I am going to begin my sermon this morning with a confession: I don’t like uncertainty. I like to be able to say firmly and confidently what I believe; what I think will work; what the future holds. I like to think that I have the answers to life’s greatest questions. I like to think that I am an expert in matters of theology and church growth. I like to think that if someone asks me, “Pastor, what do I need to do or say to convince my friend to come to church?” that I have the answer. I like to think that if someone asks me, “Pastor how do I deal with this illness?” that I can give them the techniques. I like to think that when people ask me, “Pastor, can you make sense of the doctrine of the Trinity?” that I can give the perfect explanation. I like to think that when people ask me, “Pastor, what can we do to make the church grow?” that I can give them a perfect step by step plan that will lead to growth. I like to think that I can be certain about such matters. I like to think that I have all the answers. I like to think that if folks just did what I told them to do, then everything would work out. Deep within, there is an arrogant man who wants to think that he has the answers and is certain about them.
But then reality smacks me in the face. Despite my own efforts to ask friends to come to church: they don’t. Despite my efforts to help people through illness, folks are often left wondering why things are happening to them, and sometimes they become depressed and anxious. Despite my efforts to explain the doctrines of the Christian faith and explain the Bible, people are often left scratching their heads. Despite my efforts to lead within two congregations, I have not managed to get them to explode with growth. Even though I have read many books and articles; even though I have prayed many prayers; even though I have written many blogs, newsletter articles, and preached many a sermon, when I look at the evidence, I have to wonder about how certain I can be about being certain. Do I really know what I think I know? It is highly possible that I don’t.
Have you ever found yourself with such doubts? Have you ever found yourself wondering why things aren’t turning out the way that you envisioned? Have you ever found yourself walking the path that supposedly will lead to success and then finding that instead of moving forward, you were on a treadmill going nowhere? Have you ever had things happen to you that shook you to the core and made you rethink the way you looked at things? Have you ever stopped and thought: what in the world can I count on? What in the world can I be certain about? Is there anything that I can trust?
In a world where things are changing rapidly; where technology is out of date a week after you buy it; where the morals and values we once grew up with are cast aside; where deeply held societal convictions are questioned and shaken; is there something we can rest assured of–something that can never change?
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, the world around us is constantly changing. We are constantly changing. Society is constantly changing. And yet, we need something that is certain. We need something that we can rest upon. We need a firm foundation. Open our hearts and minds and lead us to the unchanging truth that gives us certainty. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our lesson from Romans begins with a question, “What then are we to say about these things?” What are these things? In a word, everything that Paul has just told us about God’s action through Jesus Christ. How we are fallen; how we deserve the wrath of God because of our rebellion against God; how no matter how hard we tried, we have failed to make ourselves right with God; how we have been justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forward as a sacrifice of atonement effective through faith; how if we trust in Jesus and His action we are no longer a slave to the fleshy desires of the world but are now in Christ; how when we are in Christ we have changed our allegiance and live for God; how when we live for God the Holy Spirit sets up a base of operations in our hearts to transform us from the inside out; how God uses every single event in our lives to conform us, to mold us, to make us into the image of Jesus. This is an all too brief snapshot of what God has done in Jesus Christ, and it is these things to which Paul is referring to. And he says, given all of these things; given what I have just told you in the first section of this letter, what conclusion can we draw?
His answer first takes us to the court room. There are a series of questions and answers that are full of legal language. And this question and answer series begins preparing the ground and laying the re-bar for and unshakable, unbreakable foundation of certainty.
If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Paul is looking at the person who is in Christ; who trusts in the cross and says, “Do you think that anyone can stand against you? Do you think that your enemy has power over you? Do you think that anyone can put a road block in between you and what God has destined for you? God gave up His Son for us. God gave up Jesus for us. God gave up the second person of the Trinity to death on the cross for us. Would God allow such a sacrifice to go to waste? Would God allow the costliness of grace to be wasted? It doesn’t matter what anyone or anything does to you. It doesn’t matter what kind of things people do to try and lead you astray. It doesn’t matter how often you are ridiculed; hated; persecuted; picked on; or bullied. It doesn’t matter how often you are told that God hates you. If you are in Christ, everything given to Jesus will be given to you. God does not just walk with you through the times of trial and tribulation–when you are in Christ, God is for you, and He will work everything to your good–to your transformation into the image and likeness of Jesus. You can be certain of that!
