In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Think for a moment what Jesus would be seeing as He enters into our Gospel lesson today. He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. While ancient Geography might not be your thing, this is an important set up. Jesus has been off Northwest in Gentile country, on the coast of the Mediterrean, and he's made a big northward loop over Israel, over Galilee, and now he's on the east side of the Sea of Galilee in gentile territory. Foreign lands. Jesus has been a Stranger in plenty of strange lands. And He's been there, because things in Israel have been bad. Herod had just killed John the Baptist, the Jewish crowds are getting more and more pushy after the feeding of the 5000, the Pharisees have been on His case, so Jesus went and got out of Dodge. Went to the coast and laid relatively low.
And here Jesus is, coming back to Galilee the back way, taking the long way home. Going through rival territory. And we hear this: And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. You've been hounded out of your home, and as you come quietly back in, Gentiles, foreigners, strangers – they've basically been on the lookout, hoping to see You. You arrive and they know automatically to bring the most worst off guy in the town right to You, please do something because You are the One who can do something. These are people who just want Jesus to be Jesus! How refreshing!
And now there stands before Jesus a deaf mute, surrounded by a crowd of nervous, excited, bustling onlookers. Gentile onlookers. What does Jesus see? He sees something utterly absurd. That crowd – those aren't the people whom one would think would be there. Jewish folks looked down on them, and really most of Roman society did too – they were on the very borders of the Roman Empire and kind of strange. But there's something even more absurd, something even more ridiculous. Jesus Christ, the Word of God by Whom all things were made, sees a man, one of His creations, standing before Him. And this guy has ears, but they don't work. And this guy has a mouth, but it doesn't work, the tongue is all tied up. And this is Jesus standing there, the Word, the God Who fashioned ears and Who fashioned tongues, Who gave to man the wondrous ability to hear speech so that He could talk to them, Who gave man a mouth so that man could use the Word himself – and this guy has ears and a tongue, but they don't work. What Jesus had created to work, to be a gift – doesn't. How utterly absurd!
Um, actually pastor, I don't know how absurd that is. There's plenty of people in this room who have bits of electronics in their ears right now, and we have this spiffy sound system to help us all hear. And not to be the one to put too fine a point on it, but you don't exactly speak spot on with that lateral lisp you got there. To say nothing of the glasses or contacts, or the aches or pains. Isn't this sort of bodily frailty just typical? Well, no, you are right, what we see in this text is utterly typical – we see body parts failing all the time, and if you live long enough stuff is going to slip. It is typical, it is normal – but you and I, we're sinful human beings, and we've grown accustomed to sin and it's impact. We've grown accustomed to death, and so the idea of bits and pieces of us breaking even before the great, big, total break down of death is just utterly normal to us. But this is Jesus, this is the God who created that man, who gave him his eyes, ears, and all his members. And sin has messed with Jesus' creation. Sin and its impacts mean that what Jesus had created isn't doing what Jesus had created it for. Those ears were created to hear – and sin has messed with that. That mouth was meant for speech – and sin has messed with that. And it's absurd – ears that don't hear, lips that don't speak. It's absurd, and Jesus will not have it! Jesus will get rid of this absurdity and make it right.
And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. Yeah, this is absurd. Jesus is going to take care of this fellow, but instead of just being able to have a normal conversation where Jesus can simply say, “Hey friend, I'm going to help you out” - Jesus has to do this absurd pantomime. This poor guy probably had very little clue as to what was happening – a crowd just came and grabbed him, all excited – and he can't hear, he can't ask questions, he's probably confused and frightened. Jesus calms things down, Jesus gets his attention – Jesus sticks His fingers in his ears and grabs his tongue. I'm going to take care of these things. And Jesus doesn't just speak, He acts it out loudly so the guy can understand. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to Him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. There, that's better. Those ears I made can hear again, that mouth I made can talk again. And I don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops – And Jesus charged them to tell no one. Jesus tells them to keep quiet – and He doesn't have to do charades to get his point across. Let's not make too big a deal of this, I don't want to ruffle any feathers back home, but they don't listen. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond all measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
A few things very quick. Why doesn't Jesus want them talking? Well, Jesus' quiet return home, sneaking in the backdoor, that's all torn to shreds now. Now there's going to be big crowds, He's going to have to feed the 4000 in a bit, and everyone back home is going to hear about it and be annoyed at Jesus for helping the Gentiles and all that. This is just a practical thing. But more importantly, did you note what the Gentiles picked up on, why they were so excited? He has done all things well – He has made everything good – and it was good. This is creation restored language. And the deaf hearing, the mute speaking, that's Messianic language, that's the the promises of God fulfilled language. These gentiles get and understand who Jesus is, that He is God come back to restore and rescue and redeem this fallen creation, to make it good again.
