Ears and Tongue

Mark 7 : 31 - 37

Now this is interestingly the only account in the gospels about the healing of a deaf man. It is recorded only in the gospel of Mark. So in theological scholarship, this is a Markan special material. Usually this kind of special material, whether in Mark, John, Luke or Matthew, because it has no counterpart or parallel, can teach us the special theological profile of the gospel. Now we read that the context is still the infamous Tyre and Sidon discussed last week. We can say it is the epitome of a gentile region. It’s very far, not only geographically but also spiritually. The fact that Jesus reached out to them shows us God’s broadheartedness in the life of Jesus.

And then we read verse 32, where they brought him a man who was deaf. Suddenly there was a problem. I want to quote a beautiful sentence from a commentary. I think it moves me and I hope it moves you also. It says, ‘But in removing him (the deaf man) from the crowd, Jesus signifies that he is not simply a problem but a unique individual.’. So Jesus considered him not only as a problem but also as a unique individual. I think we might also reflect on this point: how many times in our lives do we consider other people, especially difficult ones, to be more of a problem than a unique individual? Perhaps even the church also takes that attitude. That is why there is a calling to be more mature and to be more like Jesus Christ. One of the signs is that we do not simply look at problematic people only as a problem but as a chance to serve them.

You can find the prophecy of this story in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 35:5-6 says, ‘Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.’. I want to emphasize the tongue here. The tongue of the mute will sing for joy. This is apparently the substance of not being mute, namely that you and I should be able to give an expression of joy. In society, we usually like to lecture and teach other people. We think we exist more somehow by lecturing other people but that is not what the book of Isaiah says about not being mute. If we are not mute, then we should sing for joy. That is the substance of not being mute. Now you know that a mute person could be deaf because they have difficulty in hearing, so being deaf and mute usually come together. If you cannot sing, you cannot talk, perhaps it is because you do not listen carefully. If we are unable to sing for joy perhaps in our lives we do not listen to the great works of God and the word of God. Perhaps 90-95% of what we listen to consists of bad news in this world. If I keep hearing bad news one after another, how can I sing for joy? There is no good news nor word of God in our lives. That is why it is really insufficient to listen to God’s word only during Sunday service. If you look at your social media, do you engage only once a week? Are you fed bad news only once a week and that’s it? I don’t think so. Perhaps everyday or even perhaps every two hours. Probably even during our sleep we have a nightmare because of this bad news. Rather surrealistic, but it is still bad.

Let me read again Isaiah 35, ‘Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.’. What is a desert and a wilderness? Nothing else than a life without joy. Sometimes we think a wilderness or a desert is about the geographical location. If you are in some area of Berlin you prefer, it is not a wilderness, but if you are in a remote Brandenburg area then it is like a wilderness that does not have many lights. We get so attached to this kind of geographical idol. Again, true joy does not depend on geographical location but on God. We have the opportunity to listen to the good news from God. That is the source of joy. Jesus healed the deaf man because the man could not hear the good news from God. He was deaf and he had a speech impediment because he was deaf.

Now we read that Jesus took him aside from the crowd privately. This was also an important movement. Again I want to emphasize that he was indeed a unique individual. He was not just a random person that belonged to a certain crowd. That is not how Jesus looks at our lives. Jesus put his fingers into his ears, so there was a physical touch. In touching, I think we might learn here from Jesus the radical identification with the needy. These were unclean people from the Gentile region, and still Jesus touched him. One German theologian named Schlatter wrote that through this physical contact with the unclean people, we see the expression of Jesus’ compassion. Helping miserable people from above them is one thing. But if you touch them, whether it’s literally touching or in the metaphorical sense of the word, it means you are embracing that person. This is another level. We might have the ability to serve so-called unclean people with the spirit ‘from above’, such that we do not want to touch them. You go to the hospital and keep looking at your watch, wondering when you could go home. I believe many of you were in the retirement home yesterday. I myself was truly touched with the possibility to celebrate the holy communion with them. Actually I wanted to ask whether they have the opportunity to participate in the holy communion if we do not regularly serve them. For some of them, their last holy communion was perhaps more than one year ago. Holy communion is very important in christian life and when we are denied this possibility, it is really sad.

