Sermons

What is preaching? St. Paul writes in Romans: “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14-15)

Therefore our Lutheran Confessions state: “It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.” (Augsburg Confession VII:1-3)

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The Sunday of the Deaf Mute ’12 – Mark 7:317-37

26. August 2012
The Sunday of the Deaf Mute
Mark 7:31-37

In the holy name + of Jesus. Amen.

When the Word of God speaks, the Word of God works. Jesus, the Word incarnate, speaks and thus does. Jesus’ miracles are not simply a result of some inborn supernatural powers. His touch is powerful but what gives his fingers that great ability? Even the hem of his garment seems endowed with magical pixie dust, stopping the woman’s bleeding, but surely it is not the fabric itself that does this great thing?  The spit of Jesus placed on the man’s tongue works breaks the bonds that keep him from speaking, right?

The hands of God formed the heavens and the earth. “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” we sing. When you read Genesis, where does God use his hands? Only when He forms the man from the earth. This man of dust is still dust. His chest does not rise and fall. The newly created blood doesn’t pulse through his veins and arteries. There is no life in him. The supernatural creating of Adam from nothing still lacks life. Adam is no different than a potter’s vessel, lifeless and fragile. He is lovingly created, beautiful but inanimate.

It is not until God breathes on the stick figure that he comes to life. For God, to breathe is to speak. He said, “Let there be” and there was. God breathed His Word on all that He had made and it was. Awesome hands, fantastic imagination, but still lifeless until He speaks “Let there be!”

Many of the old baptismal practices attempted to create today’s Gospel. Immediately after the little exorcism that still begins our rite, the priest would touch his thumb to his spittle and then the nostril and ears of the one to be baptized. He would say “Ephphatha” which means “be opened!” The change of touching the nostrils instead of the mouth was made quite early by the Church, at least by the fourth or fifth century. St. Ambrose said: “For the sake of propriety the nostrils are touched instead of the tongue.”

It is nice to remember today’s Gospel in the context of baptism. Anytime Jesus works with water, especially His water, we ought to recall Holy Baptism. Is the priest’s spittle somehow endued with spiritual power? Is this precious bodily fluid a holy water? What makes the water holy anyway? And also, does Jesus spitting and touching the man’s tongue or sticking His fingers in the deaf mute’s ears do anything?

It’s not that it couldn’t but that it didn’t. The man was just as deaf and mute after Jesus’ earthy touch. Remember that they brought to [Jesus] a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. The good friends of this man wanted Jesus to touch him. They wanted a miracle from those magic hands. Their faith was weak with a faulty view of the means of God.

That’s not how Jesus works. He uses hands, spittle, garment fringes, water, fish, bread, and wine to do great things. These things are powerless of themselves. As we confess with Holy Baptism, it is not the water that does such great things but the Word of God in and with the water that does them. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

The seeming magic spittle, tongue touching, and ear stopping did not do any great thing. They pointed to the place where healing would happen. When Jesus speaks, the Word of God does the healing. For the sake of His cross and resurrection, our heavenly Father hears His intercession. The Father hears the Spirit of Jesus sighing and crying out “Be opened” and does what the Son asks.

When water is poured over the infant, the toddler, the teenager, or the adult, sin is drowned and death destroyed. Not because the water alone washes away sin or kills death but rather the water with the Word “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” does this. The Word works through water.

So why not just say, “Ephphatha” and be done with it? Why not simply do what is needed without the friends bringing the man or the man receiving the ear and tongue treatment? Jesus cares about your faith. While He very well could make all things well, He desires for you to know and believe that is He that does great things for you.

Luther spoke of the larvae Dei, the masks of God. God works but often hidden behind masks. He nurtures you by your parents. He keeps you from being alone with a spouse. He consoles you with good friends. He feeds you by the farmer. He heals you by the physician. He catechizes you by your pastor. He governs you by civil authorities. He protects you with the law.

