Pentecost 16
– Series B – Proper 18
“Be Opened”
(Mark 7:31-37)
INI
Not everyone is a great orator, a great preacher, a
great public speaker. And maybe not
everyone wants to be. Some of us are
introverts. But even the introverts
among us want to be heard, want to be listened to.
In order to improve their public speaking skills,
some folks join The Toastmasters. Many
CEO’s or managers of companies join this to work on their presentation
skills. It might remind you of speech class
back in high school or college. Do you
remember that? Did any of you have to
take speech class? Are any of you taking
speech right now in school? I remember
it quite well. I don’t think I had a
classic case of what they call “stage fright.”
But I was petrified. I hemmed and
hawed and stammered my way through many speeches. And yet here I am. Even Moses was afraid of his public speaking
skills, and yet God even used him … although don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying
to compare myself to the prophet.
Even if we are introverts who don’t like public
speaking, most of us know how to get our point across when we talk to people
one on one. But think how frustrating it
is for someone who is deaf, like the man in today’s Gospel reading. You can’t understand others unless you are
really good at reading lips. You are understood
only by those who know sign language because those who are deaf often have
difficulty forming their words with their lips, having never actually heard
those words. Moreover, deaf people are
often isolated from the rest of the “hearing world,” and they form their own
subculture, only hanging out with those who are deaf like them. That’s made outreach to the deaf especially
challenging for the Church, too. It’s
like trying to reach another ethnic group with their own language and culture.
Spiritually speaking, we’re just like that deaf
man with the speech impediment who was brought to Jesus. We are all deaf and mute. We close our ears to God’s clear Word. Even worse, we have selective hearing. We’re like children who sit in rapt attention
to their favorite TV show, yet when mom or dad call them to come do their
chores, they are suddenly as deaf as a board.
We only hear the things we want to hear in God’s Word, but the things we
disagree with, we conveniently ignore.
We act as if we never heard them.
And we have a speech impediment, too. We hem and haw and stammer when it comes to
clearly confessing Christ. We often miss
opportunities to witness to what Jesus has done for us.
Mack Stiles is an American pastor serving a congregation
in the Kurdish region of Iraq. He tells
about a time when he missed one of those opportunities.
The
Citadel of Erbil in Northern Iraq sits high in the center of town. It’s an
UNESCO site filled with ancient history. “The oldest continuous living
community on the planet,” reads the marker on the gate.
One
day friends came to Iraq to visit us, and we took them to the citadel. We
wandered into the Gemstone Museum and then to the museum shop. The proprietor
approached me with some crystals in hand. After some polite exchanges, he said
to me, “Many Europeans think that if you hold these crystals to your chest you
can achieve inner peace.” He held out the crystals expectantly.
He
seemed to think I might be one of those odd Europeans who might actually
believe such nonsense. I knew he was trying to make a sale, so I examined them
and said they were pretty. Then I rolled my eyes and said, “I don’t think you
get inner peace from a rock.” He rolled his eyes, too, and we both smiled. It
was clear that we were in agreement about rocks and inner peace.
And
that was it. It didn’t strike me until
later how much I had blown it! As you read this, you’re way ahead of me. You’ve
already thought of the things I could have said — should have said. “May I tell you where I find peace?”
Or, “Hey, I know a rock that brings peace. Do you know what the Bible calls
Jesus?” Or, “I remember when I didn’t have peace, but I do now.” You can think
of other things I might have said.
But
I said nothing. I settled for a smile, a quip, and a departure.[1]
Stiles goes on to talk about the reasons why we
are so slow to speak when such a clear opportunity comes our way. We fear rejection. We fear looking stupid because we don’t know
what to say. We fear making people
uncomfortable. In some places, such as in
the Middle East where Stiles serves, Christians fear going to jail … or worse.
But
Stiles also makes a great point: “Awkward is better than silent.”
And above all else, we have a Savior who puts his
fingers into our ears … the Gospel proclaimed to us, the message that Jesus
also was crucified for our deafness to his Word and our silence when we should
speak. Jesus became deaf for us when he
refused to listen to Satan’s temptations to choose the path of glory and refuse
the path of the cross. Jesus was deaf to
the words of his opponents who said, “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come
down from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:22). Jesus was deaf to them and silent before them
because he only heard the voice of his Father who said, “You are my beloved
Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11), therefore he knew that, as the
Faithful Son of God, he had to finish his work of shedding his blood for the
sins of the world.
Your Savior has touched your ears with his
Word. He now comes to you and touches your
tongue with his body and blood. Through
his Word and through his Supper, your Lord says to you “Ephphatha” … “Be
opened.” He forgives you, frees you,
releases you from the bondage of your sinful nature that makes you deaf and
that ties your tongue in knots.
Now you
can listen with your ears, hearing clearly, carefully contemplating the Word of
Jesus. His Word continues to dig out the
worldly wax that accumulates and clogs up our ears. In confession and absolution, we get a
spiritual Roto-Rooter job for both our ears and our hearts. His Word today cuts through the noise that
would drown out the forgiving voice of our Lord Jesus and cause us to doubt his
love and compassion toward us.
His “Ephphatha” … his “Be opened” … also gives you
a voice. You may not be the world’s most
eloquent speaker, captivating audiences with your wisdom and charm. Remember, as Pastor Stiles said, “Awkward is
better than silent.” The honest,
stammering voice that delivers the simple Gospel message is just a powerful as
any Lutheran Hour radio speaker or superstar megachurch pastor.
Besides, it’s really not your voice that is doing
the work. No, I’m not saying you are
“channeling Jesus” like some bizarre New Age cult leader. What I mean is, when you speak the Word of
Jesus, when you witness to others what Jesus has done for you, you are serving
as his ambassador, and the Holy Spirit goes to work and will convert other deaf
and dead hearts when and where he will.
Oh, that I had a thousand
voices
To praise my God with
thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the
Lord rejoices,
Would then proclaim in
grateful songs
To all, wherever I may be,
What great things God has
done for me. (LSB 811)
Well, the fact is, we each have only one voice. But with the message of the cross in our ears
and on our lips, it is a powerful voice.
As St. Paul wrote in Romans 1, “It is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes” (Romans 1:17).
INI
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