Verse 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? The answer to that question is: a lot of folks. A lot of charges will actually be brought against us. Those who are not believers in God will charge us with hypocrisy. They will charge us with failing to love one another. They will charge us with being just like everyone else. They will charge us with failing to care for the poor and needy. They will charge us with failing to live up to the expectations of our founder, and they will be right! And Satan Himself will accuse us. I told you this was courtroom language, and on the day of our trial, not only will the accusations of non-believers be brought forth, but Satan will accuse us as well. He will bring the charges of our failure to live according to God’s will and God’s law. Not only does God know the deepest, darkest secrets of our heart, so does Satan, and he will use them against us on that day. He will tell God all of our deepest lusts and secrets that we have tried to keep hidden. He will tell God of our failure to keep our hearts and minds pure. He will point out our failure to worship. He will point out our failure to sing. He will point out our failure to be generous. He will point out our failure to work for justice and peace. He will point out our failure to love one another as Jesus loved us. He will be merciless! And every single word coming out of his mouth will be true! Every. Single. Word. We will stand, convicted. We will know what we deserve.
But, It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. And if we try to justify ourselves, we will get exactly what we deserve. If we stand before God and make excuses. If we try to explain away our behavior. If we try and weasel our way out of Satan’s accusations, we are toast. God will indeed give us up because we are trying to save ourselves. We are acting selfishly. We are arrogant about what we have done. We have no humility. We will hear God say, “Depart from me...” The judgment will be rendered!
But, if we are in Christ, we will acknowledge the truth of the accusations. We will acknowledge our shortcomings. We will acknowledge our sinfulness, and we will turn to Jesus. And Jesus will plead the cause for us. “Dad, everything the accuser says is true. This brother of mine...this sister of mine...is guilty of each and every thing brought forward, but I took that sin upon myself. I paid the price for it. I went to hell for them. I withstood your wrath for them. Those times they were unfaithful to their spouses in word and deed, I paid for it. Those times they did not give their tithes and offerings, I paid for it. Those times they skipped worship to pursue their own wants and desires, I paid for it. Those times they lived in hate instead of love, I paid for it. They know their wrongs, and they have come to me and have found themselves in me. They have no condemnation.”
And the Almighty Judge will render the verdict. “Justified. Not guilty. Enter into my presence.” If you are in Christ. You are justified. You can be certain about that.
And, now Paul shifts the scene. We are no longer in the courtroom. We are now in Christ. We are now in this world faced with life before we are put on that final trial. We are faced with all the things in life that come our way. Remember, in the ancient world the prevailing thought was that if you were going through hardship, then God had cursed you. If things were going wrong, God had removed His love from you. Paul says “NO!!”
“35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’” I want to stop here just a moment to explain this little snippet. I’ve read this text for years, oftentimes at funerals, and I could never make heads or tails of this sheep being slaughtered quote. It’s actually a quote from Psalm 44. In that Psalm, the people of God are being persecuted–being killed all day long even though they had been faithful! Paul is showing that even in the Psalms, in the Old Testament, tragedy befell God’s people even in their faithfulness. God wasn’t turning His back on them then, and He was certainly not turning His back on them now. “37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing. We can be certain about that.
And with that, the concrete is poured. The foundation is set. The unmovable rock is in place. Nothing will be able to shake it. Nothing.
It has taken me a long time to arrive at this point in my own life. Time and again, I have been disappointed in people. Time and again, I have been disappointed in technology. Time and again, I have been disappointed by knowledge. Time and again I have been disappointed in the church. Time and again I have been disappointed in myself. Time and again, I have been disappointed in the Dallas Cowboys. Okay, I had to lighten the mood a little bit, but the point is the same. All of these things did not bring any certainty. All of these things were flawed in some fashion. Pick anything else, and it will disappoint you as well. None of them bring certainty. We cannot find it anywhere except in God. We cannot find it anywhere except in Jesus.
