In the name + of Jesus.
The Lord Jesus Christ does not seem to have respect for personal space. “They brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him” (Mark 7:32). I doubt that he was prepared for Jesus sticking his fingers into his ears. If you dig into your own ears, some might call it gross. If you stick your finger in a stranger's ears, you might get smacked. “And after spitting (Jesus) touched his tongue” (Mark 7:33). If having Jesus' fingers poking in his ears were not awkward enough, Jesus then stuck his finger into the man's mouth. It is an invasion of personal space. Jesus did not care. Jesus put his fleshly digit onto the man's tongue. Mark also mentioned spitting, and he did not specify where Jesus spat. So, this could be even more gross. Nevertheless, Jesus knew what the man's problem was, and he vividly showed the deaf mute that he knew. With Jesus' touch and with his “Ephphatha!” came perfect healing. “His ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly” (Mark 7:35).
Chances are this miracle makes you
uncomfortable. Wasn't there a more
hygienic way to heal the man than to poke fingers into his ears and mouth? Why not lay on hands? Why not wash in a pool? Jesus didn't ask what you would have
preferred. He chose fleshly contact and invasion
of personal space.
We
regularly second guess the way God works.
Surely God has better options, right?
If God wants all people to be saved and none to perish, why doesn't he
just give an omnipotent decree that all sins are erased and that the gates of heaven
can be removed from their hinges? Why
doesn't God declare his “Ephphatha!” over the whole world to eradicate every
disease and disability? Why doesn't God
work more effectively in our lives we stop having problems? With every “Why?” we challenge God's wisdom,
power, and love. We believe we could do
a better job, as if we could out-God God.
Repent. Neither your love nor
your wisdom is greater than his. When he
acts, he does not concern himself with what you would have preferred or what
makes you comfortable. But he always knows
and does what is best, even if he doesn’t tell you why.
When the Lord sticks his fingers into our
personal space, he has not overstepped his bounds. If he makes us uncomfortable, it is because
we don't want him touching parts of our lives.
Just as we want others to respect our privacy, we hope that God would
keep his hands out of certain parts of our lives. But the Lord does not keep a proper
distance. He invades your space. He knows what is on your phone and computer. He hears the words you mutter under your breath. He knows your opinions, scans your thoughts,
and reads your heart. The Lord knows you
intimately, and he knows everything.
The Lord does not keep his distance. In fact, he loves mankind so much that he came
to correct and to restore all that corrupts mankind. To do so, Jesus became a man and bound
himself to mankind. He did not try to
get around the Commandments by making some divine decree that obedience to the
Commandments is not necessary or that sins against the Commandments don't
matter. Rather, he submitted to the
Commandments in order to obey them.
Heaven is open only to whomever is holy and obedient. But now a man has lived a life of holy
obedience. He is the only way that man
can now dwell in the presence of God.
The Lord came in the flesh to touch your
life and to take up your cause. Even
though you have opened your mouth to challenge how or why God does things,
Jesus has come to pay the price for it.
He did not question how cruel it was that he would silently suffer for
your critical words and boastful speech.
He did not challenge how fair it was that he in his innocence was damned
and that you despite your guilt are set free.
Jesus did what he was given to do—to redeem sinners. He took into his flesh everything that is
corrupt in your flesh. The Lord came in
the flesh so that his flesh could be curse, crucified, and killed for you. Jesus took your space in hell and death to
ransom you from them. But his flesh was
not devoured by death. Rather than be
left to decay, your flesh-and-blood Savior rose from the dead. A man has conquered death and lives and
reigns forever.
Just as Jesus united himself to you by
becoming man, so now you are united to him through your baptism. Therefore, you are covered by Jesus' perfect
obedience. God judges you to be holy and
obedient; therefore, you have a place in the heavenly kingdom. It is not an invasion into God’s space. Rather, it is your home. For, a man has conquered death and you are
united to him in baptism. Therefore, the
grave does not get to keep you, and hell cannot have you. It is not just your soul that he saves. God has made you flesh and blood, body and
soul. Therefore, the Lord became flesh-and-blood,
body-and-soul to save you completely. What
the Lord created, he became. What the
Lord became, he redeemed. The Lord came
in the flesh to touch our lives. Jesus
delivers us from corruption to righteousness, from death to life, and from hell
to heaven.
