Mark 7:31-37; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11; Isaiah 29:17-24
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Knowledge of the Scriptures cannot save you. Only faith can do that. So, whether you seek wisdom like the Greeks, or signs from God like the Jews, these things do not and cannot save you. Only faith can do that. You are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in God’s Son, Jesus Christ alone.
Therefore, hear the Word of God. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Treasure it. Yes! To be sure! But do not imagine that your knowledge of Bible history, your familiarity with the great stories of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, or your memorization of countless verses can save you. Knowledge is good, but knowledge is not faith. Only faith saves.
Our First Parents succumbed to the temptation to become wise in a worldly and fleshly way. The wisdom they thought they were gaining was really a lie. They could only attain that wisdom by rebelling against and rejecting the true wisdom of God, His Law and His Word. They exchanged God’s Truth for a lie because they desired to be like God. They desired to be gods themselves. And so do you.
God did not make Adam and Eve covetous, jealous, discontent, and rebellious. But He gave them the freedom to rebel against Him, and they did. They chose according to their own will rather than His will. And you are their rebellious children. You carry their corruption in your own body. Your will is enslaved by sin. You are spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind. Who will save you from this body of death? Who will open your eyes? Who will open your ears? Who will release your tongue?
“O LORD, open Thou my lips, and my mouth will show forth Thy praise.” Salvation comes to you from outside of you. “Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He.” He turns a desert into a fruitful field. He opens the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind. He opens the mouths and loosens the tongues of those who cannot speak. And He says to those with anxious hearts, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Did you hear that? He did not merely say, “A Savior will come.” He did not even merely say, “The Messiah will come.” He said, “your God will come.” Your God. Your King. He will come, and He will save you. In Jesus, Emmanuel, which means “God with us,” God has visited His people to redeem them and save them. Jesus is God in the flesh, come to save His people. He is your Savior, your King, and your God. And this is His salvific, kingly, and divine work: to save you from sin, from death, and from Satan.
And so the crowd brings to Jesus a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. They bring to their King one of His subjects who is captive to the effects of sin, that Jesus might save him, release him, and heal him. They bring the man to Jesus. And Jesus takes him aside from the crowd. He puts His fingers into the man’s ears. He takes His spittle and touches the man’s tongue. He looks up to heaven, sighs, and says, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened!” And the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
This is not merely a story about a man who once had trouble hearing and speaking. This is a picture of what Jesus has come to do for you. Just as the Word of God was spoken into the nothingness before creation and all things came to be; just as the Word of God called Lazarus out of death and into life; just as the Word of God was spoken from the cross, “It is finished,” and it truly was; just as the Word of God was spoken to this deaf and mute man and his ears were opened and his tongue was loosed, so too is the Word of God spoken over the re-creative waters of Holy Baptism. And a spiritual nothing, a spiritual Lazarus, a spiritually deaf and mute man, woman, or child, is brought out of nothingness, raised to life out of death, given ears to hear and a tongue to confess, thank, praise, and serve. For God has come to save His people.
In Jesus, God has visited His people to save them. The King has come, and His reign has begun. And where is that reign seen and confessed? In the proclamation of His Word and in the forgiveness of sinners through Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Supper of His very body and blood.
Notice something important in this Gospel. Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears. He spat and touched the man’s tongue. But these actions and signs, by themselves, did not release the man. It was Jesus’ Word. “Ephphatha,” “Be opened!” It was the performative and creative Word of God, spoken with His actions, that opened the man’s ears and loosed his tongue. And it is still that performative and creative Word, in, with, and under the elements and actions of the Blessed Sacraments, that creates in you a clean heart, forgives your sin, and strengthens and equips you for every good work.
The Word of God is like no other word. God’s Word is powerful. It is performative. It is creative. It has the power to bring into being what it says. If God’s Word says that you are forgiven, then you are forgiven. If God’s Word says that this bread is His body and this wine is His blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins, then that is precisely what they are. And if God’s Word says that He will never leave you nor forsake you, and that nothing can separate you from His love in Christ Jesus, then you can bet your life and your soul that He will keep His promise.
Therefore, guard and keep this Word. Make every effort to keep it pure, to teach it in truth and purity, whole and undefiled, for it is powerful for life unto salvation. And listen attentively to this Word. Ponder it in your heart and mind as the Holy Spirit works through it to open your ears, your hearts, and your minds. For through this Word He strengthens your faith, gives you courage to resist Satan’s temptations, keeps you firm in the faith, and gives you comfort when you walk in darkness.
The Word of the LORD is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. And because God made you spirit and flesh, body and soul, His Word became flesh and dwelt among us as one of us, as our brother. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the eternal Word in human flesh, God and man in one person, come to be your King, your Savior, and your God.
And just as He used His fingers and spittle together with His Word to heal the deaf and mute man, so He ministers to you, forgives you, and heals you through Spirit and Word and through created things: water, bread, and wine. Do not despise the lowliness of these means any more than you could despise the human flesh and blood that the Word of God has taken up for your salvation. Rather, give thanks to the LORD your God who comes to you because you could not come to Him.
Behold, your God comes. He comes to open your ears to hear His Word, your lips to confess His name, and your heart to trust in Him. He comes to forgive you. He comes to raise you from death to life. He comes to save you.
Your King has come. Your God is with you. Let us receive Him and give thanks.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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