Trinity 12
Beloved. Today’s Gospel has at its beginning and ending examples of mission work, of witnessing. At the beginning we read: They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him; and at the end we read: Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. This example of witnessing that comes at the end of the Gospel is very interesting. Jesus had given the people strict orders to tell no one but they did the opposite! Scripture doesn’t tell us why Jesus said they were not to tell. Certainly Jesus was not using “reverse psychology” because that would make Him disingenuous. But Jesus certainly had His reason for [giving] the people strict orders to tell no one. Although what the people did was disobedient, they can hardly be blamed—after all they had just seen a man healed of his deafness and difficulty speaking! They were amazed beyond measure. There are certainly many Christians today who wish that Jesus had told His Church not: Go into all the world and make disciples by baptizing and teaching; but who wish Jesus gave the [Church] strict orders to tell no one. In that case they could finally be happily obedient. Certainly many act as if Jesus gave the [Church] strict orders to tell no one. Let that not be us; may we willingly and joyfully speak of our Lord to others.
But what’s interesting is first the example of witnessing: They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. What’s interesting is that these people had true faith. They knew rightly who Jesus was and that He could heal their friend—and they had true love of their friend and wanted him healed. But what makes this interesting is that Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon [which was outside the land of Israel; it was Gentile land] to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis [the Decapolis was an area of ten cities that was once part of the former northern kingdom of Israel but at this time was populated by many Gentiles]. That raises the question—how did these predominately non-Jews come to hear and know about Jesus? Perhaps the answer is found a few chapters earlier where we read that Jesus was in this same area where He met a man possessed with many demons. Jesus ends up casting the demons out of the man and sending them into a herd of swine. And when Jesus was about to leave, the man who had been demon possessed begged Jesus that he might join Him. Instead, Jesus told him [Mk. 5.19]: Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you. It is quite likely, then, that the friends of this deaf man heard about Jesus either directly or indirectly from this formerly demon possessed man. Here is a wonderful example of the blessed fruit of mission work continuing through generations.
It was because of what the people had heard about Jesus and what He had done that led them to bring their deaf friend to Jesus for healing. Notice the rather innocent and seeming inconsequential words: Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. Jesus went in and out of areas? So what? That’s important because it points us to the great truth that Jesus—the true God—was in the midst of the people; it points out that God became man; it points out that Jesus, the true God, came into this world. Yes, that’s a theme that we normally find at Christmas, but it’s a theme that we need to remind ourselves of continually: God became true man; God took on human flesh and blood. Why is it vital for us to keep this always in mind? –Because as we confess in the creed, it was for us men and for our salvation. And the very fact that Jesus took on human flesh and blood and redeemed it means our flesh and blood/ our bodies are important and redeemed by Jesus. He saved us soul and body. And this points us forward to the resurrection of the body on the Last Day, that our bodies—redeemed by Jesus will be raised glorious and perfect and free from the effects of sin and we will be soul and body eternally in heaven with Him.
We get a hint of that as we ponder our text. They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. Jesus 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. The glorious truth is this: Jesus the true God became true man—He was touched and He could touch others. Jesus wasn’t a mere ghost. He took on human flesh and blood from the Virgin Mary. And what a wonderful truth we see here—God’s compassion on us sinners. God could have just let us alone. He could have just let us wallow in our sins. He could have just let us in the power and grips of the sin, devil and death. There was no way for us, left to ourselves, to get back to God, to righteousness, to salvation. St. Paul writes of our Lord [1 Ti 6.16]: dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. But what does He do? He comes into this world; He clothes Himself in humanity. He clothes Himself in humanity—He becomes true man—precisely so He can touch and heal: They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. Jesus 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. He clothes Himself in humanity—becomes true man—and by that becomes accessible to us. He is not just some almighty, holy God up in the sky somewhere all-powerful and with nothing to do with us; instead, He Himself came to this earth in mercy and compassion. He is not inaccessible but wants to be touched, wants those who are in need/ who feel their need to come to Him. It is precisely when we come to Him, touch Him, are touched by Him that we recognize Him for who He really is—the true God and our Savior! “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
After he looked up to heaven, he sighed or groaned. Why did Jesus groan? We again see His compassion. Jesus, the true God who became true man, was not aloof from all the sufferings. He saw the sufferings of people. He saw how the devil devastated the creation God called “very good.” Jesus was in the very midst of the sufferings. And here we see His reaction as He sees up close and personal the suffering of a person. Don’t think that Jesus just did that this one time. How often He must have groaned during His earthly ministry! How often He must still groan as He sees your pains and hurts, as you bring Him your needs, wants and sorrows; as others bring your needs and sufferings to the Lord in their prayers for you. That same mercy and compassion He expressed by His groan in our text, is the same mercy and compassion He has on each of us. Don’t ever think that you are somehow unworthy of our Lord’s compassion. This man here was probably a non-Jew, someone from outside the covenant people. Don’t ever think that your faith has to be at some level/ strength or else Jesus won’t hear you, have compassion on you. Remember this man—not only was he probably a Gentile, but he also probably didn’t even know who Jesus was—after all he was deaf and couldn’t hear the good news about Jesus. It was his friends, who in faith brought him to Jesus. The point? You are our Lord’s dear Christian. He called and claimed you in the waters of holy Baptism. Certainly He has compassion on you. Certainly He groans over your trials and sufferings and certainly He will help you in the way that He knows is best for you.
