Isaiah 29:17-24; Romans 10:9-17; St Mark 7:31-37
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When God made man, He did not make Him defective. His ears were opened to the music of creation. His tongue, discovering nourishment and sweetness planted all around him, responded by singing the praise of his Maker, who had done all things well. Sucking a gulp of air the man was glad. He did not know how to sigh except in contentment.
All this changed when death entered the world. The man’s sigh became his bitter companion. Breath burst forth from his rancid mouth in anger, annoyance, sorrow, until the day he sighed his last and returned to the earth. Gone were the days when a man said of God, He has done all things well.
Then God entered His creation. In Jesus, God became Man. And when this perfect Man Jesus comes to a broken man - and indeed we are all broken - what does Jesus do? Looking up to heaven, He sighed. What does this tell us about Jesus? What does a sigh mean? For us at least, often frustration, discontentment, melancholy, fatigue. What does it mean for Jesus? Perhaps all of these together. He confronts, in this one man, the situation of every man. The purpose and goal, the essential goodness of creation has been circumvented. It is broken.
An architect comes to a house and says, “This is not how I designed it.” Yet such an analogy fails us, for what God has made is not merely an object, but a person, the very pinnacle of His good creation and the apple of His eye. A physician may want to restore proper functioning to the body, but the Creator is interested in more. God wants to restore man to communion with Himself. To fellowship with the Blessed Holy Trinity. For the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit participate in the ongoing care of creation.
All this is broken. So Jesus sighs. Elsewhere in the New Testament sighing is expressed as groaning or grief. And the sighing which is a groan is typically indicative of the corruption of creation and the longing for a remedy. St Paul says earlier to the disciples in Rome: We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Rm 8:23). And again, the same idea in 2 Corinthians 5: For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened - not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (2 Cor 5:2, 4).
St Paul is anticipating the hope of the disciple of Jesus. Which is not a bodiless heaven, but the resurrection of the body, being further clothed with a glorified, fully restored body. The enfleshed God, Jesus, goes through all this groaning in a twofold way: both for Himself, as He experiences the brutal beating and execution, but also on behalf of others, such as the deaf mute in today’s Gospel. Jesus loves him as both a fellow human and as the man’s Maker.
So Jesus is God in the flesh, who enters His creation to repair, redeem, restore. He did not remain in heaven to heal from afar, but came to earth with flesh and bone fingers that could be put into ears and saliva glands and a tongue that could spit. Perhaps He used these physical acts to teach the man what He was about to do, since, being deaf, he would not be able to hear Jesus speak.
But Jesus does speak! The Word made flesh does not remain silent. Earlier in the Gospel of St Mark Jesus says to His disciples who were looking for Him, Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out (Mk 1:38). He who spoke creation into existence comes with a mouth and tongue and breath to preach that self-same life giving Word. For without God’s Word the spittle is just plain spittle. But with the Word of God it is a life giving spittle, rich in grace, and washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. For the finger of Holy Spirit is called the finger of God (Lk 11:20).
And God the Holy Spirit works in and through the Word of Christ, even as St Paul says in today’s Epistle: Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
But what is this Word? What does Christ say to the deaf man? Ephphatha. That is, Be opened. This Aramaic word that unstops the closed ears of this once-deaf man that he may hear and believe the Word of Christ. Of such impact was this miracle that the early Christian Church used this word in baptismal liturgies, as the Holy Spirit, through the Word, opened the baptized’s ears to hear God’s Word and mouth to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. For the way by which the Holy Spirit enters your heart, beloved, is through your ear. From the ear to the heart. Then from the heart to the lips. And then from the lips to the life. That the Word of the Lord would achieve the purpose for which He sent it and not return to Him void.
So it is for you. Consider the opening versicles in the Office of Matins and Vespers from Psalm 51: O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will declare Your praise. As you hear so do you pray. The Lord opens your mouth and lips to sing and pray and confess, just as this man: And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and he spoke ορθως, that is, rightly, orthodoxly.