If you want certainty in your life; if you want a foundation that cannot be moved that you can trust; if you want to ensure that nothing can rattle the entire way you look at the world; put your trust in Jesus. Nothing can be against you. No one can charge you. No one can condemn you. Nothing can ever separate you from God’s love in Jesus Christ. Nothing at all. He bought you with a great price when He stretched out his arms and died for you. And he will not let you go. This is certainly good news.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, you have showed your love through the cross where Jesus redeemed us. Despite our sinfulness, despite our rebellion, you loved us enough to die for us, and now you have shown us that when we put our trust in Jesus, you will never let us go. You will never let anything drive your love away. May the Spirit implant this truth deep in our hearts so that we can live with a sure and certain foundation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Showing posts with label Certainty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Certainty. Show all posts
Monday, May 8, 2017
Monday, August 24, 2015
This is Most Certainly True
We do not know how to wrestle with Truth.
Why would I say such a thing?
I am going to go back a few years to 9/11 when radical Islamists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentegon, and intended to crash into the capitol building. Initially, we came together as a nation to recognize this attack against us, but then we began disagreeing, sometimes vehemently, on how to respond. There was a particular struggle in how to handle religious ideology –especially in trying to deal with a religious sect that believed it had the absolute Truth and used that belief to justify the killing of innocent people.
There were two basic responses to this. Fortunately, most people know that both responses in and of themselves are inadequate, but we have yet to find a happy medium–if such a thing is even possible. Why would I say that? Let me begin to define the problem as I see it.
As we began to delve into the psyche of those who hijacked the planes, we began to focus on their absolute certainty in their beliefs about God. We reasoned, “If they wouldn’t have been so absolutely certain, they would have been more humble. They would have known that flying those planes into those buildings was wrong. All those people would not have been killed if religious nuts wouldn’t be so certain of their beliefs and try to force them on everyone else.”
And so, there has been a concerted effort among some to question anyone who has certainty in his or her religious convictions. Certainty is the enemy in no uncertain terms, and if anyone espouses certainty, then that person is close minded, arrogant, a fanatic, exclusive, or whatever derogatory term you wish to apply. Now, there are a couple of problems with these trains of thought.
First is the premise. Does certainty necessarily cause people to kill others? Does believing in God with absolute conviction necessarily lead a person to commit atrocities? The answer, of course, is no. As Timothy Keller once reported in his book Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, “You never hear of an Amish terrorist.” Why? Because the Amish believe uncompromisingly that God commands them to be non-violent. Their firm religious conviction leads them to be passivist. So, it’s not religious certainty that leads someone to kill others in the name of faith, there must be something else. We will get to that in just a moment.
The second problem with a war on certainty is that it is logically impossible. You may wonder what I mean by that. Just this: the next time someone comes up to you and says, “We cannot be certain about anything.” Ask them, “Are you certain about that?” Do you see the problem? Even if someone wants to narrow it down and say, “We can never be certain about any claims about religion.” Well, you have just made a truth claim about religious belief. How can you say with certainty that we can have no certainty? The statement is self-defeating. Everyone believes they know something. Everyone has to have some sort of certainty in order to simply function. It is a requirement.
Thirdly, can you imagine anyone preaching a sermon with no certainty? Can you imagine what it would be like for someone to get up in front of a group of people and basically say, "Well IF God exists--now, we don't know for sure. Maybe there is a God, maybe there isn't.--then maybe that God is good. Again, maybe God is evil, but perhaps God is love. And IF that God is love, then maybe, just maybe that God wants us to care for each other, but we really don't know what that God wants if God even exists. But it might be a good idea to care for each other anyway. I can't tell you that for certain, but it might be a good idea." Yeah, how many of you would stick around for that kind of sermon? Certainty is necessary. Even in religious belief.
But if certainty is necessary, then why did religious fanatics hijack planes and kill people? Why do some “Christians” picket funerals of military personnel and cause extra grief for families? Why do some people of religious persuasion have a holier-than-thou demeanor and look down their noses at others?
It’s not because of certainty. It’s because of self-righteousness. It’s because they believe they are better than other people. It’s because they believe they are able to follow the tenets of a particular religion, and they believe everyone else should be able to accomplish what they accomplish. They believe their performance makes them righteous before God, and “if I can do it, everyone else should be doing it too.” And if they are not doing it, “then they are of less value than myself. They are destined to hell. They deserve punishment.” You see, it’s not certainty that leads to the demeaning and killing of others, it is self-righteousness.
And so, we have these two extremes: we have those who don’t want any certainty, and they are convinced that the world would be better if no one had any convictions; and we have those who are consumed with the certainty that they are righteous and everyone else needs to get with the program. And the reality is, there are many of us who actually jump between these two poles depending upon the circumstances. If we don’t like something that someone tries to tell us about faith, we are happy to say, “No one can be certain.” However, if we want others to fall into line with our own train of thought, we will gladly say, “God is (fill in the blank)...” In some ways, we are either too open, too closed, or we gladly jump between the two extremes to suit our own agendas.
