16th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Mark 9:30-37

JESUS DID NOT REFUSE TO ASK OR ANSWER!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Dear friends in Christ; Scripture never records Jesus doing an object lesson for children (what we might call a children’s message). His Word commands parents to teach and train their children. His word consistently displays Jesus as teaching adults. In love, however, He did use children as object lessons for adults. Following Jesus’ example, it would be proper for me this morning to hold a young child in my arms to teach us older ones. And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” What Jesus taught adults through the use of this child was not child’s play. He used that child to rebuke adult fears and adult ambitions. Let him who has ears to ear, hear what Christ says to His church.

Jesus was no longer the hero of Galilee – there was increasing opposition to Him! On their final trip through Galilee, Jesus renewed again the prediction of his crucifixion in Jerusalem just a few months ahead – and His resurrection. He kept on saying it! He kept on teaching His disciples this truth! And they kept on being quiet about it! They also continued to omit the most important action when you don’t understand – asking about it. They did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. Perhaps they remembered what happened when Peter earlier tried to turn Jesus from the cross (Mark 8:33). “Get behind me Satan”, Jesus had said to his face. They… were afraid to ask him about this teaching that mattered more than anything else in this passing world.

Quite a picture! The disciples, tutored privately by Jesus Himself, wouldn’t let God be God. While Jesus stressed the word “kill” in regard to Himself, the disciples stressed the word “great” in regard to themselves. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. Many think it was Peter’s house, the house Jesus called home when He was in Capernaum. Some also think this child was Peter’s son since he was right there in the house with the disciples. What all agree upon is the subject of the disciples discussion.

“What were you discussing on the way?” The Greek word has a broad range of meaning from arguing, to discussing, to reasoning. Scripture tells us that our reasoning is futile apart from God’s gift of faith (Rom. 1:16-21). Yet, such empty reasoning goes on all the time in our minds. Like the disciples, we argue about greatness along life’s road. We easily major in thoughts and worries about ourselves. We want to make our mark in this fallen world and so inwardly and outwardly we argue with others and with ourselves and with God. We are double minded in our fears and our fretting.

We forget how many lives have been ruined by winning first place. There are some who win an athletic championship and live as if it defines them, or makes them different somehow, never really growing up in Christ. There are those who win the lottery and lose their purpose and joy in life. There are the winners of Hollywood, that elite fruit basket of depression and divorce and drug addiction and spiritual deception and decadent morals. Parents love your children enough to teach them the empty lives that lie behind selfish ambition and winning through friendship with the world.

What were you discussing on the way?” Think about the paradox. They were afraid to ask Jesus about what mattered to Him – His cross – His resurrection. They were afraid to answer Jesus about that which mattered to them – their position, their rank, their success. They were sinfully silent on both counts. In their reasoning, some of them would be bigger doers, better givers, more significant than others. One of them would be the greatest of all in God’s kingdom. They were navel gazing, looking at them selves.

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

The key here is not a command to be nice to children in some general way as a ticket into heaven. In Jesus’ day children were not the center of attention as they often are today. The oldest in the family, the grandparents were the revered and honored ones in that day. In modern America, those roles are largely reversed. When politicians want to get a bill passed, the trump card is often to say, “its for the children.” While Grandparents and the elderly are easily pushed off to the margin, children are viewed as the honored ones and as pathways to power.
Jesus, however, is not speaking about kindness to children in general. He is not playing political games with little ones. Rather, His words about receiving a child in His name tell us that He is speaking about the Christian faith. Elsewhere Jesus taught His disciples, that they must be converted and become like little children to enter the kingdom of God. A little child is dependent, not independent. A little child receives life and safety it doesn’t give life and safety. A little child delights in receiving gifts.

It is a great blessing when a father and mother raise a child in a stable home and provide for its food and shelter and discipline. The tragic decay of the family in our day is seen in the societal sickness and directionless lives of children all around. We should give thanks for and encourage God’s good gift of marriage and family. When those gifts are shattered, we should give thanks for and encourage foster care and adoptive efforts to provide daily shelter and supervision for children.

