Jesus opens the ears, tongue, and heart
Many are the maladies of the body that cannot be seen but can be heard if those suffering desire to let others know. While exterior suffering can be seen, that which occurs inside a person is often hidden from others. Repeated loud noises tend to diminish the hearing of some, while others aren’t able to hear at the beginning of their lives. With modern advancements in technology, some who have never heard can hear with cochlear implants, but this is never a guarantee.
As it is with ears, so it is with tongues. There have been many people who have a speech impediment and who have put in much time, effort, and training with the help of a speech therapist to overcome their maladies. Yet not everyone who has a speech impediment can speak, as muteness still impacts some in the world.
This was the reality when a crowd brought a deaf and speech-impaired man to Jesus. They wanted Him to do something to help this man, as He had helped others. They begged that Jesus lay His hands on him to heal him of his maladies. Into this world of closed ears, tongue, and heart steps forth Jesus.
Jesus comes to open ears, loosen the tongue, and strengthen the failing heart that is within each person. This is what Jesus did for the man whom his friends brought in, and this is also what Jesus comes to do for you, each in their proper turn.
Jesus took the man aside, away from the prying eyes of the crowd, to heal what ailed the man. Jesus touched the unworking things in the man, first the ears, then the tongue, but through it all, He was touching the man’s heart. The heart needs to be set right; otherwise, the healing is for not, as the heart is still sinful beyond measure.
There is much sin that resides in the sinful heart of man, and we only see the faintest tip of the iceberg that is sin that desires to drag us down to the depths of hell. While we may only perceive a faint hint of sin in our own hearts, we must acknowledge the reality that we are sinful at our core. We are sinners in the truest sense of the word.
Sure, there are sinners out there who may be worse sinners in a worldly sense of that word, but one sin damns all the way to hell. Well, one sin that is not covered in the blood of Jesus. Though it is not just one sin that we commit.
The heart is so full of sin that its natural color has been so stained that it appears black. Yet that is not the way that Luther pictured it nor described it when he went about setting out his seal, or the Luther Rose. The heart retains its natural color, but the cross is stained black from the sin which Jesus takes from you, taking all the sin from you, and is crucified in your stead.
Jesus came to contend with your sin. Jesus came to take that sin-sick heart, or the sin-sick soul, as we might want to sing, and He comes to do something about it. You need Jesus to set your heart free from sin, and He comes to do just that. Jesus comes to create in you a clean heart. Jesus comes to cleanse you from the inside, with the waters of baptism, as it washes and makes you new. With a renewed heart, then your ears are opened to hear the Gospel, and then you can proclaim His saving message to those who need to hear, but first you need to hear that message.
This is why Jesus opens the ears first. With a cleansed heart, then the ears soon follow that heart. The ear wants to hear those wonderful words from the lips of Jesus, “You are forgiven.” Those three words are powerful and effective. Those words say all that we need in this world of ours. We need our sins to be forgiven. We need to be forgiven to stand before God in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. We need the forgiveness that God alone gives.
Yet this is not the only thing that God gives. He also allows us to share the good news with others. This is what the man and his friends desired to do. They had heard and seen the action of Jesus, and try as He might, He could not keep them silent.
They zealously proclaimed the freedom that Jesus gave. He bid them to tell no one, but they must tell others about this Jesus. This Jesus is different. He can heal the deaf, the mute, the blind, the lame, the crippled; He even raises the dead
