P In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
COLLECT OF THE DAY
P Let us pray.
Almighty and merciful God, by Your gift alone Your faithful people render true and laudable service. Help us steadfastly to live in this life according to Your promises and finally attain Your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
C 1 To God on high be glory
And peace to all the earth;
Goodwill from God in heaven
Proclaimed at Jesus’ birth!
We praise and bless You, Father;
Your holy name, we sing—
Our thanks for Your great glory,
Lord God, our heav’nly King.
2 To You, O sole-begotten,
The Father’s Son, we pray;
O Lamb of God, our Savior,
You take our sins away.
Have mercy on us, Jesus;
Receive our heartfelt cry,
Where You in pow’r are seated
At God’s right hand on high—
3 For You alone are holy;
You only are the Lord.
Forever and forever,
Be worshiped and adored;
You with the Holy Spirit
Alone are Lord Most High,
In God the Father’s glory.
“Amen!” our glad reply.
PSALM 146
1Praise |
the Lord!*
Praise the Lord, | O
my soul!
2I will praise the Lord
as long | as I live;*
I will sing praises to my God while I
have my | being.
3Put not your trust in | princes,*
in a son of man, in whom there is no
sal- | vation.
4When his breath departs he returns | to the earth;*
on that very day his plans | perish.
5Blessèd is he whose help is the
God of | Jacob,*
whose hope is in the | Lord his God,
6who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is | in them,*
who keeps faith for- | ever;
7who
executes justice for | the oppressed,*
who gives food to the | hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8the Lord opens the eyes | of
the blind.*
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord
loves the | righteous.
9The Lord watches
over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the | fatherless,*
but the way of the wicked he brings to | ruin.
10The Lord
will reign for- | ever,*
your God, O Zion, to all generations. | Praise the Lord!
EPISTLE 2 Corinthians 3:4–11
4Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
A This is the Word of the Lord.
HOLY GOSPEL
P The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the seventh chapter.
P This is the Gospel of the Lord.
APOSTLES’ CREED
C I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
SERMON
And looking up to heaven, [Jesus] sighed
and said to [the deaf man], “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
(Mark 7:34)
I can remember when I was a child, gatherings at my Grandma Koch’s house, she’d tell a story and when she threw in a German word or two all the grown ups would laugh, and us kids wouldn’t have a clue. But it seems clear now that using the old German made the humor more powerful.
So Jesus hear uses this old word from another language, Ephphatha. If your Bible has footnotes, you might see that this is a word from Aramaic. Jesus, like some of our ancestors, probably spoke several languages. He drew from those languages the best choice of words; powerful, meaningful words.
“Ephphatha”, He said. And the deaf ears were opened.
The people
standing around were amazed to see such a miracle. Soon all over the region
people were talking about this, they were saying, “He has done all things well.
He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Jesus was fulfilling what God
had promised. This was the reality that Isaiah had only seen in visions when he
prophesied the word of the Lord,
“In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and
darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see”
(Isaiah 29:7).
In the catechism we say, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures, that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my senses.” We thank God regularly for making us bodily, and preserving us in health. We are overwhelmed with joy each time we have a new healthy baby born. And we pray with hope when one of us is in danger of losing health or losing a sense or losing reason.
All five of our senses are a precious gift from God. All the members of our body are wondrously designed and created by God. But when Jesus said “Ephphatha” and the deaf ear was opened, he has us consider a lesson on the ear and hearing.
Martin Luther loved to preach on this miracle of Jesus. “Ephphatha” for Him was such a powerful miraculous command of the Lord. He went so far as to say “the ear is the only organ of a Christian.” Now what’d he mean by that? When it comes to faith. It’s the ear that gets it.
We usually think a lot of our eyes. It is such a benefit to be able to see clearly. There are many fears about what you can’t see. Many worry, how would we live if we couldn’t see. But here’s the thing, eyes do no good at all for our faith. Because often what we see with our eyes goes against faith. Our eyes see the rich and powerful win and succeed at everything. But our ears hear Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor”. And He says, “I will exalt the lowly.” And the rich He sends empty away.
