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.
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.
Our Lord thrust his finger in the ear of the deaf man, poking through the blockage as it were. He grabbed hold of the man’s tongue, yanking it out of his mouth. He groaned in deep compassion, feeling the man’s suffering, and really the suffering of His whole creation which He had come to earth to save. But right now He was focussed on this one little corner. This man. And how the impacts of sin at work in every single one of us had caused this man to be cut off, isolated, unable to hear, hardly able to speak. There were people all around him but so little communication going on. No one was able to know His thoughts, nor able to communicate with him except by touch, whether harsh or gentle.
Jesus groans for the suffering sin causes. Not that this man had done anything to deserve being deaf and dumb, nor that his parents had sinned some horrible sin so as to be given a child with this affliction. Rather, he was born into a world ravaged by sin. From birth, just like all of us, he knew sin’s consequences. His experience of sin and its consequences was possibly a little more profound than many of us, our experience often a little more subtle, but we all know the consequences of being born in sin, in its brokenness outside the garden, and living in this barren wasteland while we wait to be taken to the promised land of heaven, our true home.
This man so profoundly cut off, what hell, what torment, what loneliness his sojourn on earth must have been! So they brought Him to Our Lord, the one man in all creation who could do anything for him because He is the Creator with power over the physical universe for He designed it, He set its laws and limits, and He can alter them miraculously at any moment.
Jesus takes this broken man they brought, and He communicates with Him, the only way this man knows, by touching him. By grabbing his tongue and thrusting His finger in his ear. As if saying, “These are mine. The blockage in these ears I will break, I will take. The bonds holding this tongue I will own and take on Myself. Your ears and tongue are mine.`` And groaning in anticipation of His owning of all the sin of all mankind on the cross Our Lord speaks, "Be completely opened!"
And miraculously, supernaturally, in opposition to science and nature, and entropy and the decay of sin his ears were completely opened and he heard Our Lord. His deaf ears opened by the Word of God. The bonds holding his tongue falling away and He spoke rightly.
"O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise." For what speech is more right, more salutary, more pleasing than that which extols the virtues and saving grace of our God!?
For God opens mouths that are shut. Shut by sin. Shut by its effects. Shut by fear.
And then Our Lord charges the bystanders not to speak of it. Presumably because Our Lord`s time is not yet come, though one is tempted to think this is some clever reverse psychology on the part of Our Lord. But whatever His intent, the effect is obvious: their lips are opened. They can not help but speak of the mighty acts of their Lord. They are completely overwhelmed by it. One might say they are dumbstruck, except for fact that this total amazement does not inhibit their speech but causes them to speak abundantly!
Their mouths are opened even to proclaim, "He has done all things well!" In echo of God’s making all things good in the beginning before the fall into sin.
This is Our Lord’s work. This is what the Word of God does. It makes all things good. It heals that which is broken. It forgives evil. It restores those fallen from grace. For the Word of God in His flesh has paid the price of sin on the cross. He has groaned there for every sin and misdeed and false belief and whatever other thing you have which isolate you from others and especially from Him. And having done so He claims helpless babes as His own, taking on any infirmities their sin has caused or will cause in them, owning them and in exchange giving to those babes His righteousness. So that God the Father says of that baptized one, though they sin much every day, “He has done all things well. This one is my Son whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.”
God has said that this day of little Sadie who has been baptized. “This is my Son whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.” Sadie is by birth a girl. But baptized into Christ Jesus she is the Father’s royal son. She is his first born, the apple of His eye, the inheritor of all that is His, and a partaker with Christ Jesus in the riches of God’s kingdom, both on this side of heaven, and especially in heaven itself.
But notice that the deaf and dumb man lost in his isolation had to be brought to Our Lord for healing. Sadie has been brought to the Lord this day. But she must continue to be brought. For any who have been married know how quickly your love grows cold, how easily the relationship can drift and lose its warmth, its fire, its vibrancy till both sides' tongues are no longer able to speak a kind word to the other and are instead bound in the chains of hatred and enmity toward one another. So Sadie’s heart has been opened this day to the Lord. Her love of Him made strong. But she needs constant contact with Him. She needs the habitation of His house. She needs to be in the place where His glorious grace dwells so that her lips might be opened again and again by His love and forgiveness. Otherwise what has been done in her today will grow cold. The faith, the trust placed in her heart will sputter and die. So she must be brought to Jesus again and again to renew her faith.
