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"Be
Opened" January
13, 2002 Rev. Gary LeTourneau Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon
towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and
they begged him to lay his hand on him. He
took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his
ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then
looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is,
"Be opened." And
immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the
more zealously they proclaimed it. They
were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he
even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." Mark 7:31-37 In
1943, a man named Steve Henning was two year old.
He contracted spinal meningitis. Being
in the middle of World War II, there was a severe shortage of penicillin.
He did not receive the antibiotics he needed and sadly, as a result of
that spinal meningitis, Steve Henning lost his hearing.
For 57 years he could not hear music, laughter, or human speech. He had no memory of his mother's voice. He missed his own son's first words. The first time his future bride whispered, "I love
you," he was not able to hear her say it.
Well, in February--in the winter of last year, 2001--he underwent a
surgical procedure in which he had inserted into his ear a cochlear implant.
I don't know if you've heard of these, but I would describe them as
bionic ears--a true miracle of the 21st century.
This is a device which bypasses the part of the ear which is not working
and connects directly to the auditory nerve.
He had the implant placed in his ear.
Then you have to wait six weeks after the surgery for all the swelling to
go down and for the healing necessary to occur.
Then Steve Henning went in to see his audiologist and surgeon. At
first, they have to tune the response of these cochlear implants, and over a
several hour period, they established low and high thresholds for various tones
to make sure that it's tuned correctly. When
they got done with that procedure, the audiologist signaled and the doctor came
in to turn the device on. The
doctor reports that he's never yet turned it on without tears being shed.
In this case, as they turned it on, they indicated for Steve's wife to
say something to her husband. Pat
Henning grabbed his forearm, leaned in, and said gently, "I love you."
The Henning family stared in silence, waiting for some reaction from
Steve. Finally after a long pause
he said, "I can hear that! I
think I'm going to have to get used to that sound." Then the rest of the article I read describes the therapy he
underwent to begin to translate the mechanical-type sounds from this cochlear
implant into speech. We
are witnessing a modern-day miracle. People
are having their hearing restored, which has never happened before.
But I was taken with the first words that Steve Henning heard:
"I love you." I
believe that's part of the miracle that Mark is describing in Jesus' encounter
with the deaf man. His ears were
opened, and in that opening he heard the God of the universe say to him, "I
love you." Let
me just review that miracle with you, to make sure you've got the details down
in your mind because Mark, who usually skips over details to tell the story
quickly, is very specific about how it happens.
Some friends bring a deaf man to Jesus.
It says in verse 33 that Jesus took him aside in private.
Why? Probably so Jesus could
have his full attention and work with the man alone.
It says that Jesus put His fingers into the deaf man's ears.
Well, the man couldn't hear. Jesus
couldn't explain what He was going to do, and by touching the other man's ears,
he was made to understand that what Jesus was going to do was going to have to
do with his hearing. Then
it says in that phrase--(that half-sentence alarming to the parents of young
boys!)--that Jesus spat and touched his tongue.
(I'm so glad my son Ben wasn't here to hear that Jesus spat.)
What's that about? I've talked about this before because Jesus two, or three, or
four times uses spit in His healing ministry.
You need to know that in antiquity, it was believed that spit in and of
itself was curative, and it was used by the healers of the time.
I think Jesus knew whether or not spit can really heal, but the deaf man,
when he saw Jesus spit and then experienced Him touching his tongue, would have
immediately understood "Jesus is going to heal me," because He's using
the convention of the healers of the time.
It says that then Jesus looked to heaven--and the man understood now
where the power to heal comes from, from God in heaven.
Incidentally,
back to the spit. I always say
this. We moderns know better.
We know spit doesn't heal, but what's the first thing you do when you cut
your finger? Lick it, right in your
mouth, right? So you tell me what
that means! Jesus
looked to heaven. The man knew that
the source of this healing was going to be God.
And then it says that Jesus sighed.
That word for sighing almost could be a deep groan from the inside.
Mark seems to be telling us that Jesus is wrestling in this healing, that
it's taking some work to accomplish. All
this is very different from most of Jesus' miracles, when he simply reaches out
His hand and says, "I will," and the man is healed of leprosy.
Well, in this case, there is a process and there is some work.
And
then finally Jesus says to him, "Ephphatha." This is the Aramaic word.
It's one of the few actual words of Jesus we have recorded in the New
Testament prior to be translated into the Greek that everyone wrote.
Jesus said, "Ephphatha," Aramaic for "be opened," and
immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then
I think Mark wants us to catch the irony.
The story begins with a deaf man who can't speak.
It ends with Jesus trying to get them to be quiet, and they're telling
and talking to everybody they can about what a wonderful thing it is that Jesus
has done. He's healed a deaf man.
