Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“From Fear to Faith, from Death to Life”

Text: Mark 9:14-29

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

They were failures. They couldn’t do it. A father in distress brings his demon-possessed son to them, and they failed. They couldn’t cast it out. 

They had done so before. Not too long before this, Jesus had sent the disciples out two-by-two, and specifically with authority over unclean spirits (Mark 6:7). And they went out and they cast out many demons. Heady days, those. Days that must have filled the disciples with confidence. 

But how quickly things change. Now, they failed. They were failures. Had this authority, this power, left them? What were they doing wrong? They must have been uncertain, confused, and maybe a little scared. Scared of the demon. Scared of the crowd that was turning ugly. Especially since Jesus was not with them. Where was Jesus when you need Him?

You’ve know how that is. You’ve felt that way, too. There are times in your life when things are going well and you’re a success and filled with confidence and sure that Jesus is with you. And then there are times like this . . . when things have turned, they’re not going so well anymore, and you’re a failure - or feel like a failure. And fears creep in. And you wonder, what happened? What did I do wrong? And is Jesus not with me anymore? Where is Jesus when I need Him!?

Where was Jesus anyway, when this was going on? Well, He was with Peter, James, and John. He had taken just those three and gone away, up on a mountain, and showed them His glory when He was transfigured before them - remember that story? Jesus shone like the sun and was speaking with Moses and Elijah. It’s quite a contrast, isn't it? A glorious scene going on up there, and an ugly scene going on down here . . . with demons and fighting and confusion.

That’s the scene Jesus steps into. Regular Jesus, not glory Jesus. And after a few questions, He brings order out of chaos. Just as in the beginning, when God spoke and brought order out of the chaos in creation, so here the Word of God made flesh speaks, and brings order out of chaos. There is peace, not confusion. There is life, not death. A happy ending, we might say. But it wasn’t easy . . .

And not just for this poor boy who was being tormented by a demon, but for his father. It’s hard when suffering comes upon you; it’s even harder to watch someone you love suffer. And especially your child. You’re the parent, the protector, the provider, and you feel so helpless. And maybe guilty, or at least distressed, when you can’t do anything about it. So this father turns to Jesus. He’s desperate. Please, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Notice: us. Not just my son. Us. This is tearing him up, too. 

If you can . . . Jesus responds to that. It’s a mild rebuke, really. For the father doesn’t really know who Jesus is, the almighty, creator God in human flesh. Somebody powerful? Yes. A miracle worker? Surely. A prophet? Probably. That’s why he brought his son to the disciples in the first place. So don’t be too hard on him. Jesus wasn’t. This father knows and he doesn’t know. He’s hopeful, but not sure. He really doesn’t know what’s going on! All he knows is that this is his son! And his son needs help! Rescue! Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! Don’t just save my son; save me, too.

And Jesus does. Both the boy and his father are set free and given life again. The boy set free from his demon, and the father set free from his confusion and fear. 

And then Jesus deals with His disciples. They, too, need help. The fighting and chaos were done, but their fear and failure remained. Why couldn’t we cast it out? And Jesus responds: This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. Which I don’t think means this was some kind of super demon! But more like Jesus asking them: Why didn’t you pray? Why didn’t you ask for help? And then right after this, as Jesus moves on with all twelve of His disciples, Jesus speaks about the cross. That 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. But, Mark tell us, they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. They still don’t ask. They still have fear. They still are confused. They are, in a way, just like that father. They could each say, too: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

Which really is a perfect summary of our life as Christians, isn't it? We are saint and sinner, believer and unbeliever, confident and fearful, strong and weak, certain and doubting, all at the same time! At least I see that in me! I suspect you, too. And how often we feel that we’ve failed. That we are failures. As fathers and mothers, as children, as disciples and Christians. We’ve sinned. We’ve fallen short. We’ve made a mess of things, of life. And we try to do better. Maybe like the disciples, you did in the past. But now . . . And maybe you’ve wondered a time or two, Jesus, where are you? Where are you when I need you? And maybe you, too, have cried out: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! I can’t do this. I need help.

So where is Jesus? For you, when you need Him? Well, He’s not in His glory someplace far away, like on that mountaintop. He came down to us, just as He came down to that father. He came down to us in our chaos and fears and sins. And He went where He told us He would go - not to Nazareth or Galilee, but to the cross and the tomb. For there is where He would deal with our demons. There is where He would deal with our sin and death. And when He rose from death and the grave, that’s where He deals with our unbelief, too. For the one who rises from the dead has defeated not just death, but our sins and our demons, too. Jesus’ empty tomb means that the cross is not defeat, but the means to His victory. 