We (and most of the world) are tempted to think these things come in an of themselves. They are instruments or masks of God, given to you to provide for you exactly in the way God has promised. God is at work blessing you through all his various masks. What then if you are not as blessed as you think you ought to be? What if your parents are dead? What if your spouse has left you? What if the friend has stabbed you in the back? What if you go hungry or continue to be sick? What if your pastor has neglected you? What if the government has betrayed you? What if your safety is in jeopardy as the neighborhood has gone to hell? Does this mean God has abandoned you?

This is the problem with relying upon the mask rather than faith that trusts God is at work behind them. When you don’t have them, you think God is absent. Repent. God works when and where He wills according to His good pleasure. He will never abandon you to death. He will always provide for your every need and well supply them. He is at work preserving your life both for service now and into eternity.

Repent and believe. It is not the means that do these great things but the promise of Jesus that does them. What Jesus says, Jesus does. It doesn’t require His touch, His burial shroud, or His loving embrace. Jesus does when Jesus speaks. The pinky in the ear or on the tongue does not do such great things but the Word “Be opened!” does them.

When Jesus speaks, the chains that bind tongues are released and we proclaim his name. When Jesus speaks, ears are unstopped and are once again listen. When Jesus speaks, Satan’s accusations are silenced. When Jesus speaks, troubled souls are comforted. When Jesus speaks, sins are forgiven. When Jesus speaks, death is destroyed. When Jesus speaks, heaven is opened to all who believe. When Jesus speaks, it is finished.

Jesus does great stuff with His body and not just spitting, touching tongues, stopping ears. He is the Son of God whose divine natures is united personally with his human nature. That means His body is like ours in every way but without the condition of sin. Unlike us, Jesus knows his body is given to be used for others. His body also has the Word promise: “Your seed shall crush the serpent’s head.” When he heals this deaf and mute man, the serpent is wounded. When he hangs from the cross, dead, the serpent is crushed. When he touches the man’s ears and says “Be opened!” they were physically. Now he says to us “listen to me” and the multitudes come to know and believe eternally.

This is why Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they preached it. Jesus isn’t about keeping secrets but He is about making absolutely sure that you trust in His Word and not mere acts.

It is as if He had said, “Look, guys. I know you wanted me to reach out and touch your friend. And yes, I did stick my fingers in his ears and spit on my finger and touched his tongue. But listen, did you notice those things didn’t do anything? Did you notice your friend didn’t start listening or talking until I prayed to my heavenly Father and spoke? No, of course you missed that. You still think I’ve got a miracle touch. But just you wait. When I fulfill all that was said of me by Moses, the Psalmist, and the Prophets, then you’ll get it. When I speak to you through the mouth of my apostles, gifted by the Holy Spirit, then you’ll get it. You’ll have new ears that hear and new tongues that speak.”

Christians, listen! Hear Jesus and live. Listen and speak. Speak and sing of what He has done for you. he has done all things well. Deaf sinners are now hearing believers. Mute unbelievers are now bold Christian confessors. This is why Lutheran hymnody doesn’t sing about Jesus carrying us, touching us, or walking with us. Listen to any of the popular Christian anthems today and they sound like bad love songs written to Jesus. Our hymns sing of what Christ has said. He has spoken and we listen. We listen and then we sing. All things done well by the Word of God.

Even the most misguided person is God’s mask, work for His good and gracious will in this world. All are masks. Christians are special masks. Even misguided believers do a great thing by bringing their deaf mute (spiritually) friends to hear Jesus. And when all come into His Service, He speaks and they listen. When they listen, their ears are unstopped and their bond tongues loosed to speak and sing boldly of Jesus Christ crucified for them. Sins are forgiven. Debts are paid. Death is destroyed. The promise of eternal life is given.

Jesus says, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened!” And it is so. Thanks be to God!

To God alone be the glory. Amen.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana

Trinity 11 ’12 – Luke 18:9-14

Old Testament: Gen. 4:1-15
Epistle: Ephesians 2:1-10
Holy Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

Summary: True faith is the fountain of prayer. True prayer strengthens faith. (Augustine) This truth is given us by Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. While both “pray,” only the Publican prays from faith that rests in the mercy of God. Humility is the character of Christian faith and prayer. Those who are humble will be exalted by the mercy of the Father given in the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than we either desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of Your mercy, forgiving those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things that we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

“The Things that Make for Peace” – Luke 19:41-48

Old Testament: Jer. 8:4-12

Epistle: 1 Cor. 12:1-11

Holy Gospel: Luke 19:41-48

Preached by Rev. Karl Davies, retired.

