by The Rev. Brandon Simoneaux
B Proper 18
September 14, 2012
Mark 7:31-37
Grace mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
Ears and mouths…have you ever considered how much we all misuse them whether we are man woman or child. Children must have a problem with their ears they don’t seem to hear a thing parents tell them, they are always doing what they are not supposed to do, and with their sweet little mouths they repeat the worst stuff we say and never the good things. Men, now there is a group whose hearing goes out whenever their favorite TV show or sports team is on. I know that today while the Saint’s play their season opener if my wife tries to talk to me I will probably only be hearing Charlie Brown’s teacher until the game is over. That’s men for you we don’t hear anything we are supposed to… and women seem to be the opposite, they hear everything, even the stuff you don’t want them to hear. And as far as the tongue is concerned we are all bad mouthed too, we talk at people, we talk back to others, we talk about people behind their back, we whisper secrets even we should not hear, and sometimes we even talk over one another. All this has to do with your ears and your mouth. You all have them. But why? What are they for? To hear and to speak of course but what should you hear and what should you speak? Probably not the things you normally use them or don’t use them for that’s for sure.
The Lord gave you your ears to hear His Word and hear the needs of your neighbor, that’s why you have them. But is that how you use them all the time? And if that is not what is filling your ears them what do you stuff them full of instead? Gossip? Angry words? Filthy talk? The Lord gave you a tongue to sing His praises and speak kindness to those around you? What does your tongue speak? Wrong ideas about God? Nasty names and cut downs to those around you? Complaints and grumbles? Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not telling you to pay closer attention and say only nice things. That won’t help you. The Law of God declares that we are as deaf and dumb as this deaf-mute they bring to Jesus today. He was physically deaf and unable to speak. Your problem is not physical yours is one of sin. The deaf and mute man is the Gospel lesson for today is a picture of us. Take a close look at him and see yourself there because of sin. Deaf to God, unable to hear his word, unable to speak his praise. The people around him can shout as loud as they want, that man is not going to hear them. Not one little word will get through. They can shrug their shoulders as much as they want but they aren’t going to understand what he’s trying to say. The only way to save this guy who can’t hear or talk is to drag him to Jesus.
That’s the only way to save you, too. To bring you to Jesus to open your ears and loose your tongue. And I want you to notice how Jesus does this. It’s certainly not the way we would expect it’s not a wave of the hand or just a spoken word. He uses real, actual, physical things to do it. Fingers in the man’s ears. Spitting and touching the guy’s tongue. Just the way the Lord does for you. The fingers of His Word preached into your ears by your pastor. The water of the font as the spit Jesus uses on the man. The body and blood of Christ touching your tongue. Those things deliver the forgiveness of sins that clean out your ears and loose your tongue. Whatever filth has grown like wax in your ears and blocked your hearing of God’s Word is gone. Whatever sin has bound your tongue to be incapable of speaking Christ has been undone and let loose. Think about this, this comes from the Lord who hung on the cross so that His finger-poking and tongue-spitting would save you. Think about what becomes of Jesus when he hung on the cross of Calvary, where was His Father? Jesus cried out but it was as if the Father couldn’t hear. His Cries fell on deaf ears. And the Father certainly didn’t speak in response to Jesus’ cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” that was answered only with the darkness of the blotting out of the sun and the tongue wagging of those who derided Jesus on the cross. Jesus was left alone with your sins. All your sins. The sins your ears commit. The sins your tongue commits. As well as all the rest of your sins too. And there He spoke rightly, saying, “It is finished.” All of those sins, all of your sins are done for. Forgiven. Wiped out.
Jesus knows that sin has wrecked this world. It has made a man who cannot hear and cannot speak. So Jesus, to show that He is the Savior who takes care of sin, opens this man’s ears and looses His tongue. In the same way, your Savior knows that you cannot go anywhere in this world without the words and sounds of sin filling your ears and wrapping up your tongue. So that’s why He opens your ears and loosens your tongue. Sure, you should avoid those things that block God’s Word from your ears. Yes, you should strive to speak only those things that praise God and build up others. But when sin tangles it all up, then what? Try harder? Go ahead try harder but trying harder will not save you. Instead you need Jesus. You need Jesus whose water, Word and body and blood clean out your ears and set your tongue free. You need the forgiveness of Christ which enables you to hear that you are forgiven and to speak the “Amen” which declares that His forgiveness is for you. So here you are again today, away from the crowd of the world like the deaf and mute man you have been pulled aside and are here with Jesus. So listen up! Jesus has opened your ears to hear this Word: Your sins are forgiven. And He’s loosened your tongue to say it, so say it: “Amen!” In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Posted by Rev. Brandon J. Simoneaux. Posted In : Sermons