Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers who lived in what is today Turkey right around 300 AD. They were raised in the Christian faith and eventually they died for it, executed together with three other brothers. Many Christian martyrs whom we remember today were pastors or missionaries, but not these two. Cosmas and Damian were doctors. We don’t know a lot about them for sure, but there are a number of legends about them. In those days there weren’t hospitals, and doctors typically sold their services to whomever would pay the best. So wealthy people could find care for their illnesses, but the poor often could not.
Cosmas and Damian did something unheard of. They offered their services for free, out of Christian love. For this they earned the nickname, “The Anargyroi” – “The Unmercenaries.” People from their community and people from all over came to them for treatment, and a great many people had their illnesses cured. The stories say that it was more than just natural cures. There were miraculous cures, including their most famous legend which says they were the first doctors ever to transplant a leg. And through their work many people came to faith.
Stories like this are always fascinating. They’re wonderful, but they do also leave us with questions. Did these miracles really happen, or was it just some good medical care that seemed miraculous? How much of the story is true, and how much of it is made up or exaggerated? What about that transplanted leg? Did that really happen? Was it a miracle?
It’s certainly possible that many stories like these are pious legends – fictional tales based on only a little bit of truth. The details are often sparse. The stories sometimes originate centuries after the time in which the people lived. They’re very different from the accounts about Jesus. And yet they’re pious because the same Jesus who sustains us is the one who sustained the saints of old. In his compassion Jesus did miraculously heal people who were disabled and sick. He cares for those in need. And they receive healing from Jesus who does all things well.
Our Gospel from Mark 7 describes one of these great miraculous healings of Jesus. This took place in a region called the Decapolis, which was Gentile territory, over on the eastern side of the sea of Galilee. Jesus had a reputation even here as someone who heals, and so Mark tells us that they brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. Those two things often go together. It could be just that the man never learned to speak, since we learn to speak by listening. But some of the details in this account make it seem more likely that he had a physical defect with his tongue as well.
This man truly had some great hardship in life. With this kind of disability, this man was cut off from the rest of society. John Donne famously said that no man is an island, but this must have felt like he was. Back then they didn’t have sign language interpreters, and most people never learned to read. Today we have more ways that we could help someone like this, but life can still be pretty hard for someone who is deaf or mute. We live in a noisy world. We use sound to communicate and to function in other ways. It’s not easy if you can’t hear. It’s not easy if you can’t speak.
But even more than just the challenges of everyday life, this man had some great spiritual hindrance. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ,” Paul says. As Jesus traveled he spoke. He taught. He preached. He said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” But what about the man who can’t hear?
The people who brought this man to Jesus pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. That’s a small detail in this account but it’s a significant one. These people, probably relatives and friends, clearly believed that Jesus was able to heal him. They cared for this man, just as we ought to care for those in need. And they went to Jesus boldly, begging for his help. What a great example for us, for our prayers. You know people who are in need of Jesus’ help. You know people who suffer with disabilities, or with health struggles, or who face countless other challenges in this life. Most of all, you know people who are deaf to the Gospel. For all of them, go to Jesus in prayer. Pray boldly. Plead with him for his mercy.
Jesus responded to their pleading for this man right away. But before he healed him he took some steps to show his loving care. He took the man away from the crowds. He wasn’t there to make a show for the people, but he did want this man to focus on him. He put his fingers into the man’s ears and spit and touched the man’s tongue. This was a simple sign language. And with his look up to heaven Jesus showed him that all help comes from above. Even Jesus’ sigh showed his heartfelt compassion for this man, the same compassion he has for all people who are in the misery of suffering and afflicted by sin. This is what Jesus came for. He came for a world of people, his creation, who were in the misery of suffering and afflicted by sin. And all of those miseries, all of those sufferings, all of those sins, were what he came to take on himself. This sigh of Jesus he sighed for this man, but in this man he was seeing all of us. He sighed for you.
