Sign Language

If you have a Bible with you, we are going to be finishing up Mark 7 tonight and I am excited to be in these verses but I also cannot wait to dive into Mark 8 with you all next week. How many of you know anything about sign language? I will readily admit that I know next to nothing about sign language but the concept that you could communicate with someone who is non verbal in a way like sign language has always fascinated me. To think that you could convey an entire message, an entire conversation, just with signs is pretty cool. Now if you were someone who was deaf or could not speak, why is sign language important for you? Isn’t that your sole way of being able to understand the other person and communicate to the other person? If you are someone who can’t speak but can only sign, don’t you think that it would be special for that person if someone that they did not expect to be able to communicate with communicates back with them? One of my favorite Christmas movies is the 1994 version of Miracle on 34th Street. Have you all seen that? It’s the movie where Santa comes to New York and gets a job at a department store as the mall Santa and he does a great job with it, people are literally coming to the store just to see Santa, but eventually there is a lawsuit against Santa over who he really is and by the end of the world, families are built stronger and Santa is allowed to be Santa. Well, one of my favorite parts in the entire movie, and really one of the most well known parts of the movie involves a girl who can only speak in sign language. This little girl wants to see Santa so she gets to him but her mom says, “Santa, she’s deaf, you don’t actually have to talk to her. She just wanted to see you.” Now Santa could have just smiled at her and let her go but that isn’t what happens. Instead Santa with a huge smile, picks the girl up, and starts signing to her. He tells her she’s beautiful, he asks for her name, they even sing Jingle Bells through sign language and it’s a beautiful moment. And it’s a moment where the beauty is amplified when you learn that Richard Attenborough, the actor who played Santa, really did learn sign language for this scene to surprise the little girl who really was deaf and the smile that the girl has in the scene is completely genuine because she didn’t expect it. Tonight we are going to see something similar in the Gospel of Mark. We are going to see Jesus communicate in a way that we haven’t seen before and we are going to see joy brought to a man who likely did not expect it. I want to look at 3 L’s tonight: the Language, the Lament, and the Lasting Influence. Let’s open up in prayer and then we will read Mark 7:31-37

Mark 7:31–37 NASB95

Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

The Language

So, let’s start by looking at the language or lack of language in this passage. In verse 31, Jesus leaves Tyre which is where He healed the Syrophoenician woman and He starts to return to Israel but He goes north through Sidon, and then goes east over the northern part of the Jordan River and then heads south into the region of Decapolis. Decapolis is not part of Israel but it is pretty much right next door so Jesus in a sense is still on His one and only missions trip to the Gentiles. While He is there we see in verse 32 that people, we aren’t exactly sure who, bring to Jesus a man who was deaf and spoke with difficulty and they beg Him to lay His hands on the man. Before we go further, I think it’s important for us to stop right there and look at what these people are doing and apply it to our own lives. We see here the same thing that we saw back in Mark 2 with the paralyzed man. He had no way to get to Jesus on his own but his friends brought him to Jesus because they knew that Jesus could do something in the life of this man. Here again we see people bringing a man that was totally helpless to heal himself to Jesus. They fought through the crowds to get this man to Jesus and once they got this deaf man to Jesus, they begged Jesus on his behalf. What a picture of Gospel ministry! What a glimpse at what we should be doing with those around us! We must get this person to Jesus because we know that Jesus is more than able to do something for this person. We should be desperate in our work for the Gospel! Do you have the drive to get the hurting people around you to Jesus? I pray that you do and I pray that I would have the same feeling of urgency to get men and women to Jesus. What does Jesus do with this man? You know from what we have read that He treats this man totally different than He did with other people that He has healed. Remember last week that He cast the demon out of the woman’s daughter with just a word, He healed Jairus’ daughter with just a word. Jesus does not need to use a magic spell or say magic words to heal. He possess all authority so all He needs to do is give the word and it happens. But with this deaf man, Jesus does something that seems really strange to us. He takes the man aside privately, and He puts His fingers into the ears of the deaf man and then after that Jesus spits and touches the man’s tongue and then looks up to heaven. Why do you think Jesus does this? It’s sign language isn’t it? What is Jesus communicating to this man? Why does He put His finger into his ear when Jesus could have just as easily said, “hear” and he would hear? Because He wants to communicate to this man what is happening. He cares so much about people that He always communicates in a way that we can understand who He is. As Jesus puts His fingers in and out of the man’s ears, He is saying to Him, “I am going to remove that which blocks your hearing.” As He spits and touches the man’s tongue He is saying, “I will remove the blockage in your mouth.” But what does Jesus mean in verse 34 as He looks up to Heaven. What does that tell the deaf man? It tells Him, “It is God that is going to do this for you. Not magic words, not magic rituals, this is the power of God at work in your life. and it is God’s grace that heals you.” What we see in verse 35 is that immediately this man is healed. Not only that, but we see that he begins to speak plainly. The Greek word for plainly actually means correctly and this is impressive because this man has not heard language, presumably in years if ever. Yet God’s healing is so complete that He is able to speak as clearly as if He had spoke his entire life. I’m not sure if you have ever noticed this but if you talk to a deaf person who is able to speak, they sound differently because they can’t hear how words are supposed to sound so they struggle but this man speaks with no issue whatsoever. We see in the healing of this man that Jesus heals and He heals to the uttermost. When Jesus heals, He always meets the great need in your life. Charles Spurgeon said, “I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need.” We see this happen in the life of this deaf man. What we also see in the healing of this deaf man, is really a picture of what Jesus does for each and every one of His followers. We are saved because Jesus has opened not just our ears but our hearts to receive the Gospel and it is after we have been saved by the Gospel that we are able to speak things that are for the glory of God. David Garland puts it like this: “First Jesus will open their ears so that they can hear what God is saying. Then He will loosen their tongues so that they can speak what God would have them say.” Jesus spoke to this man in a way that He could understand and this is a great reminder for us that the Gospel is so plain that even children can understand it. The issue of interpretation and communication is never on God’s part. The only reason people fail to understand what Jesus says to them in regards to salvation is because of their own ignorance and disobedience.

