St Mark 7:31-37/2 Corinthians 3:4-11/Isaiah 29:17-34
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Sometimes we feel our fallenness most acutely not in the sins that we ourselves commit, but in the sins that we suffer from living in a fallen world and from the hands of evil people. We realize in those times that its not that we need to try harder, that we need pep talks, life coaches, or twelve-step programs.
We realize that we are not sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. We realize that what we endure because of sin is far bigger than what we do or don’t do. Far bigger, even, than our thoughts, words, or deeds. Sin is a cancer that infects and destroys everything around us.
And we are left dazed, even confused. We are left overwhelmed and exasperated. And we are tired. Just so tired. So we groan. We sigh. We sigh in pain, in exhaustion, in disbelief. When our family and friends let us down, when they don’t stick up for us, or worse, when they take advantage of us, when they betray us – we feel so sharply the effects of sin. These are the effects of the curse, by the sweat of your face you shall eat and you will surely die.
And so we try to ignore it. We try to shrug it off. We try to comfort ourselves with what we tell others: “It’ll be okay. Look for the silver lining.” But some things we endure can’t be shrugged off. Some things can’t be ignored. They are too deeply personal. They gnaw at us because we know this is not how things are supposed to be. This is not how God intended it to be when He saw all that He had made and said that it was very good.
St Paul says that what we experience is what the whole creation experiences. The whole creation groans and sighs as it suffers and endures the realities of sin in the world; that sickness and death and evil are part of our daily experience. We live under the weight of sin, the weight of death and loss, the weight of loneliness and betrayal. We live under the curse; under the Law, what St Paul calls the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone. .
And this is why we sigh and groan. Because by faith we know this is not how it’s supposed to be. Our flesh is weak. We are tired. We cry out, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!, because we’re hurt and confused and we don’t know what to do.
It is in this desperation, this insufficiency of themselves, that the deaf-mute is brought by his friends to Jesus. For our sufficiency is from God.
They begged Jesus to lay His hand on him; to fulfill the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah, In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the Book; or the promises of the Psalm, The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners (146:7-8).
They bring him to Jesus because they know He alone is sufficient. Christ alone is more than enough. Oh to have friends such as these! To be a friend such as this. To bring others – even ourselves – to private confession; to that uncomfortable and awkward place where Jesus prods us with His fingers and spits in our mouths. Where He sighs and breathes His blessing upon us to lift the curse; to cleanse us of the sins that we have done and that have been done to us. Oh that we would seek Jesus where He promises to be!
For here is Jesus, the Lord of Life, the Lord God of creation, who in the beginning made all things good, and who now, has done all things well, that is He works all things good. For He alone is Good. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. He sets creation free from its bondage to corruption, free to obtain the glory of the children of God (Rom 8:21).
For He was the One who subjected all creation to futility! Not willingly, but in hope (Rom 8:20). God is for you! Indeed for you and for your salvation, He came down from heaven. He took up the flesh and blood – the body – of man. And in the body, it is God who sticks His fingers into this deaf man’s ears. It is God who spits and grabs the man’s tongue. It is God who sighs, and speaks His creative Word, Ephphatha.
Yes, my friends, the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, sighs. But when He sighs it is different than your sighs. To be sure He feels your pain. He knows your emptiness. But there is more than that. He knows that there is a cure.
His sighs are more than expressions of the curse consigned upon creation. His sighs are also blessings; the breathing out of the life-breathing breath. His sighs undo the curse. They overcome and overpower it. His sighs give. For when He sighs He breathes in the curse and breathes out His blessings. He gives a part of Himself, His Word, His Spirit. Ephphatha, Be opened. Be released. Be forgiven. Be holy. Be restored.
For that ultimate sigh, that great giving up of the Spirit of life is done upon the Cross. He does all things well, that is, He works all things good. And that Good Friday, the Lord of life completes His work. He undoes the curse. He restores fallen creation. He redeems His broken creatures.
Consider this: In the beginning our Lord created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. They were good. On the sixth day He stooped into the dust to form man, breathed the Spirit of life into them, male and female, and it was very good. The fall sowed chaos where there was order; death where there was life; separation where there was fellowship.
Now the One who breathed life into Adam comes in the flesh of Adam to undo the curse. And on the sixth day this Second Adam submits Himself to the punishment of that curse – death. And breathing out His last He reconciles all men unto Himself and to the Father. He sighs. It is finished!
And now, our resurrected Lord comes to breathe His life-giving breath upon us. He breathes out His Spirit through your pastor and your sins are forgiven; they are ministers of a new covenant of the Spirit who gives life.
He breathes out His Spirit in water and Word and you are birthed from above in Holy Baptism.
He breathes out His Spirit in the Word that says, “This is My Body. This is My Blood.” And by His Word, they are.
Our Lord is still in His Church doing what He did for the deaf-mute; unstopping ears by the hearing of His preached Word and loosing tongues to confess His Name. Is this not what the man does? And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly, that is orqws, as in orthodoxy. Right praise. Right confession. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your Name.
The crowd is astonished by these things. He makes the deaf hear. He makes the mute speak. He gives sight to the blind. He sets the captive free. He exalts the humble. These are Messianic activities. Signs of the Coming One.
And they continue today. Today the One who comes in the Name of the Lord comes into your midst. For the Holy Eucharist is the supreme locus of the Messianic presence and activity among us. For here, O Zion, your God opens your once deaf ears to hear His Word, “Take eat; take drink; this is My Body and My Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And He opens your mouth to receive Life itself in the midst of sorrow and sighing.
