Mark 7:31-37 Signs

Mark 7:31-37 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

31Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.

32They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 33Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. 37They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

Signs

I.

You wave your hands around trying to get the person’s attention. Then you make some exaggerated hand gestures to try to get across some important point. It’s difficult to communicate when the other person can’t hear you.

When I’m out in the garage with the air compressor kicked in and the dust collector whirring away and the table saw shrieking through the current cut, good luck getting my attention. After all, it’s pretty important to concentrate your attention on the saw, not on the person waving their arms at you. But even after the cut, when I can look at Robin waving her arms at me to get my attention—she knows not to wave until the cut is finished—I still can’t understand what she’s trying to tell me. Hit the stop button on the saw, then the remote for the dust collector. If the air compressor hasn’t finished filling yet, get over there and shut off the power on that, too. Even then there is more to do before she can be heard. I still have to shut off whatever is playing on my phone, take off the ear muffs, and then the ear buds, and finally I can listen to what Robin has been trying to tell me.

Have you ever had to try to communicate with someone who couldn’t just shut off all the devices and unplug his/her ears and listen to what you are saying? If someone is deaf and you don’t happen to know American Sign Language—and I don’t and maybe the person I’m trying to speak to doesn’t either—it’s difficult to communicate.

To introduce yourself you point. “I,” and then you mouth your name in a very exaggerated fashion: “Pastor Schamber.” That’s pretty difficult; shorten it to “Pastor,” so the person knows why I’m there, rather than using my actual name. Then you point to a Bible; hard to do when you carry your Bible on your phone, like I do.

“They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him” (Mark 7:32, EHV). I wonder what Mark was trying to tell us by mentioning the speech impediment. Had the man once been able to hear, and therefore had learned to speak before going deaf, or had he been deaf from birth? We simply don’t know. But somehow he was able to speak a little, even if he couldn’t hear.

Perhaps that was how the people who brought him to Jesus had become friends with the man. They didn’t have American Sign Language; or Jewish Sign Language, either, I would guess. Books were really rare back then, since they all had to be hand copied. Many people probably couldn’t read and write; and how would a person who was deaf learn to sound out words written on a page anyway?

Somehow they had managed to communicate with him. Some kind of signs were undoubtedly used. After they mouthed what they were trying to communicate, perhaps he repeated it back to them, with all the halting speech he could muster. Over and over they would correct him until the message was as clear as they could make it.

What commendable compassion the friends of the deaf man displayed! They had heard of Jesus and his ability to heal, even if they hadn’t been able to explain who he was or what he might be able to do to their friend. They brought him anyway and asked Jesus to give him some signs. They asked Jesus to place his hand on him, probably both for reassurance, and to use his healing touch.

II.

The signs Jesus chose were different than what had been suggested. “Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd” (Mark 7:33, EHV). This deaf man needed to understand something every one of us needs to know: he was important to Jesus; personally, individually. Taking him aside by himself showed the man that Jesus wasn’t intimidated about communicating to a deaf man he had just met.

More signs: “He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue” (Mark 7:33, EHV). Reaching his hands out right past the man’s face, Jesus stuck his fingers into his ears. The sign was that Jesus was going to do something about his hearing. Jesus’ hand reached out to the man’s mouth and touched his tongue. Something was going to be done about his stammering speech, too.

“After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means ‘Be opened!’)” (Mark 7:34, EHV). Looking up to heaven indicated that what was about to happen was not a natural occurrence. Only the power of God could do what Jesus was about to do. He sighed. I imagine an exaggerated sigh, so the man would understand the deep emotion of the moment.

“Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly.” (Mark 7:35, EHV).

“Immediately.” It wasn’t as if he had his ears plugged, but gradually they began to clear. He didn’t have to learn to understand language. His ability was instantaneous.

“He began to speak plainly.” No need to learn grammar and sentence structure. No baby talk with only the few rudimentary words he had been able to piece together from his friends’ exaggerated speech. He could communicate without restriction.

III.

“Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it” (Mark 7:36, EHV).

The crowd didn’t really understand about Jesus. They thought they did. They thought that what was important was what they could see and smell and taste and touch. They thought that what was so awesome about this man was that he could supply them with food and heal their diseases.

The more Jesus told them not to speak about him, “the more they kept proclaiming it.” Proclaiming is the same word as the word the Greek uses for “preach.” The crowds went around continuously preaching a sermon, but they were preaching the wrong sermon. They were back to preaching about stuff again.

Jesus didn’t want them focused on this world and its problems and concerns. He wanted people to know that he had come for something much more important than healing deafness or causing clear speech.

“They were amazed beyond measure and said, ‘He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!’” (Mark 7:37, EHV).

The crowds still focused on what their senses could tell them. Everything the crowds had seen, Jesus had done well. There were no half-measures. When Jesus taught, it was with authority—like they had never heard before. When Jesus gave a lame man the ability to walk, it was complete; he could jump up from his mat instantly and use all his atrophied muscles without a stint in a rehab facility first. When Jesus caused this deaf and mute man to hear and speak, he didn’t have to train his ears, or relearn his words, he could speak eloquently right away.

There was something more Jesus came to do well. The thing he really came to do well. That they didn’t understand. In today’s First Reading, Isaiah said: “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. 6The crippled will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:5-6, EHV).

Jesus’ miracles were not just random acts of kindness, they were signs. The signs were not intended merely to call crowds of followers to himself who wanted physical blessings to rain down on themselves or others. Those miracles were intended as signs to call attention to the fact that the prophecies of old were being fulfilled, not simply to think he had done everything well.

Isaiah was giving signs to look for. Miracles that would be the signs that the promised Messiah was there. God’s long-promised Messiah was among them; that’s what they needed to see; that’s what they needed to focus on. That’s what the signs showed.

He had, indeed, done everything well. He would continue to do everything well. He would keep his Heavenly Father’s will. He would continue to carry the misguided notions of who he was. He would pay for every sin for every person on the cross.

IV.

“Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd” (Mark 7:33, EHV).

Remember how tenderly Jesus treated a man who couldn’t understand what was going on? He let the man know that he was there for him, personally and individually.

Everyone needs to know that Jesus came for each person individually and personally. He cares about every single soul.

You need to know that, too. The signs are there for you in the Word of God. Read it. Study it. See the signs he gives you that let you know he cares. “Cast your burdens on him because he cares for you” the signs say. The signs are plentiful to announce that your sins are forgiven, no matter how awful they might be. Just like the thief on the cross, he gives you the sign that paradise is yours—already now. So many signs—right there, in the Bible.

“They brought a man to him...” (Mark 7:32, EHV). The deaf man’s friends had seen the signs—some of them, at least. They knew that Jesus could help. In compassion, they brought their friend to see him.

You have seen the signs. You know that Jesus means far more than unplugged ears and a mute tongue that sings for joy. Unplugged ears get to hear about the great things God has done for all people in Jesus. Real songs of joy are sung by the tongue that is connected to the ears that have heard the good news.

Having seen the signs and have heard the signs, it’s time for you to be compassionate to your friends. Help them shut off the saws and the dust collectors—the cacophony of all the distractions of the world. Help them pull off the spiritual ear muffs and take out the ear plugs. Then share the signs of the Savior’s love for the world. Help ears that have yet to hear clearly hear that his love is for them—individually—just as it is for you. Amen.