Opened
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Be opened. Hear
the Word of God. Peace is not found in lying about what the Bible says or
pretending that God is different from how the Bible describes Him. Faith is not
the vague notion that there is a god up there somewhere who thinks that I’m
special, but who doesn’t care enough to actually tell us who He is. Yet all
those things have seemed more attractive to us than the Truth. But the sin of
self-deception never delivers as promised. Giving in to temptation is never
without consequences, without lingering diseases and worries, without fear and
shame, without danger or cost. A moment’s indiscretion, a bit of selfish
indulgence and self-promotion, and we suffer through another failure of our own
design; we wind up hurting those we love the most.
It is precisely
into this mad world that our Lord Jesus Christ inserted Himself. He stood
alone. Even the weakling felt powerful against Him and abused Him with glee.
Still, He came. He came for the very people who sought to hurt Him. While we
were jockeying for seats at Satan’s table, Jesus Christ bought us back at the
terrible cost of His own Life. He submitted to death so that we would live. He
came and endured our hatred and violence as a sheep to the slaughter, never
complaining. He came to seek and to save, to rescue and to redeem, to give His
life in exchange for yours. The Innocent suffers in place of the guilty; the
Righteous dies for the unholy. He sacrificed Himself in your place. Through
that cruel execution He has taken on your guilt, your shame, and your death. He
took it all to the grave and buried it there.
You don’t need to
look after yourself. You don’t need to protect your own interests. You don’t
need to stand up for your rights or honor. You don’t need to be pretty, get
good grades, be a star athlete, or popular. Jesus loves you. That is enough. He
has taken care of everything.
So what happened
to the deaf man by the Sea of Galilee? His
friends brought him to Jesus. They didn’t just change the name of the problem
and pretend that that was enough. They didn’t tell him God wanted him that way
and that he should get used to it. They brought the man to where he could get
help; they brought Him to Jesus. And Jesus put His finger into the man’s ear,
spat, and touched his tongue. And at the hand of Jesus, the deaf man was free
to hear God’s Word and proclaim His praise. Jesus broke the chains of death. He
stopped the cycle. He restored His good creation.
That is who Jesus
is. That is why He came. Peace is created by the forgiveness won on the cross,
and it passes all understanding. It is not ours to manipulate. Likewise, peace
and unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ can only be created by God.
It will only be fully realized when we are taken from this valley of sorrows.
Faith is the ultimate gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the conviction that the
Holy Trinity has worked out salvation for you for free; God will at the end
bring us to everlasting consolation.
When Jesus invades
your personal space and sticks His finger into your ear, it comes away dirty,
with who knows what gross thing on the end of it. That is a little
embarrassing, a little uncomfortable. But when that gunk has been removed and
He is revealed to you according to His mercy, you hear the Shepherd’s voice with
your ears, saying: “I love you. I forgive you. Be mine.” That moment of
embarrassment you feel as you confess your sin is worth it, no matter how many
times. He removes that shame along with sin, and you are free to sing His
praise. Come. Stick out your tongue. Have the body of Christ placed upon it. Be
opened. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all
understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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