Pentecost B Proper 18: God works through others

Today’s Gospel relates two miracles. Jesus performed these miracles for people who could not speak for themselves. The first was a demon possessed daughter and the second was a deaf man. In each case someone had to intercede for them. The first account focuses on the conversation between Jesus and the mother of the demon possessed daughter. The second account focuses on the earthly means through which Jesus gave hearing and speech to the deaf man.

These two accounts have something else in common. The Holy Spirit inspired Mark to include an itinerary of Jesus’ travels. This helps us understand that Jesus met these two people in Gentile territory. Mark simply tells us that the woman who pleaded for her demon-possessed daughter was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. Since Jesus was in the in the region of the Decapolis when He restored the man’s hearing, it is very likely that he too was a Gentile. These two accounts show us that Jesus did not just come to save the Jews, but He also came to save Gentiles.

There is much to learn from the account of the woman who pleaded for her daughter. Jesus wanted her to learn more about the great gift of faith that she had received from the Holy Spirit, so He tested it. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” With these words, Jesus not only tested her faith, but He also gave insight into the cruel attitude that many Jews had toward the Gentiles. It is very likely that some of the crowd agreed with Jesus’ words and hoped that the woman would now be discouraged and leave.

Those people did not know about the kind of faith that the Holy Spirit was supporting in this woman. She was not going to give up. She answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” The Holy Spirit had created a deep faith in this woman and He continued to preserve it. If the Lord said she was a dog, then she would take a dog’s share of the Lord’s blessing. She would be willing to take whatever crumbs the Lord sent her way.

When Jesus drove out the demon that possessed this woman’s daughter, He was not just driving out a demon. He was opening salvation to people of every tribe and nation. He demonstrated many of the barriers that we have in our lives. Then He broke them down. He was saying that He was for all people in all times and in all places.

From our point of view, a deaf man might not be as dramatic as a demon possessed daughter. Never the less, the man’s inability to hear was still the result of sin in the world. The devil knows that the Holy Spirit plants faith by the Word of God as the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write: [Romans 10:17] “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Since the Deaf cannot hear the proclamation of the Word of Christ with their ears, they must see it with their eyes. Someone must make the proclamation of Christ’s Word visible for them. This is one of many barriers that our sin places between us and God.

People are deaf for many different reasons. Perhaps the ear itself does not detect sound. The nerves may not carry the signal from the ear to the brain. The brain itself may not process the signal properly. People may be born this way or become deaf due to injury or illness. Any or all of these things may be the reason someone is deaf.

The true tragedy for people who do not hear is not in those who are physically deaf, but in those who are spiritually deaf. Many people have physical hearing that is just fine, but they choose not to hear God’s message anyway. The excuses for this vary. Some people think they already know everything God has to say to them. Others just don’t care what God has to say. Still others are afraid that they might discover that what they think God’s Word says is not what it actually says; they are afraid that they might discover that they don’t agree with God’s Word. There may be other excuses, but there are no good reasons to ignore God’s Word.

Ultimately, spiritual deafness comes from the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. These forces of evil want to separate us from God’s word so that they can separate us from God. They hope to destroy our faith and the faith of our children. Their weapon in this war is to keep us away from God’s Word and Sacraments.

Thankfully, God has promised that He will always provide faithful people to proclaim His Word. These people are like the friends of the deaf man who brought him to Jesus or the mother who pleaded for her daughter. These people might be faithful parents who bring their children to baptism and then daily share the teachings of Christ as their children grow up. They might be friends and associates who confess their faith as they live out their vocations in this world. The Holy Spirit works through parents, teachers, friends, neighbors, associates, sometimes even a husband or wife, to proclaim God’s Word and so bring people to Christ.

There was a time when God worked through others to bring each of us to Christ. As these people confessed their faith to us, Jesus’ words worked in us as they did with the demon possessed daughter and the deaf man. In the case of the demon possessed girl, a simple word from Jesus drove the demons from her. In the case of the deaf man, Jesus combined His word with His fingers in the ears and on the tongue to give hearing and speech to the man. For us, God places His Word in our ears. He touches us in Holy Baptism and continues to keep us in our baptisms as we confess our sins and receive His forgiveness. He actually comes to us in His own body and blood given with the bread and wine of His Supper. God uses these means to give us forgiveness, life, and salvation. These and these alone are the means through which the Holy Spirit bestows Christ’s gifts upon us.

The Holy Spirit uses these means because these means all connect us to the cross. The cross happened almost two thousand years ago and more than six thousand miles away. We cannot surmount the barrier of time or culture that separate us from that cross, nor can we break down the barrier of our own sinful nature. Just as Jesus broke down the barriers of culture and communication in today’s Gospel, so God breaks down the other barriers that stand between us and God. The Holy Spirit uses these external means of Word and Sacrament to transcend these barriers so that the benefits of the cross and the empty tomb can be ours.

The Holy Spirit eliminates barriers with the Word and tells us of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. As the Holy Spirit works through the Word we learn that our sin separates us from God, but that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross takes away our sins. We learn that His resurrection from the dead opens up the way to everlasting life. Through the Word, Christ reveals Himself to us. In that revelation, He also reveals the Father and the Holy Spirit and shows us God’s salvation. The Holy Spirit uses this knowledge to make that salvation personal through His gift of faith.

When the Holy Spirit joins the Word to the water of Holy Baptism, He joins us to Christ in that crucifixion so that the price He paid for sin is credited to us. By joining us to the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit also joins us to His resurrection. We become brothers of Christ and sons of God. We have the right and privilege to come before God, confess our sins, and receive the enduring comfort of the forgiveness of our sins. We become heirs to eternal life in heaven.

When the Holy Spirit joins the Word to bread and wine, Jesus Himself comes to us in the body He gave for us and in the blood He shed for us. As we take Him into our mouths, He feeds our souls. He strengthens our faith in Him. He has promised us that this sacrament is ours for the forgiveness of sins and with the forgiveness of sins comes life and salvation.

Through these means, the Holy Spirit brings forgiveness, life, and salvation directly from the cross to us. Without these means, we would have no faith, no forgiveness, no salvation, and our eternity would be more terrifying than anything we could possibly imagine. How thankful we can be that the Holy Spirit works through God’s people to administer these means. As the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to say: [Isaiah 52:7] How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

God’s process for sustaining Christ’s church in this world is amazing. Just as the mother pleaded for her daughter – just as friends brought the deaf man to Jesus, so also God works through His people to bring His Word into our lives. He brings this word to our ears. He uses the wet Word of Holy Baptism to join us to Christ. Then the Word made flesh comes to us in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Table. The Holy Spirit works through this Word to work faith in us and bring us into the Church.

As the Holy Spirit sustains us in the one, true faith, He sends us into the world to confess the faith he has given to us and so in this way to spread His Word throughout the World. As we confess our faith to family, friends, associates, and all the other people in our lives, He has promised to use our confession to bring others before Christ for healing – the healing that produces faith and delivers forgiveness. In this amazingly crazy way, Jesus has promised that His message will travel through the entire world and that His church will grow. In this way, He will bring many from all over the world into heaven to live with Him forever. Amen