So here in our text Jesus has seen the terrible, absurd impacts of sin – and He does something absurd to fix it. I mean, this is a text where Jesus grabs a tongue. I asked the other week about pictures of Jesus – any of you have a picture of Jesus grabbing a guy's tongue like this? No, of course not, because it's absurd. But when sin has made His creation go all crazy, Jesus will do crazy things to fix it.
This applies to you. If we care to look this week, or ponder on the days past, I'm sure we can think of and see all sorts of absurdity that goes on in our lives. There's physical things breaking down in our lives, the wages of sin manifesting themselves. But there's all just the normal, typical sin that we've accustomed ourselves to. Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm? God has put you in various vocations, given you various duties, and sin has you do the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do. Oh look, here's a person I'm to love and support, and yet I yelled at them, or left them on their own. You know, the exact opposite of what God put me in this situation to do. How backwards, how absurd and stupid is that? But that's what all sin is, stupid, foolish, absurd, moronic – and you know what – we're all going to play the fool again this week in various ways, because that's what it is to be a sinner. It is to be trapped in world of absurdity, where things fall apart, where what God has joined together man puts asunder, where the breath of life that God gave to the body He formed ultimately leaves and we die. What absurdity!
And so, to save you, to rescue you from this crazy, messed up world wracked with sin, Jesus goes and does the most absurd thing in all of History – He goes to the Cross. Jesus going to the Cross is absurd, it is backwards, it is utterly bonkers. The Lord of Life... dies. The One who is innocent takes up guilt. The Lord of Hosts (of the heavenly armies) lets Himself be pushed around and captured – the legions of angels stand down and let this Cross happen. The Almighty God dies... of weakness. That's what the Cross is – it's being weakened unto death. Almighty God, weakened to death. Utterly absurd.
But Jesus on the Cross, diving on into that absurdity of sin, destroys sin. He wins forgiveness, He wins life, He wins salvation. And you know what – He gives this forgiveness and life to you in ways that to the world, to people who don't know the wild and wondrous love of God, seem foolish and bizarre. Here, o sinner doomed to death – I'll take water, and the Word of God will be attached to that water, and now you are not just a sinner doomed to death but you are declared a forgiven child of God, bound for the resurrection, and in that resurrection as a forgiven child of God you will be a co-heir with Christ Jesus, a prince or princess of the New Creation that is coming. All that, with just a little splash of water and God's Word. Yep – because that's how Jesus rolls. And when you are living your life, O baptized child of God, and sin still swirls around you, Jesus takes other sinners and has them speak His Word to you – be it this sinner here preaching here in this place, or be it your family, your friends, or be it you proclaiming Jesus' love and forgiveness your family and friends – and there will be actual forgiveness and life worked there. What? Sinners forgiving other sinners with Jesus Word? Yep – because that's how Jesus rolls. And if you thought Jesus grabbing a tongue was strange – well wait for this – He's going to grab your tongue today as He comes in bread and wine and gives you His own Body and Blood – your own tongue, grabbed by Jesus today to loosen you from the bonds of sin. And this strengthens you in both faith towards God and love towards your neighbor, shatters the power of sin in your life. All this from that? Yep – because that's how Jesus' rolls.
Thinks what Jesus sees as He sees you. Yeah, He sees the absurdity of sin – but Jesus deals with that. Jesus diving on in a dealing with sin is actually His specialty, and He tends to you directly, comes to you in ways that you can understand and grasp, and He gives you healing, life, forgiveness – now in the face of sin and eternally in the New Creation when all sin and its remnants will be long gone and forgotten. He sees you now as His brother, His sister, redeemed and ready to go, to be His instrument of love in this absurd world even until He comes again and finally delivers us from it all and we will finally understand how He has indeed done all things well . Come quickly Lord Jesus! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit
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