Today as we consider Jesus and the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment that Jesus took aside privately, put his fingers into [the man’s ear], and after spitting touched [the man’s tongue]. And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to [the man], “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And [the man’s] ear were opened, his tongue was released, and the man spoke plainly,
we consider how off alignment our ears and our tongues get.
I don’t know much about cars, but I know that things like wheels have to get re-aligned sometimes.
Things like wheels begin to not function the way the auto-maker intended them to function.
And apparently, says Discount Tires, that place right behind Breakfasttime, this “off alignment” affects other parts of the vehicle, too, like the tires.
I hope you see where this is going.
Your ears and your tongue, right now, and for the last 30 minutes or so, have been receiving a realignment from Your Maker and Savior.
Your ears are realigned by and opened through hearing good, true, and beautiful things – God’s Word.
And, then with ears opened by God to hear,
“Ephphatha” that is “be opened,”
your tongue is realigned to and released through the speaking, singing, and praying of good, true, and beautiful things,
quite plainly – plain as just speaking the Creed and singing the hymns and praying the liturgy.
And you have been confessing with your mouth, after hearing with your ears, and believing with your heart, quite plainly, that your ears and tongue have done things that are not good, true, or beautiful –
and that when your ears and tongue are off alignment, this has affected other things, like your listening to God, your speaking to God, and your loving your neighbor, who you also ought have opened ears for, as well as a released tongue to speak well of, and pray for, and encourage in the good, true, and beautiful.
So, indeed, being realigned now, we’ll need it again soon, too.
***
With ears re-aligned again, we ask a very important question?
How does God speak to me?
He gives you His Word – He gives you His Word – He gives you His Word.
Is that emphasized clearly enough?
But, then, then, we also ought know, God give us our neighbor to love, and that love is expressed in different ways, but in all ways, it is connected with listening.
So, for example, for children, God gives the Third Commandment, which has to do with open their ear to His Word, followed then by the Fourth Commandment, which has to do with opening their ears to their father and mother.
If children want to know how to hear God, then most of the time they don’t have to listen further than the very close mouth of their father and mother.
So on down the line, God opens the ears of husbands to listen to their wives,
and wives to their husbands,
and students to their teachers,
and then on through all the people you see and touch and know on your Monday’s and Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s.
God is close to you in them.
Now this listening can be abused, of course, when others speak things contrary to God’s Word – that’s why God tunes us to His Word first.
But the point is that Jesus, who took this man aside privately, and touched him, sends you out, with ears open and tongue released out to real people, private life and public life, that you can touch, and listen to, and speak plainly to.
Doing God pleasing things in our daily life is not often fabulous or fantastic looking to us,
but found in real life –
providing for others goods and services in the workplace,
or providing money for your family and church,
or feeding others,
helping others be clothed and clean,
helping teach others, with tongue released, wisdom from the world and wisdom from God’s Word,
but also in listening with two ears, and speaking with one mouth,
thus listening twice as much as we speak.
***
While we want to emphasize the spiritual aspect of this miracle in opening ears and releasing tongue, because that’s what Jesus is doing right now for you,
we also don’t want to miss that fact that Jesus also really cared about this man’s bodily sense of hearing and speaking.
Those are gifts from God, too.
Your hearing and your speaking are not natural, as if they came from billions of evolution,
they are miracles,
as is everything that your body does and everything that your body receives.
And God uses you, in that real life of yours, in some ways to give His gifts of body and soul to others.
It is a miracle and a gift from God that He uses you, fabulous and fantastic looking in His sight,
but it isn’t always pretty in your sight to do these things, it takes blood, sweat, tears, time, and money – pain and effort.
But that’s how Jesus works.
Jesus privately, put his fingers into [the man’s ear], and after spitting touched [the man’s tongue]. And looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to [the man], “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And [the man’s] ear were opened, his tongue was released, and the man spoke plainly,
Why does Jesus do such vivid actions to open this man’s ears and release this man’s tongue?
We don’t exactly know,
but Luther makes the point that Jesus is trying to teach us this was not easy for Jesus, it took effort, pain even,
blood, sweat, tears, time, to love this man,
even as you loving your neighbor takes the same.
Neighbors are loved at your cost.
And you are loved, you receive every good and gracious gift at the cost of the effort, even the suffering and death of Jesus.
Yes, the spiritual things like the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the promises of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting,
but so also bodily things, that God is Father Almighty, maker and preserver of heaven and earth and you.
That this Word that you hear today preached to you, that you have a gracious God toward you, body and soul, was at the cost of Jesus hearing blasphemies and insults.
That this Word that releases your tongue to pray to Him, and confess that God is so good, that He saved my soul, that He cares for me, was at the cost of Jesus who was spat on.
That this Word that you hear,
that heaven is “Ephphathed” that is “opened” to you, by He who sighed and looked up to heaven that day,
and with heaven “Ephphathed” that is “opened,” God Himself is present to bless you, along with the blessings and protections of the angels and archangels, here and everywhere you go,
and with heaven “Ephphathed” that is open, you know that the Son of God has appeared not to destroy you, but to destroy and release you from the works of the devil,
and that He who touched that man’s tongue, touches your tongue today with His body and blood, to do all things well for you, to forgive you, renew you, and strengthen you,
is also the one who had His tongue touched with sour wine before He cried out with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit.
Blood, sweat, tears, pain, effort, indeed –
to realign you with God, and you are, and you will be.
So hear Him,
and confess Him,
and sing of Him and to Him,
and be realigned by Him and with Him,
and then through Him, continue to help, as you have been, to make things a little more well for the people God puts in the path of your ears and tongue.