In preparation for my sermon, I did a review of Jesus' healing miracles. After quickly going through the four Gospels, I counted more than 25 different incidents where Jesus heals, including bringing back from the dead. I'm sure there were more, because like John says at the end of his book, "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the book that would be written." (John 21:25)

But if you were to look at the ones that were recorded, you will notice what He did when He healed them. Usually He touches them, and almost always He speaks.

I have a few samples. I'm sure you'll recognize some of these, but it might be kind of fun to hear them again, and see that you may know more about these miracles than you had thought.

Let's start with the paralyzed man. Although three Gospel writers record it, Luke and Mark report the one detail we probably remember best--his friends lowering him through the roof. At least for me, that always seems to be a memorable image when this story is told. Here's Mark's account:

"And when He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And He was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay."

Jesus first speaks words of forgiveness and the religious leaders from the denomination of the Pharisees, question His authority to do that. Jesus proves He is God, by showing He has God's ability to heal. Picking up again from Mark:

"(And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'My son, your sins are forgiven.' Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?' And immediately Jesus perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, 'Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Rise, take your bed and walk"? But...)

"'...that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins'--He said to the paralytic--'I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.' And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all." (Mark 2:3-12)

Did you notice what Jesus did to heal Him? He spoke. He just spoke, nothing more.

A lot of times, as I had said, He also touched as He spoke. Luke reports on this one woman who was crippled. "Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability." And He laid hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God." (Luke 13:10-13)

Another occasion was with the Apostle Peter's mother-in-law. Yes. Peter was married. Matthew reports: "And when Jesus entered Peter's house, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve them." (Matthew 8:14-5)

Later that same day, Luke reports what else happened in Capernaum. "Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them." (Luke 4:40) Did you notice? He touches them. He lays His hands on them and heals them.

Therefore when we come to today's reading, it's not a surprise that some unnamed people ask Jesus to lay His hands on the man who was deaf and had trouble speaking. That's usually what He does.

What is surprising is that He didn't just lay His hands on Him. He does it differently. He throws them off. For the man who is deaf, it wouldn't take anything for Jesus to heal Him. Speak; lay your hands on Him and he'll be fine.

But Jesus doesn't do just that. It's actually kind of a complicated process. It's like He is calling attention to this miracle.

Let's look really quickly at the steps involved in this miracle. He pulls him aside from the crowd. He puts His fingers in the man's ears. He squeezes His salivary glands and then spits it out. He touches the man's tongue. He sighs and then He finally speaks. That's a far cry more than the other healing miracles. Six steps.

He is. This is a special kind of miracle. Healing of people with leprosy, crippled people, sick people, even dead people don't have the same kind of attention. He touches them and speaks or sometimes just speaks and they are like they were supposed to be, the way they were created to be. But not for a hearing and speaking problem.

The man is literally deaf. He literally can't speak. Sounds waves go into his ears, but they stop there. They don't vibrate his eardrums, converting them into electronic impulses in the brain that are perceived as sound.

It's more than literal deafness. It points to a spiritual problem--the inability to hear the Gospel. St. Paul speaks about this problem to the Corinthians: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (I Corinthians 2:14) They can't hear, because it doesn't make sense to them. The Holy Spirit must change that person so they can hear and believe. It's also a speaking problem. They can't confess the faith, if they don't believe it.

Hmm...an issue to do with hearing and speaking. St. Paul talks about that with the Christians in Rome. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Romans 10:9-10) And just a couple verses later: "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ." (Romans 10:17) Belief is presented as hearing and the confession of faith as speaking.

This miracle, then, is talking about some serious matters. We're talking about faith, and faith is necessary for a person to be saved. Without faith, a person is eternally lost. With faith, eternal life beginning on earth and continuing on into heaven. Yes, this miracle points to some very weighty matters. Therefore, it is handled in a way that draws attention to it. This is not done easily. It takes several steps.

The spoken Word created faith in your heart. The Holy Spirit spoke and created Faith. For most of us, it was at our baptism when we couldn't understand the words. Some of us were older and could understand the words, but baptism still was the point where we knew the Holy Spirit had created faith. The creation of faith seems pretty simple, since it didn't call for anything from us, but it was still hardly simple.

To create faith, there had to be something for faith to grasp. What is saving faith if there is no saving? If Jesus had not died, what is faith all about? Therefore Jesus had to die. He had to be offered up on the cross. Jutting out at right angles from the center piece, were the arms of the cross. He had to have His arms of flesh extended out on the arms of wood.

Now picture Jesus sticking His fingers in this man's ears. Now I would hardly deny it was a type of sign language to the man who was deaf, but look at the picture as Jesus stuffs his fingers in this man's ears. Jutting out at right angles are Jesus' fingers, possibly even His arms, as Jesus demonstrates to the man and to us how it is that this man will hear and how all of us will believe. We are shown the semblance of the shape of a cross.

Could I just be getting a little creative? Is this intended? I don't know. I surely wouldn't say this was clearly what Jesus had in mind, but look at what it does for you. It calls your attention to the cross. As you know, there is no saving faith without the cross. Without the cross, where is faith--that is the faith that saves? Like Paul had said and you just heard not that long ago, "If you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved." (Romans 10:9b) Faith must grab the proclamation and take it for itself. It says, "Not only did He die and then rise from the dead, He did it for me." And you can't deny that Jesus goes through extra effort when He heals this deaf man.

Let's look at the steps again. First, pulls him aside from the crowd; second, puts His fingers in his ears; third, spits; fourth, touches his tongue; fifth, sighs; and then finally, sixth, says, "Be opened."

Most of these we could understand, but what's with the spit? What is He doing with the spit? I'm going to continue to with the idea that He is still pointing us to His crucifixion.

No way was this guy going to recognize it when it is happening, if it was to be recognized at all; but again, what does this do for us? It points to the cross. The cross is where faith turns. We see our sinfulness. We see our salvation won for us on the cross. We are killed by the letter of the Law, by its demands and therefore accusations when we can't meet them. Then we are given life. We are given life in the Gospel.

And so we look at this miracle as giving us the cross and we consider the spit forming in his mouth and then expelled. Remember the spear of the centurion? He stuck it into Jesus' body to see if He were dead and out of the hole he made in Jesus' side flowed water, water mixed with blood. What is saliva but mostly water? Whether intended or not, His action with the spit gives us another action at the cross.

And then the sigh. Before Jesus breathed His last, He cried out with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. John reports Jesus saying "It is finished." We can hear Jesus sigh as He says, "It is finished." The debt of sin is paid. It is one word in Aramaic, easily spoken while heaving a huge sigh. And then Luke adds the last detail, with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

So, this miracle was not done just for this man's sake. It was also done for ours. It points us to the miracle of faith, not easily accomplished, nor easily maintained.

We make a mistake when we think faith created just continues on its own. As Paul says, "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." What is to be killed? The natural man, the enemy that does not understand, nor hear, nor believe the Gospel, the enemy we heard about earlier, the one we wish wasn't there.

That's why we looked at the cross again today. That's why we heard about the way of salvation. To hear what we have been baptized into. To hear again our only hope. To hear, despite the natural man that would reject it, all that has been done for us, not only to give us life, but to keep us in it.

The Spirit has worked. He once opened your ears to hear the Word of Gospel. He has once again opened your ears to hear the word of Gospel, and just as Jesus did for the man who couldn't speak, He has loosed your tongue that you might confess the faith, speak of the wonders of our God who became flesh and died on the cross so you might live eternally.

AMEN