Audio - Jesus Heals the Deaf Mute

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The 13th Sunday in Trinity
Jesus Heals the Deaf Mute
August 30, 2009

TEXT:   (Mark 7:31-37 NKJ) Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. 32 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. 33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35  Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
 
This incident occurs during the last few months of Jesus’ ministry on earth—to put the time in perspective, it took place just prior to the feeding of the 4000—just prior to the transfiguration—and at the beginning of the end of Jesus’ ministry when He announced to His disciples that He would be taken away to die for the work of God—during this time Jesus is focused on teaching His disciples—preparing them for His departure—keep in mind as we contemplate the Word—that all Scripture is for our learning—and for our hope—and we have to ask ourselves why did God give us this message?—what lesson should we take away today?
 
A little more concerning Mark’s Gospel—Mark often writes as a personal witness of the things of Christ—our text is one example of that personal report—Mark wrote the words Jesus spoke when He healed the deaf mute—this is an important part of the lesson—as Paul instructs us in his letter to the Romans
 
(Romans 15:4 NKJ) For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
 
We must also remember that all sin and evil in this world is of the devil—and our Help is in the name of the Lord—who gives us the power through the Holy Spirit to defeat the devil
 
(1 John 3:8 NKJ) He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
 
Sin—suffering—and death would be endless—except that God the Son came into the world as a man—He came to satisfy the Law—God demands blood for payment of sin—Jesus offered Himself as that blood offering—Jesus was the promised Savior way back in the book of Genesis—God told Adam, Eve, and Satan that He would deliver an enemy to crush Satan—Jesus is the Christ that came to offer Himself as the Sacrifice for our sins—He came to conquer death—He came to redeem us of our sins—He came to give us the hope of salvation—Jesus the Son of God came to destroy the power of Satan
 
(Genesis 3:14-15 NKJ) So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
 
Our Gospel lesson deals with the healing of one man—but the lesson is for all mankind—and the lesson is timeless—it applies to Christians forever—let us look at the Gospel lesson from a spiritual perspective—in our text—Jesus heals the man of physical deafness—and He does it in a manner not like His other healings—for example, when Jesus fed the 4000 He was healing all who were brought before Him
 
(Matthew 15:29-31 NKJ)  Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30  Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
 
 
Now we compare the healing of the multitudes to the healing of the deaf mute in our lesson—notice that the deaf man was brought to Jesus by a group of people—this teaches us both about love and about faith—these people loved this man enough to bring him to our Lord—by their fruits we recognize them—these people care about the deaf man—they love him—they’re looking out for him—just as God’s Word instructs us all to look out for each other
 
(Philippians 2:4 NKJ) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
 
These men who brought the deaf mute to Jesus had faith that Jesus could heal the deaf man—they heard the Word of God somewhere—only through the Holy Spirit could they know the mercy and grace of Jesus
 
(1 Corinthians 12:3 NKJ) … no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
 
True wisdom comes through the teachings of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit makes known the things of God—and gives us the mind of Christ
 
(1 Corinthians 2:11-16 NKJ) For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
 
As we’ve discussed many times in the past—many lessons of Scripture are revealed only when we consider the symbolism of the Word—and this is one of those lessons
 
THE SYMBOLISM AND SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION
 
Those who bring the deaf mute to Jesus represent the ministry—Ministers lead men to God—by preaching—by living a godly life—by prayers of intercession—but the Word itself leads to Christ—it is the Word that brings fruit—it is the message, not the messenger that does the work
 
(Isaiah 55:11 NKJ) So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
 
Jesus moves the man away from the others—represents believers being separated from those of this world—we know that we are in this world—and this world belongs to the devil—he is the prince—Paul explained this to us—we were physically born into a world of evil—and it is Christ who separated us—set us aside to be His—first Paul tells us of our past and of the spirit of disobedience—the sons of the devil
 
(Ephesians 2:1-3 NKJ) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
 
But our Lord chose us to be His—and as we said earlier, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to know Christ—and Jesus wants us to understand that we are His—He loves us—and He commands that we love one another
 
(John 15:16-17 NKJ) "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 "These things I command you, that you love one another.
 
And just as Jesus took the deaf man aside to separate him from those of this world—God wants us to understand that we are in this world—but we are not of this world—our citizenship is in heaven
 
(Philippians 3:20 NKJ) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
 
The fingers in the man’s ears represent the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit comes into the ears of man through the Word
 
The spittle on the man’s tongue represents the Word of God—It is put into the mouth of man—in order that man may speak it—wherever there is true faith—the Holy Spirit will not give you rest—you will be driven to teach others
 
Jesus looks up to heaven—means all power comes from heaven—not from this earth—without the Holy Spirit—sent by God in heaven we cannot believe
 
SPIRITUAL APPLICATION
Spiritually—sin and the pleasures of this world renders natural man deaf and dumb—man has ears—but he does not hear God’s Word—man has a tongue—but he does not speak praise to God—this we can refer to as being spiritual deaf mutes—sin renders us spiritually deaf and dumb—we can still hear—we can still speak—we can still see—but we lose our spiritual senses by reason of sin—we can still see the grandeur of the stars and planets in the heavens—we can still hear the wind pass through the trees—we can still hear the birds and animals making the sounds of life—all of creation proclaims the Deity of our Lord—we hear the sounds—but we don’t associate the proclamation
 
(Psalm 19:1 NKJ) The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
 
(Romans 1:20 NKJ) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
 
But the invisible things are the spiritual things—understood only with the help of the Holy Spirit
 
(1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJ) But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
 
Only a fool says in his heart—there is no God—but sin makes men into fools—God’s glory is not comprehended by our natural minds—the voice of God’s Word cries out—but we don’t hear—the “noise” of the world drowns out the Word of God for the unbeliever—but the Word is heard by those that are His
 
(Psalm 29:3 NKJ) The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters.
 
All of Creation cries out the Name of God—but mankind cannot hear—he is deaf to these sounds—man’s senses are dulled as he is distracted by the things of the world—those of us who cannot hear the glories of God because we are spiritually deaf—cannot speak either—those that are deaf—are also mutes—this applies both spiritually and physically—natural sinful man cannot hear the voice of God—he also cannot speak to God—and he cannot speak about God—natural man is spiritually deaf
 
(Hebrews 11:3 NKJ) By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!