Make haste, O God, to deliver me:
Make haste to help me, O Lord.
Let them be ashamed and confounded:
That seek after my soul.
Let them be turned backward and put to confusion:
That desire my hurt.
—Psalm 70:1–2
A writing for the Holy Gospel, Mark 7:31-37:
And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Mark 7:37
The problem of pain is a daunting question. It is known as many things, but the problem of pain (or suffering/sin/hardship/etc.) is a stumbling block for many. How could God allow people, even “good” people, to suffer? How could He stand by and watch as His beloved children suffer in this life?
It is a question that can be answered, albeit with great difficulty. It remains a stumbling block—but we know with full certainty that sin is the root of all temporal hardship, including our physical infirmities. The deaf man in Mark 7 is a prime example. Little is known about him or his life, yet we know that he suffered immensely. Perhaps little physical pain befell him, but the strain his impediments had on his social status was debilitating.
He was brought to Jesus so that He might heal him. They begged Jesus. He took the man aside, put His fingers in the man’s ears, and spit and touched his tongue. The man was healed immediately, and began to speak plainly. This man may have been a “good” person, though by nature we are all evil, but this impediment befell him for much of his life. Nevertheless, Christ was there with His healing power to rid the man of his infirmities. But what else is there to find in this account?
We are born sinful, under the curse of the Law that binds us to an eternity of suffering and torment. We are born spiritually blind, theologically deaf, and liturgically mute. It is our natural inclination from birth to seek temporal and godless things. We seek to be one with the world, its works, and its ways.
From birth, we desperately need a Savior whose love and compassion on our poor spiritual state will bring the fruits of grace and mercy to us, even in our faithlessness and godlessness. We need a Savior whose unfailing love will open our eyes, unblock our ears, and loosen our tongues, without whose aid we would surely parish.
He takes us aside and intimately calls us by name in Holy Baptism, calling out to us “Ephphatha,” that is “Be opened!” He opens our eyes, ears, and minds to His holy Word; more than that, He opens our hearts to receive His love and grace and be called children of God. From thence we speak plainly, boldly proclaiming the love of God in Christ Jesus and praising His name forevermore. We are His redeemed children—our eyes have been opened to His grace, our ears unblocked to hear His Word, and our tongues loosened to proclaim His glorious Word and sing His praises.
And yet we also find in this Gospel the sin of preaching. Yes, the sin of preaching. Those who were present when Jesus opened the deaf man’s ears could not help but marvel at this miracle and proclaim it to all. Yet Jesus had strictly charged them to tell no one. Why would He command this? And what else is the crowd to do but preach? They have just witnessed the Lord’s power!
Christ’s command not to preach this miracle was not one of secrecy. He did not desire that everyone be left overtly in the dark concerning His healing power, though He certainly did not desire to create a false idol of it, either. And that is the point. He knew that the more people heard of His healing miracles, the more they would fixate on His miracles alone. They would misunderstand the Messiah to be one who fixes temporal problems, not the guaranteer of man’s salvation.
Certainly it is not a sin to preach, but it is idolatrous to overemphasize the enthusiastic elements of Jesus’ ministry alone, like healing the deaf and mute. Indeed He made the deaf to hear and mute to speak, but these miracles in themselves need not be the focus of His ministry. They speak to a greater purpose, the true focus of His ministerial work. For He is the Messiah—not a temporal ruler, whose power and might dominate His political rule — but a Sovereign Lord by whom all things were made and through whom all things are redeemed. The Messiah is the world’s Savior.
Christ did not charge them to keep total silence. He exhorted them not to fixate on the temporal power that He exercised over the infirmities of the flesh and instead fix their eyes on the eternal power that He holds over sin, death, and the devil. Perhaps His words shall be interpreted thus: “Do not tell the people what I have done, but proclaim to them why I am doing these things, to point all people to the cross, where I will suffer and die for their sins.”
Do not preach earthly power. Instead, preach the Gospel.