Well,
that's wonderful the Son of God could do that, but why does Mark want us to know
this about Jesus? Why did he
remember it? And why did he
structure his gospel like he did? Let
me suggest that this story brackets a section of Scripture in which Mark is
trying to help disciples--you and me--understand what it is that Jesus wants to
do in our lives. It begins with
Jesus curing a deaf man. Look over
on page 43, Mark 8:22. It ends with
Jesus curing a blind man. When you
look at the two stories, you see that they're remarkably similar.
Mark tells them in very much the same way because I think he's trying to
bracket this material. They
came to Bethsaida. Some people
(friends) bring a blind man to Jesus. Jesus
took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village for privacy.
When He had put saliva on his eyes and laid His hands on him, He asked
him, "Can you see anything?" And
the man looked up and said, "I can see people, but they look like trees
walking." Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again and he looked
intently, and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
Then Jesus sent him away to his home saying, "Don't even go into the
village. Keep this quiet.
I don't want to incite them to try and make me king now.
I came for a purpose, and that's to die on a cross." In
both stories, Jesus takes the person aside, and heals them with some effort.
The blind man is healed once partially and then Jesus does it again and
he's healed completely. Mark wants us to know that not for everybody does it happen
like that. For some of us, opening
our eyes and opening our ears is a process. Now,
where's the application? Back up at
verse 14--chapter 8, verse 14. The
disciples were on a boat with Jesus, and they'd forgotten to bring any bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
When you hear "loaf," that's not a Wonder Bread loaf!
That's a pita bread loaf, barely enough for one person.
Jesus cautioned them, teaching them a spiritual lesson, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of
Herod." And the disciples
missed the point completely. They
say to one another, "Is it because we have no bread?" And, mind you, again looking at the headings, the beginning
of chapter 8 is entitled, "Feeding the 4,000"--they had just seen
Jesus feed 4,000 people by dividing a loaf.
So, becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why are you talking
about having no bread?" Now,
here's the application Mark wants us to get:
"Do you still not perceive or understand?
Are your hearts hardened? Do
you have eyes and fail to see? Do
you have ears and fail to hear? Don't
you remember when I broke the five loaves and fed the thousands?
[verse 21] Do you not yet
understand?" And,
you see, Mark's point is that even those who were in closest proximity to Jesus
had eyes that needed to be opened, and they had ears that needed to be opened.
The deaf man and the blind man, who are able to hear and see, are
examples for us of what Jesus wants to do in our life.
He wants to open our eyes, open our ears, open our hearts.
Do you believe that God is still doing that today in the lives of people?
I do. I've
invited two friends to help share with you how God is active in our own
congregation. Luis and Mary
Portillo are new members. They've
been through our Alpha course recently and they went on a Cursillo retreat.
They've just been soaking up all that Faith Church has to offer.
I want to tell you something about them.
Usually when I ask somebody to help me in a sermon like this, the first
question that comes back is, "Well, what are you going to ask?
Well, how can I get ready?" and we have to go through a lot of
details. Luis and Mary just said,
"Yes. Sure."
So we really haven't prepared this.
They're here to answer my questions to share with you how God has opened
them. But I'd like to start, Mary,
by asking you if you could share with the congregation what your life was like,
say a year ago. Mary: Well, my life
was like too many people. They
don't have faith. We started Alpha,
and then Cursillo, and I was baptized, so it was wonderful because
I learned so much about the Lord, and just to have faith.
It's wonderful to know how much He loves every one of us. Gary: Great!
Thank you. Luis, how about
you. How would you describe your
life, say a year ago? Luis: If somebody
would have asked me how your walk with the Lord was, I would have said there is
no walk with the Lord. It was very
poor. Through the grace of friends,
Bill and Ellie Slack, they invited us to be here about a year ago.
We couldn't make it as often as we'd like to because we lived so far
away. We just recently moved here
about four months ago, to Edina, and we've been able to come here on a regular
basis. It's incredible some of the
things that have happened to us. One
would be Alpha, then Cursillo, and all of the people that we've met here and all
of the things that have helped enrich our lives.
It's a total change from what our life used to be a year and a half ago
or so. Gary: Thank you.
Mary, you said you were baptized. Just
a little over a month ago you stood right there and we baptized you.
Tell us what it means to you to give your life to Christ and publicly
state that. Mary: Well, it's
wonderful to know that you owe everything you have to Him, and to be
baptized--it was just very important for me to know and accept my Lord as my
Savior. I think that's the best
because when I was little I was baptized, but it didn't mean anything to me
until I got baptized again and everything started changing in our lives and I
think it's wonderful. Gary: Thank you, Mary.
Luis, one last thing. You
said last year if anyone had asked you about your walk before you would have
said, "What walk?" Tell
us about your walk now. Luis: Some of the
things that we've noticed since completing our Alpha course and also the
Cursillo is we've learned a lot more. We
had a lot of questions through the course that were answered. Now I realize that some of the things that I used to call
luck or a coincidence were not actually that.