But, to receive a child in Christ’s name means more than looking after that child’s physical and emotional needs. It means to receive a child in such a way as to nurture, teach and defend the Christian faith of that child from the assaults of the devil and the world. It means to look after that child’s baptism and weekly worship and daily prayers. As he held that little boy in His arms, Jesus said, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me...” The key you see is Him, His name, His teaching, His person! The key to greatness in His kingdom is receiving His gifts in faith and helping others to receive His gifts in faith. This truth applies not only to children, but to how we deal with all people. Faith in Christ that seeks the eternal welfare of others and not our own earthly position is the true meaning of receiving a child in Christ’s name.

How are you doing in this regard? What are you reasoning along the way? What arguments have central place in your heart and mind? As James wrote, our passions do war within us. As James asked, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

In regard to personal and family and congregational priorities, what are you reasoning along the way? Perhaps your passions battle over time for daily prayer and weekly worship, perhaps your passions battle over first-place proportionate gifts for the sake of the Gospel, perhaps your passions battle over God’s teaching that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Perhaps your passions even battle over this whole devil thing. Is there really a devil to resist in your daily routine? Aren’t we educated, proud human beings quite capable of finding spirituality in our minds or in the trees or in the stars or in treating one another with humility and respect, or even in friendship with the world?

Beloved, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” As Jesus said to His disciples, “if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all”! Dear Christians, this is the wisdom that comes down from above. Jesus became last and servant of all. Jesus became last and servant of you, His child! He has given you a different spirit and He yearns jealously over the Spirit He has made to dwell in us. That Spirit is the Holy Spirit and He continually does what Jesus did in Galilee. He continually points back to what Jesus pointed forward to. The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when He is killed, after three days he will rise.” The Holy Spirit continually points to the crucified and risen Son of God whom the Father places into our midst today to serve us.

Jesus was not sinfully silent! He was neither afraid to ask or answer the question that matters for us. Father, how will they have life again? How will those rebels be reconciled to you and enter your holiness again? The Father’s answer was to place His holy Son in our midst. Through the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, in the flesh of Jesus Christ, God answered our eternal need. He is still God’s answer today, to all of our sinful fears and selfish ambitions.

As Jesus took that little boy into His arms, so He has taken you into His arms. In Holy Baptism He received you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Receiving Jesus, you also receive the Father. As Jeremiah, like a gentle lamb was led to the slaughter, so Jesus, the Lamb of God was led to the slaughter. Unlike the disciples on the day of our text, you understand that sacrifice. Unlike the disciples on that day of our text, you aren’t afraid to ask Him about it. Rather, as you eat His body and drink His blood, you all together proclaim His death until He comes again.

Let His gifts inform your reasoning along life’s way as you leave today.

What is it you’re afraid of? What is it you’re fretting over obtaining? What Jesus teaches us by way of that child is not child’s play. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. That doesn’t mean He will give you whatever you want in this passing world. We are, after all, double minded. It does mean that as you continue to enjoy the grace He gives you in Christ, God will also purify the desires of your heart. He will put into your heart desires that aren’t naturally there, desires to receive a child in Jesus’ name.

Beloved, have no doubt about this, God delights in you today for the sake of Jesus Christ. In Him you are God’s holy child. In Him God holds you in His arms and will not let you go. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. AMEN.

15th Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Mark 9:14-29


I BELIEVE; KEEP HELPING MY UNBELIEVING!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Dear saints at Luther Memorial Chapel and University Student Center, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Satan is at work! Our culture is decaying! The church is in chaos! What are you doing about it? If you college students believed more strongly and prayed more sincerely, you wouldn’t be tempted by the pseudo-happiness and spiritual junk food all around you. You wouldn’t be lonely and confused and feel like you’re missing out on stuff that ultimately doesn’t matter. As Jesus said, “O faithless generation…how long am I to bear with you?” If you people in your senior years believed more strongly and prayed more sincerely, you wouldn’t worry so much about security and sickness and you’d be a lot healthier and happier. You would give a lot more leadership in casting Satan out of society in these troubled times. As Jesus said, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” If all you people would believe more strongly and pray more sincerely, you could tame your tongues, stop gossiping and complaining, and be devoted to prayer and praise. After all, as Jesus said, “all things are possible for one who believes.” Satan is at work! Our culture is decaying! The church is in chaos! What are you doing about it?

