The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Mark 7:31-37

In Christ Jesus, who gave us ears to hear His saving Word and tongues to praise Him and proclaim His grace to others, dear fellow redeemed:

None of us can imagine what it is like to be deaf. Even if we covered our ears so that we could hear no sound, we still remember noises. We know what hearing is like. A deaf person who was born deaf cannot imagine what a sound is like. That is why deafness and muteness often go together. If a person has never heard sounds formed into words, it is very difficult to form sounds into words with his mouth. Right speaking starts with right hearing.

So let’s start with hearing today. Take a few moments right now to listen to the sounds around you…. What did you hear? … I think we would say that the sounds we hear outside this morning are mostly pleasant. God gave the singing of the birds, the rustling of the trees, and even the hums and chirps of insects for our enjoyment. They remind us that we are surrounded by life, even as have our service next to a cemetery.

God is the author of life. He created life in the beginning and continues to sustain and give life. He wanted us to live; that’s why we are here today. But more than that, He wants us to live forevermore and join Him in His eternal kingdom, like all the faithful departed already have. To give us this eternal life, He must join us to the One who is “the Resurrection and the Life”—Jesus Christ, the holy Son of God.

God’s Son took on flesh to redeem us from the death that afflicts every human being since the fall into sin. Some might think that the Son of God did not really do anything until He became a man, but that is not so. He has existed for all eternity, and He was active with the Father in creating the universe and everything in it. St. John writes that “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Joh. 1:2-4).

John says, “In him was life.” We see that so clearly in today’s account and in many other accounts in the Bible. The sick, the injured, and the dying were brought to Jesus and cried out to Him, and He gave them life. The man in today’s account could not cry out to Jesus, but his friends could: “[T]hey begged Him to lay His hand on him.” They provide an excellent example for us of helping others in need and speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves.

The man whom they brought to Jesus could not hear or speak. Perhaps his friends had given him some idea that Jesus could perform miracles, but he had not heard the many accounts of what Jesus had done or what He had taught. It could be that this deaf and mute man did not know the Old Testament promises of a Savior and was not a believer.

Jesus wanted his full attention. He took him aside from the crowd by himself. What did the man think of Jesus? He was pretty young for a leader, being only in his 30s. What did the man see when he looked in Jesus’ eyes: Compassion? Sadness? Determination? Perhaps a combination of these and more. Was he surprised when Jesus put His fingers in his ears, or did he accept it as Jesus’ way of showing He understood his trouble? Then Jesus spit—we assume on His fingers—and touched the man’s tongue. But so far, nothing changed.

Then Jesus looked up to heaven. This showed the man where help would come from. Then with a deep sigh or a groan, Jesus said the Aramaic word, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened.” Suddenly the man could hear. What a strange sensation! So that is what sound is like! There would be so much to learn, so much to hear—talking, singing, laughing, shouting. Not only that, but his tongue was released as though it had been tied up or bound with chains. Now he could also speak!

There were three miracles here: The ears that Jesus touched could now hear. The tongue He moistened could now move freely. And the mouth that had never formed words could now speak plainly. There was probably a fourth miracle too: we assume this man was brought to faith—not so much because of the miracle but because of Jesus’ word: “Be opened.” That powerful Word applied not just to the man’s ears and tongue but to his heart as well.

For most believers, the ear is the conduit of faith. St. Paul writes in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” This is why we want to and need to keep hearing the Word. The Holy Spirit works faith through the Word and strengthens faith through the Word. Jesus promised this after His death and resurrection. He said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak…. he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Joh. 16:13,14).

The victory that Jesus won over sin, death, and the devil is now declared to you. Your ears which have been tempted to listen to what is false, lawless, self-serving, and seductive, He has filled with the comforting words of His forgiveness. Your tongue which has often been used for words of anger, disrespect, lies, and gossip, He washes clean by His holy blood and loosens for His praise.

King David prayed for such deliverance from his guilt: “Deliver me,” he said, “And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise” (Psa. 51:14-15, NKJV). We offer the same penitential prayer. We acknowledge that we would still be in spiritual captivity, unable to hear the truth or speak it, if God did not break us free from these chains.

So many today cannot hear or don’t want to hear. They listen to what their flesh wants and not what their soul needs. They want words of affirmation and support for whatever they decide to do, instead of words of correction and chastening to keep them in line with the will of God. They want words that lull them into a sleepy satisfaction with the things of this world, instead of words of warning and encouragement to keep them spiritually alert. They want to hear how great they are, instead of how great God is.

The mechanisms of their ears work, but they don’t listen to the only message that really matters: Christ’s Word of truth and salvation. St. Paul wrote about misused ears in his Second Letter to Timothy: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (4:3-4).

You and I are just as vulnerable to these temptations. Whenever we do not want to listen to sound teaching because it convicts us, or makes us feel guilty, or keeps us from doing what our sinful flesh wants to do, then we are going deaf to God’s Word of life and truth. And if we won’t hear the truth, we’re not going to speak it either. As we already heard, those two things go together: hearing and speaking.

When the deaf and mute man gained the ability to hear and speak, we expect that the first words from his mouth were words of praise—praise to the God of heaven for bringing healing through His servant Jesus. How we speak is directly connected to what we are hearing. If we are constantly criticizing, complaining, and worrying, then we are not hearing our Lord’s commands and promises. We are not hearing His command to love one another as He loves us. And we are not hearing His promise to provide for us, care for us, help us in our troubles, and carry us through our difficulties.

If our mouths are hardly used for praise and thanksgiving, then we are forgetting the miracle of God that freed us in the first place. We are His dear children. He took us aside, away from the powers of spiritual darkness and touched us with His grace. He brought us to the waters of Holy Baptism where He spoke His Word of life. There our ears were opened to hear His Word, and the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts. He also invites us to open our mouths to receive His body and blood which moisten our tongues with His forgiveness and grace.

The more we hear His Word, the more attuned we are to the work He does out of love for us and to His will for us. The more we hear His Word, the less we care to hear the tempting sounds of the devil, the world, and our flesh. Those temptations used to sound like sweet music to us, but now they assault our ears and drive us to the only source of peace there is, to the gracious words that come from the mouth of our Lord.

He speaks, and blessings flow through our ears into our hearts, words that bring us His forgiveness and righteousness and life. Then those saving words bubble up to our mouths, flowing out in words of confession, thankfulness, and praise. We hear and then we speak. We Speak What We Have Heard.

Unlike Jesus’ command to the crowds that no one speak of that miracle of healing, since the time had not yet come, we are directed to share the good news of His perfect life and His innocent suffering and death for the salvation of the whole world. These Gospel words are powerful words, able to open the ears of the spiritually deaf—sinners like us—and to loosen tongues for His praise.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from all-parish outdoor service at Saude)