SEP 6, 2009  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel Lesson for this Sunday, Mark 7:31-37. There we read these words:

Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Dear Christian friends,

Your Lord is more than able to perform any miracle He wishes, simply by speaking the Word.

When He met a demon-possessed man in Capernaum, Jesus flatly commanded the demon, "Be quiet! Come out of Him!" (Mark 1:25) Compelled by the divine power of Jesus' Words, "The evil spirit shook the man and came out of him with a shriek" (Mark 1:26).

"Some men came, bringing [to Jesus] a paralytic, carried by four of them" (Mark 2:3). Jesus said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home" (Mark 2:11). You know what happened.

Lazarus had died, and yet Jesus' Words are powerful over death. "Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen."

Beyond the power of His Words, our Lord performed many miracles by laying His hands upon His people. It was not necessary for Him to lay His hands on people. His Word was powerful in itself-yet He used His hands in His miracles for your blessing and benefit.

He is "very God of very God" (Nicene Creed), the Holy One of Israel, yet He grasped in His hands those who were leprous, those who were infected, those who were dead. By performing miracles with the touch of His hand rather than only with the Word of His mouth, Jesus showed Himself to be the God who is not too good for you. He is the God who refuses to be offended by your condition, the God who will not allow sin and sickness and death to separate Him from you.

The Son of God willingly lowered Himself into the cesspool of humanity, and having joined you and me here, He grabbed hold of you. He grabbed hold of you to heal you and to restore you.

Today St. Mark adds a new element to the hands-on miracle work that Jesus does for people:

Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Him to place His hand on the man. After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

Yes, Jesus spoke His powerful, healing Word to the man. Yes, He laid His hands on the man, sticking His fingers in His ears. To these things, our Lord adds the most basic element in His creation: spit-water from God.

Through this application of water joined to the divine Word "Ephphatha!" a miracle occurred. "The man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly." The miracle did not need Jesus' spit any more than it needed His hands; the divine Word is powerful in itself. Yet Jesus added this spit-this water from God-for your blessing and benefit.

Actually, there are several things about the miracle in today's Gospel that are beneficial to you:

1. First, you must look at this miracle in a general sense, as you do with all the miracles in the Scriptures. Here you have the God who has come to you for your healing and restoration. Purely out of divine compassion, God sent His Son Jesus Christ for the sake of your physical bodies as well as for your souls. Every person who is sound of body-with good eyes, ears hands, feet and all other members-ought to perceive these to be pure gifts of God, not just natural endowments as the world does. God is a God of life, and He gives sound body, good and sound limbs or members.

Every person who has experienced healing of the body-from the smallest scratch to the most major of surgeries-should rightly thank and praise the God who has provided such good gifts to you. Like the many other healing miracles in the Bible, today's Gospel shows you that Jesus is the source of your bodily healing and strength.

2. Think also about the specific illness in today's Gospel. "Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk." Your God is the God who opens ears that once could not hear and loosens tongues that once could not speak.

He is the God who makes you able to hear His divine Word, though you were once deaf to it; the God who makes you able to confess faith in Him, though you were once mute in your rebellion against Him.

What is a Christian? A Christian is one whose ears have been opened, so that the living and powerful Word of Christ may enter in. "Ears that hear and eyes that see-the LORD has made them both" (Proverbs 20:12).

A Christian is one whose tongue has been loosened, that the life-giving and sin cleansing Word may be confessed in the Church and to the world. "O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise" (Psalm 51:15).

[Jesus] looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

This is the miracle that happens daily and weekly throughout the Church, that your ears, which the devil stopped up through sin, are again opened by the Word, so that you receive it. that God also stirs your tongues and causes you to speak, as St. Paul says (Romans 10:10): "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

3. Finally, there is the value of Jesus' spit. This miracle is unique among the Lord's miracles because Jesus performs it, not only with the speaking of the Word or the laying on of His hands, but He adds a physical substance: "Jesus put His fingers into the man's ears. Then He spit and touched the man's tongue."

Your initial reaction to this miracle may be one of revulsion, because you think spit is gross. That's okay-most people in the world are repelled by our sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, too. People turned away from Jesus because they were grossed out by Him. Think, for example, of St. John chapter six, where the Jews argued among themselves, "How can this man [Jesus] give us His flesh to eat?"

Don't get hung up on the spit itself, dear saints. Look instead at what the spit represents: Your Lord Jesus has attached His miracle-producing Word to a physical substance. He joined His "ephphatha" to water.

In this miracle, Jesus gives you a reason to place your trust in those gifts He has given to you that are also physical substances joined to the miraculous Word. In today's Gospel, Jesus shows you that you must place your trust in Baptism and Holy Communion, for these are the very miracles of God in our midst.

Yes, Jesus has the power to forgive your sins simply by speaking forgiveness to you, just as He possesses the power to heal by His Word only. In fact, Jesus regularly speaks His forgiveness to you through His Word as you hear it preached, as you sing the liturgy, and as you receive Absolution "from the pastor as from God Himself"

Yes indeed, Jesus has the power to forgive your sins simply by speaking forgiveness to you. Yet His overwhelming compassion for you and His desire to give you many assurances has caused Him to do more than merely speak the Word to you.

As He joined His Word of healing to spit in today's Gospel, so also has He joined His Word of forgiveness and life to sacramental water, to sacramental bread and wine. God has spoken to you, not only in mere words, but also with his oath, and [He] has sealed it [His Words] with His holy sacraments, of which you can remind yourselves and with which you can comfort yourselves in your greatest temptations.

Keep the miracle in today's Gospel close to your hearts and minds, dear saints. See here your God in action for you, as well as for the "man who was deaf and could hardly talk."

Your tongues will not be loosed, your ears opened, [or] faith placed in your hearts without the outward, oral preaching of the Word and the external Sacraments. That is why you should cling to the Word tenaciously, since that is the best and surest way for your ears to be opened, your tongues freed, and for you to be saved.

Hear it now.

Christ Is Risen.