Dear Christians, I’ve watched carefully as these first thoughts were expressed. If anyone would have left the sanctuary without hearing the rest of the story, I would be irresponsible in not personally talking to them later. For, the initial statements by which I’ve sought to get your attention are not true statements. Oh, there is some truth in them as there often is in Satan’s accusations. Our prayers often do falter. The exercise of our faith is not perfect. These statements also sound quite similar to those sometimes heard in contemporary preaching. But, listen again to what Jesus really said and what Jesus really did.

When Jesus heard that his disciples could not help the demon possessed boy He cried out, “O faithless (unbelieving) generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” Jesus’ cry was one of weariness and disappointment. Earlier He had sent His disciples out two by two with authority over evil spirits (Mk. 6:7). They had already cast out many demons (6:13). But the gift the disciples received from Jesus was not in their control. Jesus’ words about the need for prayer indicate that the disciples did not rely upon His presence and His promises and His help. When faith confronts Satan, only God’s strength will do – not ours! “O faithless (unbelieving) generation”. The disciples whom He had taught for three years were part of that unbelieving generation. Sent out by Jesus, trying to do the right thing, unbelief clung to them as it clung to the father of the boy, “I do believe”, he cried, “be helping my unbelief.”

Unbelief clings to you too and to me! In fact, it is the root out of which all other sins grow. In the university classroom, in your home, at the workplace this week, this is the heart of your problems. Dr. Martin Luther said, “Unbelief is not an idle thought or a dream…it is rather the poisonous spring at the bottom of the heart whence other sins come in great numbers (WLS – 1402). Such sins come daily in the form of anger and worry and pride and lust and not controlling our tongues. We all stumble in many ways. A salt pond cannot yield fresh water. But the root of these and all sins is our failure to believe God. At another time, Jesus asked the piercing question, “When the Son of man returns, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8).

“O faithless (unbelieving) generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” These words don’t fit with a Jesus who is invented by man. These words of Jesus don’t fit with much of what is taught in generic religiosity and even in pop Christianity. After all, wouldn’t you rather have a Jesus who said, “just do the best you can” or “have a nice day” or “let Me tidy up your life a bit”? But these are the real words of the real Jesus! “O unbelieving generation!” The father’s self-effacing cry echoes this truth rightly. “I believe; help my unbelief!”

The truth is that in the heart of all Christians (all Christians), belief and unbelief do battle. The truth is that you will need God’s help with your unbelief until the day you die. This is so because with God seeing and feeling is one thing and believing is quite another. “I believe, be helping my unbelief.” Luther taught that unbelief always wants to see and feel where to go. On the other hand, faith says, “I know not where I am going…I see and feel nothing…but I will commend myself to God…He will not lie” (WLS – 1378). As Scripture says, faith is the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). As Scripture also says, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him (I Peter 1:8). The office or work of faith is therefore to receive what God promises whether it is felt or not. Faith is a work performed in us rather than a work performed by us (WLS – 1412). It is the gift of God, not your doing (Eph. 2:8, 9).

Do you see what blessed freedom that gives you this week? Do you see the beautiful, bountiful grace of God towards you in Jesus Christ? Faith is not to be equated with your feelings – so it’s alright if you feel down from time to time. Faith is not your self confidence – so even in times of uncertainty you can have the utmost confidence in God who gives you faith! Faith is not sustained by your reason – so rejoice in its unreasonableness. It is foolish – humanly speaking – to those who are perishing. You don’t deserve it! You didn’t decide to have it! You don’t determine its strength! Faith is rather the pure and holy gift of God that receives His pure and holy gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation through His Son.

