The sermon for September 3 was based on Mark 7:31-37.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

One day a fellow named Jerome Besold was visiting the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther's house and recorded this little account of Luther's reaction to having been sent a book by a man named Schwenckfeld, a man who in our day would be considered a kind of Methodist. Luther begins by saying this of Schwenckfeld:
That's a poor wretch who doesn't have talent or spirit. Like all the fanatics, he's ecstatic. He doesn't know what he's talking about. . . . The fantastic fellow stole some phrases from my book, The Last Words of David. With these—for example, ‘exchange of attributes' and ‘oneness of the person'—the simpleton tries to make himself look nice. He mixes these phrases among others and afterward he says, ‘That's what I meant too!'
When he came from Silesia he tried to persuade Dr. Pomeranus and me that his view of the sacrament is right. Since he couldn't hear well he asked us to pray for him. Yes, I wanted to pray that he become dumb as well! At all events, he now proposes to teach me what Christ is and how I should worship him. Thank God, I know this better than he does. I know my Christ well. So he'd better let me alone.

Now listen to what Luther's Wife Katy says to him and what he does about it!
Katy interrupted, "Ah, dear Sir, that's much too coarse!" And [Luther] replied, They are the ones who teach me to be so coarse. This is the way one must talk to the devil. Let him renounce his fanaticism about the sacrament in a public writing and let him bring me testimonials from Dr. Hess and Moibanus. Otherwise I won't believe him, even if he swears an oath and puts his finger in the wound.
[Luther] (sent the following message back to Schwenckfeld by courier) My dear messenger, give your master, Gaspar Schwenckfeld, the answer that I have received the little book and the letter. Would to God that he'd stop! For in former times he started a fire against the sacraments in Silesia, and it hasn't been extinguished yet, but it will burn against him forever. He goes even further with his Eutychianism and creatureliness and confuses the church, although God hasn't commanded him or sent him. The stupid fool, who is possessed by the devil, has no understanding, and doesn't know what he's mumbling about. If he won't stop, at least let him not bother me with his books, which the devil is spitting up and spewing out of him. Let him have this as my final judgment and answer: The Lord rebuke you, Satan! And the spirit who called you, the course which you take, and all the sacramentarians and Eutychians who side with you in your blasphemies—to hell with you! As it is written, ‘I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied' [Jer. 23:21]."

Luther was one of the guys like Rush Limbaugh or General Patton or either of the Presidents Roosevelt. He knew what he was doing. He knew that he was on the side of the angles, as we say, and a lot of people mistook his confidence for arrogance. Luther, like his peers in every age couldn't have cared less. To mistake truth for arrogance is the special purview of the ignorant and the estimation of the ignorant is, by definition, irrelevant to the work of honest men.

St. Mark tells us that the people who witnessed Jesus heal the deaf-mute in today's Gospel were "astonished beyond measure" which according to the Greek means to be overwhelmed with both amazement and fear. They were amazed and astounded and stunned. They gave voice to their shock by telling everyone that Jesus was a guy who did "all things well". But as we know from our own experience, it doesn't take long for astonishment to become annoyance. There is something off-putting about men who "do all things well". Even among mere sinful mortals, a man who does almost all things well is an intimidating figure, one who will attract a following but also one who have a huge number of enemies.

In this world, we sinful people either judge or are judged. Christ warns us against being judgmental but most of us find it all too natural to sit in judgment. None of us likes to be judges so we do all we can to put ourselves in a position to judge. The weaker we are, the less competent we are, the less sure of ourselves we are, the more we are inclined to judge. All to often we wind up passing judgment on those who are, in fact, stronger, better and more righteous than ourselves. Surely there were some among the crowd who saw Jesus and were given faith in Him. These praised Him with the words "He has done all things well". Those in the crowd who were not yet willing to believe said the same words but with a different tone. On the lips of an unbeliever these words can be an accusation along the lines of "He just thinks He's the best thing since sliced bread." Jesus knows that about these people and He goes the extra mile for sake of their souls by instructing them not to tell anyone about His miracle. It isn't that Jesus is trying to keep His identity a secret its that He wants these people who are dubious of His motives to know and understand that He is not interested in self-aggrandizement or ego-gratification.