A victory that is given to you in Baptism. That’s why in Baptism, just as Jesus rebuked the demon in that son, so, too, here it is said: Depart unclean spirit, and make way for the Holy Spirit. And it is so. Another child, or even adult, is set free, by the water and the Word the God which brings order out of chaos, which brings freedom from bondage, which makes a saint out of a sinner, and raises to life from death. I think it’s interesting that with the son in our story, the father said that the demon often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But what the devil uses for destruction, God uses to save. Both Jesus’ death on a cross, and our being cast into fire and water - the fire of the Spirit and the water of Baptism. And so this story is our story, too. The son’s deliverance, our deliverance. But our’s, even greater. Not just for life here, for a while; but for life everlasting.

But think a little more about this thought for a moment . . . what the devil uses for destruction, God uses to save . . . Could that also be true of other things in your life? Other troubles and trials, other sufferings and challenges? The devil would like to use these things to destroy you, drive you away from Jesus, convince you that: See? He isn’t here for you! He isn’t here for you when you need Him! And the devil can be very persuasive. And we fear and we fight and we get all jumbled up inside and out. But if that, if those very things, cause us to cry out: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! And they make us pray, and we go back to the Word, and I remember that no matter what the devil says, I am a baptized child of God - not because I deserve it, but because Jesus did it! - and I come to the altar to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus and the forgiveness and strength and saving I need . . . then what the devil uses for destruction, God has used to save us. And if you think the disciples were frustrated that day, and the father was frustrated that day, think how frustrating this is for the devil! When your heavenly Father turns the devil’s works against him. 

And then your heavenly Father may lay crosses on you, too. Not to hurt or harm you, but to save you. That you not rely on yourself, but turn to Him. And find your hope and confidence and strength not in yourself, but in the empty tomb. Now it is true what the psalmist say: Weeping may [remain] for the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5). And if you are in the night of weeping right now, that’s not an easy place to be! Just as it wasn’t for the father in our story. But Jesus is coming. And not just on the Last Day, but even now, here, for you. To forgive you, comfort you, provide for you, and save you.

So as we sang in the Introit earlier, Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord! But the waiting can be the hardest part. So the Lord has given us a Church to help us, and fellow Christians to help us. Don’t try to do it on your own. Pray for your fellow Christians, and ask them to pray for you. When you look at this Font, remember here your Saviour came to you and bound Himself to you and said: You are mine! Hear the great stories of all that He has done, and His death and resurrection for you, His victory for you, and His promises for you. And when you come to this Altar, as saint and sinner, believer and unbeliever, confident and fearful, strong and weak, certain and doubting, all at the same time - pray those words of the father in our story: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! And then hear Jesus speak to you: take eat, this is My Body; take and drink, this is My Blood. Here is my strength, here is my forgiveness, for you. You are free. Go in peace.

And while, yes, weeping may [remain] for the night, the joy of the morning of the resurrection is coming. And that morning has already begun to dawn. Things may look dark now, but it’s always darkest before the dawn, isn't that what they say? I don’t know if that’s true in general, but it is for us as Christians. We live in a very dark world, but the Son rose, and is rising upon us, until the day the darkness is no more, and there is only light. And though the night be long and the darkness deep, 

we Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness! 

[We] praise the Word Incarnate,

Christ, who suffered in our place.

For Jesus died and rose victorious

That we may know God by grace.

[So we] sing for joy and gladness,

Seeing what our God has done;

[We] praise the true Redeemer,

. . . the One who makes us one (LSB #849 vs, 1, 3).

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week of Pentecost 17 (September 16-21, 2024)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: James 3:17 – ”The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #851 “Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us”

Hymns for Sunday: 704, 851, 625, 698, 529, 850

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Psalm 54

Why did the psalmist write these words? What was happening? What confidence does he have? Where is Jesus in these words?

Tuesday: Ezekiel 2:8 - 3:11

How does God want us today to “eat” His Word? Why? How are we being rebellious when we do not? How is this the nutrition we need to be healthy Christians?

Wednesday: Matthew 9:9–13

Saturday is the Commemoration of St. Matthew. Why was Matthew an unlikely candidate to be a disciple of Jesus? In what ways was he a perfect choice to be a disciple of Jesus?

Thursday: Jeremiah 11:18–20

How did the Jews try to destroy Jesus and His fruit? Yet how did Jesus make that tree the tree whose fruit now nourishes us?

Friday: James 3:13 - 4:10

How (and why!) is the world in opposition to God and His ways? How did God come down and draw near to us? How is this our wisdom, righteousness, and peace?

