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He Has Done All Things Well Text:
Mark 7:31-37 The earthly ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is summed up in the words preaching, teaching and healing. Preaching is the proclamation of the Word of God to all people in the world. It is the announcement that there is salvation from sin, death and the devil, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16 (ESV)]. Teaching is for the understanding of this Good News by an informed and enlightened faith. Christ's healing ministry points forward to the ultimate healing in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. The mystery, of course, is that not all hear, understand or respond to the Gospel in true faith. Though the Bible says, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” [Romans 10:17 (ESV)], the word of Christ is not magic, God does not force himself on anyone and sinful men have the awesome power and ability to say “no,” to reject God's Word. For this reason the false teaching has always been around that, if man has the ability to say no to God, he must also have at least some ability, as slight as it may be, to say “yes” to God, and so salvation and even faith itself is treated as something that is up to a person's free choice according to his free will. But the greater mystery revealed by God's Word is the truth that, while men have the ability to reject God and his Word, all men are so thoroughly enslaved by sin that we have absolutely no ability to say “yes” or accept God's grace. According to our sinful, fallen nature we can only say “no,” can only reject God on our own power. We mean it when we confess Luther's explanation of the Third Article of the Creed, saying, “I believe that I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him.” It is the doctrine of the total depravity of man. If true faith is to be possessed, is to possess us, it is all to be attributed to God's Word and work and power and not to ourselves even in the slightest little bit.
This healing of the deaf man with a speech impediment, recorded for us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit only in Mark's Gospel, emphasizes this fact that God's gift of salvation and even the faith to obtain that salvation is totally God's work and gift coming not from within us but totally from outside of us, from God.
How many of Christ's miraculous works of healing were accomplished not by waving any magic wands or even with some magical touch but solely at the spoken word of Christ? There was even the occasion of the healing of the woman with a 12-year issue of blood without Jesus even apparently being aware of it as the woman simply touched the fringe of his garment as he passed by (Matthew 9:20-22). That's what makes this healing before us today unique. For when the man's friends brought him to Jesus, begging just for some blessing by Jesus, our Lord took him aside from the crowd privately. Though he could have just said, “be healed,” he, rather, “spoke” to the deaf man with sign language, touching his ears and his tongue as if to say, “I know you are deaf and cannot speak clearly.” Then he looked up into heaven and took a deep breath as if in prayer to God. Then the man read Jesus lips. And St. Mark records for us the actual word Jesus spoke so that we, too, can hear it. He said, “Ephphatha!” which is Aramaic for the command, “Be opened!” “And [the man's] ears were opened, his tongue was release, and he spoke plainly” (v. 35).
Now Christ's healing of this man is reported to us for two reasons. For the one thing it shows, as with all his miraculous works of healing, that God desires to save us from sin and death. But especially this healing emphasizes that God's salvation comes us to through the external means of the Word and Sacraments of Christ. This is so important that it is the central doctrine of the Gospel, namely, “that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight” [Augsburg Confession, Article IV].
This man's deafness and unclear speech illustrate the plight of all men, including you and me, when it comes to hearing and believing and confessing the truth of God's Word. By our fallen nature we cannot hear God's Word even when our physical ears perceive the sound of it. Without faith, when we even try to take God's Word into our mouths it becomes garbled and our confession is confused; it becomes all mixed up with the evil thoughts of our hearts and failing human wisdom. That is, it's like this. People, even we ourselves, can hear God's Word and yet we really don't hear it, nor do we want to. As with many of the audiences of Jesus, Christ preached beautiful sermons concerning the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, but they became mad and furious, not only refusing to listen but also reviling him on top of it. So today, people who refuse to hear God's Word are altogether deaf and dumb, worse off than this poor man here, because their tongues know only how to revile God and to speak very evilly of his Word. Those, however, who hear God's Word gladly and to whom Christ says, as to this deaf man, “Ephphatha,” or “Be opened,” these are the ones helped against the devil and unbelief.
It is only when faith is created in the heart by the Holy Spirit, when and where it pleases God in those who hear the Gospel, that, like this man, our tongues are then stirred to speak, as St. Paul says, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [Romans 10:10 (ESV)]. It amazes me that so many who call themselves Christians rarely talk about Jesus Christ! Their talk is all about anything and everything else. But the heart that believes and the mind that has been renewed by God's Word discovers that the most important subject of our conversation is to proclaim Christ the Savior. Jesus Christ is the greatest and the best. Everything else (you name it) is at best only second best and most of it completely unimportant because it is overshadowed and overcome by the reality of the great forgiveness and taking away of sin.
As we said, the most important teaching of this miraculous healing is that faith and healing, hope and salvation comes to us always and only through the external Word and preaching, through external means. To be saved we must hear the Word, not neglecting the Word that comes to us through baptism and the sacrament of the altar, and the Holy Spirit will then be present to free our ears and tongues, our spirits and bodies. As Luther said it, Therefore, we must be on guard against the fantastic spirits who despise the external Word and Sacrament, waiting till God speaks to them in the heart. No, says Christ, here is my finger, the external Word, which must sound in the ears; my spittle, which must moisten and bestir the tongue; in this way my work proceeds rightly and readily from place to place. We see this wherever the external Word has free course; there true Christians will be found. Wherever it does not have free course, there none will be found, for as goes the shepherd, so the sheep.”
Everyone, therefore, should be careful to be found on this path and gladly hear God's Word. Without the Word, God does not reveal himself in your heart and you cannot know Him. This happens only through the external Word and Sacraments. The Holy Spirit works in no other way. This is why our Lord commanded us that disciples are to be made only in this way: by preaching the gospel and baptizing them and teaching them. And as we use God's Word we have the promise, “Whoever hears you, hears me.” Next to the office of preaching, God also ordained father and mother in their homes who are there in the place of God for their children. This preaching of the Word is to happen not only publicly in church but also in Christian homes.
I like this further word of Luther. He says, “Surely none of us would hesitate to travel a hundred miles to a certain church if we knew God himself were going to speak and preach there; everyone would then want to hear his voice. Now, instead, our Lord God says, I will arrange things closer for you, so that you don't have to travel so far; listen to your parish pastors, your father and your mother, and you will then hear me; they are my disciples and office bearers; when you hear them, you hear me.” Let us, therefore, take careful note of this miracle and learn from it so that we truly become Christians by the Word and by our professing of it. ____________________
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