As he hears, so does he confess. We must listen before speaking. Above all we listen for what the Word of the Lord says about us: I am a creature of God. A creature, not Creator, and thus a man under orders, under authority. I am broken. Worse than that, I am dead. But redeemed by Jesus. Sins forgiven. I am sent back to my family to forgive sins. And out into the world to do honest work that helps and serves my neighbor.
Is this not what St Paul says in the Epistle? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call and believe and hear? They need a preacher. For this reason, beloved, Christ sends pastors. For it is not only your ears that have been opened by the Word of the Lord. Heaven itself has been opened by the Word made Flesh.
In the brokenness of creation, heaven had become closed to man. The way back to Eden was shut and guarded by a cherubim with a flaming sword. The Tree of Life was locked. Now in Christ heaven has been opened. He is the Way that leads back to fellowship with God. He opened the door and has flung wide the gates that you may enter. The angel has been stayed. His flaming sword is quenched in the blood of the Lamb. The way to the Tree of Life is unlocked and you, dear ones, are loosed from your sins to come and eat.
God who came in the flesh in Jesus Christ, who used the gifts of His creation joined to His Word to recreate and restore, continues to work through physical means today as He forgives through water and Word in Holy Baptism and Bread and Wine, His Body and Blood, in the Sacrament of the Altar. He who created all things well; restores fallen creation and broken humanity, groaning for redemption, through the same Word. He sends His pastors to preach that Word of Holy Absolution into your ears and hearts. He gives the Keys to His Church to open wide the gates of heaven for broken and contrite sinners. St Ambrose said, “In [the same way as Christ with the deaf man] the minister is now touching your ears, that your ears may be opened to this sermon and exhortation” (Concerning the Mysteries 1.4).
In this way the great mystery of the Incarnation of Christ continues to be professed in the Office of the Ministry of His Holy Gospel. As the “Word that speaks God’s tender love, one with God beyond all telling, Word that sends us from above, God the Spirit, with us dwelling, Word of truth to all truth lead us; Word of life, with one bread feed us” (LSB 545:4).
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When God made man, He did not make Him defective. His ears were opened to the music of creation. His tongue, discovering nourishment and sweetness planted all around him, responded by singing the praise of his Maker, who had done all things well. Sucking a gulp of air the man was glad. He did not know how to sigh except in contentment.
All this changed when death entered the world. The man’s sigh became his bitter companion. Breath burst forth from his rancid mouth in anger, annoyance, sorrow, until the day he sighed his last and returned to the earth. Gone were the days when a man said of God, He has done all things well.
Then God entered His creation. In Jesus, God became Man. And when this perfect Man Jesus comes to a broken man - and indeed we are all broken - what does Jesus do? Looking up to heaven, He sighed. What does this tell us about Jesus? What does a sigh mean? For us at least, often frustration, discontentment, melancholy, fatigue. What does it mean for Jesus? Perhaps all of these together. He confronts, in this one man, the situation of every man. The purpose and goal, the essential goodness of creation has been circumvented. It is broken.
An architect comes to a house and says, “This is not how I designed it.” Yet such an analogy fails us, for what God has made is not merely an object, but a person, the very pinnacle of His good creation and the apple of His eye. A physician may want to restore proper functioning to the body, but the Creator is interested in more. God wants to restore man to communion with Himself. To fellowship with the Blessed Holy Trinity. For the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit participate in the ongoing care of creation.
All this is broken. So Jesus sighs. Elsewhere in the New Testament sighing is expressed as groaning or grief. And the sighing which is a groan is typically indicative of the corruption of creation and the longing for a remedy. St Paul says earlier to the disciples in Rome: We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Rm 8:23). And again, the same idea in 2 Corinthians 5: For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened - not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (2 Cor 5:2, 4).
St Paul is anticipating the hope of the disciple of Jesus. Which is not a bodiless heaven, but the resurrection of the body, being further clothed with a glorified, fully restored body. The enfleshed God, Jesus, goes through all this groaning in a twofold way: both for Himself, as He experiences the brutal beating and execution, but also on behalf of others, such as the deaf mute in today’s Gospel. Jesus loves him as both a fellow human and as the man’s Maker.
