Message

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JESUS HEALS A DEAF AND MUTE MAN

Mark 7:31-37

Key Verse: 7:34. “He looked up to heaven with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”)

  We thank God who has blessed and guided our Mark’s Gospel study thus far. We learned that Jesus in the Mark’s Gospel was the compassionate God and Wonderful Savior for suffering and helpless people. He was also a good shepherd who called the Twelve and was with them wherever he went and helped them to have faith in him through various events. In the previous passage, Jesus taught his disciples through a Syrophoenician woman, who begged Jesus for healing her sick daughter, that Jesus showed God’s mercy to anyone who comes to him with prayer, whether they were Jews or gentiles. The woman thought that she did not serve to receive Jesus’ mercy and that she asked only crumb’s amount of his mercy. But Jesus poured overflowing grace and mercy on her that her sick daughter was completely healed. Indeed Jesus is a compassionate shepherd and Wonderful Savior. He is the one who blesses abundantly on those who come to him with humble prayer.

  In today’s passage, Jesus heals a deaf and mute man. By healing a deaf and mute man, Jesus showed the Messiah’s mercy again to this man. In one way or the other there are many spiritually deaf and mute people. Let us pray that God may open our spiritual ears and mouths to understand his message while we study this passage. Amen.

1. The change of the Decapolis people (31-32)

Look at verses 31,32. “Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 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.” After finishing a good mission trip around west coastal cities, Jesus and his company arrived at the region of the Decapolis again via the Sea of Galilee.  The region of the Decapolis is remembered as the town where Jesus had healed a demon possessed man. Originally Jesus took his disciples there for spring break. But, their vacation plan was totally devastated by a man who was possessed by 6,000 demons. This man was totally beside himself due to demon possession. He yelled at the top of his voice and cut his bodies with a sharp stone until his body became bloody. People chained him and put him into prison, but he tore an iron chain like a rubber band and ran away toward the tomb, where he stayed. When he saw Jesus, he begged Jesus to help him. At the same time he rejected Jesus.  He was totally beside himself. Jesus had compassion on him and drove out the demons out of him by sacrificing 2,000 demons. After all the demons had gone out of him, he came back to his senses. He became a normal person. Above all, he loved Jesus and wanted to follow Jesus, who saved him from demon possession. But, Jesus blessed him and sent him back to his town to be a witness of the work of God in his life. God made him a Bible teacher and a village evangelist in the area of Decapolis.

When Jesus disciples landed the region of Decapolis, the memory of the demon possessed man popped up in their minds. They became nervous and their spirit became awakened for any possible appearance of the second demon-possessed man. They also remembered the townspeople who had rejected Jesus and begged him to leave the city. The disciples knew that they would not be welcome by the townspeople, probably would be stoned by them since they had deported them before. Indeed, they did not understand why Jesus had come back to the unfavorable region despite the unpleasant past.

But, when they went into the region of the Decapolis, what happened? The townspeople did not bring stones, but a deaf and mute man. They came to Jesus and begged him to heal the man. What a surprise! What a change! They were the same people from the same places, but they were changed. They became different from the previous event. They were humble and compassionate. In the past, they rejected Jesus because Jesus sacrificed 2,000 pigs to rescue a demon-possessed man. They valued money more than a man. They deported Jesus and his company for the sake of their pig business. But now, they were changed. They welcomed Jesus and brought a deaf and mute man to Jesus for healing. They valued a deaf and mute, who is seemingly useless man, more than themselves. Wow! How did they become changed?

We can not forget the influence of the demon-possessed man. We value the role of this one changed person and his influence on his townspeople. Definitely, this spiritually new born person obeyed Jesus’ word and testified the work of God in his life. He came back to his family and persuaded them to believe in Jesus and accept him as the Savior of the world.  Then, he visited the owner of the lost 2,000 pigs and apologized him and promised to pay back all the loss due to his healing. He also met all townspeople one by one and asked to pardon his wrongdoings and delivered the message of good news of Jesus. The change of this one demon possessed man became top news among the cities of Decapolis. The townspeople felt sorry for losing 2,000 pigs, but thanked for Jesus who had solved the most troublesome problem in the town by healing this man. Little by little they began to open their hearts to the man and toward Jesus. They also began to have hope and faith in Jesus that Jesus would heal any kind of sick person. They remembered the deaf and mute man and brought him to Jesus right away when they heard the news of Jesus’ revisit their town. 

I can not do too much even though I emphasize the importance of role and influence of one changed person. Before being converted, the Apostle Paul was a persecutor against the church of Christ Jesus. He arrested all the believers and put them into prison, expecting to eliminate all the followers of Jesus from this earth. He was murderous and spiritually blinded. But, on the way to Damascus, he met the Risen Jesus. Jesus forgave all his sins and called him as his witness. Paul’s spiritual eyes were opened by Jesus’ forgiving love to see Jesus. Since his personal encounter with Jesus, Paul began to preach the good news of Jesus to the people of the world. The book of Acts describes well how Paul preached the good news of Jesus and how the history of the world was changed by Paul’s teaching and his mission journey around the world. Because of this one person’s change world history was changed. Therefore we should not despair or give up. We must continue to work for preaching and teaching until one person was totally changed into as a gospel worker like the former-demon possessed man and the Apostle Paul.

