Jesus Gave Out Hearing Aids - Day 28

“They brought to [Jesus] 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 finger 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.” (Mark 7:32-35)
Actually Jesus himself was the hearing aid, and the speaking aid. Once the man could hear he could then speak. His hearing and his speaking were connected. Jesus used some spit, he touched the man, he said, “Be opened,” and the man could hear and speak.
I know that I sometimes need to have my ears opened. I know that I am sometimes deaf, that I sometimes don’t hear clearly, that I sometimes have selective hearing. I also know that my hearing problems lead to speaking problems. I know that I am this man in the story. I may not actually be deaf, but I am sometimes tone deaf, emotionally deaf, deaf to what is important, deaf even to God. I know that I need healing.
How about you? Do you always hear clearly and speak clearly? Do you ever half hear your spouse or child or partner or boss or employee? Do you ever shut down your ears because you don’t want to hear? I think we might call this “Willful-Deafness.” It is a pretty prominent condition.
If some folks, like this man in the story, brought you to Jesus, and if Jesus took you aside and if he spat and touched your tongue and if he said “Ephphatha” over you, what do you think he would want you to hear? I have some clues. “My brother, my sister, be well, be whole, be happy, be secure, be strong, be forgiven and forgiving, be loved and loving, be God’s.” And once we had heard all this, once our ears had been opened to hear Jesus, how might he want our tongue to be released? What might he want us to say? The same.
Many of us are a bit deaf. Many of us have an impediment in our speech. Jesus healed then. Jesus can heal now.