The eyes see poorly when it comes to faith. Our ears must hear and have the Word of God constantly correct what our eyes see. Our eyes see our loved ones die. In our ears is the Gospel of Jesus, whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.
The ears are the organ for faith. Not so much the brain. Now knowledge is a component of faith. You need to know that Jesus is the Son of God, that He lived and died and rose again and that He loves you and forgives you. But the knowledge in the brain only gets you so far. Some fear they have a weak faith because they’ve been told that they’re not smart. Nonsense. On the other hand, some despise the Christian faith because they have too much smarts and their human reason, faulty reason, prevents them from hearing what the Good Lord, the wise Teacher says.
The ears are the organ for faith. Not the heart or the gut or whatever is the seat of emotion. Many confuse feelings and faith. There’s this opinion I’ve seen around many times about this or that person, who is so devout in appearance. You can just tell when they talk about God, they must believe it, because they are so heart felt, so passionate, so intense. Maybe they are. Or maybe they’re just psychotic. Don’t feel guilty for not having some spectacular emotional experience every time you think of heaven or smell a flower or sing In the Garden. Certain emotions will usually result from faith. But emotions are not the same thing as faith.
Even in this so-called “new normal” it is vitally necessary for the Christian Church to preach out loud, continually the saving words of Jesus. It is vitally important for Christian people to hear and listen with ears to the words of our Lord Jesus. Now sometimes, in this broken world, we have to “listen” in an artificial way, like through the images on screen or reading a page. The important thing, we must have Jesus Christ command our ears and our faith to be open to Him, So that His Word, His word that creates good things out of nothing, His word like “Ephphatha” would create for you new ears for hearing, a new mind for believing, a new heart for feeling.
You don’t have
to remember that this Aramaic word Ephphatha means “be opened.” But remember
this lesson, Jesus is saying to your ears, “Be opened, listen, put away your
faulty reason and your foolish emotions. Take no heed of the sights your eyes
see that would lead you to think that there is no hope, no help from above.
Hear my word of life and salvation. Amen.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
P Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
For all the baptized, and especially for the saints here at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, that our ears would be opened by the Spirit to the Gospel of peace and salvation, and that our lips would show forth our thanks and praise, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For all pastors, that they would be faithful and compassionate in the exercise of their duties, and that they would speak the truth in love as they catechize the young and old, bring mercy to the sick and shut-in, provide counsel and care to those in need, pray for all under their charge, and proclaim the Gospel as those who recognize how much they need it themselves, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For good stewardship of God’s creation, that we would seek to provide clean air, water and land to all peoples, praying always for God’s providential care of the planet He has given us, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For all in authority by whose service God provides for us the gift of order, including parents and family, our government, our police and firemen, our military and our schools, that God would give them strength and endurance to carry out their duties for the good of those entrusted to their care, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For the sick, the frail and the dying, [especially _____________,] that God would focus them upon Christ and His love and restore them to health, according to His will; and for doctors, nurses, therapists and all who tend to our brothers and sisters in need, that God would bless them as they put the talents He has given them to good use, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy
P For the saints who have gone before us and now rest from their labors, let us give thanks to the Lord; that we would, by God’s grace, be kept in their holy communion unto eternal life in Christ’s kingdom, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
C Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
BENEDICAMUS
A Let us bless the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
BENEDICTION
P The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and T give you peace.
C Amen.
528 OH, FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING
1 Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
2 My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad,
The honors of Thy name.
3 Jesus! The name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life and health and peace.
4 He breaks the pow’r of canceled sin;
He sets the pris’ner free.
His blood can make the foulest clean;
His blood avails for me.
5 Look unto Him, ye nations; own
Your God, ye fallen race.
Look and be saved through faith alone,
Be justified by grace.
6 See all your sins on Jesus laid;
The Lamb of God was slain.
His soul was once an off’ring made
For ev’ry soul of man.
7 To God all glory, praise, and love
Be now and ever giv’n
By saints below and saints above,
The Church in earth and heav’n.
Text: Public domain
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Divine Service, Setting Four from Lutheran Service Book
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.
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