. It was then that she began questioning me about my hearing and I started realizing that I was losing my hearing. I went to a doctor who sent me to a specialist. They put me in a sound booth and tested my ears. I had lost 70% of my hearing in my left ear and about 50% in my right ear. They told me that I had a large amount of fluid in my ears and they would try to clear it up first with medication. After several attempt at medication, the doctor recommended that I have tubes put in my ears.

It was in the middle of tax season and I was actually enjoying the peace and quiet that my ears filtered out. Never the less, I scheduled to have the tubes put in my ears at the doctor’s office. I remember sitting there listening to the doctor, but not understanding what he was saying. As he cut my eardrums and inserted the tubes, my hearing was immediately restored. I was amazed at how loud the doctor was speaking to me and all the background sounds I had been missing. I was also shocked when I got into the car to go back to work and the radio was blaring loud. The doctor "opened" my ears and I could hear!

In our gospel lesson, Jesus is traveling down to the Sea of Galilee into the region of Decapolis, which means 10 cities. Scripture reads:

31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.

It is important to know that the deaf and mute man did not come to Christ on his own, but was brought by friends. This is crucial! The Bible states that you cannot seek God alone, but only through faith. It is his friends that brought the man that cannot hear the Word of God to Jesus. These were truly good friends to have! Have you been a good friend to the people you know? Have you invited them to church to hear the Word of God? A good friend puts other’s needs before their own needs. They wanted their friend to hear and speak. They took him to Jesus because they had heard about Jesus and they believed.

It was not the deaf and mute man’s heart that lead him to Christ but friends. Let’s read a little more into this action of his friends. Can you be saved by somebody else’s faith? No! You cannot be saved by another’s faith. You must believe in Christ yourself. However, one can be saved through the faith of another person if that person uses his faith to bring the nonbeliever into God’s Word. It is the faith of the friends that led them to bring the deaf and mute man to see Jesus. True friends will want their friends to believe in Jesus Christ. True friends will bring their friends to Church. True friends will use their faith to Glorify Christ by bringing others the Him.

Why do we all have problems in inviting people to hear God’s Word at church? Because we are much like the deaf man in that we hear the Word of God, yet we do not live and confess the Word of God. We hear what God says, but we fail in carrying out his Word. For those of us that hear and understand God’s Word, we fail or fall short in confessing God’s Word to others. Even as Christians, we still have selective hearing in that we do what we want, not what God wants us to do. What does He want us to do? Listen to the very words of Jesus in the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19-20

19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Jesus also states:

Matthew 10:32

32 "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.

Luke 12:8

8 "I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.

The book of Romans states:

Romans 10:8-10

8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

If you understand these words, that we are to confess our faith to others and we don’t tell our friends about Christ, then the deaf and mute man would not have been healed or saved. It was his friends that took him to receive the Word of God.

The Gospel lesson continues:

33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

I tell you, the day that the deaf and mute man heard and spoke,... that is a day he will remember for ever. What is more important is that he was saved by the faith he received from Christ! The deaf and mute man did nothing! He simply followed his friends to Jesus. Jesus did the healing through his spoken word. He said "Ephphatha!... which means "Be opened!" Much like when the doctor opened up my ears to put the tubes in, I heard immediately. When Jesus says "Be Opened", he opens up with the Word of God that brings the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and Salvation. When we speak about Christ to others, whether it is friends, family, co-workers, or strangers, we open them up with the Word of God. When we invite them to church, they are opened up through the Words from the Scripture readings, the sermon, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Today, Jesus is speaking to you! His message today is "Be opened!" He brings to you faith, forgiveness, eternal life, and Salvation through His Word. He loves you very deeply and cares about you. His message is not only to you, but to the world! Be Opened!. . . .

The gospel lesson continues with a familiar request:

36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.

Jesus focus was not one of glory, but of the cross. If he wanted the glory, He would have said tell everyone about the healing. Instead, he wants to focus not on the healing of the body, but the healing of the soul. His focus is on your faith, forgiveness, and Salvation. The people that witnessed what had happened that day, received the Word of God. The true miracle is in God’s saving Word. The more Jesus did, the more they confessed to others.

Scripture describes the people gathered around Jesus by stating:

37 [The] People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

We rejoice in the gift of faith and Salvation that Christ brings us today. We rejoice that we have been forgiven for our hearing ears that do not hear and our speaking tongues that do not confess. We rejoice in that Jesus speaks to us through His Word and "opens up" our hearts and tongues with the saving faith that he carries out on the Cross. He knows where you’ve been. He knows what you’ve done. He loves you and cares about you. He says to you today "Be Opened". Amen