Trinity 12 – August 18, 2024Psalm 70; Isaiah 29; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11St. Mark 7:31-37
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Rite of Holy Baptism, after
hearing the Holy Gospel and praying the Lord’s prayer, the Pastor touches the
baptismal candidate’s mouth and ear while proclaiming, “Ephphatha, that is, be
opened!” These words act as both a prayer and a blessing. They are a prayer
that the Word of God just spoken to the candidate would open his ears and mouth
to receive and proclaim this saving Word. They are a blessing in that “whatever
you ask in [Jesus’ Name], that you will receive.” The blessing is that God’s
Word will do precisely what it says. The ears and mouth of the Baptized will be
opened to receive and proclaim the Word of God.
Ephphatha is taken from the healing
miracle heard this morning. Our Lord goes to great lengths to heal this man’s
afflictions. The man cannot speak, and he cannot hear. He cannot receive the
words of others, and he cannot express himself. What’s more, because he is both
deaf and mute, it is likely that he was born this way. He has never heard, and
he has never spoken. He is in a truly pitiable state.
This man’s afflictions are an allegory,
a picture, of the natural state of man. By nature, we are not born open to the
possibilities of the world. We are not born neutral toward God such that we
need to be convinced or persuaded. We are born deaf and mute. We are turned
away and hostile to the Living God. How did God create the universe? By
speaking. How does St. John refer to Jesus in the first chapter of his Gospel?
As the Word. Faith comes by hearing. Yet the natural man, our flesh, is so
“anti-God” that we are born deaf and mute. Our flesh hates God such that our
ears are stopped in a fight against the words of faith.
Our flesh is healed, is opened to the
Word of God in Holy Baptism. Just as our Lord used the means of spittle while
healing this man, He uses the waters of Holy Baptism to open your ears and your
mouth. Baptism now saves you. How? By bringing the Word of God to bear on your
soul, pouring it on your flesh to open your ears and mouth.
“What then,” you might say, “of the adult brought to Baptism? Don’t we usually teach first and then baptize adults? If their ears are plugged by nature and opened in Baptism, why not Baptize them before teaching?” This is an excellent question. Christ our Lord says that if we want to inherit the Kingdom of God we must turn and become children. By this, He means we must learn to trust like children. The inherent quality of trust that is found in children is not innocence in the sense of a “lack of guilt.” The trust of children can very easily be misused, or malformed. Children can easily be taught to trust the wrong things. That is why teaching children is a full-time job from the moment they are born. They trust whatever they are presented, without question.
An adult who is brought to the church
has passed this stage of unquestioning trust. He has been formed by his
experiences and by the world. For such a one as this, the Word of God must work
not only to teach Him of the One True God but to unteach him of the doctrines
of the world. The preparatory teaching of an adult before his baptism is
primarily so that when he receives this holy washing, he does not immediately
blaspheme it.
Yet even in the case of the adult, Holy
Baptism is effective. It is not only an outward sign of an internal change that
has already taken place. When the pastor proclaims, “Ephphatha, that is, be
opened” to the adult baptismal candidate, the same thing is happening as when
it is said to a child. Truly, the baptized is being opened to the Word of God
and his tongue is being formed for the proclamation of the same.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the
Word of God.[1] Thus, the
pulpit on Sunday morning is the beginning of all pastoral care. The Divine
Service is the foundation upon which the minister of God brings the Word of God
and distributes the Sacraments to you, the people of God. All other activities
and works of the Church must proceed from this one thing most needful.
As such, the Pastor must spend a
majority of his time devoted to the Word of God. The Pastor is a man, like any
other. He does not have perfect knowledge of the mind of God. He must spend
time studying the Word of God so that he can rightly bring it to you. Sermons,
bible studies, and devotions do not spring forth from a last minute of hurried
preparation—or at least they shouldn’t. Even the study of the conduct of the
liturgy itself should be a priority for every Pastor because it is that place
in which God comes to His people most intimately.
There is also the truth that the Divine
Service on Sunday morning is a very small proportion of the week. It represents
only an hour or an hour and a half each week, leaving 166 hours outside of the
Divine Service each week. Like the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration,
we cannot abandon the world to encamp in glory.[2]
Rather, we must bear the glory of Christ throughout the week. We must take what
we have received on Sunday morning and carry it throughout all our days.
That means you must read the bible
every day. One or two verses in a Facebook group or half a verse with a
devotion won’t cut it. It is the Word of God that forms your heart, and it is
the Word of God that unplugs your ears. The same goes for 5 or 6 random verses
each day. What you need is a constant and steady stream of the Word of God. Reading
straight through the Scriptures, then doing it again and again will form your
heart and mind to the Word of God. You will begin to see the world through the
eyes of God and will begin to speak in complete sentences even as the formerly
deaf man began speaking correctly after the miracle.
The Congregation at Prayer that we use
to open Bible Study every Sunday has a reading plan with two chapters a day.
That should be possible for almost everyone here. For the youngest of children,
you might go a little slower, but it is entirely possible to read straight from
the Scriptures and talk about the details – who is involved, what happens, when
it happens, where it happens, and why it happens. If you want or need a
different reading plan, just let me know. There are literally thousands
available.
Jesus groans as He opens the ears and
looses the tongue of the deaf man. He commands the friends of the formerly deaf
man to be silent about the miracle and yet they persistently proclaim the
miracle throughout the region. Jesus groans and commands silence because He
knows human nature will see only the miracle and stop all ears from the Word of
God. We hear what we want to hear, and we speak without thinking, bound to the
language of the world.
This miracle shows that Christians are
called to the exact opposite. Christians are called to be silent before the
Word of God, to receive it daily and live by it at every moment. Christians are
then called to speak that Word of God plainly throughout the world, just as the
tongue of the formerly deaf man was unbound so that he could speak plainly.
May your ears and tongue be loosed by
the Almighty Word of God this day. Ephphatha, that is, be opened.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
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