Finally, he spoke one word, “Ephphatha!” This is an Aramaic word, and so Mark gave the Greek translation “Be opened.” One word of Jesus is all it takes. The Word of God is powerful and effective. When God said, “Let there be light” it was. When Jesus said to the dead daughter of Jairus, “Little girl, get up!,” she did. And when Jesus said to this man “Ephphatha—be opened,” it didn’t matter that he was deaf and couldn’t hear the word Jesus said. It was the word that made him hear. His ears were opened. His tongue was loosened. He began to speak plainly. No rehab necessary. No learning how to speak. This miraculous cure not only cured the nerves and muscles of his tongue, but it also patched up all those pathways from the mind that we use to communicate and express ourselves to others.
This miracle is a heartwarming story, and as human beings we can’t help but empathize with someone like this. But it’s more than just a story about a disabled man from long ago who was healed. We can see ourselves in this man. In healing him Jesus gave us a picture of how he cares for us, body and soul. This is how Jesus brings us to faith.
This man didn’t wake up that morning and decide to go to Jesus. It was his friends and family who brought him. Who first brought you to Jesus? For many of you, it was your parents. And for many of you, that was when you were baptized. If you were baptized as a baby you certainly didn’t wake up and decide to go see Jesus. Or maybe you came to faith later in life. How many people were there caring for you, pleading with Jesus to help you, bringing you to him?
You were helpless, but the word of Jesus is what overcame the deafness of your unbelief. That word can be spoken or read. It can be attached to baptism. It can be found proclaimed here at church, and it can be found studied at your home. But Jesus is the one who is speaking, and the Word of God is powerful and effective. Thanks to him your ears are open to hear, and your mouth is open to sing his praises.
This account in Mark ends with Jesus giving strict orders to the people not to tell anyone. We find this same thing in other places. Jesus’ goal was the cross and he didn’t want anything getting in the way. It didn’t really work. People talked about it anyway, and we can’t help but sympathize. Who wouldn’t want to talk about such a great miracle? Thankfully, we don’t have to keep it a secret. Since we’re living after the resurrection there’s no keeping quiet anymore. Go ahead and tell everyone about the goodness of God!
This little account of the deaf and mute man is a beautiful story of the love and care of Jesus. It cannot be said that this man deserved anything from God. What had he done? But the compassion of Jesus is so overflowing that Jesus cannot help but see this man in his misery and save him.
We don’t often see miracles like this. We might describe someone’s recovery from illness as a miracle, and that very well might be true. Any honest doctor will tell you that doctors are not in full control of everything. God is surely at work in his creation. But it’s still not quite the same as if Jesus came and with just a word you were fully cured. And yet we can have confidence that whether we see miracles or not, Jesus is with us with his loving care. That’s the promise of the cross, that if our sins are taken away and we are God’s own dear children, we will not be forgotten by him.
Our own love and care for others comes from this. What do you think that deaf and mute man spent the rest of his life doing? If you were him, wouldn’t it be telling everyone what Jesus did for you? But is it any less wonderful that Jesus has taken your sins? Is it any less wonderful that he has revealed to you his grace, and given you a faith that trusts in him, and promised to you that in him you will never die? That’s some joyful news worth sharing.
And finally, this healing power of Jesus is what will heal all of our weaknesses and pains when we see him. Sometimes in this life we will plead with him for healing and the answer will be “No. You might not understand why, but it’s for your good.” But even then we have the promise that on the day when Jesus appears, when he raises all the dead back to life, with nothing more than a word we will be glorified with him. No more mourning or pain. Ears opened. Tongues loosened. Hearts gladdened, for the dwelling of God is with man, and where he is, evil is not.
I don’t know if there were actually miracles performed through the twin doctors, the unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian. But the Lord Jesus in whom they trusted is the same Lord Jesus in whom we trust. This Jesus is mighty to save. This Jesus is compassionate. He heals bodies and souls. He has done everything well.
Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson