True Love from True Faith

INI

All throughout the Gospels, Jesus shows Himself to be a gracious and compassionate brother to our fallen flesh. He’s someone ready to help, in Word and deed. Whether it be help for the body or help for the soul – Jesus is quick to aid the poor and needy.

         Today’s lesson shows Jesus no differently – our Lord willingly helped this deaf and mute man. Not only did He heal the body, but He invited this man to believe in Him with all His heart and soul, and to trust that all good things are received from him. Through this story, Jesus shows us the entirety of the Christian life.

         And the Christian life consists of two things. First, that we believe and trust in Christ, our Savior – fully knowing that whatever suffering may come our way, that He won’t desert us, but He will supply our needs. Secondly, that we treat our friends and our enemies as Christ does – with a willingness to help anyone regardless of our feelings toward them. Whoever does this, behaves as a Christian. Whoever doesn’t, may call themselves Christian, though, they are not. For these two – faith and love – cannot be separated. For true love comes from a true faith.

         And Jesus’ compassion is on full display in the Gospel lesson. His compassion is even for the most lowly and unfortunate – like this deaf and mute man. After the man’s friends had brought him to Jesus to be healed by Him, Jesus had a peculiar pattern to healing this man. First, He took the man aside privately – for reasons unknown. Perhaps, it was to not bring awe and wonder to the actual miracle Jesus performed. We’ll get to that more in a bit. But second, Jesus put His fingers into his ear drums and touched his spittle to the man’s tongue – so as to communicate to the man what it was that Jesus was about to heal. It’s interesting that Jesus goes through such a ceremony, and yet when He did other miracles, He would just heal with a word. Perhaps this was to communicate the power of Christ to this man, so that he might be called by the Holy Spirit to believe in the One who healed him.

         And finally, the most peculiar of all the things Jesus does in this miracle, He looks up to heaven, and SIGHS. Now, when we sigh, usually, it’s out of impatience, frustration, or even annoyance. Yet, it doesn’t seem likely that Jesus sighs for this man out of any such reason. Rather, it seems that Jesus’ sigh is one of deeply filled compassion and grief.

         Some say that Jesus sighed because He knew that this deaf and mute man would still sin after being healed – that Christ’s mercy might be repaid poorly. That having his ears opened, he would later listen to lies. And having his tongue loosed, he might hurt his neighbor with his words. Understandably, that would cause the Son of God grief.

         But Luther extends this grief-filled sigh more broadly to the sins of all humanity. For it wasn’t just this one man’s sin that Jesus carried or was grieved over – but He embraced and carried the sins of the WHOLE WORLD. He bore the misery, sickness, and disease of ALL people – not just this one man. Jesus’ sighs because He grieves over humanity’s love for sin, which leads to their destruction. Yet, Jesus responds not in our destruction and His wrath, but in mercy and compassion for the whole world. He even bears your misery, your sickness, your pain. He responds to a sin-filled world with His own suffering, taking it all upon Himself. Your Lord’s compassion was prophesied in Psalm 40:11 – “As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!” And in Isaiah 53:4 – “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” This prophecy was confirmed by John the Baptist in the New Testament, for John saw Jesus coming to Him from afar and boldly proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)!”

         So, it can be said, Jesus’ sigh is not for JUST this one man – but it’s for the WHOLE WORLD. Yet, we must NOT overlook the care and compassion that our Lord has for each individual as well. For this man’s poor physical condition moves Jesus to act for His benefit. This teaches what Jesus does for us. When Jesus see’s sin, He moves quickly to rid us of it. Certainly, He removes the guilt of our moral failings and shortcomings, even equipping us to live lives that please Him. Yet, Jesus also bears the weaknesses of the body – our diseases and sicknesses, our misplaced desires and our hardships. Our God sees all this in us – and is moved to rid us of it.

         And this is where faith begins – knowing that Christ sees you in your misery and seeks to take it off you and onto Himself. Experience often leads us to doubt the Lord’s action. We may doubt whether or not God looks upon us when riddled with sickness or disease. Or even when physical hardships of various kinds stack up against us. But that’s never because of God’s inaction in our lives – it’s because of our limited perspective. We only have the 2-dimensional view of our sufferings.  But God’s is 3-D. He sees it from all sides. Faith trusts that even if our miseries should continue, we cannot comprehend the great and mysterious work God has for us in our lives. Yet, our faith clings to this promise: that for God’s children, death itself is the doorway through which every burden of body and soul is lifted forever.

         Quite ironic, isn’t it? Our failings and shortcomings are answered by the very thing we actively avoid and fear the most. For when we pass through death and enter life with our Savior, His sanctifying work is completed. He carries us into His presence with fullness of joy – for He will have taken away every ill of the soul, and at the last day with the resurrection of all flesh we will have complete and total healing of the body.

         To receive such a great gift by faith, we need ears to hear of God’s grace in Christ Jesus, and tongues to confess His saving name, through which we have salvation. And that’s also what Jesus shows us today in the healing of the deaf and mute man, for the ears and tongue are central to the kingdom God established in us. We need ears to hear God’s Word. We need tongues that confess Christ. We need hearts that believe what’s heard. Just as the man received healing from Christ and went to go tell the whole world about Jesus miraculous healing, so do Christians listen to the Word of God, grasp onto that Word and promise with complete trust and faith, and then speak of Christ’s promises for the world.

         And we need to continually do this – hear God’s Word, receive it with trust in God’s promises, and then live in faith according to it as we live and speak out our confession to the world. We need to do this continually, for like the mute and deaf man, we sin much. Even after Jesus has healed us. And this is all the more reason to flee to Him.

         Because Christ’s sigh not only indicates our failure to live the way He’s freed us to live, but it indicates the corruption the devil sows in our ears and tongues. The very thing Christ heals can be used by the evil one for His purposes. For example, many wonder why Jesus told the deaf and mute man to NOT tell others about his healing. It could be for various reasons, but I think this is the most convincing: the blind and mute man could only describe Jesus as a miracle worker – one who makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. However, Jesus’ mission on earth was for way more than healing diseases. It was to destroy sin, AND death, AND the devil.

         Satan would be pleased if we only thought of Christ as a miracle worker. That’s why I think this man’s zeal for the Lord consumed him. He told others about Christ – but Jesus wanted him to wait before he could instruct him of the whole story of what He’s come to accomplish.

         Satan would also be pleased if we got the wrong idea about Christ. And there are many false teachers who’d love to draw us away from a right belief in God’s Word and a right confession of His saving name. Often times, we think that the worst thing that could happen to us would be if tyrants would threaten to destroy our bodies. But this miracle shows us a fate much worse – when tongues twist the Word of God into lies, and our itching ears chase after those lies. That’s the temptation.

         Yet, this is the ongoing struggle – our ears and tongues are meant for a faith which receives God’s Word rightly. Yet, our desires for our ears and tongues are often turned against Christ and His purposes.

         So, hold fast to Christ. For He is compassionate to you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, especially in your time of suffering. Keep your ears pure and undefiled, open to receiving His Word of Law and Gospel. And let your gratitude of Christ’s sacrificial mercy show forth in your daily callings, wherever God has placed you – whether that be as a father or mother, a congregation member, an employee, a student, or a child. Imitate Christ’s compassion for all. Guard those under your care against despising and mocking God’s Word. Rather, lead them like the deaf and mute man’s friends – to the Almighty, compassionate hands of Jesus.

         Take comfort – Christ’s sigh was breathed for you. Hear His Word, trust His mercy, and confess His saving name. And when that final day comes, every ear will hear, and every tongue will confess the name of Jesus.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston