When was the last time you were “astounded beyond measure?” My guess is that it was an occasion which rendered you speechless, perhaps one in which you were overcome with joy, or one in which you were humbled in the face of some kind of overwhelming generosity. My family has a quirky little story to tell about the last time we were astounded beyond measure. It’s kind of funny, kind of scary, and it happened just last weekend. Although we were not eyewitnesses, we’ve heard about it from everybody who was there.

The occasion was the 95th birthday of Art’s uncle’s mother. She lives in a retirement home in Tallahassee, Florida. The extended family had assembled for a birthday party that was to be held Sunday afternoon after church. Big Mama, as she is lovingly known, went off to church with her son and daughter-in-law. Unfortunately, during the singing of a hymn, she fainted. Like one minute she was singing and the next minute they looked over and she was flat out on the pew. What became terrifying almost immediately is that nobody could feel a pulse. It appeared that Big Mama had died – during the singing of the sermon hymn in The First United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, Florida last Sunday morning – of all times and places. The ambulance was called and it wasn’t until on the way to the hospital that the paramedic began to get a very faint pulse.

In the emergency room, Big Mama was put through a thorough examination. The doctor obviously wanted to admit her overnight, to make sure she was going to be okay. But when the doctor asked her if that suited her, Big Mama replied that she couldn’t possibly spend the night in the hospital because she had her own birthday party to attend in just a few hours, and she wasn’t willing to miss that. And the doctor wisely replied, “Well, Mrs. Drake, you are 95 years old and I guess you have every right to do what you want to do.” He, no less than every member of the family, was astounded beyond measure by the turn of events last Sunday…

Jesus consistently astounds people beyond measure. Whether it is in his teachings, in his healings, in his miracles, or in his actions, people are astounded beyond measure. In the instance we have in Mark’s gospel today, people are astounded beyond measure by Jesus’ healing of a deaf man suffering from a speech impediment. Despite Jesus’ request to not pass on news of this healing, the man and his friends couldn’t help themselves – they proclaimed the miracle to any and all. As Mark says, “They were astounded beyond measure, saying ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’”

But this is not an isolated event. As you look in Mark’s gospel over what precedes and what follows this particular story, a pattern emerges. Beginning with the Feeding of the Five Thousand in chapter 6, Mark relates a series of miracles, including the miracle we hear about today and another about restoring a blind man’s sight. Along the way, Jesus encounters the antagonism of the scribes and Pharisees and the lack of faith of the disciples. Despite what the disciples have witnessed in the Feeding of the Five Thousand, it is only a short time later that they are heard complaining to Jesus that they are hungry and that there isn’t any bread to eat. Jesus says, in a passage following this story: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?”

In other words, Jesus wishes they could hear the connections and see the pattern. The feeding of the 5000, the healing of the deaf man, the healing of the blind man… Jesus has come to impart physical healing – yes – yes – yes - but his greater purpose is opening spiritual eyes and ears. On the surface, people are being physically healed, but underneath the surface, and more signficantly, people are being spiritually healed. As Jesus sees it, spiritual healing is what is at stake; and for the disciples and the rest of us, our spiritual healing in Christ is our salvation, our saving.

The questions which allow us to put ourselves into the saving story which we hear in Mark’s gospel today are: “What may we be blind to?” and “What may we be deaf to?” Those questions ought to give us pause. We spend a lot of time talking about our convictions and what we’re sure of, but how often do we grab hold of humility and find the grace to ask, “What may I be blind to?” “What may I be deaf to?”

Which brings us squarely to our epistle reading for today, part of the Letter of James. Our own spiritual blindness and deafness are not only a hazard to our souls, but to others as well. The portion of the letter we hear today is a call to remember that the fullness of truth and the fullness of purpose belong only to God. “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth…”

Being “doers of the word, and not hearers only” means having the humility to bring our eyes, our ears, our minds and our hearts to Christ to be spiritually reopened and thus spiritually healed. And it is only in that context, then, that we can truly treat our neighbors right.

To have spiritually opened and spiritually healed eyes and ears means to see and hear our neighbors differently. Newly awakened eyes and ears allows us to hear and see with the eyes and ears of Christ – being quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. Spiritually healed and awakened eyes and ears allows us to perceive the miracles and healings and wonders that God performs in the world each day, and to find ourselves grateful and astounded beyond measure.

We’d do well to grab hold of humility this morning, as we pray for ourselves and for others: “What may I be spiritually blind to? What may I be spiritually deaf to?” And the answers God brings to us, through spiritually healed eyes and ears, may astound us beyond measure.

We’d do well, also, to remember that the mercy of God himself is astounding beyond measure. As that lovely hymn goes:

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea; there’s a kindness in his justice, which is more than liberty. There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good; there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood. For the love of God is broader than the measure of the mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more faithful, we should take him at his word; and our life would be thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord.”

May our eyes and ears; our hearts and minds find it so.

Amen.