“I believe, help my unbelief”. The cry of the boy’s father pictures well the cry of your new man with your old man hanging around his neck, trying to drag you away from Jesus and His words. “I do believe, help my unbelief.” Or as Luther said it, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith…” When you’re feeling low, when your confidence has crashed, in fact in everyday life with all of its questions and struggles do you see the treasure you have been given in learning this truth by heart? “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe…”

But don’t stop there. Remember what you pastor and parents taught you to learn by heart regarding this question: What does such baptizing with water indicate? “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Dear Christians, these truths are not child’s play! They are treasures! They are profound Scriptural truths fundamentally related to the cry, “I believe, be helping my unbelief.”

But then, what did Jesus mean when He said, “All things are possible to the believing one.”? Did he mean that if you believed more strongly and prayed more fervently you could cast Satan out of society, and be immune to his temptations? Did Jesus mean that if you believed more strongly and prayed more fervently you could command physical healing, financial success and even victory over your tongue? With that errant approach, which is around some today, we would be forced to ask, who is telling the truth, Jesus or His Apostle James? For Jesus said, “All things are possible to the believing one.” But James said, “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

The answer of course lies in the tongue of the One who rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” He is the believing One! In today’s Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah records the believing One, the suffering servant as speaking in this way; “God has given me the tongue…to sustain the weary…The Lord has opened My ear and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike…I did not hide my face from disgrace and spitting…the Lord God helps me…therefore I have set my face like a flint…”

Beloved, Jesus was the one pure believer in this world of sin. He is the Man of faith, the Second Adam. He was tempted in everyway as we are, also with unbelief, yet He sinned not! His faith held strong! He set His face like flint toward Jerusalem and His sacrificial death! The suffering was heavy as His back received the stripes and His face received the spit. But He was not rebellious nor did He turn back. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, including the festering, root sin of unbelief. He could not see nor feel the victory ahead for in Gethsemane He pleaded for the cup of God’s wrath to pass from Him. Yet in faith He prayed, “Not My will but Your will be done.” “All things are possible for the believing One”, even the redemption of the world by the shedding of His blood.

I do believe; help my unbelief.” Beloved, Our Lutheran Confessions use this verse only once and there it addresses our worthiness to receive the Lord’s Supper. It states, “The true and worthy guests, for whom this precious sacrament above all was …established, are the Christians who are weak in faith, fragile and troubled, who are terrified in their hearts by the immensity and number of their sins and think that they are not worthy of this precious treasure…who feel the weakness of their faith and deplore it…Moreover this worthiness consists not in a greater or lesser weakness or strength of faith, but rather in the merit of Christ, which the troubled father with his weak faith (Mark 9:24) possessed. (FOC – SD – Art. VII – Holy Supper – Kolb – 605, 606).

“I believe; help my unbelief.” I believe that my scarlet sins are as white as snow – help my unbelief. I believe that you have baptized me into the death of Christ and clothed me in Him – help my unbelief. I believe that prayer is Your precious gift and that with all boldness and confidence you would have me ask God as dear children ask their dear Father – help my unbelief. I believe that faith comes by hearing; that sending Gospel preachers and bearing witness to the hope I have is Your holy will – help my unbelief. I believe that to die is gain, that to depart and be with Christ is better by far – help my unbelief.

“All things are possible to the believing One.” The one perfect man of faith comes into your midst today to teach you and to feed you and to forgive you. The destructive, binding power of Satan must give way to the healing power of His word and His touch. He is the ascended Christ, God the Son, with all authority in heaven and earth. Though you do not see Him, you love Him.

Do you feel the tug of unbelief? Welcome to the Christian faith. Do you sometimes feel like the boy whom they thought was a corpse? Jesus comes today to take you by the hand and lift you up in life. His love for you is stronger than death. His loving kindness endures forever. The battle is long, but the victory is certain. Be strong and let your heart take courage. The good work God has begun in you He will bring to completion on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:5). In the Name of Jesus, AMEN.

14th Sunday after Pentecost

HE HAS DONE ALL THINGS WELL!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
Text: Mark 7:24-37

“He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Dear hearers and speakers and doers of the Word;

Do you agree that Jesus does all things well? When he said to the Syrophoenician woman “…it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” was He doing things well? Absolutely not! the politically- correct police of our day would say. When He put His fingers into the deaf man’s ears – was He doing things well? Absolutely not! New Age spirituality would say. God is at a distance, not hands-on in our lives. Spiritual things are rather to be found in crystals or in a forest of trees or in meditation. Spiritual things are to be found in some hallucinogenic substance or some “out of body” experience. When He spit and touched the man’s tongue; was he doing things well? Not very sanitary and far too messy, many would say. Furthermore, if He does all things well, why does He sigh or groan? Shouldn’t He be a bit more positive and upbeat and perhaps cheer and clap for the human race instead of sighing? Do you agree that Jesus does all things well? In view of your own life right now, at home, in college, in the workplace, in retirement; in view of your own sighing and groaning, is Jesus doing all things well for you?

The cause of Jesus’ groaning finger-probing, spit-touching, dealings with the man in our text can help us answer this question rightly. This man had lived his life in silence. His ears were imprisoned with deafness. His tongue was bound by a hindrance of speech. He could not hear the wind blow or the sound of music or the voices of his friends. He had never heard the name of Jesus uttered. He couldn’t speak clearly of his hopes and fears and desires.

Then something very earthy and fleshly and messy took place. He couldn’t hear his friends begging Jesus to lay His hand on him. He simply knew that a man took him aside privately, away from the crowds. Jesus’ action is much different from the so-called “faith-healers” of our day. He doesn’t make a show of the healing that He bestows. He doesn’t call attention to Himself. Jesus is there completely for this one man. This one man had Jesus’ undivided attention.

Using a bit of sign language, Jesus reached out to the deaf man in a personal way. He stuck His fingers in the man’s ears. After spitting, He touched the man’s tongue. When the Great Physician is at work, He is “hands on”, not distant and removed. When the Great Physician is at work, things can get a bit earthy and fleshly and messy. When Jesus stuck His fingers into that man’s ears, they were the fingers of God. When Jesus touched the man’s tongue, God was touching his tongue. God deals with us in the ordinary things of everyday human life. God is not at a distance, but hands-on.

Beloved, we need Him to deal with us that way! For by nature we also are deaf and mute toward God. Since Eve listened to the wrong voice in Eden, our hearing has been lifeless toward God. We don’t need hearing aids to listen to ourselves. Our ears are tickled to listen to religious make-believe. We listen to voices of youth or success or popularity or protest. We listen to music to alter our moods. We listen to the Father of lies dressed up as an angel of light. But, we don’t by nature listen to the One who made us.

Do you realize the deeply religious nature of the belief system of macro-evolution? This is not true science! Yet again this year, our grade school and high school and university students will be indoctrinated in it – quite religiously – as if there ancestor really was a flat worm with no ears and no tongue. This is a fairy tale that cannot be proven by controlled experimentation or by field observation, yet ears listen to it and tongues promulgate it.

Like the man in the Gospel, we are by nature deaf and mute towards God. When God speaks, we don’t get it, we tune it out. This obstruction in our hearing also causes a barrier in our talking, our praying to God. We easily speak in foolish ways. We are ready to express self-centered thoughts – our feelings, our desires and our disappointments. But, we don’t by nature pray to God without ceasing. We don’t by nature call upon God in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks. Our tongues are often active when they should be still and silent when they should speak. By nature we are just like the deaf-mute.