And at this we are indeed astonished beyond measure. He has done all things well; He works all things good. And He does all things and works all things for you. You shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Sometimes we feel our fallenness most acutely not in the sins that we ourselves commit, but in the sins that we suffer from living in a fallen world and from the hands of evil people. We realize in those times that its not that we need to try harder, that we need pep talks, life coaches, or twelve-step programs.
We realize that we are not sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. We realize that what we endure because of sin is far bigger than what we do or don’t do. Far bigger, even, than our thoughts, words, or deeds. Sin is a cancer that infects and destroys everything around us.
And we are left dazed, even confused. We are left overwhelmed and exasperated. And we are tired. Just so tired. So we groan. We sigh. We sigh in pain, in exhaustion, in disbelief. When our family and friends let us down, when they don’t stick up for us, or worse, when they take advantage of us, when they betray us – we feel so sharply the effects of sin. These are the effects of the curse, by the sweat of your face you shall eat and you will surely die.
And so we try to ignore it. We try to shrug it off. We try to comfort ourselves with what we tell others: “It’ll be okay. Look for the silver lining.” But some things we endure can’t be shrugged off. Some things can’t be ignored. They are too deeply personal. They gnaw at us because we know this is not how things are supposed to be. This is not how God intended it to be when He saw all that He had made and said that it was very good.
St Paul says that what we experience is what the whole creation experiences. The whole creation groans and sighs as it suffers and endures the realities of sin in the world; that sickness and death and evil are part of our daily experience. We live under the weight of sin, the weight of death and loss, the weight of loneliness and betrayal. We live under the curse; under the Law, what St Paul calls the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone. .
And this is why we sigh and groan. Because by faith we know this is not how it’s supposed to be. Our flesh is weak. We are tired. We cry out, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!, because we’re hurt and confused and we don’t know what to do.
It is in this desperation, this insufficiency of themselves, that the deaf-mute is brought by his friends to Jesus. For our sufficiency is from God.
They begged Jesus to lay His hand on him; to fulfill the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah, In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the Book; or the promises of the Psalm, The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners (146:7-8).
They bring him to Jesus because they know He alone is sufficient. Christ alone is more than enough. Oh to have friends such as these! To be a friend such as this. To bring others – even ourselves – to private confession; to that uncomfortable and awkward place where Jesus prods us with His fingers and spits in our mouths. Where He sighs and breathes His blessing upon us to lift the curse; to cleanse us of the sins that we have done and that have been done to us. Oh that we would seek Jesus where He promises to be!
For here is Jesus, the Lord of Life, the Lord God of creation, who in the beginning made all things good, and who now, has done all things well, that is He works all things good. For He alone is Good. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. He sets creation free from its bondage to corruption, free to obtain the glory of the children of God (Rom 8:21).
For He was the One who subjected all creation to futility! Not willingly, but in hope (Rom 8:20). God is for you! Indeed for you and for your salvation, He came down from heaven. He took up the flesh and blood – the body – of man. And in the body, it is God who sticks His fingers into this deaf man’s ears. It is God who spits and grabs the man’s tongue. It is God who sighs, and speaks His creative Word, Ephphatha.
Yes, my friends, the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, sighs. But when He sighs it is different than your sighs. To be sure He feels your pain. He knows your emptiness. But there is more than that. He knows that there is a cure.
His sighs are more than expressions of the curse consigned upon creation. His sighs are also blessings; the breathing out of the life-breathing breath. His sighs undo the curse. They overcome and overpower it. His sighs give. For when He sighs He breathes in the curse and breathes out His blessings. He gives a part of Himself, His Word, His Spirit. Ephphatha, Be opened. Be released. Be forgiven. Be holy. Be restored.
For that ultimate sigh, that great giving up of the Spirit of life is done upon the Cross. He does all things well, that is, He works all things good. And that Good Friday, the Lord of life completes His work. He undoes the curse. He restores fallen creation. He redeems His broken creatures.
Consider this: In the beginning our Lord created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. They were good. On the sixth day He stooped into the dust to form man, breathed the Spirit of life into them, male and female, and it was very good. The fall sowed chaos where there was order; death where there was life; separation where there was fellowship.
Now the One who breathed life into Adam comes in the flesh of Adam to undo the curse. And on the sixth day this Second Adam submits Himself to the punishment of that curse – death. And breathing out His last He reconciles all men unto Himself and to the Father. He sighs. It is finished!
And now, our resurrected Lord comes to breathe His life-giving breath upon us. He breathes out His Spirit through your pastor and your sins are forgiven; they are ministers of a new covenant of the Spirit who gives life.
He breathes out His Spirit in water and Word and you are birthed from above in Holy Baptism.
He breathes out His Spirit in the Word that says, “This is My Body. This is My Blood.” And by His Word, they are.
Our Lord is still in His Church doing what He did for the deaf-mute; unstopping ears by the hearing of His preached Word and loosing tongues to confess His Name. Is this not what the man does? And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly, that is orqws, as in orthodoxy. Right praise. Right confession. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your Name.
The crowd is astonished by these things. He makes the deaf hear. He makes the mute speak. He gives sight to the blind. He sets the captive free. He exalts the humble. These are Messianic activities. Signs of the Coming One.
And they continue today. Today the One who comes in the Name of the Lord comes into your midst. For the Holy Eucharist is the supreme locus of the Messianic presence and activity among us. For here, O Zion, your God opens your once deaf ears to hear His Word, “Take eat; take drink; this is My Body and My Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” And He opens your mouth to receive Life itself in the midst of sorrow and sighing.
And at this we are indeed astonished beyond measure. He has done all things well; He works all things good. And He does all things and works all things for you. You shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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