The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

Trinity 12 – August 18, 2024

Psalm 70; Isaiah 29; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

St. 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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[1] Romans 10:17.

[2] St. Matthew 17:1-9.

The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

 The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity – September 7, 2022

Psalm 70; Isaiah 29:17-24; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11

St. Mark 7:31-37

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When Christ takes the deaf man aside, He puts His fingers in his ears, spits, touches his tongue, then lifts His eyes to heaven, groans, and finally says, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”[1] This is the only time Christ is said to groan in this way. He is displeased with the current circumstances.

Jesus is not displeased that a suffering man has come to Him for help. He is not displeased that a crowd brought this man to Jesus that he might be healed. Christ cares about this man’s physical body just as He cares for his soul. Your flesh is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God cares a great deal for your body and His compassion moves Him to perform miracles of healing.

Our Lord is groaning in displeasure over the fact that while He is trying to preach, to establish a pulpit from which He will proclaim the Word of God which replaces the stony heart of man with a heart of flesh, the multitudes cry out for miracles.

Some time after the events of Mark 7, the formerly deaf man died. If Jesus had not opened his ears and loosed his tongue, he still would have died. He would have died with the ability to hear or without. The miracle performed for him was a band-aid over the more serious wound of his sin.

There are times when a band-aid is necessary. If you suffered a gun shot wound, someone would need to put pressure on it until you got to the hospital. The dish cloth pressed firmly into the wound is not the permanent fix, but it sure helped get you there. The miracles of Christ are similar. They are a helpful band-aid, demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They demonstrate that God is merciful. He cares for your body and your soul. Yet the miracles are not what will save your life. Ultimately, they do not save your body either.

I do not expect Jesus to walk through those doors any time soon for the purpose of loosing tongues and healing wounds. I pray that He would come quickly, but that is another matter. If we are not looking for Jesus to perform miracles with spitting, sighing, groaning, and commanding words, what then does this matter to us?

It matters a great deal. It teaches us that the most important thing in the world is the Word of God. Christ may not walk Himself through those doors, but He has called and ordained a servant to do it on His behalf. God calls men to be pastors to proclaim His Word to the Church. He calls men to steward the sacraments which are His Word connected to physical elements. Christ has ordered His church such that the ministers of the Gospel are to attend to the preaching and teaching of the Word and the right administration of the sacraments.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.[2] 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.[3] Rather, we must bear the glory of Christ throughout the week. We must take that which we have received on Sunday morning and carry it throughout all our days.

This begins with Bible Study on Sunday morning. Bible study is little more than an extension of the Divine Service. It is an opportunity to continue learning about God’s Word. The only real difference is the ability to dialogue with your teacher, the Pastor. Carrying the light of Christ into the world continues by daily reading of your bible. You cannot bear the light of Christ into the world if you do not know what that light says. As the week stretches on, it means preparing yourself once again to enter through those doors and receive the Word of God, the Holy Supper, and the forgiveness of sins.

Yet there is still more. Bearing the light of Christ means being the best machine operator you can be. It means being the best mother you can be. It means being the best grandfather, cousin, sister, manager, clerk, secretary, and son you can be. Fulfilling your vocations to the best of your abilities is fulfilling the Love of God toward your neighbor.

Striving to be promoted at work so that you make more money is delightful in the eyes of God, so long as you do so with an honest heart. Do not learn from the world to lie and cheat to gain favor. Gain favor by being the best you can be. Then with your increased earnings, support the Word of God by supporting the local church, supporting the planting of new churches, or even supporting your sister in Christ who could use a little help.

All these activities then flow directly back into the Divine Service. Carrying the light of Christ into the world means guiding the world to that place where they will receive Christ—the Church. It also means showing the world your humility in needing the Word of God. Christ came for the sinners, not for those who counted themselves righteous. Simply by showing the world that you need forgiveness, that you need the Word of God, speaks volumes about the value of Christ and His death to forgive your sins. Everything in the Church, everything in the life of the Christian, flows from and flows toward the Divine Service.

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.

