The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Mark 7:31-37 “Healed Through a Powerful Word”
August 18, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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O Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who by Your almighty Word made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, we draw near unto You in all our bodily and spiritual needs, for there is none to help us save You alone; and we humbly ask You, touch with Your divine power our diseased members and our corrupt hearts, open our ears to hear Your Word, loose our tongues to speak righteousness, and fill our hearts with the power of Your Holy Spirit, that, beholding the wonders of Your grace, we may confess Your name before men and praise and glorify You, who does all things well, and who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Lutheran Liturgy, companion altar book for The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 155)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 7th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
And [the people] 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.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who is the perfect doctor of souls, curing physical and spiritual diseases, washing you in the waters of Baptism, dear fellow redeemed:
What is the point of going on vacation? We go on vacation to get away from it all. We leave our homes, sometimes for warmer weather, and usually we are not going to do any work while we are there. In our text, Jesus is at a point in His ministry, where it looks like He is taking a little vacation with His disciples. Now the goal was to teach them privately for a while, which He was able to do, but in this area of the Gentiles, word had spread that He was here. This was brought on by His work as He healed men possessed by demons. Now as the crowds build up, does this mean Jesus will try to pass them by because He is on vacation? Will He keep His Word only for His disciples? These questions are answered by the name of the Son of God. It doesn’t matter what time or location, God cares for His people and God saves His people, healing them through a powerful word!
This healing is what the people are looking for. Even though Jesus is looking to be there and not be known, He doesn’t attempt to stay hidden. Jesus knows He can help and with the people searching Him out for help, He won’t shy away. So, as He heals, more people begin to come forward. 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. The people could be looking for many kinds of miracles, but in this moment, the people saw what Jesus could do. He was healing them. They wanted to keep this going by bringing Him another person to heal.
Jesus and His healing powers fascinates the people He is with. There is a reason for that. We see that He is in an area that is inhabited by Gentiles. In this land that was part of the carving up of Alexander the Great’s kingdom, most of the people here who are seeing Jesus for the first time are Roman. If they are Roman, they believe in the pantheon of gods. The god’s have their stories, powers, and according to most things written about them, they come down to dwell with the people and have children with them. At this point in history though, most of the stories have drifted into legend, and they have never seen a god come down from above. Here is Jesus, and He isn’t doing the typical Greek and Roman god thing of personal awe and glory. His power on display in front of them is the power to heal and to care for the people.
Like the people of Jesus’ day, it is easy to wonder what else He can do? So far all we hear about are the miracles that He does and again, they help people. Can’t He do something else or something cool. How come He doesn’t hurl lightning bolts at His enemies? He did walk on water, but what about flying? The world gets hooked on this. Sure, Jesus performs miracles where He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak, but if He would do something even greater. The people even flat out admit this after He feeds five thousand and four thousand people. Do something greater, Jesus! St. Paul grounds us when he writes, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). We know how great our God is. If we get lost in power, then it will look like our Savior is just a joke of a Savior.
We don’t want to think of Jesus as a joke. This text exists so we see how caring He is. This man isn’t a Jew and we see Jesus does not one, but two miraculous healings simultaneously. As He physically heals, ears and tongue, He heals our spiritual ears and tongues as well. We love to think that we are hearing all that He must tell us and that we are listening to Him. If we look hard at the ten commandments and the way we live our lives, we see how much we close our ears to His Word. We sometimes don’t use our tongues for good. Without a Savior who performs miracles that heal and help us, our ears will close, and our tongues will spew out evil. It didn’t take long for Jesus to tell His followers after this miracle by saying to them, “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember” (Mark 8:18). It happens quick for the disciples and when we are not engaged with our Lord by hearing His living Word, and using our tongues for His praises, we quickly fall away. If we are here, we need to be healed and like this man in our text, we are also healed by His powerful Word.
Now the people are about to hear the power of Jesus’ Word, but He must shift them to it. The focus for the people is for Jesus to lay His hands on the man. For many in His day, healing is putting your hands on an individual. Even the Jews knew this with what is recorded in the law. The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot (Leviticus 14:14). Jesus knows what the people are thinking, and He knows this man. 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. To have the man feel comfortable, Jesus takes the man aside and He does what the man would know by touching his ears and tongue. And then with a heartfelt sigh, a sigh for all people because He cares for all, He uses an all-powerful Word.
While the miracle is special because this man can now speak plainly, Jesus reveals Himself as God when He speaks His Word. His Word, the same Word we are listening to now. He uses to heal, raise people from the dead, and He forgives sins. The people are seeing the Son of God on display. People are amazed by this, and they should be. This goes back to the beginning, And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31a). Everything Jesus does is very good. His Word is good, and His action is good as He cares for His people, as He cares for this man by healing him.
This miracle of healing the man is meaningful for you. You still witness it. It’s not a “one of a kind”. Jesus continues to open ears and tongues to hear and profess His glorious ways. As you look to listen to His Word with open ears He has given you, the devil will look to tempt you that God doesn’t hear you plainly. St. Paul writes that is not the case. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:22-27). Jesus knows your thoughts and pains. He knows there have been times you have shut your ears. The devil is good at lying, but Jesus beats him back. He cures the devil’s diseases, the diseases of the fallen world, and He opens your ears to the truth.
The truth comes to you through your ears as you hear it in His holy Word. This Word is truly powerful. You hear the way of salvation out of this world of problems. As the man heard Jesus and spoke plainly, you hear and can speak plainly to others. You can say your ears are open as you reveal to others how you are saved through the death of Jesus on the cross. Your tongues are loosened as you confess your sins before Him and He washes you with His blood. This washing is brought to you in your baptism making you a new creation. This is the power of Jesus’ Word. Power that He has had since the beginning where you learn, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The miracles of Jesus are special. The miracles point you to who He is. He is your Savior, the Son of God, and you believe through the power of His Word.
This powerful Word continues to work in the world. We see it active in people’s lives. The people in our text saw the amazement. 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.” As you see people’s ears open and their tongues speak because of the miracle and work of Jesus, the devil will continue to cause people to regret it. As great as it is to turn from wicked ways and as Isaiah prophecies, “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD” (Isaiah 52:11), the devil will constantly remind people and you what is being left behind. It looks like it could be better to have the ears shut and he can get you to shut your ears again. You do not have to lose hope. You’re hearing His Word is powerful. With a miracle He opens your ears again. He forgives your sins. And as you remember how you are washed and healed by the waters of your baptism, your tongue can sing His praises, because He does all things well. You are healed through His powerful Word. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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