The Lament

We looked at the language but what about the lament? What is lamenting? Where in these verses might we see lamenting? Well smack dab in the middle of verse 34 we read this: Mark 7:34 “and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”” Do you see that phrase right in the middle? Jesus looks up to Heaven and there is a deep sigh. The Greek word for sigh means that Jesus groaned and it was a deep internal groan. Groans are typically associated with pain right? Like if you jam your toe on the side of the pew, chances are you’re gonna groan in pain. But why does Jesus groan? Why doesn’t Jesus at this point smile at the man and say, “get excited, something awesome is about to happen! Your whole life is gonna change!” Why does Jesus groan? Why this lament? Why this sign of pain? Let me ask this, do you think that in the original language that Scripture was written that God put anything in there that was purely by coincidence? No. If the Word of God is inspired by God, then everything that God has included in their must be intentional! The word that Mark uses for “deaf and spoke with difficulty” is only ever seen in Scripture one other time and that is in Isaiah 35. What we are going to see is that for Jesus to heal this man, it is going to cost Him something. Jesus knows the road that is ahead of Him. Every miracle that Jesus does gets Him closer to the cross. Really, next week in Mark 8 we start to turn the corner to go towards the cross. So, what is it that we read in Isaiah 35:4–6 “Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.” Isaiah is saying in these verses, “God Himself will come! The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap up, and the mute will shout for joy! Those days are coming!” And then in the life of Jesus, those days have arrived. In Jesus life, we see all of those things happen. Blind see, deaf hear, mute talk, and the lame walk. Now why would Jesus groan in pain knowing that this is so? Because how does God come in Isaiah 35, “Your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come.” God is coming to make amends. Why does Jesus sigh? Because at His first coming, which Isaiah is pointing to, God will make vengeance not against the people but against Jesus. God’s holy retribution and recompense will ultimately fall onto Jesus. Tim Keller said, “Jesus isn’t smiting people. He’s not taking out His sword. He’s not taking power; He’s giving it away. He’s not taking over the world; He’s serving it. Where’s the divine retribution? And the answer is, He didn’t come to bring divine retribution; He came to bear it. On the cross, Jesus would identify with us totally. On the cross, the Child of God was thrown away, cast away from the table without a crumb, so that those of us who are not children of God could be adopted and brought in.” Jesus sighs because He knows that for this man to hear and for this man to speak, it will cost Him His very life. It’s never just as simple as heal and it costs nothing. Jesus lived so that He might die. Now let’s talk about the lasting influence.

The Lasting Influence

I want our eyes to look squarely at Jesus. We could talk all about the man that was healed and the crowds that proclaimed everything that Jesus did but I want us to look one more time at verse 37. Mark 7:37 says, “They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”” Take a look at your Savior. Reflect on who He is. Does He leave you in utter astonishment? Jesus never leaves us without an impression. When we see Him for all that He is, we will never be able to get enough of Him! Do you want more of Jesus? Do you want to see Him in all His glory? The day will come when the blindness of earth will make way for the complete and perfect sight of an eternity of glory! John Owen said, “But what of the sight of the glory of Christ that we shall have in heaven compared to the sight we have here on earth? It will be clear and stable. Nothing will interrupt or be able to draw our eyes away from it, for we shall have been delivered from sin and from everything that now hinders our view of Christ…Our minds and eyes will never get tired…In heaven we shall be continually admiring and praising God in Christ, never needing any rest or even being interrupted.” Be utterly astonished of Jesus now with the full expectation that when our faith becomes sight that He won’t just meet our expectations, He will totally exceed our expectations in every way! And we will get to see and partake in that glory for all eternity! If I could but catch a glimpse of Christ’s glory now, would that not inspire you until you reach eternity? We should pray that we would be able to touch the hem of His garment on earth so that we may fully feel the embrace of His arms forever in Heaven. We pray for that now knowing that we shall surely have it! The crowd makes note in verse 37 that Jesus has done all things well. That’s certainly an understatement. Jesus doesn’t just do things well, He does them perfectly! Just as God the Father did everything well at the work of creation, the Son does everything well in the work of our redemption. James Edwards said, “The Son’s work in redemption is like the Father’s work in creation: it is done well and leaves nothing to be desired.” That deaf man did not leave Jesus saying, “I wish He would have done this for me instead.” No, every need was met. Jesus offers that to all of us today. May we all have the desire and the knowledge to not only get ourselves to Jesus but to bring anyone and everyone to Him so that the great needs of our lives would be totally addressed. As we close, I want you to reflect on this question: If Jesus has done all things well, what should your life look like? If Jesus has done all things well and we are to look like our Savior, what is it that we must do now? Whom the Son has set free is free indeed and He is free to do the work of his Heavenly Father. The only thing that Jesus does not have for His people is nothing. Jesus has something for you to do, someone for you to bring to Him, who is it gonna be? And what is it that you are going to do? Let’s pray and then we will respond.