Rev Gideon Lee
Mark 7:31-37
The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man
7: 31- 37pp – Mt 15: 29- 31
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 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.
33 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. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this the man’s ears were opened his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Note that deafness will also affect your speech. Once he could hear, he could talk normally.
One day there were three retiree advanced in age. The first one says "today is a windy day". The second man said "no today is Thursday". And the third man says "Yes me too. Let's go get a coke." (Laughs)
Most of the time we learn because we hear. Because this man is deaf he has problem with his speech. This man had an encounter with Jesus and He healed him.
Many times everyone can hear, yet not understand. I want to talk a little about our ear.
How many of you know about our roti man. He comes and ring a bell and shout roti roti. That is how we know he's here.
But in the old days the peddler shouts "what do you lack"? Then you can go see the many stuff he has that can meet your household needs. In this case the lack of this man is hearing. I want to ask you this morning, what do you lack?
We have ears to hear but many of you may not understand. Listening is a skill. To be a good counsellor the first prerequisite is to be a good listener. It is a skill that can be taught.
Teachers will know this. "Class are you listening?" And the students will always answer "yes!". It is a skill that can be acquired and we need to become better listeners in church. Someone said that's why God gave us two ears and one mouth.
The problem is we like to talk. But before I talk about this I want to talk about your ears.
You have no choice with what you hear. With your eyes or mouth it is easy to control. You just close your eyes or mouth. The bible says faith comes from hearing. The gospel is being shared and it comes to us by hearing. Your ears hear everything. You cannot be walking around with your hands over your ears.
In a coffee shop I sometimes hear the people talk vulgarity loudly and I have no choice but to hear everything. If I am to censor their speech, you will hear lots of beeps. The other thing is smoking. They will light up before and after their meal. The only time they don't smoke is when they are eating. Okay, back to hearing. Our ears hears a lot of stuff, good and bad. And the bible says we need to guard our ears.
Jesus said if any man has an ear let him hear what the spirit is saying. Because they can hear what He is saying but not catch the truth.
We see here in this passage about the man who couldn't hear. The people brought this man whose speech was impaired. Children learn how to speak through their ears. It was this man's inability to hear that caused his speech impairment. In those days hearing is very important. Today vision is more important. Today, our world is very visual. The advent if the TV changed the way we learn things. We can know what is happening by reading the papers. Back in those days hearing was very important to understand what was happening. Today it is easier for us.
Jesus healed this man in a very strange way. Don't do that unless God speaks to you. This man lived in a silent world. And Jesus was very concern for this man. Jesus is also very concern about us today. He wants us to also hear him spiritually. This morning God is able to heal us too so that our spiritual ears will be opened to hear him.
It is also very important what you are hearing today.
There was this native Indian American who went to New York city, a bustling city. And he told his friend "I hear a cricket". But his friend said no I didn't hear anything and to prove it, he found the cricket in a bush. Today, what are we tuned in to? He could hear the cricket in the hustle and bustle because he is tuned in to it. That's why he could hear it.
All of you close your eyes and I'm going to make a sound and you tell me what is the sound. (Pastor shook a bottle filled with coins). How many of you immediately know it is the sound of money. We are tuned in to money. If you walk the streets and a coin drop you will immediately recognise it. We are so tuned in to money but are you tuned in to God?
The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man
7: 31- 37pp – Mt 15: 29- 31
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 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.
33 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. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this the man’s ears were opened his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.
36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Note that deafness will also affect your speech. Once he could hear, he could talk normally.
One day there were three retiree advanced in age. The first one says "today is a windy day". The second man said "no today is Thursday". And the third man says "Yes me too. Let's go get a coke." (Laughs)
Most of the time we learn because we hear. Because this man is deaf he has problem with his speech. This man had an encounter with Jesus and He healed him.
Many times everyone can hear, yet not understand. I want to talk a little about our ear.
How many of you know about our roti man. He comes and ring a bell and shout roti roti. That is how we know he's here.
But in the old days the peddler shouts "what do you lack"? Then you can go see the many stuff he has that can meet your household needs. In this case the lack of this man is hearing. I want to ask you this morning, what do you lack?
We have ears to hear but many of you may not understand. Listening is a skill. To be a good counsellor the first prerequisite is to be a good listener. It is a skill that can be taught.
Teachers will know this. "Class are you listening?" And the students will always answer "yes!". It is a skill that can be acquired and we need to become better listeners in church. Someone said that's why God gave us two ears and one mouth.
The problem is we like to talk. But before I talk about this I want to talk about your ears.
You have no choice with what you hear. With your eyes or mouth it is easy to control. You just close your eyes or mouth. The bible says faith comes from hearing. The gospel is being shared and it comes to us by hearing. Your ears hear everything. You cannot be walking around with your hands over your ears.
In a coffee shop I sometimes hear the people talk vulgarity loudly and I have no choice but to hear everything. If I am to censor their speech, you will hear lots of beeps. The other thing is smoking. They will light up before and after their meal. The only time they don't smoke is when they are eating. Okay, back to hearing. Our ears hears a lot of stuff, good and bad. And the bible says we need to guard our ears.
Jesus said if any man has an ear let him hear what the spirit is saying. Because they can hear what He is saying but not catch the truth.
We see here in this passage about the man who couldn't hear. The people brought this man whose speech was impaired. Children learn how to speak through their ears. It was this man's inability to hear that caused his speech impairment. In those days hearing is very important. Today vision is more important. Today, our world is very visual. The advent if the TV changed the way we learn things. We can know what is happening by reading the papers. Back in those days hearing was very important to understand what was happening. Today it is easier for us.
Jesus healed this man in a very strange way. Don't do that unless God speaks to you. This man lived in a silent world. And Jesus was very concern for this man. Jesus is also very concern about us today. He wants us to also hear him spiritually. This morning God is able to heal us too so that our spiritual ears will be opened to hear him.
It is also very important what you are hearing today.
There was this native Indian American who went to New York city, a bustling city. And he told his friend "I hear a cricket". But his friend said no I didn't hear anything and to prove it, he found the cricket in a bush. Today, what are we tuned in to? He could hear the cricket in the hustle and bustle because he is tuned in to it. That's why he could hear it.
All of you close your eyes and I'm going to make a sound and you tell me what is the sound. (Pastor shook a bottle filled with coins). How many of you immediately know it is the sound of money. We are tuned in to money. If you walk the streets and a coin drop you will immediately recognise it. We are so tuned in to money but are you tuned in to God?
Samuel as a young boy when God spoke to him, he ran to Eli thinking it was Eli. Samuel could not recognise the voice of God until the third time and suddenly his spiritual ears were opened. Then he said to the Lord "you speak and your servant listen". But today it is we speak God listen.
If we turn our ears to God, He has a lot to say to us. It's just that often we don't like what we hear. I pray we learn to say "Lord speak, your servant listen".
This man was not faulted because he was not able to hear physically. Sadly we have ears and not hear. It is not that we have ears, it is about us hearing. Listening to God, we are strengthened, encouraged, guided. Let us open up our ears to hear what God is saying.
I pray that we will tune in to what is important. And hear what God is saying to us.
Can you imagine what it's like for this man to have his hearing? For the first time he could hear the bird chirping or what his friends were saying or the sounds in the streets.
His world opened up and he could for the first time learn to talk and understand many many things. When our ears are spiritually opened, things around us becomes very real. We will see things very differently around us. We will see people very differently too.
Let me tell you another story. A family went to a restaurant to eat. A waiter came and asked what do they want to eat. The son said I want a burger, fries and a coke. Then the mother said no, give him milk, sandwich and salad instead. But the waiter ignored the mother and asked the boy "how do you like your burger with ketchup? Your coke with ice or no ice and your fries salted or not salted?" The waiter heard the boy, the mother didn't. This is a classic example why they say children are meant to be seen not heard.
What do we hear here at TOP? Are we listening to the needs of our community? To be relevant as a church we need to listen.
I want to end with this story. God was disheartened with Adam and Eve when they fell and that He had to drive them out of the garden of Eden. The angels in heaven saw that God was so sad because He thinks that His children didn't know how much God loves them. So the angel said to themselves, we will be guardian angels to them and whisper in the ears of every child born that "God loves you". So for many many years, an angel will whisper to a newborn child "God loves you".
But over the years, the noise of the cares of this world begins to drown out the whispers of the Angels. The neons and noise and distractions were so loud that the angels voices could no longer be heard.
That is why God sent His son to the cross where Jesus said "It is finished". He demonstrated His love by sending Jesus and I pray that you will not just hear but understand it with your heart. God loves you.
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