It was actually God walking with us.
It was wonderful that the church offers a course like that so that we can
understand. I mean, if you guys
have even one question that needs answering or if you're even hesitant to come,
do it anyway! Come on Thursday and
if you don't like it, don't come back! They
won't put you on the spot (unless they ask you to come up here and speak!). Gary: Don't tell them
about that! Will you join me in
thanking Luis and Mary for sharing with us?
Thank you. That
is exactly what we say about Alpha: Come
once. If you don't like it, don't
come back. We won't put you on a
bulk mailing list or phone solicit you or anything like that.
But, you know, is it possible that you are in a church where God is
active, and changing people, and opening them, and you're sort of sitting on the
sidelines and not really involved? I
think the word to you and to me is the word of Jesus to the deaf man:
"Be opened." Let
God open your heart. Is there some
anger there? Some bitterness? Lack of forgiveness? A
need for reconciliation? Let the
God of the universe say to you, "I love you," and open your heart and
restore what should be there. Maybe
it's your mind. Maybe the God of
the universe needs to open your mind to who He is and what He can do.
Incidentally, I need to be sure you understand what I mean when I say,
"Have an open mind." I
agree with that saying, "You can have your mind so wide open your brains
leak out." That's not what I mean!
G. K. Chesterton, a Christian at the turn of the century in England, put
it best this way: "The purpose
of an open mind is the same as an open mouth, and that's to latch on to
something solid." That's what
God wants to give you. He wants to
open your mind to latch on to something solid.
Maybe you really need to consider that Jesus really is the Son of God,
that He came to earth with a purpose, that Jesus died for us on a cross to take
away our sin, and that now He promises eternal life forever.
That's what God wants to open your minds for. Maybe
He needs to open your eyes to see that it really is possible that God could do
something great in your life and in the lives of those you know and love.
I'm convinced that most of us don't even try--because our eyes are
closed--and we don't even consider the possibility that God might really be God
and might do something which would be completely unexpected.
Let
me close with a great example of facing the impossible.
It's about a mathematician named George Danzig.
He was a senior at Stanford University during the depression.
All the seniors in the math department knew that as soon as they
graduated, they'd be joining unemployment lines.
There was a slim chance that maybe the top person in the class could get
a teaching job. George was not at
the head of the class, but he hoped that if he could achieve a perfect score on
the final exam, maybe he could be given a job as a math teacher.
So he studied hard--preparing so hard, in fact, that he arrived for the
exam late. The test had already
been distributed. He was
embarrassed. He just picked up his
paper and slunk into his desk and he worked the eight problems on the test paper
and then he noticed that there were two more written on the chalkboard, and he
began to work on those two. Try as
he might, he couldn't solve either of the two on the chalkboard.
He was devastated. Out of
the 10 problems, he had missed two for sure.
But just as he was about to hand in the paper, he took a chance and asked
the professor if he could have a couple of days to work on the two he missed,
and he was surprised when his professor agreed. George
rushed home and plunged into those equations with a vengeance.
He spent hours and hours, but he could only find the solution for one of
them. He never could solve the
other. It was impossible.
When he returned the test, now late, with only nine of the ten problems
completed, he knew he'd lost all chance of a job.
He describes it as the darkest moment of his life.
The
next morning, he was awakened by a pounding on his door. His mathematics professor had come to his home, very excited:
"George!" he kept shouting, "George!
You've made mathematics history!"
George didn't know what his professor was talking about. The professor explained that before the exam he had
encouraged the class to keep trying, even when they faced setbacks and failures:
"Don't be discouraged. Look
at these two problems on the board. These
are classic problems that no one can solve.
Even Einstein was unable to unlock their secrets."
George
had come to class late, and missed the information that the two problems on the
board were impossible. He made
mathematics history by solving one of them!
That day his professor hired him as his assistant, and George Danzig
later retired from Stanford as a professor of mathematics.
You see, he hadn't had his eyes closed by being told, "It's
impossible." Some
of us have our eyes closed, and we need the God of the universe to touch them
and to whisper to us, "I love you," and to open them.
And then be ready for the great things God can do. Let's
pray together. O Lord, thank you
for being a God who opens deaf ears, and opens blind eyes, and loosens hard
hearts. Thank you for how you have
been active in our Alpha program here at the church.
We pray, by your grace, that you will draw all the people you want to
yourself--through Alpha, through the ministry of our church, through the
ministry of other churches. We just
care about people and we want them to know about you and how good a God you are
and how great you are. I thank you
for Luis and Mary and for their willingness to share their growth as disciples.
I pray that you'll help all of us to be open to your activity in our
lives. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Rev. Gary LeTourneau Senior Pastor Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota [Transcribed from an audiotape of the 9:00 a.m. worship
service on January 13, 2002] |
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