Saturday: Mark 9:30-37

Why was Jesus’ teaching hard for the disciples to understand? How is it hard for us, too? What do we want? What is better?

The Catechism - Baptism: What does such baptizing with water indicate? [Part 1] 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.

Collect for the Week: O God, whose strength is made perfect in weakness, grant us humility and childlike faith that we may please You in both will and deed; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and strength for our congregation’s Sunday School teachers.

+ the American Association of Lutheran Churches, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, and provision for our Synod’s World Relief and Human Care ministry.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268

Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Opening Ears, Hearts, and Graves”

Text: Mark 7:31-37; James 2:1-10, 14-18; Isaiah 35:4-7a

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Ephphatha! Be opened, Jesus said. And this man’s ears were opened.

Imagine what that must have been like. In my sermon a few weeks ago, I told the story of when my doctor removed two very large and hard plugs of wax from my ears and how I marveled at how much I could hear again. (I guess I should have saved that story for this week!) But for this man . . . imagine all that he heard . . . and maybe for the very first time! A bird chirping. Children laughing. Music playing. Jesus’ voice. Many sounds that we, perhaps, take for granted. No big deal. But a big deal for this man. Life changing. 

Just like the first things the man born blind saw after Jesus gave him his sight. Or the first time a man who couldn’t walk could go somewhere by himself and didn’t need to be carried by others. When a leper could return to his family. Or when someone possessed by demons was set free and was an outcast no more. Imagine what those days must have been like. The joy. These were big deals.

I don’t know if we think about them that way, though. Maybe because we hear these kinds of stories so much that we’re used to hearing them and take for granted all that Jesus can do. Or maybe because of all that medicine and technology are able to do for us today. We have eyeglasses and eye surgery for people who cannot see. We have cochlear implants for people who can’t hear. We have knee replacements for people who can’t walk. Medicines that heal sickness and disease. Now, what Jesus did was greater and more complete than anything we can do . . . but since we can do so much, maybe the wonder isn’t there for us anymore.

But these miracles of Jesus were truly life-changing. When you can’t see, when you can’t hear, when you can’t go where everyone else goes, when you’re sick, what also happens is that you get separated from others. You can’t join the group that has gathered to marvel at the eclipse. You’re not part of the group that takes delight in the sound of a giggling child. You miss weddings, graduations, and other important events. There’s an isolation that comes with these disabilities, try as we might to overcome it. Try as we might to be inclusive. Try as we might to make accommodation. Or to pretend that these disabilities don’t exist by saying that people are not disabled, they are just differently abled, and other such word-smithing.

Which on one level is fine. If people don’t want to be called disabled, we can certainly use different words. If that creates a stigma that could be avoided, we should. But on another level, a deeper level, this matters a great deal. Because if we normalize these things that sin has caused . . . and certainly, sin has caused sickness and disease and eyes and ears and legs to not work as they were created to work . . . If we normalize these things that sin has caused, then we are, in fact, normalizing sin. And where we see this is in how things that were almost universally considered sinful in the past, are so no longer. Everything is normal. Everyone is okay. But it is simply not so.

So what Jesus is doing is not just healing people, but overcoming sin and its disastrous effects. Healing people is great, just as medicine and technology today are great. But all those people Jesus healed, including the deaf man in the reading today, do you know what happened to them? The deaf man eventually lost his hearing again, and the blind man later lost his sight again, and the lame man could one day no longer get up and walk - not because Jesus didn’t really heal them, He did! But sooner or later, they died. The deafness, the blindness, the lameness, and the sickness and disease were the symptoms, the signs, of the greater problem: the sin and death that caught up to them, just as it will one day (unless Jesus comes again first!) catch up to all of us. 

And sin and death we cannot overcome. The death that separates us from our loved ones, and the sin that divides us from others. The separation of death is pretty obvious. But let’s think about sin a little more . . . Consider how sin has made us deaf to the cries of the hurting, blind to the needs of the downtrodden, or if we hear and see these things, then paralyzed when it comes to actually going and helping others. Sin truly has disabled us. And this sin that has disabled us and the death which separates and divides us from each other also has disabled us spiritually, and separated and divided us from God. And if left untreated, will do so for eternity.

That’s why stories like we heard today are so important. Not just because of the marvel of Jesus healing a deaf man, but because it is a sign of the more marvelous work He has come to do - to not just treat the symptoms or outward manifestations of the disease, but to overcome the disease itself. To not just say Ephphatha to closed ears, but to say Be opened! to sealed graves. 