The man from the Decapolis who was brought
to Jesus had the same problem you do; he was a sinner. He had additional problems; he was deaf and could
not speak clearly. The people brought
him to Jesus to correct what sin had wrought in his life. They were right to do so. Jesus personally attended to the man's
salvation and to his handicaps. For,
when our Lord restores everything sin corrupted, he not only forgives sins, he will
also restore bodies to complete perfection.
On the Last Day, Jesus will come and declare his “Ephphatha!” over the whole
world. The graves will be opened. Those who believe in Jesus will have their bodies
raised to live in unending glory. Our
resurrected bodies will have no need for hearing aids, crutches, ibuprofen or
Icy Hot. All will be restored. All will be made right; for Jesus has come in
the flesh to touch our lives.
Jesus still comes to us in fleshly
ways. Our Lord no longer comes to us
himself. Now he sends his ministers into
the world to preach the word and to administer the sacraments. Through his flesh-and-blood ministers, Jesus
bestows the forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation to flesh-and-blood
sinners. As the word is preached, ears
are opened to hear the word of life. As
the Lord's Supper is administered, Jesus puts his body and blood into unclean
lips and mouths so that they are purified of sin. Through his ministers, Jesus absolves the
penitent and comforts the fearful. He
then opens your lips so that you may speak clearly and confess the good news of
Jesus. The Lord comes to you in fleshly
ways to touch your life with forgiveness, new life, and salvation.
The Lord Jesus has also chosen you to be
the flesh-and-blood people who touch the lives of others. The Lord was pleased to connect himself with
us, and now he has us connect with others.
It is no accident that God puts us in families. People are put together to bless and to serve
one another. It is by divine design that
God also gathers us together as a congregation. He could have told you, “Here is a Bible. Stay at home and read it. Or find a podcast and watch it. You don’t need more than that.” Instead, God brings us together into a family
of believers. Flesh and blood people
interact with flesh and blood people. We
don’t care for one another in our heads; we care for one another in physical
realities. For sin does not merely
affect our souls; it affects our whole lives.
The loss of a loved one, a hospital stay, financial hardship, fear of
disease—these are not just bouts of mental or emotional anguish. They affect our whole being. That is why we need each other as flesh and
blood, real people. Aid and support that
are given in theory do not help in reality.
That is why Jesus came in the flesh.
He is not merely a spiritual Savior.
The Lord comes in the flesh to touch our lives.
That
doesn't mean that it is easy. People
have messy lives. They carry burdens
that we don't know. They come with
baggage that we can't ignore. They are
hurting, struggling, and confused. Their
problems are real. Their pains are
real.
That is why Jesus does not deal with us in
theories or in empty platitudes. What
comfort is there for a grieving sinner if you hand them a Bible and say, “Read
this. I hope it helps”? Instead, God works through flesh and blood
people who touch our lives and step into our personal space. Instead of “Take this pamphlet,” it is “Take
my hand.” No text message is better than
sitting with someone and praying with them.
No sad emoji will ever replace hugging a person who is mourning. Zoom sessions cannot replace personal
interaction. Just ask a grandmother if to
seeing her grandchildren on Zoom is just as good as having them play in her
living room.
God did not save us by an idea; he saved
us by a man. The Lord came in the flesh
to touch our lives. So also, God uses
people to teach his word, to comfort those who are hurting, to encourage those
who are struggling, and to hold the hand of the sick and dying. God sends pastors to give the body and blood
of the Lord to body-and-blood people for the forgiveness of their sins and
victory over death. We get to invade each
other’s space and to invest our lives into one another. The blessing of a family is that people are
joined to one another for mutual benefit.
A Christian congregation is the same. We are brothers and sisters united in Christ for
eternity. It may take some effort to
change our mindset from “What am I getting out of this?” to “What can I do for you
and your good?” But the effort is worth it;
for this is what love does. This is what
Jesus did—he came in the flesh to touch our lives and to redeem them.
God calls us into a family of believers
for a reason. Our Lord knows that
contact with people is important. It was
important that the deaf mute had friends who brought him to Jesus. It was important that you had parents who
taught you about Jesus. It is important that
you are here to benefit your brothers and sisters in Christ. It is important that Jesus came to invade our
personal space—important enough that God became a man to unite himself to
mankind, and even important enough to stick his fingers in a man's ears and
mouth. The Lord came in the flesh to
touch our lives, and he calls us to touch the lives of others with words of
mercy, with acts of kindness, with patience, and with prayer.
Jesus came in the flesh to touch our lives. He is a real Savior who touches real sinners and bestows real healing, real hope, and real salvation. Jesus alleviates real guilt so that you can have true comfort.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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