Once, England was called as Great Kingdom. God raised many great missionaries and pastors from among English people such as William Carrey, David Livingstone, John and Charles Wesley, Hudson Taylor, George Muller, The Cambridge Seven, and so on. But due to the influence of Industrial Revolution and secular humanism, England lost their spiritual blessing and heritage. They were happy for watching soccer games and listening to the Beatles music. There are not many people who say England a great kingdom these days. They just call her a United Kingdom.  But, we saw hope of God in this United Kingdom through one person’s change, Shepherd Ian Kaier in London UBF UK. In the past, shepherd Ian was a restless wanderer without any life direction. But sine he came to believe in Jesus through missionary Moses Yoon, he was changed. He saw heaven through Jesus and had hope in God. His changed life influenced his friend Paul Ridge, a law student, who lived a wayward life. Through diligent Bible study, Paul was also changed. Ian and Paul prayed hard and brought Darren, James, Stuart and Louise to Jesus. Now London UBF chapter is filled with many changed and noble English ladies and gentlemen. They think they don’t need Korean missionaries any more because they grew spiritually enough to take care of their own people with the love of Christ. Praise Jesus!  One person is equivalent to the whole world. One lost soul is more valuable and precious than all the accumulated treasures of the world. Jesus’ labor of love and his prayer for one demon possessed man produced a tremendous result not only to the man’s personal life but also the life of townspeople. Therefore, again we accept one soul as we cherish the whole world and serve them until he or she be changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. May God raise one changed person from each campus in this city of St. Louis. Amen.

2. Jesus said, “Be opened.” (33-37)

How did Jesus heal this deaf and mute man? Look at verses 33-35. “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. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.” The way of Jesus healing the deaf and mute man was unique and somewhat looked unsanitary. Jesus might have used his saliva and his fingers to heal the man as he did to the born blind man in John’s Gospel (Jn 9:6) Someone may ask why Jesus didn’t just say a word to heal him, “Be healed!” Sorry to say that this man couldn’t hear the word of Jesus since he was deaf. Anyway, Jesus took him aside to a solitary place and began to operate a medical surgery for this deaf and mute man.

First of all Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears, probably to clean all the dirty wax from his ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. The man might have tasted a little bit salty and greasy. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” in Aramaic (which means, “Be opened!”)  At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. The man might have said, “I can hear now. I can hear and I can even talk. Thank you Jesus! Thank you for opening my ears and mouth!” The townsmen who had brought him to Jesus were all amazed at this. Now they became speechless by the power of Jesus and his love for the suffering people.

Look at verses 36-37. “Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said, “He even makes the deaf and the mute speak.” Jesus knew that the time had not yet come for his death on the cross. He did not want God’s time schedule to be hindered by the popularity of his name. So he asked the townspeople to keep quiet, but it did not work. The more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. Jesus not only healed the deaf and mute man, but also opened the townspeople’s spiritual eyes to see Jesus as the Messiah of the world. They began to spread the good news about Jesus all the more to the people around them. Not only God opened the ears and mouth of the man, but also opened the gate of his blessing on the Gentile area, the place once pig business had been prevailing.

This hour I pray that God may open the ears and mouths of those who spiritually became deaf and mute to hear the word of Jesus and to talk about Jesus.

There are many spiritually deaf and mute people among those who have two ears and a mouth but do not hear the word of Jesus and do not preach the word. One day Jesus taught the crowd about the secret of the kingdom of heaven through the parable of sower. But, there was no one who understood the word of Jesus, even among his disciples. So Jesus said, “they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding…” (Isa 6:9,10; Mk 4:12) Sometime later Jesus taught about his coming death on the cross and resurrection to his disciples. (Mk 8:31) Jesus spoke plainly about this so that they might understand the meaning of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross and the power of resurrection and believe in Jesus. But, Peter was spiritually deaf and mute. He did not understand what Jesus said. Then, he took Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus.

  After hearing Jesus’ great commission for world mission, William Carrey sensed the urgency of world mission that he urged English Anglican church to send missionaries to India. But the people objected William saying, “World mission should be done by God himself, but by us. You are too presumptuous.” They were spiritually blind as well as deaf and mute. Even though we have two ears and a mouth, if we don’t obey Jesus’ command, we are deaf and mute people. Even though we hear and speak, if we don’t share the gospel, we are spiritually deaf and mute people. In hearing the word and sharing the gospel, many of us have language barriers and cultural differences.  Someone said he had generation gap from young people. But, yesterday one missionary said that we can speak in new tongues when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. (Ac 1:8, 2:4) When we obey Jesus’ world mission command and receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus will open our ears and mouths to hear and talk. Acts 2:4 says, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

  Now it is time for us to hear Jesus’ word, “Ephphatha!” which means “Be opened.” May our ears and mouths be opened! As Jesus opened the deaf and mute man, so he may open our ears and mouths to hear and to talk. As the Holy Spirit opened the ears and mouths of those who earnestly prayed in Mark’s upper room for world mission, so also he may open our ears to understand English and speak in English fluently, more fluently than our children. As God opened the gate of heaven and blessed the townspeople in the cities of Decapolis, so also he may open the gate of heaven and pour out his blessing on the people of this country. As God opened the Red Sea before the eyes of the Israelites, he may also open the hearts of young people in Wash U. and in other campuses in St. Louis. May God heal many spiritually deaf and mute young men by the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

  Today, let us be attentive to the word of Jesus, “Ephphatha, be opened!” May God open my eyes, my ears and my mouth to hear Jesus’ word and tell the good news of Jesus to people around me. Amen.

 

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