Sermon preached 23 August 2026
Reading: Mark 7:31–37
Tr Pastor Lawrence McCatty
Children who hear
There’s a series of short videos on the internet of children who have been deaf from birth. They have never heard birds sing, music, or the voices of their mothers or fathers.
The videos are shot in specialist hearing clinics where hearing aids and cochlear implants for the profoundly deaf are made and fitted. They show the moment when these children hear their parents’ voices for the first time. The joy on the child’s face, and that of the parents, is something to behold.
And today Mark tells us of a miraculous event where Jesus restores the hearing, and speech, of a man who is brought to Him.
Context
Mark begins his account by telling us that Jesus had returned from the region of Tyre, a coastal region in the north of Judea, and where He had healed a Gentile woman’s daughter. He travels north through the coastal city of Sidon then returns south and inland towards “the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.” (the ten cities).
The deaf man brought to Jesus
Some people bring to him a deaf man, who also had a speech impediment, so was unable to express himself clearly.
We can assume from Mark’s report that the man, like the children in the videos I mentioned, had been deaf from birth. But unlike the children, there were no hearing aids, or specialist programs to teach sign language or lip reading.
He is almost entirely cut-off from communication with others. In Jesus’ time only around 1 in 100 people could read and write, so the man was also most likely illiterate.
We don’t know who the people are that bring him to Jesus, but they had faith that Jesus could heal this man, so must have previously heard the good news of the gospel of Jesus, and of the miraculous things He had done, through which they believed.
The paralytic brought to Jesus
We’re reminded of an event earlier in Mark’s gospel where some men brought their paralysed friend to Jesus in faith:
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”Mark 2:5
And then in verses 11-12:
11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Faith that brings others to Jesus
In both events, it is the faith of the friends that brought these men to Jesus. The paralytic and the deaf man do not and cannot contribute anything to their healing or salvation.
Furthermore, the people who bring the deaf man cannot give any of their own faith to him, much as they would like to.
So we see that Jesus, out of compassion and love, creates a faith for this man that is all of his own.
It’s personal
For Jesus could have healed him with a wave of the hand, or a command as He did with the paralysed man. He could have performed a spectacle for the crowd, but instead he does something unique.
Because Jesus knows exactly what this man needs. He understands the needs of each individual soul perfectly. He takes the time to deal with the individual as best suits their need.
The man must have been bewildered and in fear of the commotion going on around him. Jesus understands this so takes the man away from the crowd, a miracle in itself that we almost miss.
The man can now focus his entire attention on Jesus.
Jesus could have done everything in an instant, as he often did, but that’s not what this man needs.
And so that the deaf man understands what’s happening to him, Jesus acts out a sign language performance just for him. He gently puts his fingers in the man’s ears to say “I will make you hear”, he spits then touches the man’s tongue to say, “I will make you speak”.
Jesus then looks “up to heaven” and sighs.
Scripture doesn’t tell us why He sighed. In commentaries and other sermons on this event, there are at least 4 different interpretations of why Jesus may have sighed, none of which are particularly convincing or compelling. What we do know, and what is important, is that Jesus looked up to heaven. He directed the deaf man’s gaze heavenward so the man is left in no doubt where Christ’s power and authority come from.
Ephphatha
And this prepares him for happens next, He says to the man in Aramaic “Ephphatha”. EHF – uh – thuh
This is one of those rare occasions when the gospel writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, uses the exact word Jesus spoke in Aramaic. It therefore must be important and something for our attention.
Say the word for yourself out loud. EHF – uh – thuh
It has a soft, gentle sound, almost just the sound of breath. It’s a breathing word. He breathed the word “Ephphatha,” “Be opened”, on the man.
And then … immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue set free and he began to speak plainly!
Isn’t that just wonderful? The Son of God, who was there at the creation of the world, takes time out to personally and intimately heal this man and give him faith.
And just like the deaf children who hear their parents saying their name, saying “We love you” for the very first time – the man hears the gospel for the first time! Can you imagine the joy in his heart and on his face.
In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah, the prophet could have been talking of this very event when he says:
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
…
24 And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.Isaiah 29:17–24
The now healed man hears in “that book”, in the living gospel standing before him, that God loves him, so much so that He sent His Son to heal him, forgive him, to restore him. He has done it all for him.
He can now use his newly restored voice to call God “my loving Father”. He will likely go on to see and hear the events of the death and resurrection of his Saviour, the one who healed him, showed compassion and love for him, and then died for him.
Jesus does everything, He is sufficient
He was not healed by the works of the people who brought him, he was not saved by anything he, or they, have done. The faith of his friends brought him to Jesus and Jesus does everything. They cannot give or sell their faith to the man. They can speak and hear. But they cannot make him hear or speak by their own hearing and speaking, Jesus creates a faith all of his own, out of compassion and love.
It is Jesus who does everything. He is sufficient. God is sufficient. As we heard Paul write in his second letter to the church at Corinth:
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,2 Corinthians 3:4–5
We were deaf
God creates faith in us through His Word. His Holy Spirit opened our ears to hear His law that convicts us of our sin and our need for the gospel that saves.
We were deaf to the promises of God, of His immeasurable love, of His plan to reconcile and restore us to Him through His Son, and yet despite our deafness and our hostility to Him “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Each of us has a personal story of how we came to hear the saving gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into our hearts and changed us forever, and continues each day to do so. Through the means of grace, through the Lord’s Supper, through Baptism and through God’s Word, we meet Jesus, He comes to us to forgive us and through the Holy Spirit the Word comes alive our faith grows and is strengthened.
But we are still often hard of hearing, sometimes hearing only the odd note or two, and sometimes nothing at all.
What is the point of the gift of hearing if it isn’t to listen to the wonderful symphony of God’s Word? What point is there in being able to hear if it is not to hear the voice of Jesus in the gospel? All other noise and sounds are worth little or nothing if we are deaf to the voice of Jesus.
As Asaph sang in the very first verse of our Psalm of the Day, Psalm 78:1
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!Psalm 78:1
By continued hearing of His Word we learn the real purpose of ears to hear. And hearing we learn the real purpose of our hearts and minds to receive and contemplate His Word. Then we understand the real purpose of our voice, to confess our faith, to thank and praise God, and share the Word that saves.
For like the man who was brought to Jesus, now we hear we can “Speak plainly” and tell the tidings of the good news for the hope we have. As the Apostle Peter writes in his first letter:
“always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”1 Peter 3:15
For Jesus wants us to bring people to Him
And by doing so we are like the people whose faith brought the deaf man to Jesus.
Jesus wants us to bring people to Him by sharing the gospel as the called “ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” as Paul wrote in our Epistle reading (2 Corinthians 3:6).
And as the psalmist Asaph goes on to sing in our Psalm of the Day:
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done. (Verse 4b)
to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;Psalm 78:4–7
Jesus wants us to bring loved ones, colleagues, family, friends and neighbours, who do not know God, to Him in prayer. We cannot give them our faith but we can pray that they receive a faith of their own.
The fruit of the people’s faith was to bring the deaf man to Jesus, and Jesus did the rest.
Jesus is sufficient. His Word is sufficient. He has done all things well.
Amen