Isaiah 29:17-24/Romans 10:9-17/St Mark 7:31-37
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The man in our Gospel was deaf. He heard not the greetings and talk of family or friends, the sound of the wind, the birds, nor the language of music. Worst of all, he could not hear the Word of the Lord proclaimed in the synagogue.
But make no mistake, though deaf, there were certainly all kinds of languages he heard loud and clear. There was the alluring language of Satan, a preacher so enticing he even talks the deaf into sin and vice. There was the frightening voice of conscience driving him to hopelessness. And don’t forget the language of Moses and the ministry of death, written on tablets, but engraved also upon the heart. The man in our Gospel was deaf, but he needed no hearing aids to hear the voice of condemnation, shame and despair.
And though your physical trauma may not match his, your spiritual ailment is the same. You hear those voices too. They pierce through the pious veneers and get right to the heart of the matter. The voice that calls any form of sex outside of man-woman marriage what it is, adultery and the way of death. The voice that calls parents’ neglect of spiritual matters and the discipline of their children hatred of them. It calls the too frequent and over imbibing of alcohol, drunkenness and idolatry.
How corrupt we can be; ears closed to God’s holy Word and will, but quite open to dirt on others,. How perverse we are, with tongues tied when it comes to confessing our sin or speaking to unbelievers about Christ, but how fluent they are when it comes to gossip about friends. When it comes to hearing of God’s favor and approval, His grace and mercy, we deserve to be like the deaf man, hearing not the Word of absolution but the deafening silence of hell, where God’s Word is not spoken; His voice not heard.
But that is precisely why your heart rejoices to hear this Gospel. For your ears are blessed to have heard something truly wondrous. It is as you just sang, “Word of God come down on earth, living rain rain from heav’n descending; touch our hearts and bring to birth, faith and hope and love unending. Word almighty we revere You; Word made flesh we long to hear You” (LSB 545:1). Word made flesh come down, we long to hear you.
A Word that does not accuse and does not kill nor bring despair. But a Word that brings life. A Word that brings righteousness, health, and healing to sinners. A Word that absolves, forgives, saves, and makes alive.
St Mark shows our Lord Jesus coming down from the region of Tyre and Sidon to the region of the Decapolis, or Ten Cities, where He heals a deaf-mute. This reminds us that the language of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments or Ten Words, bring bondage, sin, and shame. But here is the Word made flesh, come down from heaven for you, not speaking the language that you deserve, a word of death and damnation, but proclaiming the language of grace and mercy for rebels.
He came to fulfill the commandments which you’ve never kept. They may and indeed rightly accuse you. But the Ten Words describe our Lord Jesus Christ; His perfect obedience under the Law. He does not come with words that crush the heart that knows its sin or casts off the conscience plagued by guilt. He doesn’t come with a scowl or anger. He comes with compassion and love. He, the Word made flesh, comes with the Word of life.
When Moses came down with the Ten Commandments, people feared and were driven away by the glory that shone from his face. And the last time our Lord Jesus was in the Decapolis the townsfolk responded similarly. He had healed a demon-possessed man by sending the legion of dark angels into a herd of pigs and off a cliff. The townspeople begged Him to leave. But the man begged to go with Him. Jesus did not permit him but said, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you (Mk 5:20). The man did as our Lord instructed him, confessing in the Ten Cities how much Jesus had done for him.
Now our Lord returns to the Decapolis in today’s Gospel and the people are not running in fear, being driven away in terror. But, having heard of the mercy of the Lord in Jesus Christ, they are coming to Him. Desperate people, hopeless people, outcasts, forgotten people, sinful people, being drawn to Him; rejoicing at the beautiful feet that have set foot in their cities.
The friends of the deaf man likewise drawn near to Him. For their help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. All things good. This is not the God who tries to keep an arm’s length from His creation gone bad on account of sin. This is not the God who puts on latex gloves before he deals with His Creation. This is the God who rolls up His sleeves and goes to work and gets dirty for you. To create you in His image and to save you by His Name.
Here you behold the very heart of the Lord for you. Nothing is beneath Him when it comes to saving and serving you. He who first formed man’s ear from the dust of the ground now stands again in the dust and restores this broken Son of Adam. The true God sticks His fingers in ears and puts saliva on tongues. He sighs. He groans with and for His creation. And He heals. He does all things καλοσ, good, that is, well, so that the deaf mute not only speaks plainly, but ορθοσ, that is, rightly, ortho-dox-ly.