So Jesus is God in the flesh, who enters His creation to repair, redeem, restore. He did not remain in heaven to heal from afar, but came to earth with flesh and bone fingers that could be put into ears and saliva glands and a tongue that could spit. Perhaps He used these physical acts to teach the man what He was about to do, since, being deaf, he would not be able to hear Jesus speak.
But Jesus does speak! The Word made flesh does not remain silent. Earlier in the Gospel of St Mark Jesus says to His disciples who were looking for Him, Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out (Mk 1:38). He who spoke creation into existence comes with a mouth and tongue and breath to preach that self-same life giving Word. For without God’s Word the spittle is just plain spittle. But with the Word of God it is a life giving spittle, rich in grace, and washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. For the finger of Holy Spirit is called the finger of God (Lk 11:20).
And God the Holy Spirit works in and through the Word of Christ, even as St Paul says in today’s Epistle: Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
But what is this Word? What does Christ say to the deaf man? Ephphatha. That is, Be opened. This Aramaic word that unstops the closed ears of this once-deaf man that he may hear and believe the Word of Christ. Of such impact was this miracle that the early Christian Church used this word in baptismal liturgies, as the Holy Spirit, through the Word, opened the baptized’s ears to hear God’s Word and mouth to confess Jesus Christ as Lord. For the way by which the Holy Spirit enters your heart, beloved, is through your ear. From the ear to the heart. Then from the heart to the lips. And then from the lips to the life. That the Word of the Lord would achieve the purpose for which He sent it and not return to Him void.
So it is for you. Consider the opening versicles in the Office of Matins and Vespers from Psalm 51: O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will declare Your praise. As you hear so do you pray. The Lord opens your mouth and lips to sing and pray and confess, just as this man: And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and he spoke ορθως, that is, rightly, orthodoxly.
As he hears, so does he confess. We must listen before speaking. Above all we listen for what the Word of the Lord says about us: I am a creature of God. A creature, not Creator, and thus a man under orders, under authority. I am broken. Worse than that, I am dead. But redeemed by Jesus. Sins forgiven. I am sent back to my family to forgive sins. And out into the world to do honest work that helps and serves my neighbor.
Is this not what St Paul says in the Epistle? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call and believe and hear? They need a preacher. For this reason, beloved, Christ sends pastors. For it is not only your ears that have been opened by the Word of the Lord. Heaven itself has been opened by the Word made Flesh.
In the brokenness of creation, heaven had become closed to man. The way back to Eden was shut and guarded by a cherubim with a flaming sword. The Tree of Life was locked. Now in Christ heaven has been opened. He is the Way that leads back to fellowship with God. He opened the door and has flung wide the gates that you may enter. The angel has been stayed. His flaming sword is quenched in the blood of the Lamb. The way to the Tree of Life is unlocked and you, dear ones, are loosed from your sins to come and eat.
God who came in the flesh in Jesus Christ, who used the gifts of His creation joined to His Word to recreate and restore, continues to work through physical means today as He forgives through water and Word in Holy Baptism and Bread and Wine, His Body and Blood, in the Sacrament of the Altar. He who created all things well; restores fallen creation and broken humanity, groaning for redemption, through the same Word. He sends His pastors to preach that Word of Holy Absolution into your ears and hearts. He gives the Keys to His Church to open wide the gates of heaven for broken and contrite sinners. St Ambrose said, “In [the same way as Christ with the deaf man] the minister is now touching your ears, that your ears may be opened to this sermon and exhortation” (Concerning the Mysteries 1.4).
In this way the great mystery of the Incarnation of Christ continues to be professed in the Office of the Ministry of His Holy Gospel. As the “Word that speaks God’s tender love, one with God beyond all telling, Word that sends us from above, God the Spirit, with us dwelling, Word of truth to all truth lead us; Word of life, with one bread feed us” (LSB 545:4).
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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