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Through New EyesPreached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, 2009 by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults Psalm 51:15 “O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.”
Decapolis, as you know, is Latin for “ten cities.” These were originally the ten Philistine cities conquered by King David, ruled by King Solomon, and later lost by Solomon’s spoiled son, Rehoboam. You’ll recall the insensitive and unpolitic answer he gave the elders of Israel when they came to plead for a lighter tax burden. Solomon’s great Jewish empire was certainly beautiful and magnificent, but it was not free. Rehoboam so offended the elders that they immediately decided to secede from the grand union of Judah and Israel that King David had so assiduously put together. Thus, the united kingdom of Judah and Israel split apart. King David built the kingdom and King Solomon caused it to flourish until his son ascended the throne and alienated the ten tribes of Israel. You can read all about it in I Kings 12. It’s really quite fascinating, while at the same time being sad and tragic, namely that such a great state could so quickly come to ruin. No doubt there is a lesson in that for us as well. Returning to our Gospel selection from Mark, we see Jesus, as usual, in the midst of a multitude. The Gospel says, “And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him” (Mark 7:32). Note what happens next. Jesus takes him apart from the multitude and heals him. Why? Wouldn’t Jesus want everyone to see this great act and win him praise and glory? Actually, quite the opposite occurs as Christ once again demonstrates the difference between those who seek their own glory versus those who seek to glorify God. Jesus quietly heals the man and then “charged” him strictly to tell nobody. Christ wasn’t doing it for attention, personal gain or fame. Attention was probably the last thing He wanted, especially in this way and for this act. At times in his ministry, Jesus and his disciples could hardly even sit down for a meal without being thronged.(cf. Mark 3:20 “And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.”) Not pursuing earthly fame, Jesus healed out of mercy, love, pity, and pastoral care. After all, who is Christ but the Great Shepherd who cares for his sheep (us!). Now there’s a very interesting little Scriptural “tidbit” in this Gospel selection that shows both sides of Jesus’ nature, human and divine. “And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened” (Mar 7:34). The interesting point here is the sigh. Why did our Lord sigh? On one hand, His human nature might have been tired of being used as a faith healer, so he sighed because it seems like the people only wanted Him for something they could get from Him, be it food (the feeding of the 5,000) or wine (the marriage at Cana) or healing. This is one possibility. Or, He may have sighed because in His divine self He was sent to save the entire world, yet why couldn’t He open the ears of all men, as he did this man? While frustration is impossible for God, of course, because of his all-encompassing serenity, Jesus the man and the minister could be frustrated by the hardness of man’s heart and his oftentimes errant free will. At any rate, I’ve always found that sigh curious and perplexing. There is one point of great importance here. The people of first century Palestine came to Jesus to get something they couldn’t get anywhere else, in this case physical healing. We too come to Jesus for something we can’t get anywhere else: spiritual healing and salvation. We can’t get it anywhere else, so we embrace what’s been called “the scandal of Christianity,” namely that we are saved through Jesus and Him alone. As we read in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Some five years ago, I noticed in the Saturday Houston Chronicle religion section that then Bp. John Shelby Spong was coming to town to discuss “Primitive visions of Jesus prior to Creed and Testament.” While I’m sure that it may have been fascinating and that all of the Episcopal intelligentsia was no doubt very excited, I couldn’t believe anything really valuable would be said. The subtitle for the ad was, “The man who makes theology understandable for the layman.” Pardon me, but at the time, this seemed like a joke, albeit a very serious one. I don’t want to be mean-spirited in any way, shape, or form, but please don’t bill one of the chief heretics in the Episcopal Church, a man who had denied virtually all of the central tenets of the Christian faith, as one who would make theology understandable to me! Oh, by the way, the tickets were $20.00 each. Now on the other hand, if Spong were to preach Jesus and Him crucified, I would listen gladly. After all, we in this place know our basic theology, which is simply that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one comes to the Father but by Him. But the folks that idolize a man like Spong, well, I fear for them. While I obviously can’t speak about their personal spiritual condition, if one follows Spong’s teachings, or teaching of that ilk, one is very likely putting their soul in jeopardy. Instead of an unvarnished view of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, they are enmeshed in a tangled web of ego, intellect, and pride. To paraphrase our Lord, “How difficult it is for an intellectual to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Not because they are intelligent; far from it. It’s because their intelligence is used to trust in the "Almighty mind of Man" rather than Almighty God. Some folks are just too smart for God, or so they think. How difficult for an extremely bright person to acknowledge their own limitations, or even that they have limitations. For an excellent picture of this, I commend to you a book called The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, which I’m sure many of you may have read. In Lewis’ inimitable style, it’s a book presenting possible views of Heaven and Hell. It makes the argument that people are in Hell because they want to be, because they chose it instead of Heaven. In one scene, the protagonist meets an Anglican bishop in Hell who is scurrying off to a religious discussion group, which sounded a lot like the one J.S. Spong might have held. They are about to discuss some very religious stuff. The idea of a religious discussion group in Hell is very comical, yet perhaps also very appropriate. The point is plain: religion without conviction is meaningless, just mere talk. Returning to our Gospel, Jesus accomplished an important act in that He healed the man’s hearing and speech. In the same way, when we hear Jesus, really hear him, we hear and speak new things. Instead of hearing hate, we hear love. Instead of hearing greed or covetousness, we hear self-sacrifice and doing for others. Our speech is different as well. Instead of speaking gossip or hate, we speak love. Instead of speaking enviously, we speak appreciatively. Instead of speaking ill of others, we speak prayers for their souls and wish them well. In short, as we grow more Christ-centered, we have a new perspective. We have new eyes and new ears that see and hear the things of God. Yet, this new sight or new hearing doesn’t just happen. We really cannot acquire it by ourselves. Of course, one can indulge in various self-help therapies, self-confidence tapes, and self-actualization strategies, and there is no doubt that things like these work for a time. One may actually feel better. Soon, however, there is a problem. We find that after scurrying through the labyrinthine maze of our own mind, we end up meeting ourselves again. Unfortunately, too, without the converting touch of Christ, we are, alas, the same. With the life-changing touch of Jesus, we do become a new creature, one that has a new orientation. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen when you have a will to allow God to make it so. It may even take a lifetime, but that is OK. God has plenty of time. Let us pray that while we are “home in the body,” as St. Paul says, we may also grow in our relationship with the Holy Trinity through Christ. Our fervent prayer for you is that your earthly growth is so profound, so rich, that when your own change comes and you pass from the Church Militant on earth to the Church Triumphant in Heaven, this change will not be a “culture shock,” but merely a grand homecoming. Perhaps then you will be able to look around on those guardian spirits who have shepherded you all your life and say, “I’ve known you all along.” Today, we see our Lord in action, healing a member of His flock. Let us pray that just as He opened the ears and loosed the tongue of this man, so may our ears be open to the Gospel message and may we always be speaking of the wonderful works of God. AMEN. |
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The
Gospel selection for
today features our Lord in a familiar mode: traveling from the
cities of Tyre and Sidon, to the Sea of Galilee, entering into
the coasts of Decapolis. As the Gospels tell us, Jesus was an
itinerant preacher, moving from place to place, healing,
teaching, and preaching. His style of ministry would be mimicked
by many preachers through the centuries. He was, in fact, the
first “circuit rider,” except for the fact that He and his
disciples walked from place to place! John Wesley would later
adopt this style, riding great distances and often delivering
multiple sermons in one day.