Pentecost 16, 2003 Text: Mark 7:31-37

What Are Your Expectations of Jesus?

"O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise." These are the words we sing on those Sunday’s when the order of service is Matins. Since we may be unaware of the significance of what we sing, let me show you one man who won't forget the miracle of these words: Take a look at the Gospel lesson for today.

As Jesus' ministry continues, His credentials are still being established. The Jews were expecting God to send them a “Messiah,” someone who would save God’s people from their enemies. At this point in Jesus’ ministry, people were still debating among themselves, "Who is this man? Could He be the Messiah?" Sometimes they don't just debate among themselves; they debate with Him.

At the start of Mark 7, the Pharisees have just tangled with Jesus, in effect saying, "We have a rule that you should always wash up before you eat. Your disciples don't always wash the way we do, so we don't think You're the Savior because You're not keeping our rules." Jesus responds to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" So Jesus refuses to have the Pharisees squeeze him into their mould. He has come to fulfill all that God had predicted His Messiah would do.

You've heard one of those prophecies, those predictions, this morning from Isaiah 35: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. Centuries before Jesus' birth, the Lord had prophesied through Isaiah that one of the things the Savior would do was heal the sick. Among those healings, the Savior would make the deaf hear and the mute sing. These were signs for people to look for; and when they found the One who fulfilled all of the prophecies, they had found the Savior.

In the Gospel lesson, the people bring to Jesus a man who is deaf and who can’t speak. What do you think was their expectation? Did they really believe Jesus could heal this man? Were they trying to test Him? To have Jesus prove His credentials? Or are they coming in faith, expecting Jesus is able to do this great thing? Perhaps there is some of both present here.

But the Lord sighs, perhaps at their lack of faith, and utters His powerful Word to the man, saying, "Ephphatha-be opened." That man, standing in the presence of Jesus, hears His effective Word. He's healed immediately in both hearing and speech, and begins to spread the news of the miracle. In other words, the Lord has opened his lips, and his mouth now shows forth His praise. That is an important reason we come to church, into the Lord’s presence, so that the Lord through His powerful word, may also open our lips so that we may declare His praise.

The crowd is astonished and declares, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." They marvel at the miracle of healing. But there's a greater purpose to the miracle than just one man's healing: Jesus here establishes one more credential that He is in fact the Savior sent from God.

Sent from God, the Savior has come to save us in both body and soul. That is why He heals the sick, proving His authority over physical sickness and death. But He doesn't stop there. He destroys the root cause, for sickness and death are merely the consequences of sin. Therefore, the Savior keeps on His journey to the cross. That's where He will die for the sins of the world and win eternal life for all who believe in Him.

In the Gospel lesson, the man was healed because he was visited by the Son of God. Jesus brought that man into His presence, touched him and spoke His powerful Word to Him. Today, the Lord has gathered you to this place. Here, by His Word and Sacrament, the Lord brings you into His presence-so that He might give you eternal life and physical healing. Same Savior, and the gifts don't change.

Be careful, though. Sinful natures aren't keen on letting Jesus be Jesus; like the Pharisees of the New Testament, there's the desire to make Jesus fit our rules. Inside and outside of Christianity, there's an ongoing movement to remodel Jesus into an open-minded Savior who doesn't care about sin anymore. The world applauds Jesus if He's just one way to God among many others, but condemns the notion that He's the only Savior who has redeemed the world. It's great when He does what we want, not so great when He calls us to repentance and specific faith.

It's the way of the world, astonishing in arrogance: The Savior comes to heal and to save the world; the world responds, "We've got a better idea of who Jesus should be." We must be very careful: For if we reinvent the Savior according to our desires or the specifications of the world, then we may have a different saviour who can't save. Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees: "In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." If you change the Savior to fit the commandments of men, you worship Him in vain; for you are no longer worshiping Him.

Therefore, we hold fast to the Savior whom the Scriptures proclaim: Jesus Christ, Son of God, born of the virgin Mary, who became flesh to redeem the world by His life, death and resurrection. This is the same Savior who, as we said before, gathers you here today to heal you, both body and soul.

What is your expectation of Jesus? Do you expect Him to heal you when you get seriously ill? Sometimes people will argue like this: "Wherever Jesus went, He did miracles of healing; in fact, the only places He didn't heal is where people didn't have faith. Therefore, if you do not receive miraculous healing, there must be something wrong with your faith.” Or, they might go on: “if miracles are happening at your church-if people are being healed from their diseases, then you can be sure that Jesus is there. But if that's not happening at your church, then Jesus isn't there." Have you ever been challenged by such an argument? How do you respond? We may answer like this:

First, once you've established your credentials, you don't have to keep on doing it. In order to be a pastor here, I had to be able to prove I was rostered and certified, called and ordained. Now that those credentials are established, I don't have to prove that each Sunday morning. Likewise our Lord. Jesus performed those miracles to establish His credentials as the Savior. We don't need Him to perform more miraculous healings at our demand now, because He's already proved He can do it. If the Lord works wonders of physical healing in our midst, we give thanks to Him. But we will not test the Lord by demanding He prove that He's still the Savior today. In fact, that would be like the Pharisees of old, demanding that Jesus act the way we want Him to.

Second, we gladly proclaim that Jesus is here and that He is performing even greater miracles than these (John 14:12). We know that He is here because He tells us He is. He declares that He is as near to us as His Word (Ro. 10:8), and so we gladly preach and sing His Word here. He promises that He joins us to His life and death in Holy Baptism (Ro. 6), and so we rejoice in His presence in that Sacrament. Clearly, He is with us in His Supper, for He tells us that He gives us His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. It is by these means that He fulfills His promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mt. 28:20).

And what is the great miracle He works here? The forgiveness of sins, bought by His blood at the cross. He has offered Himself as the perfect Sacrifice in your place, suffering your judgment in order to give you His life. This free gift of forgiveness works miracles within you-it destroys that sinful nature and raises you up for eternal life. The miracle in the Gospel lesson is astonishing, as a deaf-mute hears and speaks-and has his ears and tongue back for the rest of his life on earth. The miracle that the Lord works in you today is far greater, for He raises you up-not for a life that will last only a few more years, but for life everlasting with Him.

Furthermore, with forgiveness comes the assurance of physical healing-in the Lord's time, but guaranteed according to His promise. He promises you that He will heal you of all your afflictions and diseases. This is a great comfort for all of us.

The Lord healed many, but He did not heal all. However, He promises you, His people, that in heaven, He will wipe away every tear from your eyes; there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There will be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21:4). He promises that although our bodies here are corrupted by sin, He will raise us up with a body incorruptible, perfectly healed and no longer subject to disease and death (I Cor. 15:42).

That hope is for all of us, for the Lord forgives all your sins; and if He forgives all your sins, then He will heal all your diseases. As He did for the man in the Gospel lesson, He has opened our lips, that we might declare His praise. Therefore, let us sing His praises, most of all this: For the sake of Jesus your Savior, you are forgiven for all of your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.