Pastors are solemnly charged with teaching you the Word of God, something which requires great study. Yet, just as Jesus could not refuse the miracle of healing this man, pastors cannot refuse the other duties throughout the church. Jesus could not refuse the miracle of healing because of His compassion. The ears and tongue of this man are precious to Jesus. In the resurrection, this man’s ears and tongue will be perfected because God created him to be perfect in body and soul.

From the color of the carpet to the orientation of the Fellowship Hall, everything that happens in the church is theological in nature. It is theological because it either flows from and toward the Divine Service or it doesn’t. If it does, then it should be promoted, enhanced, and featured. If it doesn’t, then it needs to be corrected.

This entire topic is called sanctification, or the life of the Christian. You are declared righteous by God in an instant—the moment faith entered your heart, causing you to repent of your sins and trust in the forgiveness of Christ. But the life of sanctification continues throughout all your days on this side of glory. Learning to receive the Word of God, learning how to bear the light of Christ into the world, and learning to strive against your own sins is a task you cannot complete on this side of heaven.

This process of sanctification is a burden, but it is light. It is a yoke, but it is sweet. It is sweet and light because the victory over your sin has already been won. The deaf man did not have to be trained to speak, his tongue was loosed in an instant and he spoke plainly. The victory was already won for him. But he had a lifetime of dry mouth, sore throats, and other ailments to face before he received the eternal reward for Christ’s victory over his disabilities.

You too, have days of trials and suffering ahead of you. You have sins to fight against—both your own and the sins of those around you. But the victory has been won. Jesus has done everything well. He makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. He has conquered your sin and given you the victory.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Mark 7:33-34.

[2] Romans 10:17.

[3] St. Matthew 17:1-9.

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

 The Nativity of St. John the Baptist – June 24, 2022

Introit – St. Luke 1:68, 76-79; Isaiah 40:1-5; Acts 13:13-26

St. Luke 1:57-80

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

         Who has set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings

hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,

         That thou mightiest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

         The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

         And the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,

         And hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;

         Thou hast put all things under hi feet:

All sheep and oxen,

         Yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,

         And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! (Psalm 8, KJV)

Today we rejoice that God has seen fit to deliver our nation from the tyranny of a supposed right to kill children in the womb. It is by divine providence, that is, the foreknowledge and working of God in the world, that this decision by the Supreme Court was handed down on the same day as the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Today is a day of great rejoicing.

Tomorrow, our rejoicing will be slightly tempered. Tomorrow, we ought to remember that while this decision removes a national mandate allowing the murder of children, it does not prevent the murder of children. This decision allows states to decide how and when they will allow mothers to ask doctors to kill their babies. I give thanks to God that there will be states protecting children, especially the state of Missouri. Our Attorney General certified the overturning of Roe vs. Wade this morning, meaning all abortions not absolutely medically necessary, are illegal in our state. Yet I still mourn the children sacrificed on the altars of pleasure, self-importance, and pride because they were conceived in a state unwilling to protect them.

But today, our rejoicing is great. We rejoice for out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, God has ordained strength in the face of His enemies. We especially rejoice for that one who is the greatest among men born of women. St. John the Baptist is the forerunner of Christ, who was called by God before his birth to announce the coming of the Savior.

Next Saturday, we celebrate the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that day when the Virgin Mary visits her relative, Elizabeth, and the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps at the sound of Mary’s voice. St. John, who was himself around six months gestation, hears the sound of Mary’s voice, knows the presence of the Christ, and leaps for joy. Like a calf leaping forth from his stall, St. John rejoices at the presence of His Lord because it means salvation has come to man in the flesh of Jesus.[1]

There is a plethora of details surrounding the birth of St. John, each pointing to Christ, and more than could be understood in one evening. Tonight, we will focus on how and why he came to be named “John.” It was a surprise to everyone when Zacharias came out from offering the evening burning of incense and sacrifice and was silent. It was his duty to pronounce the benediction over the people. Having offered sacrifice to God, it was Zacharias’s duty to place the name of God on His people.

But his lips were sealed. Zacharias’s lips were sealed for a lack of faith. He did not believe God was able to give his aged and barren wife a son, let alone that this son would be the forerunner of the Christ.

