Pentecost 15 – 6 September 2015 –
Year B
Grace to you
and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for
this meditation is written in the 7th Chapter of the Gospel of St
Mark: Verses 24– 37
Jesus left that place and went to the
vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he
could not keep his presence secret. In
fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was
possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian
Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let
the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the
children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs
under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a
reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found
her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then Jesus left the vicinity of
Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of
the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could
hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After he took him
aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he
spit and touched the man’s tongue. He
looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means
“Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears
were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly Jesus
commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept
talking about it. People were
overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even
makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
I commenced my working life undergoing an Electrical Trades
Apprenticeship, and so then and later in life I studied Physics and some
science. When I look around, especially at night in the bush, I can’t help but
marvel at the wonders of Almighty God.
At the beginning of the Bible in Genesis One we are told “In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form
and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there
was light.” (Genesis 1:1–3) You know there are all kinds of amazing things
happening in these few short verses.
When I consider that simple phrase, God said, “Let there be
light,” I have to wonder how that happened.
Talking normally travels as sound from mouth to ear. Sound can travel in solids, liquids, and
gasses, but it cannot travel in a vacuum.
Never the less, when God said, “Let there be light,” God had not yet
created any solids, liquids, or gasses to carry His voice. Furthermore, there were no ears to hear His
voice. Even the light that He called
forth did not yet exist.
Think about it. God
spoke when there was nothing to carry His voice. He spoke to something that did not
exist. Never the less, when He spoke,
the thing He commanded happened. God
said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. This shows that God’s Word has power and
authority that far exceeds our understanding.
Most of the time we take the power of the Word of God for
granted. How often do we think that
light, air, water, the earth beneath our feet, gravity, and everything else
that we have in our existence is there because God said it should be
there. It is as the Holy Spirit inspired
the writer to the Hebrews to say, “Long
ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but
in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir
of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of
the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the
universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:1–3) and “By faith we understand that the universe was
created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things
that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3) The Bible makes it very clear that the
universe exists because of the power of the Word of God.
The Gospel according to John begins by telling us that this
very Word of God entered our world and took on human flesh in order to make us
Sons of God. The Holy Spirit inspired
John to write, “The Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) and “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13) These words
teach us that Jesus is the very Word of God in human flesh who has come to make
us His adopted brothers and sisters and children of God.
The events we recently heard about in our Gospel reading tell
us even more about the power of this Word of God in human flesh. Today’s reading actually gives us two signs
of His power. He drove a demon out of a
daughter, and He gave hearing and speech to a deaf man. The Holy Spirit inspired Mark to inform us
that both of these signs happened in Gentile territory … the region of Tyre and
Sidon, and the region of the Decapolis.
These two accounts show us that Jesus did not just come to save the
Jews, but He also came to save Gentiles.
In the second of these two signs, Jesus, who is the Word of
God, once again demonstrated that His word is still able to command something
that does not exist. The man’s hearing
did not exist. Never the less, Jesus
spoke to him. He said to him, “Ephphatha,”
that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were
opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. (Mark 7:34–35) In
the beginning, God spoke to the light that did not exist and the light came
into being. In the Gospel we recently
heard, God spoke to hearing that did not exist and it also came into being.
Note that Jesus did not simply give the sense of hearing to
the man. If that was all He did, then
the man would have had to listen to people for a long time before he could
interpret the sounds as words. It would
take even more time for this man to learn to reproduce those words with clear
speech. When Jesus gave hearing to the
man, He did not just give the sense of hearing, but He also gave him the
understanding to hear and speak intelligent words. Jesus made it as though this man had had a
sense of hearing for his entire life
It is by the Word of His power that Jesus creates, and His
creation is very good. It is by the Word
of His power that Jesus heals, and His healing is complete. It is by the word of His power that Jesus
saves, and His salvation is eternal.
