The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity – Sunday 18 August A✠D 2024
✠ Psalmody: Psalm 70:1-2a;70:2b, 4a, 5b;34:1-2;81:1
✠ Lection: Isaiah 29:17–24;2 Corinthians 3:4-11;Mark 7:31-37
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Old Testament saints, those who before the first advent of Christ had faith in Him and His redeeming work as promised of old in the Garden of Eden, were given mighty words from the Lord as is testified to throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Through the prophets, like Isaiah as we heard this morning, magnificent proclamations and prophecies filled with hope often came to their ears through the written Word of God and the voices of His prophets. They continuously spoke of both the desperate state of mankind in all its woes and the constant provision, including eternally, of Almighty God in heaven.
In his lifetime, Isaiah was given to know both joy and woe, living through a grueling siege at the hands of the ungodly Assyrians. Not only did he see such harsh times with his physical eyes, but the Lord also gave him prophecies concerning the even worse future capture and exile into Babylon, a consequence warranted by the people of God leaving their first love and pursuing worldly idols and other false gods in their worship and trust. Against such potent forces as the Assyrians and Babylonians, only an intervention from far beyond their own walls could deliver the people from the threats surrounding them on every side and hauling them off for 70 years out of the places they called home. Israel’s futility and weakness, and thus mankind’s overall, was revealed in their lack of being able to protect themselves from such evil, that is, when God’s protecting and providing hand was pulled back from them and self-strength was revealed to be utter weakness.
May the Lord keep us from suffering due to the gloom and darkness of unbelief that in these days grows only seemingly more powerful and widespread around us, or is at least much louder than it used to be. Yet, if by God’s hand He does bring sadness, by the very same might will the Holy One of Jacob, the God of Israel, turn tears to gladness for those called by His name and numbered among His redeemed saints. Do not let go of this truth. Never despair, dear Christian. Only attune your ears to the true voice of God that regularly comes into your midst, loosing your tongue, and giving you joyous words with which to praise your Savior rightly. No matter the darkness that envelopes us here, the eternal Light of Christ will always shine brighter into every moment of our future both in this world and in the one to come.
It doesn’t take a mighty nation, such as ours, diving headfirst over a foolish, immoral cliff for Christ’s faithful ones to first experience desolation. We were all born on the wrong side of the line that divides good from evil, love from hate, eternal life from utter destruction. Hemmed in on every side, by Satan, his demons, the world, and our own sinful flesh, regardless of all its beautiful newborn freshness, lack of wrinkles, and softness, we, too, dwelt in a darkness we could not overcome on our own, by our own power, our own choice or decision, even after growing into full-strength, capably-minded adults. Rescue had to come from outside of us, reaching deep into our grave, opening our ears with words and a touch of Life Himself. Healing must take place at the doing of another, from The Other, from the One able to heal, able to grant sight where there is only spiritual blindness; able to give ears to hear where there is nothing but the silence of death; to give speech so that the praise of God could be prayed, spoken, and sung with heavenly fervor, zeal, and thanksgiving. This is what the Lord Jesus has done for every sinner as is shown in how he dealt with the deaf-mute man in the region of the Decapolis, for you dwell in a land steep in unbelief as well.
Brought to stand before the Son of God in the flesh was he who could neither hear what was being said to him, about him, nor asked of him, nor speak in return. The Lord took him aside privately, entrusted totally to the Savior’s care, to His direction, to His touch, and His salvation, similar to how you are handed over at the font to the hands and voice ordained to speak and apply Christ to you in those holy waters. The very ears that Jesus had formed in the womb, the ears that suffered from the effects that sin has on creation and had been closed, the great Healer placed His incarnate fingers into that which was corrupted and restored it to its original intention, as He will do with all Creation on the Last Day. Do not despair, dear Christian. The deaf man was one-on-one with the only One able to rescue him out of his peril, for it was there in that moment that Isaiah’s words proved true: In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Humble yourself and see that true joy is found in hearing the words of The Book that proclaims Christ Crucified. This poor, deaf fellow man, this poor fellow sinner, received the divine intervention that He needed. Only by an act of God could he, can we, be restored, to be brought out of the dead silence into the sweet sound of the Savior’s voice.
No consent or decision to be healed was the man’s to make, for God’s grace is not only sufficient, but greater, nor could he have made a decision to hear because, as he stood there of his own ability, or lack thereof, his ears were closed even to the Lord. But here see the power that Jesus Christ possesses, the ability to break through the unbreakable, to cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dead to live; the ability, the love, the power to come rescue those unable to save themselves. The Word of the Lord pierced through the closed ears just as it did straight into your very soul in your baptism when it was the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Who worked in that water, not just plain water, but water included in God’s command and combined with His word, a saving word, a life-giving word, which worked in your deaf, blind, mute heart to raise it from the dead where it was buried to stay for all eternity.
The actions of Jesus that day are indeed a picture of your very own baptism for it was into your ears the triune name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit penetrated, loosing your chains, freeing you from bondage against which you had no hope on your own, and creating in you a spring of water welling up to eternal life, never to thirst again for that which you need the most, the forgiveness of sins. Jesus with the deaf-mute man is such a bold display of God acting upon you when you possess zero ability to do so for yourself, that Martin Luther included a quote from Mark, chapter seven, in the baptismal rite he published in the year 1523. After all the Redeemed, who were gathered to witness the baptism, prayed together the Lord’s prayer, the pastor would touch the right ear of the one being baptized and repeat the words of Jesus, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened,”, then would proceed to the water for the baptism itself. Though aspects of Luther’s rite have fallen out of use and whether the person who baptized you did or didn’t speak these words moments before God saved you through water, word, and faith, your Lord Jesus Christ has spoken this to you in His blessed waters. Opened by His Word and Spirit are your eyes to see the salvation of God in the death and resurrection of His only Son for the forgiveness of your sins. Opened are your ears to savor the precious Good News that saves you in body and soul. Opened is your mouth to speak rightly the glory of the Lord; to declare the goodness of God in His sanctuary among others whose ears stand as wide open as empty graves, and to believe that this Good News is the best news to share with all peoples.
Your salvation has come. You have not been abandoned to the destruction of the Assyrians, to the capture of the Babylonians, or to the persecution and ridicule of the wicked in our day, for in none of those places will your Savior allow you to remain forever. From the very fires of Hell, He has delivered you and will do so regardless of what earthly flames envelope you. The deliverance you need; you have received and you hear Him. The salvation for which your dead soul depends has come to you in the voice of your precious Savior, which barreled victoriously into your chamber of death and brought you up through holy baptismal waters into eternal life, a sure voice, God’s very own, which will never grow silent again as it calls you always to Him throughout all your days. Savor every word of the Lord God, your strength and your song.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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