Be Amazed

Text: Mark 7:31-37

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          We live in incredible and amazing times. When I was young if someone had a phone in their car it was a sign of extreme wealth. Now almost every one of us carries one around in our pocket every day and doesn’t think a thing about it. The first computers would take up whole rooms. And now that same phone you have in your pocket can do a thousand times more, and faster, than what they started out with. It was just over 50 years ago that people marveled at astronauts going to the moon (at least we think they did) and now no one goes to the moon anymore. Not because we can’t, but because it’s just not that big of a deal. It used to be the set of encyclopedias on the family bookshelf was the source of all knowledge, and now our news and information comes to us 24/7 in ways we couldn’t have imagined a couple decades ago. Intelligence used to be conveyed through traditional teaching and learning and now our intelligence is produced artificially. These are incredible and amazing times.

But what seems to be most amazing is that none of this really seems to amaze us anymore. New discoveries and technologies happen so often that they no longer surprise us. People are stuck on the International Space Station after they discover their space shuttle is broken and it doesn’t phase us that we’ll just send another one up there in a couple of months to bring them home. We really only take notice of the amazing things all around us when they stop working correctly. When it takes 3 seconds for the internet page to load, or the wi-fi goes down in the middle of the Red Sox game. When the convenience of all this amazing stuff lets us down, that’s when we take notice. Which begs the question,

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO AMAZE YOU?

          It seems that maybe at times we also lose this sense of amazement when it comes to our God. Were you amazed when I read the Gospel reading this morning? Were you absolutely astonished by what was done for the man whose friends brought him to see Jesus? If you weren’t, or if you’re not when you hear about anything that Jesus has done, maybe you’re not paying close enough attention. Because what Jesus has done, and what God continues to do in our lives is amazing. Let’s start with what He did for the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. With a word Jesus heals the man “and his ears were opened, his tongue released, and he spoke plainly.”

It certainly strikes me that Jesus does this for the man, but what’s also incredible about this account is what Mark says about those who witnessed the event. “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” They were so amazed that they couldn’t keep their mouths shut about what Jesus had done.

In contrast, it’s awfully easy for us to keep our mouths shut about our God. Maybe it’s because we weren’t there and didn’t see it happen with our own eyes. Maybe we’ve heard the account so many times that it just doesn’t blow us away like it might have the first time. Are we really no longer amazed by God? It’s easy to talk about the weather or the Packers in Brazil on Friday night. But will you strike up a conversation with someone about the fact that Jesus healed a man who was deaf and couldn’t speak? Will you share with your neighbor the insights you received when you last read your Bible?

The word translated as deaf in today’s text can also be translated as dull or blunt. I wonder if we’re not more like this deaf man that Jesus healed than we’d like to admit. Has our faith become dull? Does the message of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ no longer strike you as the amazing news it once did? Does your conscience bother you less and less when you do wrong? Maybe lying to your spouse, or on your taxes, has become easier and easier over time. Viewing inappropriate content produces less and less guilt than it once did. Maybe attending church, Bible study, or just reading your Bible seems like more of a chore than it once was. When our hearts become deaf to the amazing work of our God, it’s no wonder that our faith seems to be more dull.

If this is happening to you, there’s only one place to go and one thing to do. And it’s the exact thing that the deaf man’s friends do. They bring him to Jesus. “They begged him to lay His hand on him.” And when they brought him there, the word of Jesus opens the man’s ears and loosens his tongue. Our Lord still works in people’s lives through His Word. It’s why you’re always encouraged to worship and be in the Word daily. Come on over to Bible Class after worship where we’ll be introducing an opportunity to easily incorporate the Word of God into your home on a daily basis.

Through His Word, Jesus speaks powerfully into our lives. And He does it in the same was He spoke to the deaf man. We might not need our ears literally opened, but we certainly need our hearts and minds opened to His Word. And when they are, we hear His Law, which exposes our spiritual deafness.  And then with His Gospel, He tells us the story of His great love for us, sealed and delivered at the cross. With that message, He’s able to open every heart, and make our ears which are dulled by sin hear clearly the Good News of His love and forgiveness.

This is a message that should never cease to amaze us. Even though we’ve heard it before and continue to hear it time and time again, it should be new and real to us every single time. And it should remind us of how God has worked this love and forgiveness for our good. How He brought you through that surgery and led you through recovery. How He led you to your spouse and gave you your children. How He walked with you through the valley of sorrow at the loss of a loved one. How He preserved you when it seemed like the worst was sure to happen. Only you know fully all the ways that God’s work has been amazing in your own life. Don’t forget it. And be prepared for all the amazing things He still has in store for you. Not only in this life, but in eternity as well. Because the eternal beauty, and joy, and delight of heaven will definitely amaze you.

In our text, the people who saw what Jesus had done were so amazed by His healing miracle, that they too had their tongues loosed. They couldn’t stop talking about what they had seen Jesus do. As God amazes you with all He does for you, may you too have your tongues loosened, so that you can’t help talking about what Jesus has done for you. Because God is doing amazing things in your life. And He says to all of us, “Ephphatha.” Open your eyes and your ears and be amazed. And then tell the world all about Him. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.