You may be wondering just what this has to do with our Gospel lesson from the seventh chapter of the book of Mark. Perhaps it is time to turn to that now.
Jesus has an encounter with a man who is deaf and who has a speech impediment. Jesus is in the midst of a journey through Gentile territory when they– bring to Jesus a man who is deaf and “mogilalon.” Now I know that sounded strange. I gave you the Greek word for a speech impediment, because it is an important word. It is only used once in the entire New Testament–right here by Mark. And there is a very important reason Mark uses this particular word.
It is the same word used in Isaiah chapter 35:6. I’m going to turn to Isaiah 35 now and read verses four to six to you so that you can see what is going on here. “4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the “mogilalos” the speechless sing for joy.”
Mark is unequivocally tying Jesus encounter with this mogilalon to the promised coming of God in Isaiah 35. Mark is showing us, once again, that this Jesus is the promised One–the promised Messiah–God Himself coming to earth. And what Jesus does here to this deaf, mogilalon, speech impediment bound man is nothing short of amazing as He offers extreme compassion.
First, Jesus takes the man aside. I want you to contemplate this for just a moment as we remember what it would be like for this man given the culture he was in. For you see, they didn’t have special places to care for those who were deaf and unable to speak in those days. They didn’t have sign language. They didn’t see people in such conditions as contributing members of society who had worth and value. Most folks who were suffering from disabilities were outcasts; mocked; degraded; seen as burdens to the rest of people; contemptuous. This guy could see, but he would never have been able to hear the insults thrown his way. He would not be able to understand people’s contempt or hatred. If he entered Jewish territory, there was then a whole other layer to contend with: for most of the Jewish religious authorities believed that if you suffered with such a malady, then you were under the curse of God.
So, Jesus, God incarnate, takes this man aside–away from the crowd and gives him His full attention. Imagine being a Jew who was hearing this story. Here is a man who would be seen under God’s curse standing before God with a private audience. What was God going to do with this cursed individual? What was God going to do with this man who was an outcast; on the fringes; who was looked down upon and seen as contemptuous?
As we read through the text, we might think that Jesus is a bit gross, but as I heard in more than one sermon this past week, Jesus is doing something quite amazing. He is communicating with this deaf, tongue tied man in his own form of sign language. Jesus puts His fingers in the man’s ears as if to say, “I know your ears do not work.” Jesus spits on the man’s tongue. “I know your tongue is tied.” Jesus looks us to heaven. “God knows your bondage.” Jesus sighs deeply. “I am praying to God.” Then Jesus says, “Ephphatha” which in Aramaic means, “be opened.” I am sure the man saw Jesus’ lips move. He had no idea what Jesus said, but he could not mistake the meaning of the word for immediately after Jesus’ lips moved, the man’s ears were opened, and the chains fell off his tongue. That’s the imagery Mark uses. The man’s ears were opened and the chains fell off his tongue. Mark’s imagery here is beautiful. Jesus reaches out to one who was shunned. Jesus brings him into a special place alone. Jesus communicates with the man and shows the man He understands his problems, and Jesus heals the man and restores him to community.
Jesus’ healing causes quite the stir, but Jesus’ response is quite intriguing. Jesus tells everyone keep things quiet. Don’t talk about what I have done. But the crowd, the man who was just healed kept talking. Jesus said, “Hush!” Everyone talked louder. They proclaimed, “He has done everything well!!” Jesus said, “Quiet!!” to no avail. Why would Jesus tell them to hush? Why would He tell everyone to keep it under wraps?
The best answer I came across was this: Jesus didn’t want everyone focused on Him simply being a miracle worker. Jesus didn’t want everyone to think that He was simply here to take away people’s pain and suffering. Jesus didn’t want everyone just to see Him as the fixer upper of a person’s personal life. No. Jesus was much more than that. Jesus was not here simply to fix all of our problems and make our lives perfect. Jesus was not here to give us a comfortable position in all that we encountered. Jesus was about restoration. Jesus was about mending the relationship between humankind and God–a relationship broken by our hardened hearts, our self-righteous behavior, and our desire to submit ourselves to no authority but our own. Jesus did not come to simply open ears and tongues, but open hearts to redemption.