Again, remember Jesus, the true God, took on human flesh and blood. That means that our physical bodies are important. They too are God’s creation and His gift to us. It’s not as if only the soul matters and the body inconsequential. But both belong together, both are created by the Lord and both in this life are under attack of the devil. After he looked up to heaven, he sighed. Jesus groaned because this man’s body suffered under Satan. And Satan afflicted him not only physically but also spiritually. Because the devil plagued this man with deafness, he could not hear the good news about Jesus, the Holy Spirit could not come to him through the word to create faith. We are a whole—soul and body. Both are under attack by the devil. But it was precisely by Jesus, the true God, taking on human flesh and blood/ becoming true man that rescued and saved us from the devil. Certainly here Jesus groans because He sees what devastation the devil has wreaked with this poor man and He groans because He knows what it will cost Him to save all humanity from sin, death, devil and hell—His suffering and death on the cross, paying the price under God’s wrath for the sins of the world. But here, by healing this deaf man with the speech impediment, Jesus gives a glimpse of His victory over the devil and sin; He gives a glimpse of the perfection that will be ours in the resurrection where we will finally be free from the defects of sin.
Jesus 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. After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. By this miracle—undoing the havoc Satan wrought—Jesus showed who He really is: the very God Himself—the very God Himself who came to this earth, clothed Himself in human flesh, becoming one of us, to be our Savior and to defeat/ destroy/ undo the works of the devil. This was a divine work. His humanity concealed His majesty but with the miracle, Jesus’ divine majesty shone forth so beautifully. His divine majesty shone forth so brilliantly as He cured/ undid the results of the devil’s destruction. They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
Jesus’ almighty power is so brilliantly seen in this miracle. But notice how He wants to work: Jesus 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. After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). Notice with His fingers Jesus touched the man’s ears, touched the man’s tongue with His saliva moistened fingers, and He spoke. Here Jesus did not just wave at a distance or speak at a distance and heal the man. Instead, He personally touched him. In other words, Jesus healed using physical means—namely His physical touch.
Again, we see that the physical is something good, something the Lord uses not only here but also in other miracles. What’s the point? Our Lord Jesus continues to work through physical means to grant healing and help. When it concerns our bodies, for example, the Lord provides us with food and grants that the food nourish and give sustenance to our bodies; when the Lord today wills to grant us healing, He grants wisdom to the doctors, guides the surgeon’s hands, has the medicine do what it is supposed to do, has the immune system target and destroy the virus, etc.
In a similar and grander way, Jesus works through the physical water of Holy Baptism, to which His word and promise are added to give new life/ spiritual life/ faith and bring us into His kingdom, the Church. In the Blessed Sacrament Jesus comes to us with much more than a saliva moistened finger. He comes to us with His physical/ very body and blood with the physical bread and wine giving us spiritual gifts of the forgiveness of sin and strengthening of our faith.
In this miracle Jesus shows He came to rescue and restore us to be what God intended us to be at the creation—and He did so as He Himself became man and entered this creation. As we recognize Him as true man, let us also recognize Him as the true God and our Savior. Jesus’ majesty is concealed in His humanity. INJ