The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to explain the
connection between salvation and the word of God as he wrote to the church in
Rome. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then
will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to
believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is
written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” … So
faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans
10:13–15, 17) The Word of Christ speaks to a faith that does not exist and
brings it into being. It is this faith
that receives the eternal salvation that Jesus earned for us on the cross.
There is yet another way that we see the power of God’s
Word in today’s Gospel. This time, it is
the power of God’s Word in the mouth of people.
How did the woman know that Jesus was able to drive the demon out of her
daughter? How did the friends know that
Jesus was able to give hearing to the deaf man?
Jesus did not spend a lot of time in these Gentile areas. Someone, somewhere, somehow had shared the
Word of God with these people. Somehow
the story of Jesus had reached clear up to the area of Tyre and Sidon. Somehow the story of Jesus had traveled clear
over to the area of the Decapolis. Even
if it was only neighborhood gossip, the Holy Spirit had used the Word of God to
bring this woman to Jesus to ask help for her daughter … the Holy Spirit used
the Word of God to cause these friends to bring the deaf man to Jesus.
You know, we are also privileged Christian members of our
Church family by the power of the Word of God.
Faithful brothers and sisters shared the Word of God with their friends
and their sons and their daughters. From
mouth to ear, across the lands, down through the generations, the Word of God
spread and the Holy Spirit used that Word to work faith in those who heard
it. Eventually the power of that word
came to our ears. That is the reason why
we attend worship … in Christian churches and places of worship … to receive
the gifts that Jesus purchased for us with His holy precious blood and His
innocent suffering and death.
The Holy Spirit eliminates barriers with the Word and tells
us of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. As the Holy Spirit works through the Word we
learn that our sin separates us from God, but that Jesus’ sacrifice on the
cross takes away our sins. We learn that
His resurrection from the dead opens up the way to everlasting life. Through the Word, Christ reveals Himself to
us. In that revelation, He also reveals
the Father and the Holy Spirit and shows us God’s salvation. The Holy Spirit uses this knowledge to make
that salvation personal through His gift of faith.
When the Holy Spirit joins the Word to the water of Holy
Baptism, He joins us to Christ in that crucifixion so that the price He paid
for sin is credited to us. By joining us
to the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit also joins us to His resurrection. We become brothers of Christ and sons of
God. We have the right and privilege to
come before God, confess our sins, and receive the enduring comfort of the
forgiveness of our sins. We become heirs
to eternal life in heaven.
When the Holy Spirit joins the Word to bread and wine,
Jesus Himself comes to us in the body He gave for us and in the blood He shed
for us. As we take Him into our mouths,
He feeds our souls. He strengthens our
faith in Him. He has promised us that
this sacrament is ours for the forgiveness of sins and with the forgiveness of
sins comes life and salvation.
God’s process for sustaining Christ’s church in this world
is amazing. Just as the mother pleaded
for her daughter … just as friends brought the deaf man to Jesus, so also God
works through His people to bring His Word into our lives. He brings this word to our ears. He uses the wet Word of Holy Baptism to join
us to Christ. Then the Word made flesh
comes to us in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Table. The Holy Spirit works through this Word to
work faith in us and bring us into the Church.
Now that we have the Word of God, we also have the
authority to ask people to do the impossible.
We can tell people about Jesus and the work He did to earn salvation for
them. Then we can invite people and say,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will
be saved.” (Acts 16:31) Even though no one can believe in Jesus Christ by
their own reason or strength, we trust the promise of Christ that the Holy
Spirit will work wherever the Word of God is present. We can be assured that through
the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given. He
works faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the good news
that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s
sake. This happens not through our own
merits, but for Christ’s sake.
As the Holy Spirit sustains us in the one, true faith, He
sends us into the world to confess the faith he has given to us and so in this
way to spread His Word throughout the World.
As we confess our faith to family, friends, associates, and all the
other people in our lives, He has promised to use our confession to bring
others before Christ for healing – the healing that produces faith and delivers
forgiveness. In this amazingly crazy
way, the Word of Christ still speaks to a faith that does not exist and brings
it into being. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond
all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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