That’s why Jesus continues to come to us and touch us. He sticks His fingers in our ears through the preaching of His Word. In Scripture, the “finger of God” refers to the Holy Spirit and His work. “Faith comes by hearing” and hearing comes through the speaking of Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ and thereby opens our ears. Jesus also spits and touches our tongue in the Sacraments. For what is Baptism but water and words from the mouth of God? In baptism Jesus says to us “Ephphatha”, that is “be opened!” In the original language the meaning can also be stated, “be released!” He releases us from our bondage to sin by washing away our sin! He releases us from our bondage to death by baptizing us into His own death! He releases us from bondage to the devil by clothing us with Himself. “Ephphatha”, be completely opened! Only when the “finger of God”, the Holy Spirit has opened our ears and freed our tongues can we worship Him rightly. As Scripture says, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”

The risen Christ comes to literally touch our tongues in Holy Communion. He is the true celebrant of this heavenly meal and He places His very body and His very blood onto our tongues and into our bodies for the forgiveness of sins. It is the Lord’s ongoing, earthy way of touching you and giving you release. “Ephphatha”, that is, be completely opened! The common cup from which the church of Christ received Christ’s blood for over 1900 years can seem a bit messy, and a bit untidy, rather like Jesus grabbing the tongue of the deaf mute. But each record of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper in Holy Scripture identifies the cup in the singular (Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, I Corinthians 11). It is for this reason that we believe a common cup should always be present and reverently treated even when there are compelling reasons for individual glasses to be present.

By God’s doing there is also the clearest speaking going on as Christ touches our tongues with His body and His blood. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you (together) proclaim His death until He comes. C. F. W. Walther called the Lord’s Supper the pulpit of the laity. By God’s doing, by God’s giving, the clearest proclamation of the Gospel is given by you the congregation with tongues that are not speaking but eating and drinking.

But what of the man in our text and what of Jesus’ groaning and sighing? “Ephphatha!” was the last word that this man was not able to hear. His world of silence was now a world of sound. His ears were opened! His tongue was speaking clearly and correctly. What an explosion of thoughts must have flooded in along with the sounds! O happy day! But what would he now hear with this new faculty and what would he now say that his tongue was free of impediment?

Dr. Martin Luther commented on that very question as he considered the deep sighing groan of Jesus just before He healed the man. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” By looking up to heaven, Jesus is saying to the man, “that is where your help is coming from - the Father who sent Me is at work to heal you.” His passionate sigh or groan has connotations of grief and disapproval and a fervent desire for things to be made right. Jesus knows how deep the brokenness is and what price He will have to pay to fix it.

Luther saw here a common sigh from Jesus over all tongues and ears from Adam to the last human being to be born. Luther saw here a sigh from Jesus over your tongue and your ears, and mine, for Jesus came to bear our grief and carry our sorrows (Is. 54:4, 5). Luther also saw in the groaning of Jesus the recognition that the same man he was now healing would afterward sin with his ears and with his tongue that Jesus had just touched.

Think of it! His ears which formerly allowed no sound to enter would now be tickled by rumors and hearsay and immoral talk and rebellious ideas and false doctrine, just like our ears are tickled. His tongue, now able to speak clearly would be active in complaining and blaming others and not keeping God’s name holy before it would again fall silent in death. There is good reason for sighing and groaning in grief over our ears and our tongues.

In fact these two organs make a difference between a Christian and an unbeliever. It is no small thing that you gather together to hear God’s Word, for faith comes by hearing and hearing through the speaking of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Scripture also says that it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Rom. 10:10). The two organs that Jesus healed in this man are crucial to your inclusion in the kingdom of God. That’s why Jesus comes to take you aside this morning and each week in the Divine Service to give you personal attention. By the “finger of God”, the Holy Spirit, He speaks His Word into your ears. Amid all the voices you will hear this week, only His gives you life!