To do this, we must not merely preach about the works of Christ, but preach Christ crucified, for this is the foundation of His ministry, the purpose for which He became incarnate in the flesh and dwelt among us. All the men and women He healed throughout His ministry pointed to the salvific healing that flows from His side on the cross. The Samaritan woman who desired the living water about which Christ spoke points us to the innumerable blessings we receive when we are called to be a child of God and given the Holy Spirit in Baptism, which is made possible through the cross. The Emmaus disciples point us to the unimaginable blessings found in the Eucharist, which are the fruits of Christ’s suffering, death, and bodily resurrection. The tax collector who penitently asked for God’s mercy is the embodiment of the gifts of absolution received when we confess our sins in the presence of God and His shepherds.
In every miraculous work of Jesus there is an allusion to His cross. There is a foreshadowing of the salvation that He won for us through His death. He healed the temporal illnesses of the body, but He died to secure the eternal salvation of the soul. The miracles He performed are not merely ends in themselves, but a type of the healing that flows from His pierced side on the cross. And even all those who received His healing touch on earth need the spiritual gifts that lead the soul to heaven.
We look in every trial and temptation to the One who heals our weaknesses and erases our sins. He opens our eyes to see His grace, unblocks our ears to hear His Word, and loosens our tongues to sing His praise. We submit ourselves to His design because He alone is the way to salvation. He alone is the One who can cause all weaknesses and illnesses of the flesh to be healed. He alone is the Holy One of God, who suffered and died on our behalf and won salvation for us. He alone is our Rock and Redeemer.
We are spiritually blind, deaf, and mute; by nature we are born sinful, but by grace we have been made new. We are reborn of water and the Spirit. Our ears, eyes, and mouths are opened in faith. Through Christ we have the fullness of His suffering, and we have full assurance that our sins are forgiven, our illnesses healed, and our salvation won. Thanks be to God for this most glorious comfort.
Luther on Mark 7:31-37:
Then they praise God, saying: "He hath done all things well, he has made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." For wherever there is true faith, there the Spirit will not allow you any rest; you will break forth, become a priest, teach other people also, as we read Ps. 116:10: "I believe, for I will speak." There the heart is full, and the mouth must run over. Then when they are persecuted, they will not care.
But the part of the story, that Christ took the man apart from the others, looks up to heaven, has this meaning: If God do not take me alone to a separate place, and give me the Holy Spirit, so that I cling to the Word which I have heard, then all preaching is in vain. But why does this require so much that he looks up to heaven and makes use of divine power, calling upon God's grace to come and to act? By this he teaches us that such power must come from heaven, working in the heart of man by divine strength; then help comes to him. Again the spittle which is the Word of God is a noble thing for the Old Adam. Then they go forth to praise and glorify God.
Thus have you learned, from the story and from its spiritual or secret meaning, that we must first hear the Word of God and thus, through the intercession of Christ, obtain a faith of our own, and then we come out, confessing this and praising God forever. May this be sufficient on this Gospel lesson. Let us pray to God for grace.
—Martin Luther, “Sermon for 12th Sunday after Trinity; Mark 7:31-37,” taken from The Church Postils of Martin Luther.
Hymn of the Day for Trinity 12 (LSB 551*):
1 When to our world the Saviour came
The sick and helpless heard His name,
And in their weakness longed to see
The healing Christ of Galilee.
2 That good physician! Night and day
The people thronged about His way;
And wonder ran from soul to soul,
"The touch of Christ has made us whole!"
3 His praises then were heard and sung
By opened ears and loosened tongue,
While lightened eyes could see and know
The healing Christ of long ago.
4 Of long ago: yet living still,
Who died for us on Calv'ry's hill;
Who triumphed over cross and grave,
His healing hands stretched forth to save.
5 His sov'reign purpose still remains
Who rose in pow'r, and lives and reigns;
Till ev'ry tongue confess His praise,
The healing Christ of all our days.
*LSB appoints “Word of God, Come Down on Earth” (LSB 545) as the hymn of the day. I selected 551 to better fit the Gospel text.
Collect of the Day for Trinity 12:
Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may run without stumbling the way of Thy promises, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.