Jesus not only went to the gentile region but also touched these unclean people. Let me read again from verse 33, ‘And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ear and after spitting touched his tongue.’. Now in that time, the spit of a certain person can be considered to have a certain healing power. Jesus accommodated this kind of belief. Such a spit must be from a certain great person, not just anyone. Jesus certainly was one of such great people. Of course it was not only the spit but also the conversation that accompanied it. Jesus Himself was the Word. It was about speaking, and there is a beautiful literary concept here. A mute person was healed with the spit and also through a conversation. Now we might have difficulty with this ancient concept because we live in the modern era. How should we make sense of this kind of story? This also has a relation with the work of creation. God creates the world with His Word. That is why when Jesus looked up to heaven, He sighed and lamented. We read in the book of Isaiah that when one is not mute then he should sing for joy. Jesus was of course not mute but He sighed. This is not the original creation. In the original creation no one is mute. This was not the original intention during the creation. Everybody should be able to sing for joy, but that was not the case then. People are so burdened and heavy-laden with bad news that they cannot sing for joy. Jesus sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened’. And then his ears were opened. His tongue was released and he spoke plainly after hearing. I cannot overstress the importance of right hearing if you want to be able to sing for joy or speak rightly. How often do we actually talk rubbish? If you do not have spiritual listening and spiritual hearing, what comes out of your mouth is just rubbish basically. It is important to have our ears opened by God Himself.

Last week we had Good Shepherd Sunday. If you read John 10, one characteristic of the sheep is that they can listen to the voice of the true shepherd. You can recognize this is the voice of your shepherd. This is the voice of God. When we are easily distracted with bad news of the world and we are attracted to this kind of news, then we do not listen to our shepherd. Of course I do not want to say that we should not read any newspaper, or that we should uninstall our social media applications, etc. But if we listen more to world ideologies, false teaching of the world, and the worldly narrative than the voice of our God, then we are in trouble.

Jesus, after spitting, touched his tongue and looked up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened’ and now not only his ears but also his mouth and tongue were opened. But then the verb used for the tongue is a good reflection of the original Greek language. His tongue was released. This is a figure of liberation. This is true liberation. If we only talk rubbish, if we cannot sing for joy, if we cannot bless other people with our tongue, then we truly need liberation from God. If there is no expression of gratitude, thankfulness in your life and in my life, we truly need liberation from God. All spiritually muted people need liberation from God, from Jesus.

There was then a prohibition to proclaim the story. Jesus charged them to tell no one but this is a Gentile region. This is the first time in a Gentile region, yet there was also a command to silence. Apparently the problem of knowing Jesus only from the perspective of the miracles, was endangering not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. This was already recorded in the Bible more than 2000 years ago, yet now there is still a kind of christianity that celebrates the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Jesus only through miracles. How distorted is this! What is the problem by the way? Is this not a true miracle? This is not a miracle from Satan but from Jesus Himself, so where is the problem? Why is there an endangerment of the knowledge of God here? If you know Jesus only from the perspective of this kind of divine goodness, miracle or whatsoever, but you do not want to know Jesus the crucified, then we do not know the real Jesus. Many people want God’s blessing. Of course, we want God’s blessing, God’s goodness, God’s kindness. and so on, but whenever we talk about the cross, then there is an invitation to repent. And this is what humanity actually hates. God’s goodness, yes. God’s kindness, please. God’s blessing, yes. But repentance, no. I want my own life. That is why it is so dangerous to know Jesus only from the perspective of His good works because the climax of His good works is actually His redemptive work which happened on the cross. The problem of knowing God only from the perspective of miracles is not particularly for Jews but for gentiles as well. Humanity is all the same. The knowledge of God through His wonders alone is inadequate. God wants to be known through the cross of Christ. From the perspective of the cross, your and my sinfulness are exposed. Our falling short, hatred, and sinfulness are all exposed. No one can look at the cross without seeing one’s own sinfulness. If we only look at the miracles, then we do not have to look at our sinfulness. It is not necessary. Do you reflect over your sinfulness when you look at the beautiful sun shining today? I do not think so. It is not necessary. But when you see the cross of Christ, you know you are truly sinful before God.

Verse 37 says, ‘And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”. I think this sentence should move us. Why are so many people reluctant to believe in Jesus? So many people cannot see the beauty of Jesus’ life. Even the gentiles, who did not have the Torah, the law of God, could see the beauty of Jesus’ life. I hope we can see this beauty as well in Jesus’ life. It is incomparable with worldly attractions. Once we know Jesus, we know He always does all things well. Let us believe in Him and follow Him. (S.W.)