Does Jesus really do all things well? Remember the beginning of Isaiah’s prophecy about the ears of the deaf being unstopped and the tongue of the mute singing for joy and waters breaking forth in the wilderness? The words He starts with seem almost like a speech impediment. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Jesus does all things so well that it is even a good thing for us when God comes with vengeance. How can this possibly be? Very simply because the vengeance fell against Christ! Now salvation gushes forth for us! It was a blessed exchange. In the desert of this life streams of salvation now run right through the baptismal font of this and every Christian Church. In the desert of this life bubbling springs of forgiveness still flow from Jesus’ pierced side. Just like He took the man aside by Himself in the Decapolis, even so He has taken you aside to give you His personal attention.

Does Jesus really do all things well? Yes, all things! He does all things so well that He made peace between God and us by His sacrifice on the cross. On the day of His crucifixion a mighty “Be opened!” was shouted by the blood of the Lamb. The temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom for God opened heaven to us sinners again. He does all things so well that He did not decay in death but rose to new life. On the morning of the third day another “Be opened!” was shouted as Pilate’s seal was brushed aside and the stone rolled away. His tongue that was still in death was again speaking wondrous words of total release, of full absolution, “Peace be with you!”

Does He really do all things well? Yes, all things! Even in the midst of the ups and downs of your life, even in the troubles, the weak things, the painful disappointments, God allows into your life, He does all things well. For Scripture says, He disciplines those He loves, His strength is made perfect in weakness, He works all thing together for good for those who love Him who are the called according to His purpose.

As He stands in your midst today, your ears are opened to hear His Word, your eyes are directed to look up to heaven with Jesus – “Our Father who art in heaven”, your heart is freed to sigh with Jesus, “deliver us from evil”, your tongue is freed to sing to Jesus, “Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.” Your tongue is also freed to beg Jesus in your prayers to lay His hand on your neighbor to heal them. Your tongue is freed to invite them to come aside to receive His gifts.

Does He really do all things well? Yes all things! Jesus does all things so well, in fact, that to live is Christ but to die is gain. To depart and be with Christ is better by far. Until that time, God keep our ears open to hear His Word and our tongues active to praise His Holy Name. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

13th Sunday after Pentecost

Vicar Gary Schultz
Text: Mark 7:14-23

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus called the people to him again and said to them: …the things that come out of a person are what defile him.

The human heart – the nature of a person – doesn’t fare too well in today’s Holy Gospel. Jesus’ words do not paint a lovely picture of His creation always waiting for the best way to honor Him, to come to Him in faith, or to serve and care for our neighbors. This lesson does not show that we are basically good people, ready to give our hearts to Jesus and follow Him with undivided attention. Often we hear people say, “Oh, I think that inside every person is some good.”

We are certainly capable of doing things that look good on our own. At times, many people perform works of charity and kindness in the realm of our society – even non- Christians. Often, however, these works are done with the wrong motive – that we will look good or be praised. Even when the motives are genuine human concern, they do not proceed from perfect love for God and our neighbors. These works that appear good do not come from a clean heart. These works that appear good do not give us a holy standing before God.

From birth, the heart of every person by itself is sinful. What is inside every person is what defiles them. What is inside every person is what makes them unclean and unrighteous before God. The presence of apparent good works without Christ is not the same as righteousness before God.

A few years ago, there was a popular “contemporary Christian” song which said this in the refrain: “It is the cry of my heart to follow You, It is the cry of my heart to be close to You, It is the cry of my heart to follow all of the days of my life.” These may be some nice thoughts or wishful thinking. But Jesus says: “Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

It is not the natural cry of our hearts to follow God. It is the cry of our hearts to follow our own sinful desires. It is not the cry of our hearts to be close to God. It is the cry of our hearts to go away from Him. It is not the cry of our hearts to follow Him all the days of our lives. It is the cry of our hearts follow our own desires all the days of our lives.