So to do that, God came. In person. In a person. In Jesus. And He saw the separation, He saw the devastation, He saw all that sin had done, and He had compassion. Not that He didn’t know or see before, but He overcame the separation and division by being born a man - God and man in one person. And He took the disease, He took our sin and death, to conquer it. He allowed sin and death to swallow Him up on the cross, that He could swallow them up in His resurrection. And He did. And He promised that all baptized into Him would be baptized into that death and resurrection and be raised in those waters to a new life. 

And that new life in two ways. (1.) Ultimately and finally when Jesus comes again and says “Be opened!” to all of our graves, so that our bodies rise to a new and glorified life that will never end. (2.) But before that day, that we live a new life these days. For in baptism, Jesus opens our ears to hear His Word and to hear the cries of others. He opens our eyes all that He has done for us and to see the needs of others. And He opens our hearts to confess our sins and selfishness and to have compassion for others. But not only that, He also gives us legs that we not only hear and see and feel, but do. To put our faith into action. 

Which brings out the irony in the story we heard today. For after the deaf man was healed, Jesus commanded him to tell no one. But he was so filled with joy that he couldn’t help himself - he had to tell everyone! But we who have been raised and healed and given new life, and to whom Jesus has said speak and do and care and go . . . don’t.

Or not as we should, or as much as we should. And not just with strangers, or the panhandler in the middle of the street, but how often with our own families? With those closest to us? Turning away from spouses, children, brothers and sisters, our fellow Christians. How often do we fail to repent, fail to forgive, fail to help, and instead selfishly harbor anger, bitterness, and grudges? 

Today we heard from the apostle James, who said that we show our faith by our works. Well . . . what are your works showing about your faith? Is your life like the life of the deaf man who was healed, overflowing with joy in your Saviour and the life and forgiveness He has given you? And if not, why not? What sin is still disabling you? What sin is still separating you from others? What death is gnawing away at your life?

These are the very things Jesus has come to set you free from! First in baptism, but after that, too. To open your ears and hear Him say I forgive you all your sins! and to open your mouths to receive His Body and Blood that won that forgiveness for you and strengthen you to forgive others. And through these open your heart and fill it with His life and love. And this is for you because it is for all. Jesus died and rose for all people - no partiality. He loves you no less than anyone else, even if in this world you feel loved less than everyone else.

And when your life on this earth is ended and the next life begins, think about how you will be like that deaf man. What - and who - will you hear and see for the first time? For the first time hearing the song of the angels! Bodies glorified and without sin. It’s hard to imagine, but a day, a time, an eternity to look forward to.

But maybe we can get a glimpse of all that already here and now. And not just in church, but in all your life. When you serve, when you love, when you forgive, you are showing the love and new life of Christ to others. And showing that they matter. That they are important. That Jesus didn’t just die for some or love some, but all. Deaf people, blind people, lame people, sinner people, failure people, stubborn people. People like you. People like me. His ears and heart are not deaf to us but open to us, and He opens our ears and hearts toward others. And that’s a big deal. And while the healing of this deaf man might just seem like one miracle among many, and your life might just seem like one among many, he wasn’t, and you’re not. Jesus paid special attention to him, and Jesus pays special attention to you. Jesus healed him and Jesus heals you. Sin and death no longer rule you or determine your life - Jesus does. The Jesus who baptized you, the Jesus who said Father, forgive them, the Jesus who feeds you, and the Jesus who will one day say to your grave, Be opened! And it will be. And you will come forth to live before Him in righteousness and purity forever.

That will be a wonder-full day, a day full of wonder. But so is today. Satan will continue to try to blind you to that, deaf you to that, but Jesus opens eyes and ears, that we know the wonder of His love, even in this world filled with sin and death. And if you find yourself a little short in that department - and who doesn’t, right? . . . A little or a lot . . . If you are one with an anxious heart, as Isaiah said today, know this: your God has come. For you. And that man in this story is now you. You are healed. You are forgiven. You have hope. You have a future. Difficulties now are preparing you for a glorious future. 

Maybe that’s hard to imagine. Maybe it seems too far away, and you think you won’t be able to make it. And if you’re looking at the difficulties, or looking at yourself, or looking at the sins or the sinners that afflict you or oppress you, then yeah, it’s going to seem that way. So look somewhere else. Look at the cross. Look to Jesus. Hear His voice. His promises. For the joy and hope and love and life you need come from Him. And He will give it. Just as He did to a deaf man that day. A deaf man who received not only hearing, but life. And with life, joy. The joy we want. The joy we need. The joy of Jesus.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.