The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than
we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour
down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our
conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy
to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our
Lord. Amen
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esus, departing from
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst
of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had
an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And
he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he
spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith
unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and
the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them
that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a
great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He
hath done all things
Two Spirits That Drive The Christian
The
Seeking Spirit:
Our text opens today following the visit of Christ to the coast of Tyre and
Sidon where, we are told in verse 24, “He could not be hid.”
Because He was SOUGHT out by a Syro-Phenecian woman who had HEARD
of Him, came and fell at His feet pleading that He cast out an unclean spirit
from her precious little daughter, her prayer was answered. This Christ did.
The lesson, of course, is this: Christ can in no wise be hidden from those who
seek Him. How may the “Light of the World”
be concealed in the desert night? Moreover, He delights at being found by those
who seek Him. As our Prayer of Collect says: He is “always more ready to
hear than we to ask.” So Christ deliberately desires to give us that
for which we ask – as long as we ask for those things that it is His will to
grant. One of the characteristics of the spirit of a Christian is that of a
SEEKER. “Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every
one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt 7:7-8)
No man comes to Christ if he has not sought Him out. So first and foremost, we
must have a Seeker spirit. There must have been a great guilt that has impinged
upon our consciences at some point, evoked by the Holy Spirit, to cause us to
feel and know our absolute depravity and sin. Even a dying child, or a
dreadful disease, may awaken us to our great need – ‘the soul’s sincere desire.’
Some, like the lost sheep, know not where to seek; so they bleat and scurry to
and fro in the wilderness rocks until their cries are heard by the Good
Shepherd who comes to them in their loneliness and fright. Shouldn’t we, if
able, be like those Greeks who came to Philip at Bethsaida, and desired of him,
inquiring: “Sir, we would see Jesus!” (John 12:21 (KJV) But, like
the lost sheep of the parable, are not able to go to Him, so they cry out where
they are. Some are blind, cannot see, and are BROUGHT to Christ so that the
scales may be removed from their eyes and they may see. How does such faith
come? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
(Romans 10:17) Have you both heard and believed from the Word of God? Someone
must have TOLD you. Have you told others?
Now, in order to share good news, one must be the recipient of Good News – the Good
News that is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! Knowing a truth of
imponderable benefit to others must compel us to speak out. Have we remembered
the Lord’s very last prayer before His ascension? “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt 28:19-20)
Have you gone to those who have not heard, who cannot see to come to Christ?
Now Jesus returns the shore of the Galilean Sea – to Decapolis. We are told
that, without the news of His coming being published in the newspapers or
broadcast on radio, men brought a fellow to Christ who could neither see nor
speak. How did they know that Christ was coming? Perhaps bad news does travel
rapidly, but Good News travels with the speed of light – the Light of the
World. Every place that Christ went, healing and doing good, the witnesses heralded
his name and movements everywhere. The news was simply too good to keep
silence. It is impossible to know Christ and keep silent. There are no secret
Christians!
The
Missionary Spirit:
Once we have seen, heard, and known Christ, there is a second spirit that must
evince itself – the MISSIONARY SPIRIT! So how is Christ greeted
on His arrival at Decapolis on the coasts of Galilee? Men bring to Him a friend
who was both deaf and had a speech impediment. Such impediments of speech are
common to those who have not, and cannot, hear. All who have not heard the
Gospel are also handicapped from speaking it to others. These men who brought
this deaf man to Christ had already heard of Him and knew that He was able to
heal. So they put feet to their faith and brought a man who could not have
heard of Christ. Faith is like a newborn babe – it cannot lie still. It must
exercise itself and cry out and, thereby, GROW! Our own faith is
increased when we share that faith with others and observe the resulting
miracle!
32 “And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an
impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.”
Men, who were able to know of Christ by HEARING of Him, now bring one to Christ
who had no such benefit. I love the spirit of love and compassion that is
generated in a heart full of faith. Please note that these men ask nothing that
would be shocking of Christ. They do not make demands in their prayer such as
the modern church advocates. They besought (pleaded) only that Christ “put
His hand upon” the deaf and dumb man. Why were they not more specific?
Do our prayers have to be specific in detail? Not at all! In the Lord’s Prayer,
we simply ask that His will be done. If the will of Christ is done in our
lives, it will be enough! These men could not demand that Christ restore the
man’s tongue and loose his ears. So, they knew that the mercy of Christ would
do all things needful. We never inquire or suggest the means by which Christ
should answer our prayers, we should settle always for the happy result and not
the means. We might properly remember that “His ways are not OUR ways,
and our ways are not His ways.”
