A Speaking Problem: Don't Talk About Him

Title: A Speaking Problem: Don’t Talk About The Mute

Mark 7:31 “And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.”

Mark 7:32 “And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him.”

Mark 7:33 “And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue;”

Mark 7:34 “and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

Mark 7:35 “And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.”

Mark 7:36 “And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.”

Mark 7:37 “And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Another difficult story - only takes place in Mark

Ironically, it takes a man who can hardly speak to teach us this simple truth:

Thesis: If your life is changed by Christ, you can not stop talking about Him.

Intro:

Deafness, when it is congenital, or if it occurs early in a person’s life - around ages 2-3 - a person will be left with a severe speech impediment.

There were no hearing aids back then, no hand motions a person could use to express themselves, remember.

In Israel in this time, a deaf person would often be categorized as insane, because the rabbis would say that they have no idea of knowing what they understood.

That’s not uncommon in that era around the world, some Native American tribes would view deaf people as monsters and have them executed. So did other cultures.

Deafness in this era was a horrible existence. More-so than even being blind, because if you’re blind you could still hear, talk, react to the world around you - but not if you’re deaf and can hear or know what’s going on.

If Christ is Lord of our lives, we will tell everyone we can about Him. We will tell how we have appealed to Christ, how we were affected by Christ, and how we anticipate Christ.

Appeal to Christ

Mark 7:31 “And again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.”

Many commentators love to point out how Jesus is moving now, being very careful to stay away from the territory ruled by Herod Antipas, and staying in the regions ruled by the Roman tetrarch (or governor) Philip.

Philip wouldn’t have been as easily upset as Herod by Jesus or His growing popularity.

Some speculate that this journey Jesus makes took as long as eight months, and that there are many things that Jesus did that are unrecorded - this is possible, after all, John’s Gospel ends by telling us

John 21:25 “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

Regardless, Jesus is travelling deep into Gentile country, yet He finds Himself somewhere that is somewhat familiar.

He has been near the Decapolis - or Ten Cities - already. Back in chapter 5, when He had a run-in with the Gerasene Demoniac. If you recall that story, Jesus had cast a legion of demons out of the man, into a herd of pigs.

The people of the region didn’t want Jesus to stick around, so he had to leave by ship, and the - now formerly possessed - man begged Jesus to allow him to go with Him.

But Mark 5:19 “...He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

“And he went away and began to preach in the Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was marveling.” (Mark 5:20)

As we are travelling through the Gospel Narrative of Mark, we find ourselves back in this same region, and the man who had once been dominated by a Legion of Demons, has apparently become an effective evangelist.

The people have heard about Jesus of Nazareth. They know He works miracles.

It’s possible, the woman we saw in our text last wee, the Syrophoenician mother, had even heard the story of Jesus, the Demoniac, and the pigs, and that’s why she knew she was not misplacing her faith in this Man, some said could be the Jewish Messiah.

But now, as we see, Jesus has been travelling through Sidon, to the Sea of Galilee once again in the region of the Ten Cities of the Decapolis.

I don’t think Jesus was just walking through these areas, commenting on the weather or current events. He was likely teaching His disciples, but also anyone else who would listen to Him.

Likely, He performed other miracles, and John - as he penned his Gospel account - may have had this period of time in mind as he wrote those words concerning the unrecorded things Jesus did.

Some other commentators will remark that Jesus did not have to go as far North as He appears to go in our text, and they conclude that Mark just doesn’t know his geography, which is unlikely.

In fact, what I think we’re getting here is an interesting piece of backstory as to the writer of this Gospel.

Mark - it’s possible - was actually from this region, and this is where he begins to follow along as a distant disciple.

In fact, we understand Mark to be mentioned in his Gospel, as he will later, in a sort of “Hollywood Director makes a cameo in his own movie” sort of way, Mark includes an embarrassing story about himself (though goes unnamed). (Mark 14:51-52)

So it’s not that Mark does not know his geography, it’s that Jesus was in his home region and this is a very subtle way Mark is telling his readers, “And this is where I joined up.”

Of all the Gospel accounts, Mark will be the one who notes the most miracles Jesus performed amongst the Gentiles.

