Worship Helps for Pentecost 16
Title: Jesus Heals a Deaf
Man
Artist: Walter Rane
In this
painting, Rane emphasizes the actual healing process rather than who is
performing the miracle. The focus is upon the two sets of hands: Christ's
lovingly stretched forth in tenderness, the blind man's twisted and anxious
while being healed, thereby capturing the blind man's hope of being released
from a pitiable condition. Rane used sandpaper to scrub out the background to
eliminate distractions so the viewer focuses on the two main figures.
Worship Theme: If you can
hear, you probably take your sense of hearing for granted. Yet what a
wonderful gift from God your sense of hearing is! You can hear how Jesus
died for you. You can receive not just into your ears, but deep inside
you, the whole wondrous message of God’s rescue. You can hear the same
good news Adam and Noah heard, the same good news Isaiah, Peter and Jesus
preached—preached even to a man who previously had been a deaf-mute.
Old Testament: Isaiah 35:4-7a
4Tell those who have a fearful heart: Be
strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your God will come with vengeance. With God’s
own retribution, he will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the
blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. 6The
crippled will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.
Waters will flow in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland. 7The
burning sand will become a pool, and in the thirsty ground there will be springs
of water.
1. In chapter 34 Isaiah
foretold horrors – total destruction for all nations, all the stars of heaven
being dissolved and the sky rolling up like a scroll. Now what does
Isaiah describe? That is, if chapter 34 pictures Judgment Day, what will
follow Judgment Day (according to chapter 35)?
2. What will happen to the
blind and deaf specifically? (See 35:5)
Epistle: Acts 3:1–10
1Peter and John were going up to the temple
at the ninth hour, an hour of prayer. 2A certain man who was lame
from birth was carried there every day and placed at the temple gate, which is
called Beautiful, so that he could beg for donations from those entering the
temple. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he
asked them for a donation.
4Peter looked directly at him, as did John.
Peter said, “Look at us.” 5So the man paid close attention to them,
expecting to receive something from them.
6But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not
have, but what I have I will give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the
Nazarene, get up and walk!” 7Peter took him by the right hand and
raised him up, and immediately the man’s feet and ankles were made strong. 8Jumping
up, he stood and began to walk. He entered the temple courts with them, walking,
jumping, and praising God.
9All the people saw him walking and
praising God. 10They recognized him as the one who used to sit
begging for money at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled
with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
3. How did Peter and John
give the lame man ability to walk? (See 3:6)
4. How did the man respond
to his healing?
Gospel: Mark 7:31–37
31Jesus left the region of Tyre again
and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the
Decapolis.
32They brought a man to him who was
deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on
him. 33Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put
his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34After
he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means
“Be opened!”) 35Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue
was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36Jesus gave the people
strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept
proclaiming it. 37They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has
done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”
5. Why does Jesus use sign
language as he heals the deaf man?
6. Once healed, the deaf
man “spoke clearly.” What is the significance?
7. Why did Jesus not want
them to tell anyone about the miracle that just had taken place?
Answers:
1. After Judgment Day,
everything ruined will be restored in general. The ultimate restoration
(35:8-10) will be when all of the Lord’s people walk the Way of Holiness.
They will re-enter God’s eternal city, the New Jerusalem, with great gladness
as sorrow and sighing flee away.
2. Isaiah says that the
blind will see and the deaf will hear.
3. Peter and John said to
the lame man, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
4. The formerly lame man
went into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. Note
that he did not go around touting Peter and John. They were not the real
cause of the healing. God was, through his risen Son, Jesus. The
man could not have been more certain.
5. Jesus probably used sign
language because the poor man could not have understood what Jesus was doing if
he had spoken to him. Jesus used sign language to help the deaf man
gather what was about to happen and to give him faith in Jesus.
6. The fact that the deaf
man spoke clearly after Jesus healed him shows that Jesus healed the man
perfectly. The deaf man did not have to go to a speech therapist to learn how
to pronounce words.
7. Jesus told people not to
tell anyone about this miraculous healing because he did not want fame and popularity
for his miraculous healing. Rather, he wanted people to talk about him as the
Son of God and their Savior from sin.
Take care of yourself. Don’t let the world pollute your
thinking. Keep moral garbage out of your diet. Keep your spirit pure. This is
good advice for Christian stewards. We are to be constantly evaluating our
relationship to God and to others, especially to others who hold a common faith
in the Lord. God’s Word serves as a mirror into which we can peer to examine
ourselves and how we manage our lives for the Lord. We can then make the proper
adjustments. God will bless such changes. We are not only to plan our actions,
but to actually do them. For Christian stewards, the joy is in the doing, in
the giving, in the serving. May your life always be one of service to God, the
Church, and others.
This commandment forbids all sins of
the tongue [James 3], by which we may injure or confront our neighbor. To bear false witness is nothing else than a
work of the tongue. Now, God prohibits
whatever is done with the tongue against a fellow man. This applies to false preachers with their
doctrine and blasphemy, false judges and witnesses with their verdict, or
outside of court by lying and speaking evil.
Here belongs the detestable vice of speaking behind a person’s back and
slandering, to which the devil spurs us on.
It is a common that everyone prefers hearing evil more than hearing good
about his neighbor. We ourselves are so
bad that we cannot allow anyone to say anything bad about us. Yet we cannot bear that the best is spoken
about others.
To avoid this vice we should note
that no one is allowed publicly to judge and reprove his neighbor—even though he
may see him sin—unless he has a command to judge and to reprove. There is a great difference between these two
things: judging sin and knowing about sin.
You may know about it, but you are not to judge it. I can indeed see and hear that my neighbor sins. But I have no command to report it to
others. If I judge and pass sentence, I
fall into a sin that is greater than his.
But if you know about it, do nothing and cover it until you are
appointed to be judge and to punish by virtue of your office. – Large
Catechism, Part I, the Eighth Commandment, paragraphs 263-266
1 To God be the glory; great things he has
done!
He so loved the world that he
gave us his Son,
Who yielded his life an
atonement for sin
And opened the life-gate that
all may go in.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord! Praise the
Lord! Let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the
Lord! Let the people rejoice!
Oh, come to the Father
through Jesus the Son
And give him the glory—great
things he has done!
2 Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of
blood,
To ev’ry believer the promise
of God;
The vilest offender who truly
believes,
That moment from Jesus a
pardon receives.
Refrain
3 Great things he has taught us, great things
he has done,
And great our rejoicing
through Jesus the Son,
But purer and higher and
greater will be
Our joy and our wonder when
Jesus we see.
Refrain
Text: Fanny J. Crosby,
1820–1915, alt.
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