The Deaf Will Hear

In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we come to a long section of the book where the writer provides a mix of stories and teachings of Jesus that mingle proofs of his position as the Messiah with the rejection of this fact. Today, we come to a brief but significant miracle story that provides yet another proof that Jesus is the Divine Messiah. When we find healing miracles in the Gospels, it is important to understand that all of them serve three purposes. First, they all show us a connection between faith and God’s blessing. As we saw last week in the help that Jesus provided to the Syrophoenician woman, faith is the way in which we receive the blessings of God’s kingdom. Second, healing miracles are living metaphors. On the one hand, they are very real and provide a great physical blessing to those who experience them. But, they also teach us important spiritual truths. You will notice that Jesus’s healings typically fit into certain molds. We usually find him cleansing lepers, enabling the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, along with setting the possessed free. All of these healings have a connection with our spiritual needs. Leprosy is a disease of uncleanness, making someone unfit to ever approach the temple of God. Sin and hard-heartedness are called blindness and deafness. In the same way that Jesus has the power to heal these physical maladies, he is equally capable of healing our spiritual corruption. Finally, most of Jesus’s miracles serve the purpose of checking off the boxes of the Messiah. Many of his miracles point to the fact that he is greater than Moses, David, and Elijah. We have just such a miracle before us today. Let’s read Mark 7:31-37 together. From this passage, see two points: An Accommodating Healing, and An Affirmation of the Messiah.

First, from verses 31-35, see an accommodating healing. Mark tells us that Jesus makes a meandering journey through the Phoenician cities, probably to continue his ministry to the Gentiles, and he eventually makes his way back to the sea of Galilee. When he gets there, he’s met by a crowd that begs him to heal a man who was deaf and dumb. In verse 33, we are told that Jesus takes the man aside privately so that he can perform this miracle. We will see later why he takes him aside, but for now, I want to consider why Jesus goes through a performance to heal the man. After all, he just cast out the demon that was possessing a little girl by simply saying it was so. But now, with this deaf man, he goes through a process of healing that seems unnecessary, even superstitious. It was common, in Jesus’ day, for faith healers to do such things as spit on the patient or make mud or a tincture to use in their healings. It seems as though Jesus is following this pattern in healing this man. I think that’s exactly what he’s doing, and for good reason. Remember, I said that one of the reasons Jesus performs miracles is to confirm the connection between faith and God’s blessing. With most of his patients, he can ask them if they believe, and they can respond in confession. In many cases, they come running and beg him to act. But, this man cannot hear Jesus’s questions, nor can he speak clearly to respond in faith. So, in this case, Jesus stoops to accommodate the man in his infirmity. This shows us two things about the grace of God. First, faith is marked out by its comprehension, confidence, and confession. Faith is not just simply hearing about Jesus. You must understand who he is. Jesus wants this man to recognize that he is about to heal him. He must comprehend that Jesus is a healer who is acting for his good. Faith is more than just comprehension, though. It is also confidence of who Jesus is. It is an acknowledgement that Jesus is the Son of God. Yet, it is even more than that. In our day, we tend to stop there, saying that someone only needs to believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord. But this is not all that saving faith is. Saving faith results in confession. This is why Paul says, in Rom. 10:9-10, “If you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” True, saving faith will result in a public confession of who Jesus is. That public confession begins with baptism, but it continues throughout our lives as we follow Jesus.

The way Jesus performs this miracle also shows us that God is gracious in the way he accommodates our infirmity. All of Jesus’s life is evidence of this. God is the creator of the universe. He is not made with human hands, nor is he contained within this material world. He is totally other. Yet, God stoops down into our reality to speak to us in words that we can understand. We see a picture of what this looks like in Exodus 20. It’s often misconstrued that Exodus 20 tells of how Moses received the Ten Commandments while at the top of Mount Sinai. But, that’s not what happened. In Exodus 20, God speaks directly to the whole nation of Israel. In verse 18, it says, “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes… the people were afraid and trembled, and… said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.’” The voice of the Lord was terrifying to his people, but they still need his law. So, what did he do? He showed mercy by appointing a mediator, Moses. But Moses eventually died. Samual, too, died. David died. Elijah died. All of the mediators of God eventually faced the same end. So how are we to know the will of God? In the most gracious act of accommodation, God came to dwell with us, like us, taking on the form of a servant and being born in human form. As John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus patiently and lovingly taught the way of God. He perfectly revealed the will of God to us. In his incarnation, Jesus reveals the love and grace of God in accommodating our weakness so that we could know him.

With that, consider my second point: an affirmation of the Messiah. In verses 36 and 37, we get the unsurprising response to this miracle. Jesus orders them not to say anything to anyone, but they can’t help it. Neither would I be able to help it! They rushed out and zealously proclaimed it. You can imagine, if you hadn’t been able to hear or speak for years, and suddenly you can, you’d want to tell everyone how that happened. But, it’s not just that they were astonished by the miracle itself. They were also astonished by what it meant. In verse 37, they say of Jesus, “He has done all things well.” This statement isn’t a recognition that Jesus does a good job with his miracles. They aren’t saying, “You know, he is much better than the other faith healers we’ve seen.” No, they recognize that the miracle he just performed was Messianic in nature. As we read earlier from Isaiah 35:5-6, the OT promises that the Messiah will cause the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. Now, it happens before their very eyes, and they see Jesus for who he is. This is why Jesus pulled them away privately. Had all of Capernaum seen this, they would have rushed to try and make him king again.

All of this reveals Jesus to be the gracious king who ushers in the blessings of his kingdom. Jesus has been gracious to you, too. He has stooped to accommodate your doubts and disbelief, your bitterness and selfishness. He has patiently taught you through providing for your every need, even as you denied him. He gave you the love of parents, friends, family, and church. Through His Spirit, he convicted you of sin and opened your spiritual ears to hear the Gospel. When you turned to him in faith, he sealed you with His Spirit that you might grow in faith and walk with him. In Jesus, you have received the blessings of the kingdom. You’ve been discipled by men and women God called to teach you. You’ve been comforted by brothers and sisters God has joined you to through his church. God has answered prayers, given assurances, and granted you peace and joy through His Word and Spirit. In all of these ways, God has been gracious to you, and you’ve had a taste of the kingdom to come.