The Things that Make for Peace                                                                                                                            St. Luke 19:41-48

 

And when He (Jesus) drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.

 

✠ In Nomine Iesu ✠

It has often been said that some people have an attitude about life that may be described as thinking that their cup is only half full, and others, that their cup is half empty

While there are indeed some people in this world who tend to look at the negative and others who look at things very positively, by and large, people like to complain a lot.  We often hear people complaining about all the other problems of life, weather, health and so on.  Or about our husbands and wives or our children.  Or children about their parents.  It wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t.  And, in a world that is full of problems and sins, it isn’t hard to find things or people to complain about.

The Bible, tells us to be content with such things as you have, and that Godliness with contentment is great gain.  Yet the fact is that most people are never quite satisfied and are looking for that something that will make them satisfied.  The blessings that we have and take for granted often become old and common, and we figure there’s something better out there.  Or worse, we are disappointed with God, because He does not give something that we want.

Today’s Gospel takes us back to Lent.  Jesus came to God’s people, He came to Jerusalem, the city of God.  It was the Holy City, where the Holy Place–God’s Temple was–the place thought to be where God’s presence with His people was manifest.  Everything was done right according to the Law of Moses.  But they did not receive God’s Son, they were not happy with Him, and worse, they plotted against Him.  They rejected Him and thus, as our Lord says

The Things that Make for Peace

I. No poor-mes for Jesus        II.  God’s judgment on rejection       III.  Christ’s cleansing of His Holy Temple

I

And so the Prince of Peace comes to Jerusalem, His final earthly destination.  St. Luke tells us in chapter 9, “His face was set toward Jerusalem.”  Our Lord knew what lay ahead of Him, as He told His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”   The welcoming crowds that cried “Hosanna in the Highest, Blessed is He who comes in the Name ofthe LORD,” showed the high expectations that so many had for this Son of David come to save His people.  But looming ahead of Him was “Jerusalem,” not meaning everyone in the city, but in fact, the powers that be–the ruling council, the Pharisees, the high priesthood and the temple uppity-ups who were threatened by Him.

You see, it is often a misconception that those who called for his crucifixion were the same people who cried “Hosanna.”  Dr. Paul Maier makes the point that there were still those who believed in Jesus.  It was in fact a different crowd.  St. Luke even tells us, “Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people.”

On His way into the city, He stops briefly and weeps:  And when He (Jesus) drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.

His weeping is not for Himself, even though by His divine knowledge, He is well aware of what is going to happen.  No case of the “poor-me’s” for Jesus.  He is weeping for the fact that they would not accept His gracious and peaceful visitation, and for the fact that judgment would fall on them–the city and the Temple would suffer utter destruction.

I don’t know truly if Jesus in glory weeps today, although He still is true God and true Man even as our Ascended Lord.  But when Jesus weeps we might well say that He wept for all those who would reject God free gift of grace and salvation through what Jesus would do for the whole world.  The epistle to the Hebrews tells us about Jesus’ attitude: “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.”

It is for unbelief and rejection that our Lord weeps, and not Himself.  There are many sad things in the world today.  Tragedy and  evil things will continue to be part of our world.  There are many that we have seen in the last few years and months.  Even the people of God will not be spared the evils of this world.  But the greatest tragedy is unbelief.

I read recently that the most growing religion in the world today is atheism.  My wife and I visited Austria and the Czech Republic last year.  In Austria, 70% of the population is Christian, mostly Roman Catholic.  In the Czech Republic, 60% of the population is atheistic.  In the city of Wittenberg, formerly in East Germany, only 17% of the people are baptized.  Our LCMS is starting a mission there! In Western Europe, Christianity has lost much of its vitality, and has gravitated into a wishy washyness.  In the Pacific northwest of the US, only 17% of the people belong to a church.

