Mark 7:31-37 Jesus Opens Our Ears So We Now Hear God

The Text

Mark 7:31–37 (CSB)
³¹ Again, leaving the region of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.

³² They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking and begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.

³³ So he took him away from the crowd in private. After putting his fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, he touched his tongue.

³⁴ Looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).

³⁵ Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly.

³⁶ He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more they proclaimed it.

³⁷ They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Devotion

When God speaks in matters of the spiritual, supernatural, and the heart, there are no guarantees that Man will understand what is being said--not until God supernaturally gives us a new heart and His Spirit.

Not even the Disciples understood what was going on. They did not get it until the Spirit fell on them. Judas Iscariot was a faithful attender and heard every single one of Christ's sermons. Yet, he perished in his sin.

Mark 8:18-21 (CSB) Do you have eyes and not see; do you have ears and not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect?” “Twelve,” they told him. 20 “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they said. 21 And he said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?”

Luke 14:34-35 (CSB) “Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Mark 4:21-25 (CSB) He also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and more will be added to you. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Yet, we know that when God speaks, it does exactly what it accomplishes. The Bible does not say it happens instantly.

For:

Isaiah 55:11 (CSB) so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.

and

John 3:8 (CSB) The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Christ is giving the gospel commandment: Repent for the kingdom of God is now.

If you do not understand, then cry out out to God that he will open your ears because you are deaf to absolute reality.

Revelation 2:17 (CSB) Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.