And so we return to the problems of self-righteousness and uncertainty. We return to them because these are both ways of hardened hearts. These are both ways of selfish behavior. I become self-righteous when I think I can follow all of the commands of God–particularly the one’s I like. I impose those beliefs on others because they should do what I do and be like me. Oh, but if I am confronted by another’s beliefs in God or in what they think I should do, I will respond, “No one can know for certain God’s will or mind.” At the heart of this problem is a hardened heart–a closed heart–a heart that is closed in on itself.
How does Jesus open such a heart? How does Jesus change such a heart? What language does He speak to us to help us see our problem?
First, He speaks by living the life we were supposed to live. He reveals to us our own failure to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Jesus reveals to us our inability to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus does all these things well. He does them perfectly. He shows us the depths of our own sin. Just like last week with the Syrophonecian woman, Jesus challenges us and shows us we deserve nothing for our selfish behavior. Jesus becomes perfectly righteous, putting us all to shame.
And then, revealing to us that He knows our condition–He knows our selfishness; He knows our shame; He knows our separation from God–He understands our inability to reconcile ourselves unto God, it is He who stretches out His hands and allows nails to be placed in them. He sheds His precious blood as He hangs from the cross. He looks heavenward and with a deep breath cries aloud, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” In that moment, Jesus experienced the wrath and separation from God that you and I were meant to feel. He experienced God’s silence as He suffered. He bore the weight of our sin when we least deserved it. He poured out His love while we were sinners restoring us to God.
And because of Jesus’ actions, we have complete certainty about two things: number one we are sinful and unrighteous on our own. We cannot look down our nose at anyone because we all fall short of the glory of God. We cannot look at another with contempt and hatred because we deserve contempt and hatred. We cannot kill another for a lack of believing because we lacked faith and trust in God ourselves as we trusted in our own works. This should make us hang our heads in shame. But that leads us to the second thing we can be certain about: that God loves us more than we can imagine. For the Author and creator of the universe was willing to die on our behalf. He was willing to die for us when we least deserved it. He was willing to give of Himself to pay for our transgressions.
And when you hold onto these two certainties. When you hold them in dynamic tension: that you are undeserving and loved; when you are a failure yet accepted, then your heart is opened too. Not because of what you do, but because of sheer grace. A grace rooted in the Gospel:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.
Why would I say such a thing?
I am going to go back a few years to 9/11 when radical Islamists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentegon, and intended to crash into the capitol building. Initially, we came together as a nation to recognize this attack against us, but then we began disagreeing, sometimes vehemently, on how to respond. There was a particular struggle in how to handle religious ideology –especially in trying to deal with a religious sect that believed it had the absolute Truth and used that belief to justify the killing of innocent people.
There were two basic responses to this. Fortunately, most people know that both responses in and of themselves are inadequate, but we have yet to find a happy medium–if such a thing is even possible. Why would I say that? Let me begin to define the problem as I see it.
As we began to delve into the psyche of those who hijacked the planes, we began to focus on their absolute certainty in their beliefs about God. We reasoned, “If they wouldn’t have been so absolutely certain, they would have been more humble. They would have known that flying those planes into those buildings was wrong. All those people would not have been killed if religious nuts wouldn’t be so certain of their beliefs and try to force them on everyone else.”
And so, there has been a concerted effort among some to question anyone who has certainty in his or her religious convictions. Certainty is the enemy in no uncertain terms, and if anyone espouses certainty, then that person is close minded, arrogant, a fanatic, exclusive, or whatever derogatory term you wish to apply. Now, there are a couple of problems with these trains of thought.
First is the premise. Does certainty necessarily cause people to kill others? Does believing in God with absolute conviction necessarily lead a person to commit atrocities? The answer, of course, is no. As Timothy Keller once reported in his book Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, “You never hear of an Amish terrorist.” Why? Because the Amish believe uncompromisingly that God commands them to be non-violent. Their firm religious conviction leads them to be passivist. So, it’s not religious certainty that leads someone to kill others in the name of faith, there must be something else. We will get to that in just a moment.
