They brought
a deaf man to Jesus.
The man couldn’t hear, (or could barely hear). And you know how it is – if you can’t hear
what the words are supposed to sound like, you can’t make the sounds yourself
and so the man couldn’t talk. He was
mute. He couldn’t talk and he couldn’t
communicate. So they brought him to
Jesus. And they wanted Jesus to lay his
hands on the man. They wanted the hands
of Jesus to touch this deaf and mute man.
Jesus’ hands
were healing hands. And so he took his
hands and he brought the man off by himself, away from the crowd and he stuck
his fingers in the man’s ears. Imagine
what this must have been like – how it must have looked. How it must have felt to have Jesus’ fingers
in your ears. And then, as if that
wasn’t strange enough, Jesus spit, reached into the mans mouth and grabbed his
tongue. And then… He looked up to heaven and Jesus
groaned. Some texts say that he sighed,
some say he groaned. He let out a low
guttural sounding moan. And then… he
said - whether to the man or to his ears, I don’t know, but Jesus commanded
them to “be open”. And they were.
What strikes
me when reading this text is just how strange this event would have been. Imagine it.
Jesus grabbing a hold of the man, sticking his fingers into the mans
ears, spitting, grabbing his tongue, looking up to heaven and groaning…
Jesus is not
the first to groan, you know. Jesus is
not the first person, the first person in the Bible, to groan. There are others.
Jeremiah the
prophet talks about women in childbirth letting out a groan as they give birth
to their first child. You moms could
probably relate to that. (Jeremiah 4:23)
Ezekiel
talks about the groan of soldiers wounded on the battle field. (Ezekiel 26:15)
We all know
about the suffering of Job – that he lost all he had, his wealth, his
possessions, his children. And then he
lost his health. And Job says, “Today my complaint is bitter and my hand is
heavy on account of my groaning.” (Job 23:2)
And so
people groan. Women groan in child
bearing. People groan when they are
wounded or injured. People groan when
they mourn the people, the things, the circumstances that they have lost and
that have left them empty. People groan.
And Jesus
groans. Here in our Gospel text from St
Mark, Jesus lets out a great, deep, heart-felt sigh as he looks heavenward to
pray. Jesus groans and there is comfort
for you in that groaning of Jesus.
You see
groaning is something that happens in a bad
world. Groaning is a response to
something that has happened or that is about to happen that you wish wouldn’t
happen. Something bad. My kids groan when they have homework or
chores to do. People groan when the
alarm clock goes off and they still want to stay in bed. People groan when they suffer a loss or learn
of some bad news. Groaning is an
expression of despair and suffering.
There are times when the suffering is so great there are no words, or
there is not strength, there is nothing to do but groan. Groaning is something you and I do when we
suffer. Groaning is a reality in this
broken and sin stained world.
But Jesus
groaned. Perfect, sinless Jesus grabbed
hold of this man, grabbed his head, put his fingers in his ears, pulled out his
tongue and Jesus groaned. Makes you
wonder why Jesus groaned. Maybe they
were old friends, maybe this was an old acquaintance. Maybe Jesus knew him. But he didn’t. Mark doesn’t give us a name, an
identity. He leaves the story as quickly
as he enters it. He was just some guy,
no one of consequence. Or was he? Is he?
Is there such a thing as “no one of consequence” with Jesus?
Jesus saw
his suffering the same way Jesus sees your suffering. While so many others pass by without a word,
without knowing or understanding or even caring, Jesus pauses, takes the time
to stop, take you aside, treat you as you apart from the crowd so that he knows
and understands and feels you suffering and pain. And he feels it right alongside you. There is no such thing as “no one of
consequence” with Jesus. Your pain is
Jesus pain. Your struggle is Jesus’
struggle. Your grief is Jesus’ grief. And so when Jesus saw this man, unable to
speak and unable to hear, Jesus prayed for him with a groan.
Jesus
prayed. He looked up to heaven and with
deep compassion he prayed that the father would heal this man. And the Father did what Jesus asked. The Jews remarked rightly when they witnessed
what Jesus had done, that he does all things well. Because Jesus did do things well. When Jesus was baptized, that same Heavenly
Father to whom Jesus was praying here spoke from heaven saying that this was
his beloved son. Not only were the
people pleased with Jesus, the Father was pleased with Jesus because of what he
had done. And so when Jesus prayed for
this man, because the Heavenly Father was pleased with Jesus him, the Father
gave heard him. Jesus commanded the
man’s ears to be open and he commanded his tongue to be let loose. The man could hear and he could speak as
clearly and as plainly as any one of us.
And Jesus
does that for you also. Jesus prays for
you. Jesus sees your heart, you
suffering, your grief, your loss and Jesus feels mercy, he feels sympathy, he
feels deep concern. And His ears are
open to your prayers. He listens to them
to each one and he carries those prayers with him to the throne of his heavenly
Father. He lays each one there and the
Father listens. Just as the Father
listened to Jesus’ prayer for this deaf and mute man, the Father listens to the
prayers of Jesus on behalf of you. And
the father responds. So that Jesus gives
his command. The devil who harasses you
and torments you is restrained. The
illness that would take your life is held at bay. The danger and treachery that would invade
your life or your home is warded off by the Lord’s angels. The temptation that would overcome you is
given an escape route so that you might get away. The Lord is good. He answers prayer. And when your prayers falter, when your
prayers fail, the Lord Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His son. His son who groans.
There are
groans in the Bible. The Word of God is
filled with groaning, but not just as descriptions of grief and despair. There are groans that are also words of hope
and promise.
Our Old
Testament text is from Isaiah 35. Verse
10 from that chapter gives a word of hope and a joyful word of promise.
It begins
with words that point to Jesus. The eyes
of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame
man shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy.
(Isaiah 35:5)
This
describes the work of Jesus to a T.
Jesus’ ministry was a healing ministry.
Better than any doctor or therapist could ever be, Jesus took away
illness and impediments and disabilities.
Blindness, deafness, the lame and mute.
All were healed by Jesus. He
reached out his hand he grabbed hold of those who were suffering and he took it
away.
But there
was a price to pay. Those illnesses
didn’t just happen. Disabilities don’t
just occur out of the blue. God didn’t
make a world like that. Those things
happen only in a world where there is sin.
Those things happen only in communities and populations where people are
sinners. And we are all sinners and we
all bear that guilt and responsibility.
As long as we populate the earth there is no end to the suffering and
grief that are bound to occur. And so
Jesus heals that too. Jesus heals that
especially. That is the whole
point. Don’t just take away the symptoms
of the problem. Take away the
cause. Deal with the sin and the
suffering will go away too.
And so that
is what Jesus did. He took not just the
blindness and deafness and muteness, he took the sin. Your sin and he carried it to the cross. And he paid its price and he suffered its
penalty and he died the death that was earned as a result of it. And now Jesus is alive. Your suffering, you grief that he carried to
the cross, he left it there. He defeated
it there. He earned victory over it
there. And now he lives. He lives to set
you free from your suffering and to give you hope that all grief and groaning
will end for good forever.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall
return and come home to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing/groaning shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)
That is what
the Prophet Isaiah wrote and that comes true for you in Jesus. He died for you. He rose for you. He lives for you and your sorrow and grief
are on the run.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment