Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

It was a few years ago that the prominent conservative talk-radio host, Rush Limbaugh, announced to his listening audience that he was going deaf. Not long after his first announcement, he confessed that almost all of his hearing ability was gone. Listeners could tell that the problem was indeed serious as Rush’s ability to clearly enunciate his words over the radio was deteriorating noticeably. Something similar must have happened to the man in our text who was brought to Jesus, deaf and with a serious speech impediment. In both instances, the loss of hearing occurred later in life after speech was learned. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for one born deaf to learn how to speak at all.

There is, however, good news to report. God has been pleased to restore the hearing and the speech of both of these individuals. In the case of Rush Limbaugh, he suffered from a rare disorder that destroyed the fine auditory receptive hairs of the inner ear. But, through the wonders of modern technology, the work of skillful doctors, and God’s blessing; a very delicate procedure implanted a synthetic auditory receptor that has been working to this day almost flawlessly. Truly a wonder of modern science. In the case of the man in our text, however . . . Jesus used spit-on-the-finger! A spit-finger in the ear accompanied by an exhortation concerning the intended result . . . Be opened! did the trick. People who witnessed the event were astonished beyond measure. (vs. 37)

What do you suppose would be the reaction from people today if the remedy by Jesus in our text were offered to contemporary suffers of the same problem. Imagine telling those who suffer from such deafness today that Jesus is the answer to their problem. They inquire: How can Jesus be of any help? And then you tell them, Well its really very simple. Jesus is going to put a little spit on his finger and stick it in your ear. He will then exhort you hear, and well . . . then you will. That’s all there is to it. What kind of reaction do you think you will get? Would not most be insulted by such a proposed cure?

Jesus had a penchant for using methods that can be viewed as rather obnoxious when dealing with very serious problems to the human condition. He had a preference for spit when it came to dealing with losses to the human senses. In another instance, He used mud made with spit to restore the sight of a beggar, blind from birth. (John 9) At the same time, however, Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, is just taking after his Father. In the Old Testament, when God chooses to directly intervene and overcome some of our greatest problems, He seems to prefer methods that are often viewed with disdain - methods that are seen as either comical or obscene. The children of Israel in the wilderness are told to look at a silly snake pole as a God-supplied remedy for deadly snake bites. They all lived. In the book of Judges, God chooses the bumbling, milk-toast shepherd, Gideon, as commander-in-chief of a handful of Israelite recruits told then to flash mirrors in the face of the mighty Midianite army to bring about their utter destruction. It worked. Naaman, the commander of the Army and King of Syria, is told by the prophet Elijah to go dip himself in the lack-luster Jordan river if he was interested in a cure from his leprosy by the God of Israel. His skin was turned into that of a baby. (II Kings 5) We could sight more examples, but these will suffice. The point of these examples and the miracle of Jesus in our text is to refresh our understanding of the simply ways that God chooses to deal with our problems that are a result of our fallen sinful condition.

Our text, and these further examples serve also to point to this further reality. Jesus has chosen very similar methods to deal with our spiritually dead senses caused by our sinful condition. Jesus will use a shameful criminal’s death on a cross to bring us forgiveness and a victory over sin, death, and the devil. What a seemingly silly way to go about defeating the three greatest enemies of human happiness and a hopeful future. Go and die a humiliating, shameful death. But, Jesus called it Gospel, good news. The apostle Paul called Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles. Concerning His saving work and gifts, Jesus said, He that has ears let him hear. But we like the Jews and Gentiles mentioned by Paul were brought into this world with a spiritual deafness and blindness to the saving Word of Christ. Spiritual deafness listens to the saving wisdom of Christ and hears only a mysterious foolishness, where all seems as outlandish as spit-fingers in the ears and spit-mud in the eyes.

And here on this Sunday when we honor the apostle, St. Bartholomew, we understand that we who have been given eyes and ears to take in the Gospel blessings, have received them from the one who came into the world to serve the spiritually deaf and blind. If we are looking around to find the greatest in the Kingdom, we must look first to the Suffering Servant of God who has come to bring us spiritual healing. But then, who can be considered greatest among us? They are the ones who, with proper vision and hearing in the Gospel, go out into the world and serve others in the Name of Christ. Today, through St. Bartholomew, we give thanks to God for those Servants that God has raised up to bring the healing of the Gospel to a blind and deaf world. The greatest in the Kingdom are those who as the Lord, have been called to serve, distributing the precious blessings of our Maker and Redeemer.

But then the life of service is not simply the call to those, as the Apostles, who have been called to serve with the saving Gospel. The life of service is that to which each of us have been called. All of us are a part of that Church which has been called to a servant role in the world. You look in the mirror and you see one who has been healed and made totally fit for the Kingdom. You are completely secure in the righteous blessings of the Great Servant. But then you may say to your Lord: How might something significant be attached to me? What is it that I might do that really can be a great thing in the Kingdom? What can I be about doing that really counts? We look for something that we might call great that can attach to us? And Jesus points us to follow in his footsteps, to take up a life as the Father gave to Him, to serve one another.

And so He has called you to your vocational callings, offices of service by which you might be of some earthly good to others. He is pleased to distribute his blessings to others through your goods and service, to make things for them, as Luther would say, just a little better. He has called you to be a servant of others, where you live, work, and play as He also has called you to join with the rest of us here to bring his blessings together to bring the healing Gospel in Word and Sacrament to blind and deaf of our community. We who have received mercy are put into the service of being agents of mercy to others who have been blind and dumb sinners just like we have been apart from Christ.

By the power of such words: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with splashes of water in the face . . . our spiritual eyes and ears have been opened. We can now hear and see our Lord and Savior aright. Like the deaf man in our text, the Word of Christ and the application of some ordinary stuff has brought us healing. We can see, and we can hear, and we can live with the riches of salvation in Christ Jesus. And bring these riches to others, served to be of service, raised up from being no people to becoming God’s people, from dead no-counts to becoming the greatest in the Kingdom through his righteousness and the life of service. We give what we have received - partakers and distributors of all his blessings.

And sometimes we may look at what the Lord has give us to be about a life of service, and we think it is not much. We may look at our small congregation and its resources and think, it just isn’t worth spit. But then, let us look to our Lord in our text and we realize that spit works quite well to accomplish his ends and purposes. But God has give us much more than spit, He has given us our own eyes and ears and hands and many blessings to bring to others where He has called each of us to be of some earthly good. And as his people gathered in this place, he has given to us the other common means, as he gave to St. Bartholomew - water, bread, wine, mixed with his Word - to bring spiritual healing to a crippled world. Let each of us who has ears hear, and each of us who has eyes, see. We have been given much more than spit to work with. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, A-men.