The second problem with a war on certainty is that it is logically impossible. You may wonder what I mean by that. Just this: the next time someone comes up to you and says, “We cannot be certain about anything.” Ask them, “Are you certain about that?” Do you see the problem? Even if someone wants to narrow it down and say, “We can never be certain about any claims about religion.” Well, you have just made a truth claim about religious belief. How can you say with certainty that we can have no certainty? The statement is self-defeating. Everyone believes they know something. Everyone has to have some sort of certainty in order to simply function. It is a requirement.
Thirdly, can you imagine anyone preaching a sermon with no certainty? Can you imagine what it would be like for someone to get up in front of a group of people and basically say, "Well IF God exists--now, we don't know for sure. Maybe there is a God, maybe there isn't.--then maybe that God is good. Again, maybe God is evil, but perhaps God is love. And IF that God is love, then maybe, just maybe that God wants us to care for each other, but we really don't know what that God wants if God even exists. But it might be a good idea to care for each other anyway. I can't tell you that for certain, but it might be a good idea." Yeah, how many of you would stick around for that kind of sermon? Certainty is necessary. Even in religious belief.
But if certainty is necessary, then why did religious fanatics hijack planes and kill people? Why do some “Christians” picket funerals of military personnel and cause extra grief for families? Why do some people of religious persuasion have a holier-than-thou demeanor and look down their noses at others?
It’s not because of certainty. It’s because of self-righteousness. It’s because they believe they are better than other people. It’s because they believe they are able to follow the tenets of a particular religion, and they believe everyone else should be able to accomplish what they accomplish. They believe their performance makes them righteous before God, and “if I can do it, everyone else should be doing it too.” And if they are not doing it, “then they are of less value than myself. They are destined to hell. They deserve punishment.” You see, it’s not certainty that leads to the demeaning and killing of others, it is self-righteousness.
And so, we have these two extremes: we have those who don’t want any certainty, and they are convinced that the world would be better if no one had any convictions; and we have those who are consumed with the certainty that they are righteous and everyone else needs to get with the program. And the reality is, there are many of us who actually jump between these two poles depending upon the circumstances. If we don’t like something that someone tries to tell us about faith, we are happy to say, “No one can be certain.” However, if we want others to fall into line with our own train of thought, we will gladly say, “God is (fill in the blank)...” In some ways, we are either too open, too closed, or we gladly jump between the two extremes to suit our own agendas.
You may be wondering just what this has to do with our Gospel lesson from the seventh chapter of the book of Mark. Perhaps it is time to turn to that now.
Jesus has an encounter with a man who is deaf and who has a speech impediment. Jesus is in the midst of a journey through Gentile territory when they– bring to Jesus a man who is deaf and “mogilalon.” Now I know that sounded strange. I gave you the Greek word for a speech impediment, because it is an important word. It is only used once in the entire New Testament–right here by Mark. And there is a very important reason Mark uses this particular word.
It is the same word used in Isaiah chapter 35:6. I’m going to turn to Isaiah 35 now and read verses four to six to you so that you can see what is going on here. “4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the “mogilalos” the speechless sing for joy.”
Mark is unequivocally tying Jesus encounter with this mogilalon to the promised coming of God in Isaiah 35. Mark is showing us, once again, that this Jesus is the promised One–the promised Messiah–God Himself coming to earth. And what Jesus does here to this deaf, mogilalon, speech impediment bound man is nothing short of amazing as He offers extreme compassion.
First, Jesus takes the man aside. I want you to contemplate this for just a moment as we remember what it would be like for this man given the culture he was in. For you see, they didn’t have special places to care for those who were deaf and unable to speak in those days. They didn’t have sign language. They didn’t see people in such conditions as contributing members of society who had worth and value. Most folks who were suffering from disabilities were outcasts; mocked; degraded; seen as burdens to the rest of people; contemptuous. This guy could see, but he would never have been able to hear the insults thrown his way. He would not be able to understand people’s contempt or hatred. If he entered Jewish territory, there was then a whole other layer to contend with: for most of the Jewish religious authorities believed that if you suffered with such a malady, then you were under the curse of God.
So, Jesus, God incarnate, takes this man aside–away from the crowd and gives him His full attention. Imagine being a Jew who was hearing this story. Here is a man who would be seen under God’s curse standing before God with a private audience. What was God going to do with this cursed individual? What was God going to do with this man who was an outcast; on the fringes; who was looked down upon and seen as contemptuous?
