+Points to ponder

1. Do you think it is more fitting to say, “actions speak louder than words” or “actions and words should reflect or align with each other”?
2. What has this sermon said about what Jesus has done (and is doing) for you? What response is the sermon calling for from its hearers?
3. How does our reading in James comport with our understanding that we are saved by “faith alone”? What in the sermon speaks to that?

+Sermon Transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Let us pray: Almighty God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into Your presence: give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship You in spirit and in truth – in word and in deed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen.

John’s gospel is famous for its opening. The Word becomes flesh.

When John speaks about the Word becoming flesh, he paints a vast landscape. Imagine, we are there at creation, watching the panorama as God’s Word brings the cosmos into being. God speaks and things are created by the power of His Word. Then, Jesus Christ, the Word of God, becomes flesh and dwells among His people. John’s vision is large, expansive, covering all of creation.

What happens at the beginning of John’s gospel, with far-reaching splendor and magnificence, is hidden away in the gospel of Mark. Buried amid the travels of Jesus, we find the word become flesh in another way. Humble. Hidden. Hushed. But filled with the compassion and steadfast love of God.

Consider the second of the two miracles in our text from Mark. Jesus enters the region of the Decapolis. He is in Gentile territory. He has been here before, earlier in Mark’s gospel. Maybe you recall the narrative. In the graveyard, Jesus encountered a demon-possessed man. When Jesus cast out the demons, they entered a herd of pigs and drove them into the sea. Seeing the power of Jesus and the destruction of their livelihood, the people begged Jesus to leave. The newly healed man, however, fell at His feet. He begged to follow Jesus. Jesus, however, instructed him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”

Jesus told him to speak a word and now, later in the gospel, we see how that word has taken on flesh. The man did what Jesus asked. He spoke to his friends. He spoke to others as Mark tells us: “And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”

Word traveled fast and now, when Jesus arrives, that word takes on flesh. A crowd gathers. Rather than beg Jesus to leave, they welcome Him in. They bring to Him a man who is unable to speak and unable to hear and ask for His healing.

What Jesus does next is amazing. He heals the man. But more stunning than the healing itself is the way in which Jesus does it. In the previous miracle, Jesus brought about healing by speaking a word at a distance. The Syrophoenician woman did not bring her daughter to Jesus. She left her daughter at home. Jesus spoke a word and the woman goes home to find her daughter restored. Jesus heals through a word at a distance.

Now, however, Jesus does not speak a word at a distance. This time, Jesus literally becomes the word which heals. Mark slows down his narration of the healing so you can see this wonder. Consider the details of how Jesus heals.

Jesus takes the man away from the crowd. By removing distractions, Jesus makes it easier for this man to focus on Him. Jesus then puts His fingers into the man’s ears – the place in need of healing. He spits and puts His fingers on the man’s tongue – again, the place in need of healing. Jesus has touched the man where he is most vulnerable. He communicates to the man that He knows. He knows his suffering.

Then, Jesus reveals He also knows the man’s rescue and salvation. He looks up to Heaven, the source of this man’s healing, and He sighs.

In John’s gospel, John does not say how God spoke His Word at creation. I imagine it would have been with boldness and determination. A creative Word spoken with courageous love. Here, however, when Jesus restores His creation, He sighs. His word is touched with sorrow. He experiences our pain, and this is not just a pandering, “I feel your pain.” Jesus does not remain at a distance from our suffering. He fully enters it and bears its burden.

Having become the Word without words that communicates to the man – “I know your suffering and I know the source of your salvation” – Jesus then speaks. Mark records the literal word. He wants us to hear it. “Ephphatha (ef-ah-tha).” With that word, the man is healed.

This is the wonder of the Word becoming flesh. Jesus uses sign language to communicate with this man. Jesus becomes the Word that brings healing.

Such wonder is not limited to the man, however. It touches all of us. In Mark, Jesus repeatedly speaks to His disciples about His passion. He offers three passion predictions. What Jesus says ultimately happens. His word becomes flesh as He dies on the cross.

Jesus has told His disciples that, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many,” and, on the cross, we see the promise come true. Jesus has taken on our sin, borne its punishment in His flesh, that He might give us life and salvation in His Kingdom.

The question for us, then, is how does this word and work of God take flesh in our lives? In our world, it is becoming harder and harder to speak about faith and religion. People are not inclined to listen. Our beliefs are considered fantasy by some and hate-speech by others. It is hard for us to speak a word that gets heard.

We can, however, still touch the lives of other people. With concern borne by compassion, we can show we know the source of pain. The loneliness that keeps people up at night. The fractured relationships that litter their past. The anxiety brought about by the uncertainties and insecurities that the world so adeptly offers. The struggles of just getting by in a land of plenty.

We know things are broken. In action, we reveal that not only do we know, but we care. Ignoring this, separating our faith from its natural fruits – good works – is what James is talking about when he says, “… faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James calls us to look at one another as those for whom Christ died because the name of Christ has been given to us in Baptism. He gives all His people a new identity that the world cannot give. We live together in Him, serving and building up one another until His return.

Some years ago, a pastor was being shown through a large weaving mill where one of his parishioners worked. Mentioning that particular employee to the foreman, the pastor said, ‘I suppose that Wesley is one of your best workers.’ The foreman responded, ‘No, I’m sorry to say he isn’t. The trouble with Wesley is that he stands around talking about his religion when he ought to be attending to his loom. He is a good enough fellow and has the making of a fine weaver, but he hasn’t learned yet that while he is on the job his religion ought to come out of his fingers and not merely out of his mouth.’

That was a wise observation. During working hours, that employee’s testimony should have come from the honest labor of his hands.

Hearing this I was reminded of the old Yellow Pages slogan: ‘Let your fingers do the walking.’ For the Christian who wants to point others to Christ, however, there are occasions when it’s best to ‘let your fingers do the talking.’

Beloved, our lives have been touched by the Lord of creation. So, inaction is not really an option. Even without speaking, we can become God’s sign language to others. We can be, as our mission states, “help, hope, and home in the body of Christ.”

God has compassion for His broken world and reaches out through us to touch and to restore. Yes, we desire to speak the words which give life, but when the world will not listen, we can still act. We can put God’s love into action. His word may be humble, hidden, hushed, but it will work and ultimately be heard. Amen.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

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Sermon Study helps from David Schmitt (MDiv, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; PhD, Washington University, St. Louis) is the Gregg H. Benidt Chair of Homiletics and Literature, Professor of Practical Theology, and Chair of the Practical Department at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. via https://www.1517.org/articles/gospel-mark-724-30-31-37-pentecost-15-series-b, accessed on August 30, 2021