Mark 7:31–37

³¹Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.

³²And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

³³And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.

³⁴And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."

³⁵And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

³⁶And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.

³⁷And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

The Old Testament reading nails our human condition: anxiety and fear. We are lost in a world of pain and suffering, despair and anxiety. People today are afraid and uncertain about the future more than ever before. Loss of job, bankruptcy, high taxes, home foreclosures are all a part of daily life today. Economic uncertainty is just one of our fears today.

There are other problems that plague us too: marital problems, alcoholism, depression, suicidal thoughts, not even caring if one lives or dies. Sometimes it seems as if we just can't go on. Some people regularly go to bed hoping they won't wake up in the morning.

Illness is another great cause of anxiety. New flu strains are showing up every year, cancers, cardiovascular diseases and fears about just about every kind of food scare us. We are a society that is up-tight about any slight chance of danger afraid to get out of bed because we could potentially injure ourselves just standing up. Eating breakfast could be fatal if we don't scan the ingredients closely or we eat the wrong kind of cereal. Never in history has a society been more afraid and uptight than today.

Moreover many of us as we are getting older, which is just another cause for anxiety. Illnesses, growing weaker, the fear of not being able to drive or walk or take care of ourselves plagues us. We worry about losing our independence. We worry about the day when someone will have to care for us round the clock. These are all justified fears.

Fear and anxiety seem to rob our lives of any possible pleasure or joy. Our Psalm this morning tells us that there is no salvation in men. Do not put your trust in princes. Do not trust men, not government programs or subsidy, not doctors, not employers, not bankers. For they, like us, will die and return to the earth. Their plans will also perish just like ours. What we need is a new life! We need to be rescued from another source; from outside this world. All who are living in this world will face the same fate as we. Fear and anxiety overwhelm us.

And it is precisely fear and anxiety that God address in the Old Testament reading: Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not!" How can we be strong? Why shouldn't we be afraid? Because God will come! He will come with vengeance to recompense evil. He will come to destroy our enemies and free us from the oppressor. He will come to pay back those who afflict us. For he has looked upon the lowly and the downtrodden. He has looked with favor upon the widow and the orphan, the poor and the weak. "Behold, your God will come and save you." That is his promise and he does not break his promises.

On that day, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped; then the lame man will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. He has looked down upon us in our lowly estate, in our fear and anxiety, in our depression and worry, in our affliction and weakness and he has had compassion on us. His face shines on us and his mercy extends to us. He will exalt the lowly, he will lift up the downtrodden, he will pay back those who take advantage of us, he will recompense the poor and the needy for all their sufferings. He will bring an end to old age, to illness, to bankruptcy, to joblessness and depression and to addictions. Behold, He comes to save us!

One day, some men brought their friend to see Jesus. He couldn't hear and he couldn't talk. But these men were convinced that Jesus could help their friend. So Jesus took the deaf man aside away from the crowd. Jesus has compassion on the individual, the suffering soul, the downtrodden and poor. And Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears.

His fingers! The very finger of God which created the heavens and the earth now restored the broken and fallen creature to wholeness. The very finger that wrote the covenant with Israel that he gave to Moses on the mountain was the finger that he used to keep the covenant to help and restore his people.

He gave a command, a single word: "ephphatha!" "Be opened" he ordered. The very same God by whose word and command there was light, and there was the heavens and the earth, now spoke his word and commanded the ears that he had once created to be opened. And by the power of his word they were opened and they were restored to the perfect state that he first made them. His word has the power to create. It creates the reality which it speaks. With the power of his creative word and the very finger that shaped the world, he recreated a fallen and broken man and make him whole again. His word has the power to create the reality it speaks. With the word "be opened" it was opened and the man could hear again.

Then he spat and with the spittle he untied the man's tongue so he could speak. With a lowly thing, a despised thing of creation, spit, he healed the man and restored him to wholeness. With humble means, lowly means, means that the world despises he does great and glorious things. Humble things in his hands become more noble and higher than the heavens.

This miracle was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy: God will come and save us. For Jesus is God, and that very God who made the world with his finger, gave that finger along with the rest of his body to the executioner to become the sacrifice for our sins. That God who with his command could open the ears of a deaf man, kept silent before the executioner like a sheep before its sheerer, to die on the cross in payment for our sin and evil. That same God by whose spittle he restored a man's speech, by his blood poured out for you and me has washed away our sins and given us eternal life.

He has come to save us. He came with vengeance to pay back our enemies—sin, death and the devil. He destroyed all that oppresses us, he executed vengeance on all that keeps us from heaven and robs us of our joy and happiness. He came to destroy fear and anxiety with his victory over sin and death.

As our Psalm and Introit say: Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; he opens the eyes of the blind, he lifts up those who are bowed down; he loves the righteous, he watches over the foreigner; he upholds the widow and the orphan and he will reign forever.

He is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. He is my rock, and he is not deaf; he is not mute. He hears our cries for mercy and he speaks his words of consolation and peace to all men. He is our strength and our shield, and we trust in him who helps us.

The men who brought their friend to Jesus were astonished. The deaf mute could hear and talk. He was restored. Their fears and anxieties were changed to joy. Their ears were opened to hear the words and promises of God to save his people; and their eyes were opened to see his salvation before their very faces. And their mouths were opened with songs of thanksgiving.

The man who could not hear, now heard the word of God, the promise of salvation. The man who could not speak, now spread the news of salvation to all. Even though Jesus told him not to tell anyone, he could not contain himself. Nothing could contain the joy the swelled up inside him. Nothing could stop the message from coming out and going into all the world.

Our ears have been opened to hear the word of God. Our tongues have been untied to speak the word of God. Lets shout the message! The message that God, who created the world with his powerful word, has now, with his powerful word restored us to wholeness. The message that Christ's death and resurrection is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. The message that God, who through the simple, humble means of spit restored a man's speech, now with the simple, humble means of water, bread and wine restores us. He gives us a new life. He gives us reason to not be afraid. He removes all causes of anxiety. And he will raise us from the dead on the last day.

What God prophesied of old to those who have an anxious heart: "be strong, fear not! Behold your God will come and save you," has now come to true. It has been fulfilled. Tell everyone! Tell your family! Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! Tell the world!

Amen.