We’d like to think that our hearts are OK. Are we content with the daily bread that God has blessed us with, or do we covet what we don’t have and cry out for more? Are we humble and content in the work in our jobs and volunteering, or do we cry out in pride for more recognition and appreciation? Do we explain everything in the kindest way, or do we cry out in slander, hurting our neighbor through gossip? Are we generous in helping others, fair in our work, and assisting our neighbor and his possessions, or do we steal from our employer by giving our work less than our best effort, cheating on keeping track of wages, and get things wrongfully from our neighbor? Do we help and defend those who are defenseless, unborn, or elderly, or do we fail at doing all we can to protect them from murder by allowing for abortion and euthanasia to occur? Do we honor our marriages as Christ commands, or do we commit adultery by lusting, being unfaithful to our spouse, or through divorce? Are we truthful in all of our conversations, or do we deceive people by exaggerating or embellishing the truth? Are we content with having our needs met, or do we give into sensuality and indulge in things we don’t need, putting our “wish lists” ahead of God?

We are defiled people. Not by what goes into us. Our hearts are already defiled within us. We must confess with the Psalmist: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). From the very beginning of our lives, even before we are born, our default setting is to sin and to defile ourselves. Our sinful nature shows itself in our unclean thoughts, words, and deeds. Under the power of sin, we can do nothing but unclean works – works that demonstrate that we are defiled, unclean, and ruined. God’s once-perfect creation has been ruined – changed from holy and perfect to impure and defiled.

How are we to keep the Lord’s word: “Listen to the statutes and the just decrees that I am teaching you, and do them that you may live…”? If we can’t help but be defiled by the evil proceeding from us, how are we going to stop? How are we who are defiled to become clean?

We pray with David: “I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.” (Ps 51:3, 9). On our own, there is nothing we can do to become clean, pure, and undefiled. Sometimes we may think that we can work hard enough to make things better on our own. We would like to think that it’s up to us. If we can just try hard enough, like a New Year’s resolution, we become better – even undefiled – people! If we would just follow the right steps, the right method, the right program, we would get ourselves back on track. We’d like to look at the Law as some suggestions for doing things better, rather than telling us that we are unmistakably helpless and hopeless to fix this on our own.

No, to become undefiled, we must look not inside ourselves but beyond ourselves. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts… Ever since the fall into sin, God had a plan to deliver mankind. Jesus Christ, God’s own true Son, was sent to earth to be defiled by the shame and death of the cross. His sinless body became sin for us, that we might be pure.

Because Jesus was true God and true Man, His human nature was not defiled within with sin. As true God, He was perfect, holy, sinless, and undefiled. He was the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God, that would be offered up as a sacrifice to cleanse His people. Sin did come upon Jesus from outside. There was no sin coming out of His heart. On the cross, Jesus was defiled for your sins – your evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. As the perfect Man, Jesus paid for all of the sins of defiled mankind. As true God, Jesus was able to appease the wrath of God that our sins deserved.

What comes out of this Man does not defile Him. What comes out of this Man is what cleanses us from our defilement. On the cross, the blood and water poured out of our crucified Lord’s pierced side. What came out of us, defiled Him. What comes out of Him, makes us perfect.

The blood out of Jesus’ side is given to us for the remission of sins, and He gives it to us to drink of it today. The water out of Jesus’ side washes us in the font in the waters of Holy Baptism. This water is a flood that drowns our sin in the grave with Christ and rises us with His resurrection to new life. Undefiled, clean, and holy: that’s what we now are because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

And so, in Christ, we have new lives. Our old lives were crucified with Christ. This changes our evil works. Our new life in Christ does away with the works that defiled us. Our new life in Christ is filled with the fruits of the spirit. Our freedom and purity in Christ sets us free to gladly do those things of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Now the sinful cry of our hearts is crushed and done away with, and we are filled with the spirit to rightly pray with David: “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people, and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds… Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Ps 108:1, 3-4, 8).

Let us give thanks to God for delivering us from our defiled hearts that cry out evil, and cleansing us through the blood of His Son, Our Lord Jesus, shed on the cross for the remission of our sins. By His grace we are no longer defiled, but clean and holy to stand before our heavenly Father. We are now delivered from sin into eternal life. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.