There is no secret formula or incantation whereby the miraculous works of God
are produced. The simple and mysterious manner in which Christ healed this man
could be replicated precisely a thousand times by mere men with no such result.
The power was not in the MEANS, but in the LORD! 33 “And he took
him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit,
and touched his tongue.” The example here is one of intimacy.
We would sooner drink from the same glass as our child than that of
another’s. When we are healed, it is a matter between the one being healed and
the healer. So Christ took the man away from the multitude. Our greatest
healing from sin is ALWAYS a matter of our coming face to face with Christ and
apart from the multitudes. Christ touched the man by placing His fingers in his
ears, and spit and touched His tongue. The man was not repelled by this
intimate touch. His great need was to speak and hear – not to worry about the
means. Many of my own prayers have been answered in amazing and surprising ways
– almost never the way I expected. Jesus is a Lord of surprises. He will answer
our prayers in ways that will result in our greatest benefit and in ways that
we could never have imagined. When we pray, we must expect to be touched by
Him, and we must expect to receive Him into our innermost being.
Christ did all things in perfect fellowship with the Father. When we undertake
to serve God with a great work, even though our intentions may be commendable,
we must first look to God. 34 “And looking up to heaven, he sighed,
and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.” Even our Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Begotten of the Father, looked to His Father in all of His works and
miracles. He did so because, first, He wished to have His Father’s concurrence
in all things; and, secondly, He desired to glorify the Father in all that He
did. So must we! Do we boast of our success at organizing a worship service
that attracts man, or our success at Bible studies that attract many? The glory
is not ours, but belongs to God. In healing, Jesus ALWAYS took compassion on
the person who sought it. The Good Samaritan was the only one who took
compassion on the poor Jew who lay dying on the Road to Jericho. He felt the
pain of the Jew. Jesus feels our pain as if it were His own. He makes Himself
One with whomever He touches to heal and forgive.
What was the results of the Lord’s command of “Ephphatha!”?
35 “And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of
his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.” When Christ speaks a
single word to our hearts, the response is immediate – just as immediate as
Paul’s being struck down on the road to Damascus. The
mystery of god is at work in opening eyes that they may see, or even in
blinding the eyes that we may KNOW Him as Paul was blinded on that Road. Once
our eyes have been opened to the beauty of the Lord, our tongues shall also
speak plainly of Him - “….the string of his tongue was
loosed, and he spake plain.”
The counsel of our Lord in the next verse may seem a bit strange, but it has a
great lesson secreted in its heart. 36 “And he charged them that
they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great
deal they published it.” Please tell me: was this not a bit
improbable that a man could be healed of speech and hearing and should remain
silent about it? Do you really believe that Jesus intended that they MUST not
tell anyone? Remember the young man, blind from birth, whose sight Jesus
restored and commanded to tell no one? Or do you remember the leper that Christ
healed whom He commanded, “Tell no man!”
What profound truth was Christ conveying with such counsel? I believe the
answer to that question is apparent based on what I know of the loving Lord.
How can a man who has been unable to speak keep silence after having his speech
restored? It is natural and irresistible that the first thing such a man will
do is practice his speech, and tell every soul how he recovered it. The same
with the blind man who was healed. How can he go home to his parents and not
tell them the obvious – that once he was blind, but now he sees? Or the leper,
who was forced to separate himself from friends and family, not tell all that
he no longer has leprosy and why?
Jesus is making this point: Once the power of god has worked a marvelous work
and a wonder in your soul, how can you keep silence even if commanded by God
Himself! Jesus is saying to us, “Though I command your silence from
telling others all that I have done in healing your guilty soul and your body,
you cannot bear to keep silence.” Once you have known Christ and His
Gospel, it will be IMPOSSIBLE for you to keep that secret! You must proclaim
the good news from the roof tops!
When Christ has forgiven your sins, and received you by adoption into the
family of God, all people will see the change and wonder of that marvelous work
come over you. 37 “And were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the
dumb to speak.” When Christ works a miracle in your life, it is
seldom solitary – it is a healing of all ills the first of which is your deadly
disease of sin. He practices ‘triage’ in addressing our most serious
affliction first – and that most serious affliction is always sin, for its end
is eternal death and darkness.