Fortunately, our Lord and His Word are powerful. He is gracious and merciful. He groans inwardly for each of us as He prays for you even now. He longs for you to be free of the chains of your sin and to bask in the glory of His free love for you. So this day repent of whatever things you have placed before Him that keep you from the habitation of His house. Turn from them and bask in His grace, in the warmth of His embrace, in the freedom His Word of healing brings into your life.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
---Pastor David Haberstock
This man so profoundly cut off, what hell, what torment, what loneliness his sojourn on earth must have been! So they brought Him to Our Lord, the one man in all creation who could do anything for him because He is the Creator with power over the physical universe for He designed it, He set its laws and limits, and He can alter them miraculously at any moment.
Jesus takes this broken man they brought, and He communicates with Him, the only way this man knows, by touching him. By grabbing his tongue and thrusting His finger in his ear. As if saying, “These are mine. The blockage in these ears I will break, I will take. The bonds holding this tongue I will own and take on Myself. Your ears and tongue are mine.`` And groaning in anticipation of His owning of all the sin of all mankind on the cross Our Lord speaks, "Be completely opened!"
And miraculously, supernaturally, in opposition to science and nature, and entropy and the decay of sin his ears were completely opened and he heard Our Lord. His deaf ears opened by the Word of God. The bonds holding his tongue falling away and He spoke rightly.
"O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise." For what speech is more right, more salutary, more pleasing than that which extols the virtues and saving grace of our God!?
For God opens mouths that are shut. Shut by sin. Shut by its effects. Shut by fear.
And then Our Lord charges the bystanders not to speak of it. Presumably because Our Lord`s time is not yet come, though one is tempted to think this is some clever reverse psychology on the part of Our Lord. But whatever His intent, the effect is obvious: their lips are opened. They can not help but speak of the mighty acts of their Lord. They are completely overwhelmed by it. One might say they are dumbstruck, except for fact that this total amazement does not inhibit their speech but causes them to speak abundantly!
Their mouths are opened even to proclaim, "He has done all things well!" In echo of God’s making all things good in the beginning before the fall into sin.
This is Our Lord’s work. This is what the Word of God does. It makes all things good. It heals that which is broken. It forgives evil. It restores those fallen from grace. For the Word of God in His flesh has paid the price of sin on the cross. He has groaned there for every sin and misdeed and false belief and whatever other thing you have which isolate you from others and especially from Him. And having done so He claims helpless babes as His own, taking on any infirmities their sin has caused or will cause in them, owning them and in exchange giving to those babes His righteousness. So that God the Father says of that baptized one, though they sin much every day, “He has done all things well. This one is my Son whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.”
God has said that this day of little Sadie who has been baptized. “This is my Son whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.” Sadie is by birth a girl. But baptized into Christ Jesus she is the Father’s royal son. She is his first born, the apple of His eye, the inheritor of all that is His, and a partaker with Christ Jesus in the riches of God’s kingdom, both on this side of heaven, and especially in heaven itself.
But notice that the deaf and dumb man lost in his isolation had to be brought to Our Lord for healing. Sadie has been brought to the Lord this day. But she must continue to be brought. For any who have been married know how quickly your love grows cold, how easily the relationship can drift and lose its warmth, its fire, its vibrancy till both sides' tongues are no longer able to speak a kind word to the other and are instead bound in the chains of hatred and enmity toward one another. So Sadie’s heart has been opened this day to the Lord. Her love of Him made strong. But she needs constant contact with Him. She needs the habitation of His house. She needs to be in the place where His glorious grace dwells so that her lips might be opened again and again by His love and forgiveness. Otherwise what has been done in her today will grow cold. The faith, the trust placed in her heart will sputter and die. So she must be brought to Jesus again and again to renew her faith.
Fortunately, our Lord and His Word are powerful. He is gracious and merciful. He groans inwardly for each of us as He prays for you even now. He longs for you to be free of the chains of your sin and to bask in the glory of His free love for you. So this day repent of whatever things you have placed before Him that keep you from the habitation of His house. Turn from them and bask in His grace, in the warmth of His embrace, in the freedom His Word of healing brings into your life.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
---Pastor David Haberstock
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