The sealing of Zacharias’s lips is a mirror of the duty given to his son. John would be the voice crying in the wilderness. He would be the forerunner of the Christ through the preaching of God’s Word, especially that word of repentance.

Only on the day of John’s birth and only at the occasion of the gathered crowds who would not believe Elizabeth’s claim that the child was to be named John, were Zacharias’s lips unsealed. He wrote the name “John” and simultaneously spoke aloud. The voice of Zacharias was heard for the first time in ninth months. While his lips were sealed before he could bless the people, they were loosed for him to say, “His name is John.”

The name “John” means “gracious” or “benevolent.” The high priest at the time of the building of Solomon’s Temple was also named “Johanan.”[2] It is fitting that as the building of the spiritual temple of the Kingdom of God was being carried out by the heavenly Solomon, namely Jesus Christ, a man named John would serve as a priest carrying out a ministry greater than any of the Old Testament in preparing the hearts of man to receive their Lord.[3] [4]

It was the solemn duty of St. John to prepare the hearts of man by plowing the hearts inflated by pride and sin until they were plane, and raising up those who were sunk deep in the valley of despair. Through a baptism of repentance, St. John prepared the way of the Lord.

When we say that the ministry of John was a ministry of repentance, we mean the term “repentance” broadly, as including both the Law and the Gospel. John proclaimed the coming of the Messiah to fulfill the oath God swore to Abraham, the mercy promised to our fathers of old, and the holiness and righteousness of God who would deliver mankind from the hand of our enemies—sin death, and the devil.[5]

Then came the day when his own cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, came to John to be baptized. St. John knew Him to be the Christ, the promised Savior, and at first declined because of his unworthiness. Yet Christ proclaimed it was necessary that He be baptized by John so that they might fulfill all righteousness. Thus, Christ was baptized in the Jordan River, sanctifying all waters to be a washing of rebirth and regeneration.

Jesus declared that John would participate in the fulfilling of all righteousness. This was not because St. John had distinguished himself by ascetic living or devotion to God. John himself confessed that he was not worthy to tie the sandal strap of the Christ, let alone participate in the filling of righteousness. Yet it is the gracious Lord who brings John into the fulfillment of righteousness.

In your holy baptism, Christ also invites you to participate in the fulfilling of all righteousness. You are not then expected to do this on your own. You are still unworthy to tie the sandal of God in yourself. But you are also no longer alone. You are the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, the habitation of the Lord, Himself. The Son of God was made lower than the angels when He took on your flesh and He has now washed you in His blood. The Father looks upon you and sees His beloved children. In this state, it is a loving and gracious act of the Almighty God to invite you to participate in His loving works by serving your neighbor and showing love to God.

Your participation does not make you holy. It is a consequence of your holiness, just as John baptizing Christ in the Jordan did not grant John salvation—it was the consequence of what God declared concerning John before his birth. John would go before the Lord to prepare his ways, by preaching repentance and the knowledge of salvation to the people of God.

On this holy day, we celebrate the birth of the forerunner of Christ at the same time that we celebrate an act of our government to protect the lives of thousands of children. It is by divine providence that the day we celebrate the one who leapt in the womb at the presence of his Lord, we also celebrate the striking down of Roe vs. Wade. We celebrate John the forerunner and the preservation of the lives of children because God Himself was born a child at Bethlehem. The Son of God took on your flesh, was born of a virgin, that by bearing your sins into the death of the cross, He would redeem your flesh. Jesus ascended into heaven still bearing the flesh of man so that all mankind, from the smallest child in the womb, to the eldest among us, would be guided into the way of peace.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let us now rise and sing together the Te Deum, as found in hymn #941, glorifying God for the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.

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[1] Malachi 4:2.

[2] 1 Chronicles 6:10.

[3] Johann Gerhard, Postille: Exegesis and Explanation of Sunday and Main Festival Gospels; Part Three: Apostle and Other Festival Days, translated by Elmer M. Hohle, edited by Heidi D. Sias (Fort Wayne, IN: Lutheran Legacy, 2012), 67.

[4] 2 Corinthians 3:6-9.

[5] St. Luke 1:68-79. The Benedictus.