In our world today, people don’t seem to like the idea that there is sin and disobedience, so the list of things that are sinful is getting shorter and God becoming more distant and irrelevant.

In all this there is no humble yielding to the rule of God, and no sense of accountability.  It is as Jesus once said of a crowd, people are like sheep without a shepherd.  God has visited our planet in Jesus.  God has come to redeem us from our sins and the hopelessness of unbelief.  That is our world today.

The reality may well be cause for grief on our part, but certainly not a cause for hopelessness.  For God’s call is to repentance and faith.  Jesus knew what awaited Him when He went into Jerusalem, but He continued to fulfill the work that the Father had set before Him.  He died and paid for the sins of unbelief and disobedience past and present.  He rose to call all people to Himself in the Gospel.  And, He has not given up on our world.  As long as the Lord reaches out through the Gospel in the witness of the Church, the Holy Spirit calls to faith, obedience and eternal life.  All the more should it cause us to be faithful and steadfast in our witness to Christ’s grace and love in the Gospel

II

In some very clear words, Jesus speaks of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.  ”For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Now these are not pleasant thoughts to think about on a quiet August evening/morning.  We don’t have to look into the past to see what used to be called man’s inhumanity to man.  We have seen the horrors of war on our televisions screens.  How does God allow this, we might ask.  Yet that question shows an unrealistic view of the hearts of men and of the grace that God does give us.

Jerusalem was destroyed in part because it no longer became the light to the nations that God intended that it should be.  The city of Peace, became a city of political corruption and materialistic values.  And they rejected the true Temple of God that came to them in Peace.  We are told by historians that Christians in Jerusalem were given warning by prophecy to leave the city before the Romans came to destroy it.  The city rose up in rebellion against Rome, following false prophets and false messiahs.

People don’t like the idea of God’s judgment today.  God, if there is one, seems to be one that only winks at sin and disobedience, and says neither do I condemn you, go and sin some more.  The gracious visitation of God in Word and Sacrament today may be rejected, but in time all knees must bow to the Son of God when He comes again in glory.

“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Best to know by faith that Christ has suffered the judgment of God for us in His suffering and death on the cross, and that when we come in repentance and faith to God today, we hear those real words of Jesus to the sinful woman, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin NO more.”  And we know that we are by the grace of God judged righteous because our Savior has been righteous for us, and He leads us to everlasting life no matter what may happen to us on earth.

III

Christ does not condemn His Holy Temple or forsake it.  He cleanses it. “And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”  And he was teaching daily in the temple.

The high priest and his associates lived a very comfortable life living by the perks and kickbacks of those who sold sacrificial animals and changed money–and these were necessary services in a way, but it did not belong in the Temple, especially since the sellers were crooks and thieves, robbing the people.  Thus what was to be a holy place of prayer for all nations had become corrupt and evil.

By His cleansing and presence, Jesus brought the Temple back to its Holy purpose of marking the presence of God among His people–a place of peace, of redemption, of prayer, of God meeting man.  We cannot help but think how the Church of Jesus Christ on earth continues to be plagued by the sins of mankind.  People who bear the name of Christ, and claim Him as their Lord, live contrary to the will of God.  Church leaders have fallen and continue to fall prey to the Evil One’s temptations.  In the past a corrupt church hierarchy brought about the Lutheran Reformation.  Where sin and corruption rule in the lives of the people of God, it casts a veil on the holiness of the Temple of God today, which is God’s people, built like living stones into it.

But Christ does not abandon His Church.  No, it is within His Church that He cleanses His people through the preaching of the Word and the Holy Sacraments.  He washes us in Holy Baptism, and feeds us with Holy Food in His Supper, the very Body and Blood that were given and shed for us on Calvary.  We must never forget that the church is holy because Christ is Holy, and the cleansing of Christ is continuous for those who repent and call on His name.

Yes Jesus continues to teach in His Temple today.  For here we learn the holy things of God in the midst of a world of doubt and unbelief.  Here we find peace in a world which knows no real peace.  Lord, may the things that make for peace never be hidden from our eyes.

✠ Amen âœ