And they just happen to be in this region

Mark was a young man, at this time, and by the book of Acts was still immature - both as a man and as a believer. In fact, if you recall, he will be the reason Paul and Barnabas cease doing ministry together.

Barnabas wants to take Mark on their missionary journey, and Paul says, “No way, he doesn’t like to do the work and he deserted them at one point.” (Acts 15:38)

They get into such a heated discussion, they split up, and Barnabas takes Mark to Cyprus with him, and Paul takes Silas with him. Barnabas goes to Cyprus, Paul to Syria and Cilicia.

I would note, it is in Cyprus, church tradition tells us, Barnabas was put to death for the faith. This, appears to be a turning point for Mark as well.

As Paul will write, in his last epistle, telling Timothy to come see him before he dies and 2 Timothy 4:11 “Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.”

Mark may have even been one of the crowd who brings this deaf man to Jesus. We know there was more than one person bringing him because the text says:

Mark 7:32 “And they brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they pleaded with Him to lay His hand on him.”

This crowd, whether or not Mark was a part of, they come to Jesus and they plead with Him.

It’s the Greek word parakalousin (παρακαλουσιν) - some of you may be familiar with the word parakaleo, or paracklete, which can be comfort, or urge.

But here, it means they begged him, they were pleading and appealing to Jesus.

Last week, we saw a woman come and plead with Jesus to remove a demon from her daughter, and now we see a group of people, pleading on behalf of this man who was deaf, and who spoke with difficulty.

James Moffatt, a Scottish theologian from the early 20th Century translated this as “a deaf man who stammered”.

This man had a limited way of communicating anything, and likely did not fully understand what was going on, and now he’s sitting in front of a Jewish man he doesn’t know, and all eyes are on the both of them.

He must have felt very self-conscious, very aware of his limited abilities. Curious, afraid, and very lonely.

Again, Mark is the only one who mentions this story, and we’re not completely told why. In Matthew’s account, he only dedicates a couple of verses to this entire portion of Jesus’ ministry.

Matthew writes, “And departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there.”

“And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.”

“So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:29-31)

Mark zeroes in on this story, specifically, and before it’s all over we’ll hopefully see why - if Mark was a part of this crowd that is only a small part of it.

Remember, Mark wants to make sure that the readers understand Jesus is not exclusively for the Jewish believer, but for them as well.

The hope, the salvation, the healings, all of Jesus is available to all who believe.

As Paul writes, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him, for “WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.””(Romans 10:12-13)

It was the belief of the early church that God, our Savior, desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

All men. And women, lest we forget last week.

Men, women, Jew, Gentile, deaf, blind, sick, healthy, fat, skinny, bald, hairy - ALL MEN.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 LSB)

So these Gentiles, who have heard about Jesus, and what He can do, they bring this deaf Gentile to Him, and they don’t ask if He can just touch His robe, they don’t say something as profound as “if you just say the words”.

They ask Him specifically to lay His hands upon this man.

This deaf man. He’s not mute, he can speak, he just does with great difficulty.

This man’s life had likely been incredibly miserable, yet there was something about him that motivated the people around him to bring him to Jesus.

And they appeal to Him, asking that He touch the man. It’s true that this is what Jesus did, often healing with a touch, but there’s a special meaning here.

This crowd asks specifically that He would touch this man. Touching a man like this, it would not just be a point of physical contact, but an act of tenderness and love.

So when they bring this man to Jesus, they’re not just asking Jesus to physically heal him, but to show him love.

In the same way, we appeal to Jesus. Lord, maybe you won’t fix all my situation, but can I feel your touch?

When we think of an unsaved loved one who we tell all the time, every chance we get, we tell them about Jesus, what do we pray? “Lord, touch them.”

And when He does, we can’t stop talking about it. Our appeal is heard, and the touch is felt. And we are affected by Christ.

Affected by Christ

Mark 7:33 “And Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue;”

Mark 7:34 “and looking up to heaven with a sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”

Christ’s Look

Christ’s Touch

Christ’s Sigh

Mark 7:35 “And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.”

Anticipating Christ

Mark 7:36 “And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.”

Mark 7:37 “And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Conclusion: