16th Sunday after Pentecost (B)
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
September 24, 2006
Text: Mark 7:31-37
We probably cringe a little when we think of Jesus putting fingers in ears and spit-dripping hands on tongues. Especially since we know Jesus could have simply spoken and the man’s ears would have been opened. In many of the healings Jesus performed, He just laid hands on the person and the healing was accomplished. When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, he said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Matt. 8:8; ESV). Jesus did say the word, “let it be done for you as you have believed,” and “the servant was healed at that very moment” (v. 13). Surely Jesus could do the same thing in this case. But He doesn’t do what we expect. He sticks His fingers in the man’s ears. He spits and touches the man’s tongue. It sounds so gross, frankly. Why does Jesus choose to heal the man this way?
In His infinite wisdom, Jesus chose to heal the man in our text using fingers and spit. The saliva Jesus uses to speak His Word opens the ears of the deaf and the mouths of the dumb.[1] Jesus, the Word made flesh, speaks, and ears and hearts and mouths are opened. Jesus’ unorthodox healing of the deaf and dumb man illustrates for us what He does for us to open our deaf ears and tongue-tied mouths. He opens our ears and our mouths by means of the Word. You hear Him say it and you feel Him spray it. But do not shrink back. His saliva is cleaner than a mountain stream. And it makes you clean. And it makes your deaf ears to hear and your muted tongue to speak.
“But, dear Pastor, I am not deaf. I hear you perfectly well.” He who has ears to hear, let him hear. It is, of course, not physical deafness that is the problem of most of us. The physical deafness Jesus heals in our text is but a symptom of and symbol for the real problem… that is, spiritual deafness. And we are all born spiritually deaf. The original sin we inherited from our first parents has left us unable to hear the Word of God. In fact, it has left us resistant to hearing the Word. Therefore the Word must force its way in. Yes, we are all in need of Jesus’ healing. We all need our ears opened.
Likewise, we have mouths, but cannot speak, until Jesus coats our tongues with His saliva. His Word must first be put into our ears and then on our tongues before we can speak it to others. Evangelism ultimately begins by your own faithful hearing and meditating on God’s Word. A car can go nowhere if the gas tank is empty. God’s Word is the fuel of Christian confession. It goes into the ear and becomes wet on the tongue. When we speak for Christ, we only speak that which He has first spoken to us.
The liturgy works like that, too. God speaks and we listen. And then we say back to God what He has first said to us. God speaks in Absolution and Scripture and sermon, and thus opens our ears. We then repeat back to God what He has first said with our collects and Kyries and Creeds. Jesus declares, “This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins,” and we say the same thing back to Him in our canticles and hymns of praise and thanksgiving. All the while we declare to one another what Jesus has just declared to us all, and we add our hearty “Amen,” our “yes, yes, it shall be so” and “This is most certainly true” to the Word Jesus speaks to us. It is only when our whistles are wetted by His Word that we can speak back that Word in our sacrifices of thanksgiving and confession to others.
And so it is to us this day that Jesus sticks His finger in our ears and spits on our tongues and commands, “Ephphatha… Be opened” (Mark 7:34). The Word of the Lord speaks and accomplishes that which it says, or better, that which He says, for Jesus is the Word made flesh. Just as in the beginning, the Word of the Lord declared, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), and there was light, so the Word of the Lord declares, “Ephphatha… Be opened,” and our ears are opened to hear that Word and our mouths are opened to praise that Word among men.
Jesus used fingers and spit to heal the man in our text from His deafness and inability to speak. And perhaps Jesus’ method of healing isn’t so strange after all. In this account, Jesus is using means to accomplish the healing, just like He uses means to accomplish our healing… the means of grace, His Word and Sacraments. This account in our text probably makes us cringe not just because fingers and spit in ears and mouths gross us out, but because we don’t understand why Jesus would use such common means in effecting such miraculous results. In other words, it’s kind of the same offense that we take when Jesus uses stuff like water and bread and wine to bring about the miraculous effects of our own healing. When Jesus combines common water with His Word in Holy Baptism, the result is a washing of regeneration, a new birth in the Holy Spirit, which makes us God’s own children and cleanses us from all sin. When Jesus combines common bread and common wine with His word, the result is an eating and drinking of His very Body and Blood, the Body and Blood given and shed for us on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. And so, when Jesus combines His fingers and spit with His Word, the result is that a man’s ears are opened and his tongue loosed. It may not be what we would expect of Jesus, but that is how He has chosen to work among us and to distribute His gifts to men.
This is how God has always worked in the world. He has always chosen to work among men through means. Thus while His Word simply calls forth all of creation in the Genesis account, for the formation of man he chooses to mold the dust and breath into it the breath of life. Likewise for the creation of woman He chooses to take a rib from the man, showing the intimate connection between the two sexes, and give her to the man to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. From the beginning, from the creation of the universe, God has chosen to use means in dealing with His Holy Bride, the Church. In the miraculous parting of the Red Sea in the story of the Exodus, God uses Moses’ staff to accomplish His purposes. When Moses touched his staff to the waters of the Red Sea, the Sea was parted so that the people of Israel could walk across on dry land and escape the pursuing Egyptians. When the people of Israel angered God in the wilderness with their murmurings, God sent venomous vipers to bite the people. But when they cried to Him for help, He once again delivered them through means. He had Moses put the likeness of a serpent on a pole, so that when an Israelite was bitten, if he looked at the serpent on the pole, he would be healed and live. When Joshua and the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, the waters of the Jordan parted before them when the Ark of the Covenant reached its banks. Example after example could be listed from the Bible where God uses means to work among His people and distribute His gifts.
The primary example of this is our Lord’s own incarnation, His taking upon Himself our human flesh, so that the Holy Church as His Bride really would be bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. Here God worked by means of our human flesh and blood to save us from our sins, taking our own nature upon Himself and submitting it to suffering and death on the cross on our behalf and for our forgiveness. That is how God saves His people. He saves them through unexpected means like human flesh and blood. But in so doing, what is common becomes holy. In taking on our flesh, He sanctifies it; that is, He makes it holy. It is no longer common. Instead it is united to God in Christ’s incarnation. And it is exalted in Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
The fingers God sticks in our ears are holy fingers. They are not dirty, but the clean and pure fingers of God. The spit with which Jesus coats our tongues is holy spit. It makes our spit, which has been dirtied by sin, clean, for it is the spit of God. Holy fingers. Holy spit. The Word of God, the Word made flesh, opening our ears to hear His word and our mouths to speak it. Our Lord Jesus “has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37). He even opens our ears and our mouths. Thanks be to God. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] I am indebted to my colleague, Rev. Roy Faulstick, for this image.
September 24, 2006
Text: Mark 7:31-37
We probably cringe a little when we think of Jesus putting fingers in ears and spit-dripping hands on tongues. Especially since we know Jesus could have simply spoken and the man’s ears would have been opened. In many of the healings Jesus performed, He just laid hands on the person and the healing was accomplished. When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, he said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Matt. 8:8; ESV). Jesus did say the word, “let it be done for you as you have believed,” and “the servant was healed at that very moment” (v. 13). Surely Jesus could do the same thing in this case. But He doesn’t do what we expect. He sticks His fingers in the man’s ears. He spits and touches the man’s tongue. It sounds so gross, frankly. Why does Jesus choose to heal the man this way?
In His infinite wisdom, Jesus chose to heal the man in our text using fingers and spit. The saliva Jesus uses to speak His Word opens the ears of the deaf and the mouths of the dumb.[1] Jesus, the Word made flesh, speaks, and ears and hearts and mouths are opened. Jesus’ unorthodox healing of the deaf and dumb man illustrates for us what He does for us to open our deaf ears and tongue-tied mouths. He opens our ears and our mouths by means of the Word. You hear Him say it and you feel Him spray it. But do not shrink back. His saliva is cleaner than a mountain stream. And it makes you clean. And it makes your deaf ears to hear and your muted tongue to speak.
“But, dear Pastor, I am not deaf. I hear you perfectly well.” He who has ears to hear, let him hear. It is, of course, not physical deafness that is the problem of most of us. The physical deafness Jesus heals in our text is but a symptom of and symbol for the real problem… that is, spiritual deafness. And we are all born spiritually deaf. The original sin we inherited from our first parents has left us unable to hear the Word of God. In fact, it has left us resistant to hearing the Word. Therefore the Word must force its way in. Yes, we are all in need of Jesus’ healing. We all need our ears opened.
Likewise, we have mouths, but cannot speak, until Jesus coats our tongues with His saliva. His Word must first be put into our ears and then on our tongues before we can speak it to others. Evangelism ultimately begins by your own faithful hearing and meditating on God’s Word. A car can go nowhere if the gas tank is empty. God’s Word is the fuel of Christian confession. It goes into the ear and becomes wet on the tongue. When we speak for Christ, we only speak that which He has first spoken to us.
The liturgy works like that, too. God speaks and we listen. And then we say back to God what He has first said to us. God speaks in Absolution and Scripture and sermon, and thus opens our ears. We then repeat back to God what He has first said with our collects and Kyries and Creeds. Jesus declares, “This is my body, this is my blood, given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of your sins,” and we say the same thing back to Him in our canticles and hymns of praise and thanksgiving. All the while we declare to one another what Jesus has just declared to us all, and we add our hearty “Amen,” our “yes, yes, it shall be so” and “This is most certainly true” to the Word Jesus speaks to us. It is only when our whistles are wetted by His Word that we can speak back that Word in our sacrifices of thanksgiving and confession to others.
And so it is to us this day that Jesus sticks His finger in our ears and spits on our tongues and commands, “Ephphatha… Be opened” (Mark 7:34). The Word of the Lord speaks and accomplishes that which it says, or better, that which He says, for Jesus is the Word made flesh. Just as in the beginning, the Word of the Lord declared, “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), and there was light, so the Word of the Lord declares, “Ephphatha… Be opened,” and our ears are opened to hear that Word and our mouths are opened to praise that Word among men.
Jesus used fingers and spit to heal the man in our text from His deafness and inability to speak. And perhaps Jesus’ method of healing isn’t so strange after all. In this account, Jesus is using means to accomplish the healing, just like He uses means to accomplish our healing… the means of grace, His Word and Sacraments. This account in our text probably makes us cringe not just because fingers and spit in ears and mouths gross us out, but because we don’t understand why Jesus would use such common means in effecting such miraculous results. In other words, it’s kind of the same offense that we take when Jesus uses stuff like water and bread and wine to bring about the miraculous effects of our own healing. When Jesus combines common water with His Word in Holy Baptism, the result is a washing of regeneration, a new birth in the Holy Spirit, which makes us God’s own children and cleanses us from all sin. When Jesus combines common bread and common wine with His word, the result is an eating and drinking of His very Body and Blood, the Body and Blood given and shed for us on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. And so, when Jesus combines His fingers and spit with His Word, the result is that a man’s ears are opened and his tongue loosed. It may not be what we would expect of Jesus, but that is how He has chosen to work among us and to distribute His gifts to men.
This is how God has always worked in the world. He has always chosen to work among men through means. Thus while His Word simply calls forth all of creation in the Genesis account, for the formation of man he chooses to mold the dust and breath into it the breath of life. Likewise for the creation of woman He chooses to take a rib from the man, showing the intimate connection between the two sexes, and give her to the man to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. From the beginning, from the creation of the universe, God has chosen to use means in dealing with His Holy Bride, the Church. In the miraculous parting of the Red Sea in the story of the Exodus, God uses Moses’ staff to accomplish His purposes. When Moses touched his staff to the waters of the Red Sea, the Sea was parted so that the people of Israel could walk across on dry land and escape the pursuing Egyptians. When the people of Israel angered God in the wilderness with their murmurings, God sent venomous vipers to bite the people. But when they cried to Him for help, He once again delivered them through means. He had Moses put the likeness of a serpent on a pole, so that when an Israelite was bitten, if he looked at the serpent on the pole, he would be healed and live. When Joshua and the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, the waters of the Jordan parted before them when the Ark of the Covenant reached its banks. Example after example could be listed from the Bible where God uses means to work among His people and distribute His gifts.
The primary example of this is our Lord’s own incarnation, His taking upon Himself our human flesh, so that the Holy Church as His Bride really would be bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. Here God worked by means of our human flesh and blood to save us from our sins, taking our own nature upon Himself and submitting it to suffering and death on the cross on our behalf and for our forgiveness. That is how God saves His people. He saves them through unexpected means like human flesh and blood. But in so doing, what is common becomes holy. In taking on our flesh, He sanctifies it; that is, He makes it holy. It is no longer common. Instead it is united to God in Christ’s incarnation. And it is exalted in Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
The fingers God sticks in our ears are holy fingers. They are not dirty, but the clean and pure fingers of God. The spit with which Jesus coats our tongues is holy spit. It makes our spit, which has been dirtied by sin, clean, for it is the spit of God. Holy fingers. Holy spit. The Word of God, the Word made flesh, opening our ears to hear His word and our mouths to speak it. Our Lord Jesus “has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37). He even opens our ears and our mouths. Thanks be to God. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] I am indebted to my colleague, Rev. Roy Faulstick, for this image.
posted by Pastor Krenz | 9:48 AM
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