These are not very glorious things in the eyes of the world. But hearing about these grubby matters brings joy to the hearts of grubby sinners. For this is exactly what your Lord did when He baptized you. He took you aside to His font, put the Finger of His Word in your ears and on your hearts, opening them to hear and receive the heavenly language of absolution. And He loosed your tongue to confess the holy language of the orthodox, Christian faith in word and song, liturgy and prayer, the good news of the God who so loved the world.
For truly the language of salvation is even better. The Word made flesh here sticking His hands into the dirty ears of men, will walk the dusty road to Jerusalem where those hands will be nailed to the Tree for your sake. He will bear the accusations of the devil and the damning voice of the Law. He will hear no Word of mercy from His Father. He loves you so much He is willing to have His face bloodied, beaten and spit upon that your face might shine with His glory.
His divine ears have heard your opposition to His Word and will, yet He makes those ears a grave and buries your opposition with Him as it kills Him. His tongue remains dry and silent as He endures the wrath of God upon the Cross until it kills Him. And He is imprisoned in the dirty tomb for you.
All so that He might rise from the dead and announce your victory right into the silence of hell. He has brought the language of condemnation to nothing. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him.
But how will they call if they have not believed? And how will they believe if their ears have not been opened by His Gospel? And how are they to hear such Gospel without a preacher? And how shall a man preach unless he be sent? How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the Good News that in the shed blood of Jesus Christ your sins have been atoned for and your guilt removed. Thus has Christ Jesus charged the men who hold His Office of the Ministry of the Preached Gospel to proclaim for your divine and eternal good.
And how blessed are your ears for such hearing. For this is the means by which faith is created, sustained, nurtured and nourished, through the hearing of the Word. And Christ Jesus is the very content and substance of the Word. He has opened your ears in Holy Baptism. And He bids you again hear His mighty, Ephphatha. “I have compassion on you.” “You are baptized.” “You are mine.” “Come, eat My Body.” “Come, drink My Blood.” “I forgive you.” “Receive My gifts and rejoice.” Indeed He does all things well.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The man in our Gospel was deaf. He heard not the greetings and talk of family or friends, the sound of the wind, the birds, nor the language of music. Worst of all, he could not hear the Word of the Lord proclaimed in the synagogue.
But make no mistake, though deaf, there were certainly all kinds of languages he heard loud and clear. There was the alluring language of Satan, a preacher so enticing he even talks the deaf into sin and vice. There was the frightening voice of conscience driving him to hopelessness. And don’t forget the language of Moses and the ministry of death, written on tablets, but engraved also upon the heart. The man in our Gospel was deaf, but he needed no hearing aids to hear the voice of condemnation, shame and despair.
And though your physical trauma may not match his, your spiritual ailment is the same. You hear those voices too. They pierce through the pious veneers and get right to the heart of the matter. The voice that calls any form of sex outside of man-woman marriage what it is, adultery and the way of death. The voice that calls parents’ neglect of spiritual matters and the discipline of their children hatred of them. It calls the too frequent and over imbibing of alcohol, drunkenness and idolatry.
How corrupt we can be; ears closed to God’s holy Word and will, but quite open to dirt on others,. How perverse we are, with tongues tied when it comes to confessing our sin or speaking to unbelievers about Christ, but how fluent they are when it comes to gossip about friends. When it comes to hearing of God’s favor and approval, His grace and mercy, we deserve to be like the deaf man, hearing not the Word of absolution but the deafening silence of hell, where God’s Word is not spoken; His voice not heard.
But that is precisely why your heart rejoices to hear this Gospel. For your ears are blessed to have heard something truly wondrous. It is as you just sang, “Word of God come down on earth, living rain rain from heav’n descending; touch our hearts and bring to birth, faith and hope and love unending. Word almighty we revere You; Word made flesh we long to hear You” (LSB 545:1). Word made flesh come down, we long to hear you.
A Word that does not accuse and does not kill nor bring despair. But a Word that brings life. A Word that brings righteousness, health, and healing to sinners. A Word that absolves, forgives, saves, and makes alive.