As we read through the text, we might think that Jesus is a bit gross, but as I heard in more than one sermon this past week, Jesus is doing something quite amazing. He is communicating with this deaf, tongue tied man in his own form of sign language. Jesus puts His fingers in the man’s ears as if to say, “I know your ears do not work.” Jesus spits on the man’s tongue. “I know your tongue is tied.” Jesus looks us to heaven. “God knows your bondage.” Jesus sighs deeply. “I am praying to God.” Then Jesus says, “Ephphatha” which in Aramaic means, “be opened.” I am sure the man saw Jesus’ lips move. He had no idea what Jesus said, but he could not mistake the meaning of the word for immediately after Jesus’ lips moved, the man’s ears were opened, and the chains fell off his tongue. That’s the imagery Mark uses. The man’s ears were opened and the chains fell off his tongue. Mark’s imagery here is beautiful. Jesus reaches out to one who was shunned. Jesus brings him into a special place alone. Jesus communicates with the man and shows the man He understands his problems, and Jesus heals the man and restores him to community.
Jesus’ healing causes quite the stir, but Jesus’ response is quite intriguing. Jesus tells everyone keep things quiet. Don’t talk about what I have done. But the crowd, the man who was just healed kept talking. Jesus said, “Hush!” Everyone talked louder. They proclaimed, “He has done everything well!!” Jesus said, “Quiet!!” to no avail. Why would Jesus tell them to hush? Why would He tell everyone to keep it under wraps?
The best answer I came across was this: Jesus didn’t want everyone focused on Him simply being a miracle worker. Jesus didn’t want everyone to think that He was simply here to take away people’s pain and suffering. Jesus didn’t want everyone just to see Him as the fixer upper of a person’s personal life. No. Jesus was much more than that. Jesus was not here simply to fix all of our problems and make our lives perfect. Jesus was not here to give us a comfortable position in all that we encountered. Jesus was about restoration. Jesus was about mending the relationship between humankind and God–a relationship broken by our hardened hearts, our self-righteous behavior, and our desire to submit ourselves to no authority but our own. Jesus did not come to simply open ears and tongues, but open hearts to redemption.
And so we return to the problems of self-righteousness and uncertainty. We return to them because these are both ways of hardened hearts. These are both ways of selfish behavior. I become self-righteous when I think I can follow all of the commands of God–particularly the one’s I like. I impose those beliefs on others because they should do what I do and be like me. Oh, but if I am confronted by another’s beliefs in God or in what they think I should do, I will respond, “No one can know for certain God’s will or mind.” At the heart of this problem is a hardened heart–a closed heart–a heart that is closed in on itself.
How does Jesus open such a heart? How does Jesus change such a heart? What language does He speak to us to help us see our problem?
First, He speaks by living the life we were supposed to live. He reveals to us our own failure to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Jesus reveals to us our inability to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus does all these things well. He does them perfectly. He shows us the depths of our own sin. Just like last week with the Syrophonecian woman, Jesus challenges us and shows us we deserve nothing for our selfish behavior. Jesus becomes perfectly righteous, putting us all to shame.
And then, revealing to us that He knows our condition–He knows our selfishness; He knows our shame; He knows our separation from God–He understands our inability to reconcile ourselves unto God, it is He who stretches out His hands and allows nails to be placed in them. He sheds His precious blood as He hangs from the cross. He looks heavenward and with a deep breath cries aloud, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” In that moment, Jesus experienced the wrath and separation from God that you and I were meant to feel. He experienced God’s silence as He suffered. He bore the weight of our sin when we least deserved it. He poured out His love while we were sinners restoring us to God.
And because of Jesus’ actions, we have complete certainty about two things: number one we are sinful and unrighteous on our own. We cannot look down our nose at anyone because we all fall short of the glory of God. We cannot look at another with contempt and hatred because we deserve contempt and hatred. We cannot kill another for a lack of believing because we lacked faith and trust in God ourselves as we trusted in our own works. This should make us hang our heads in shame. But that leads us to the second thing we can be certain about: that God loves us more than we can imagine. For the Author and creator of the universe was willing to die on our behalf. He was willing to die for us when we least deserved it. He was willing to give of Himself to pay for our transgressions.
And when you hold onto these two certainties. When you hold them in dynamic tension: that you are undeserving and loved; when you are a failure yet accepted, then your heart is opened too. Not because of what you do, but because of sheer grace. A grace rooted in the Gospel:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.
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