Whether one went away from this miraculous moment with or without faith, one went away a sinner for we are all sinners in this world and we who are conscious of our sins are trapped and isolated by our guilt. We are afraid to be exposed and we are afraid to admit what we know about ourselves. Some of us withdraw into the silence of our own little worlds. Some of us seek asylum in the roar of the godless crowd. In either case we poor miserable sinners try to keep ourselves from hearing about our sins. We make ourselves deaf to the voice of accusation and we avoid anyone or anything that seems to be certain or to have the ring of authority about it. A man who does all things well serve only to remind us that we are not such a one. A man who is always right, even about one small subject, is bound to create mixed feeling at best and outright resentment for the most part. Not long after this miracle the crowds begin demanding that Jesus give some proof of His authority, the religious leaders begin trying to have Him silenced and the crowds eventually give up their amazed testimonials for shouts of "Crucify Him!"

But Jesus is not content to leave us in the isolation of our guilt. No matter how earnestly we desire to be left alone to ignore our sins, Jesus insists on opening our ears and our eyes to the Truth. But the truth is never a welcome subject. Jesus wants to be with us, for reasons that are unknowable to us and attest to the infinite goodness of God, He wants to be with us in spite of our abysmal unworthiness. If there is a stony silence between you and the Lord it is not the Lord's fault. He has come into the world specifically to be with you. He wants to talk to you and, believer it or not, He wants to listen to you. To this end He opens ears and loses tongues.

He opens our ears to hear the Truth, for He is, Himself, Truth incarnate and He speaks noting but the truth. He opens our ears and tells us that we are terrible sinners and that everything we hold dear and imagine makes us noble is as filthy rags to Him. But He also opens our ears to hear that He has come to forgive our sins and that He loves us more than we can comprehend. He wants to share with us everything that is good for us. He has much to say to us and for those of us to whom faith has been freely and undeservedly given, it is all good and wonderful to hear, even the Law, as the psalmists are always saying, is a blessing to those whose hearts are softened.

Then Jesus open our lips. Every weekday we pray Matins here at Bethany and each service begins with a plea for the Lord to open our lips so that we might declare His praise. God opens our lips so that we can pray to Him and confess to Him and to the world that we desire what He desires and that we believe what He says and that we look forward to what He has promised. In short Jesus opens our lips so that the words He speaks into our ears may come out our Lips and into His. The more this happens the happier and wiser and more whole we become.

You know your sins. Your ears have been opened by the gracious work of the Holy Ghost. You know if you have been disobedient, fearful, dishonest, unfaithful, disrespectful or crooked. You have heard from the Word of God time and again that you are sinful but before your amazement can turn to dread and resentment Christ pronounces His absolution and He does so through the lips of your Pastors. Christ opens my ears to hear your confessions and he opens my lips to pronounce His absolution. There is wonderful purpose to all that He does.

In Holy Baptism Christ sent His Holy Ghost to give you faith and forgive your sins. Ever since, that faith has been straining to hear the voice of God in Scripture. That faith is what drags you out of your beds on cozy Sunday mornings and gathers us here. That faith is what delves into the word of God and clings to His promises. That faith is what hold our reason subject and teaches us to behave with humility about things we do not understand and with confidence about things that God has made plain to us in Holy Scripture.

Our lips to have been opened and before we can even utter a word of thanksgiving Jesus slips His Body and Blood into us so that our faith might find strength and our sins be forgiven. Before we can even begin to express how frightening we find it to be in the presence of one really has "done ALL things well" He assures us of His love and grace and mercy. This He does in such a way that He does not deny our sin or our unworthiness but rather forgives it and absolves us and extends to us the promise of a life everlasting won for us on the cross and given freely to us.

Once we have been reconciled to Jesus, once our ears have been opened and our tongues set free, we manifest that change in our lives. To the world we seem insane. We let people take advantage of us, we bear with the weakness of those around us and we demand of ourselves and one another more than the world would ever possibly tolerate.

Neither do we cringe from clear and unambiguous declarations of right and wrong. We crave the Word of God and we test all people's ideas against it. For this we are considered arrogant and the unbelievers perceive us as intimidating. Our way of life is amazing to the world and the Church makes the world feel uncomfortable which is why we must continue to proclaim the Truth to any and all so that they may find in the presence of Jesus the peace we have come to cherish. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Sermon by Rev. D. H. Petersen, slightly edited.

Last Updated: 5/27/2009