✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Mark 8,22-26 4213
12. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 057
Agapitus, Martyr 273
18. August 2013
1. O Almighty and Everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord (The Book of Common Prayer, 12. Sunday after Trinity). Amen.
2. And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to Jesus a blind man and begged Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when He had spit on his eyes and laid His hands on him, He asked him: „Do you see anything?“ And he looked up and said: „I see people, but they look like trees, walking.“ Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again; and He opened his eyes, his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying: „Do not even enter the village.“
3. This healing of the blind man is, like all of Jesus’ miracles, unique. The uniqueness of this miracle is that Jesus heals the man in stages. There is no reason offered for this procedure, but it is another example that Jesus is in complete control of His creation and by whatever method He chooses to heal someone is effective in its results. Another feature of this miracle is that Jesus does it in private. He takes the blind man out of the village, heals him and then tells him to go home ... but not by way of the village.
4. This miracle shows us that Jesus is not concerned with the glory, praise and honor that the crowds rightly showered upon Him after He performed His miracles. In this way Jesus shows us that the praise of men and women is not the most important thing in this world. This is a hard lesson for us to learn, for often we enjoy the praise of people and perform our deeds in public so others see what good people we are as we lavish in the accolades they give us.
5. The last few weeks, our Gospel lections have contrasted Jesus from the Pharisees. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees boasted of their good deeds and received their commendations with a self-righteous pride. Recall last week how the Pharisee boasted in the temple what a great person he was as he measured himself against a vile tax-collector, one of the worst of sinners. Everyone there saw and heard the pious deeds of that Pharisee. Our selfish egotism is no different. We want the praise of people. We want people to know what we’ve done. And from the other side, we also enjoy lavishing praise on others. Such actions make us feel important, feel good and feel secure. We enjoy being a pharisee, and Jesus knows this.
6. Jesus, it seems, in Mark 7, wanted to avoid the accolades of the crowd, who brought the blind man to Him in the first place. They begged Jesus to heal the man. Perhaps this is Mark’s polite way of saying the people of Bethsaida were pestering Jesus to heal the man. Jesus, however, does not heal the man because the crowd had asked Him to, nor to receive their praises, but Jesus healed the man because of His great love for him. Thus Jesus in this instance decides to perform His miracle in private and away from the town folk of Bethsaida. Once again He shows compassion and mercy to someone in need.
7. The Triune God works through ordinary means, and Jesus performs His miracles through ordinary means. Jesus used saliva and His hands to progressively heal the blind man. in Mark 7 and the deaf mute in Mark 8. Jesus works no differently today. He uses firefighters, police and even priests to help those in car accidents. These individuals use their skills and talents to help others in time of need. When people get sick, yes, Jesus can miraculously heal someone, but more often He uses doctors, nurses and pharmacists who diagnose, treat and administer with treatment options, surgeries or medicines that often heal or bring comfort to those who are sick or afflicted.
8. In this miracle Jesus treats the man not as some poor, disabled man but as an afflicted man in need of God’s healing. He treats the man as a man, shows Him respect and upholds his dignity. This is how Jesus treats each one of us, whether it is in our sickness, our petitions we lift up to Him or when we come to Him for absolution for our sins.
9. The Holy Spirit uses the spoken word, water, bread and wine to bring the gospel to people. These elements are ordinary means to which Jesus has attached His promise of forgiveness. This is how the Holy Spirit brings us the promises of Jesus into our midst today. We call these Word and Sacraments the means of grace. For the blind man in Mark 7, the means of grace were saliva and hands, for through these Jesus healed him. For the sinners of the world, the means of grace were a rough wooden cross and an empty tomb.
10. We are tempted to think that proclaiming the gospel means only telling people about the crucified and risen Jesus. This certainly is the core and cornerstone of the gospel, but often when Jesus healed people He did not launch into a formal teaching on the gospel that He would be crucified and raised from the dead. For the blind man, the gospel was the restoration of His sight. He received this healing from Jesus Himself. Jesus did not tell him to follow Him. He did not exhort him to become His disciple, although it is probable that this man became a disciple. Jesus simply sent the man home. This is simply what Jesus does in your life. You hear the gospel each week and He sends you back home. In your circle of friends, in your vocation and among your neighbors you have opportunities to proclaim the gospel. Jesus has blessed you with this gospel and He blesses you with opportunities to share this gospel. May you speak this gospel to those in your life. Do not be afraid of what to say, for the Holy Spirit will guide your actions and words; He will work through you to bless those who are hurting.
11. Through you examples Jesus continues to care for the destitute and heal the sick. You are His mouth and hands. Jesus works through you to serve others. The gospel creates faith, faith believes in Jesus unto salvation, and faith bears forth works of mercy. Diaconal service brings Jesus’ mercy to the neighbor. Every time you utilize your talents, abilities or alms in service of your neighbor, you are being merciful to your neighbor. Through these acts of mercy the Holy Spirit brings proof of the validity of the gospel and its power to save men and women, both in body and soul, unto life everlasting. Amen.
12. Let us pray. O Yahweh, Your Name is blessed, let Your words continually be in our mouths so that those who see and hear us may be blessed with Your Spirit’s grace. Amen.
Christ crucified and risen for you
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.
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