St Mark shows our Lord Jesus coming down from the region of Tyre and Sidon to the region of the Decapolis, or Ten Cities, where He heals a deaf-mute. This reminds us that the language of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments or Ten Words, bring bondage, sin, and shame. But here is the Word made flesh, come down from heaven for you, not speaking the language that you deserve, a word of death and damnation, but proclaiming the language of grace and mercy for rebels.
He came to fulfill the commandments which you’ve never kept. They may and indeed rightly accuse you. But the Ten Words describe our Lord Jesus Christ; His perfect obedience under the Law. He does not come with words that crush the heart that knows its sin or casts off the conscience plagued by guilt. He doesn’t come with a scowl or anger. He comes with compassion and love. He, the Word made flesh, comes with the Word of life.
When Moses came down with the Ten Commandments, people feared and were driven away by the glory that shone from his face. And the last time our Lord Jesus was in the Decapolis the townsfolk responded similarly. He had healed a demon-possessed man by sending the legion of dark angels into a herd of pigs and off a cliff. The townspeople begged Him to leave. But the man begged to go with Him. Jesus did not permit him but said, Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you (Mk 5:20). The man did as our Lord instructed him, confessing in the Ten Cities how much Jesus had done for him.
Now our Lord returns to the Decapolis in today’s Gospel and the people are not running in fear, being driven away in terror. But, having heard of the mercy of the Lord in Jesus Christ, they are coming to Him. Desperate people, hopeless people, outcasts, forgotten people, sinful people, being drawn to Him; rejoicing at the beautiful feet that have set foot in their cities.
The friends of the deaf man likewise drawn near to Him. For their help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. All things good. This is not the God who tries to keep an arm’s length from His creation gone bad on account of sin. This is not the God who puts on latex gloves before he deals with His Creation. This is the God who rolls up His sleeves and goes to work and gets dirty for you. To create you in His image and to save you by His Name.
Here you behold the very heart of the Lord for you. Nothing is beneath Him when it comes to saving and serving you. He who first formed man’s ear from the dust of the ground now stands again in the dust and restores this broken Son of Adam. The true God sticks His fingers in ears and puts saliva on tongues. He sighs. He groans with and for His creation. And He heals. He does all things καλοσ, good, that is, well, so that the deaf mute not only speaks plainly, but ορθοσ, that is, rightly, ortho-dox-ly.
These are not very glorious things in the eyes of the world. But hearing about these grubby matters brings joy to the hearts of grubby sinners. For this is exactly what your Lord did when He baptized you. He took you aside to His font, put the Finger of His Word in your ears and on your hearts, opening them to hear and receive the heavenly language of absolution. And He loosed your tongue to confess the holy language of the orthodox, Christian faith in word and song, liturgy and prayer, the good news of the God who so loved the world.
For truly the language of salvation is even better. The Word made flesh here sticking His hands into the dirty ears of men, will walk the dusty road to Jerusalem where those hands will be nailed to the Tree for your sake. He will bear the accusations of the devil and the damning voice of the Law. He will hear no Word of mercy from His Father. He loves you so much He is willing to have His face bloodied, beaten and spit upon that your face might shine with His glory.
His divine ears have heard your opposition to His Word and will, yet He makes those ears a grave and buries your opposition with Him as it kills Him. His tongue remains dry and silent as He endures the wrath of God upon the Cross until it kills Him. And He is imprisoned in the dirty tomb for you.
All so that He might rise from the dead and announce your victory right into the silence of hell. He has brought the language of condemnation to nothing. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him.
But how will they call if they have not believed? And how will they believe if their ears have not been opened by His Gospel? And how are they to hear such Gospel without a preacher? And how shall a man preach unless he be sent? How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the Good News that in the shed blood of Jesus Christ your sins have been atoned for and your guilt removed. Thus has Christ Jesus charged the men who hold His Office of the Ministry of the Preached Gospel to proclaim for your divine and eternal good.
And how blessed are your ears for such hearing. For this is the means by which faith is created, sustained, nurtured and nourished, through the hearing of the Word. And Christ Jesus is the very content and substance of the Word. He has opened your ears in Holy Baptism. And He bids you again hear His mighty, Ephphatha. “I have compassion on you.” “You are baptized.” “You are mine.” “Come, eat My Body.” “Come, drink My Blood.” “I forgive you.” “Receive My gifts and rejoice.” Indeed He does all things well.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
RSS Feed