Trinity 12
Dear friends in Christ. Very often in the Gospels we see Jesus’ healing miracles tied in with His preaching. The miracles served as confirmation of what Jesus was saying is true because they pointed to Jesus—the doer of the miracle—as being the true God. Because Jesus is the very God Himself what He says is truth. The miracles, then, showed Jesus’ authority confirming His preaching.
But then there were times when Jesus would perform a miracle privately. That’s what we have in today’s Gospel account. Jesus is simply going from one place to another when a crowd recognizes Him and asks Him to help this man who was deaf and had a speech impediment: Then [Jesus] returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. What’s interesting is what Jesus does next: And taking him aside from the crowd privately… To be sure the result, effect of the miracle is clear and obvious to all, but notice, Jesus deals with this man privately, one on one.
What a glorious and comforting image we have of our Lord—He deals with us, one on one! All our hurts and pains, He deals with us personally. He is working all things for the good of each one of us personally. It’s not that Jesus works “the big picture” and lets the chips fall where they may—which may or may not be for our good. If there is any doubt in your mind that Jesus is dealing with you personally/ individually, just think back to the Blessed Sacrament where Jesus comes to you—personally/ individually—giving you His very body and blood for the forgiveness of your sin. Rejoice and believe: this is My body/ this is My blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Think back, even further, to your baptism. There Christ came to you personally/ individually in those holy waters, gave you His Holy Spirit creating faith in your heart, washed away your sin, clothed you with His holiness/ righteousness and connected you with His death and resurrection. All that He did for you personally.
This is that most wonderful and glorious work of Jesus as He now expands His kingdom, the Church. Christ’s kingdom, the Church, is made up of all those who by the power and work of the Holy Spirit trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. Although the Church, Christ’s kingdom, is made up of all Christians—the communion of saints—Jesus has dealt with each one personally and continues to deal with each one personally.
So what does this mean? It means that Jesus established/ set up His Kingdom, the NT Church, and He continues to expand it. This is the glory of the NT Church: she is a divine creation, a divine work. The Church doesn’t just come out of nowhere; it’s not just a group of like-minded people who decide to join together, like a Garden Club; a local congregation is not a social club. Instead, the holy Church is made up of those that Christ, has come to and by His Holy Spirit worked faith; and each congregation is the result of Christ’s working and calling such Christians to be around His altar and pulpit. Jesus Himself tells His disciples and us [Mt. 16.18]: I will build My church. Because Christ alone builds His Church, she is a glorious building.
Jesus builds His Church by His holy, sinless life and His innocent suffering and death. He, the very God Himself, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity, took on human flesh and blood in the womb of Mary, became true man, placed Himself under the holy law of God in order to keep it for us and give to God the perfect obedience He demands/ requires of us. And then, because we sin, and God is a holy God who must punish sin, Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and went to the cross loaded down with the sins of all and there all of God’s wrath over our sin and punishment for our sin was meted out on Jesus, the holy, sinless One who served as our Substitute. By this Jesus reconciled all sinners to the Holy God; God, with Jesus’ resurrection, declared the world/ all sinners righteous/ forgiven. Jesus and His work alone is the foundation/ establishment of His Kingdom, the Church.
Now Christ, who has set up/ established His Kingdom, calls people into it. He does so as He comes and works by His Holy Spirit in the word and sacraments. The NT Church is a divine work, a creation of God, not only in its being set up but also in its spread, in getting people into His kingdom, the Church. That’s because by the work of the Holy Spirit Jesus calls people into the Church. The very fact that you are a Christian is because the Holy Spirit came to you, created faith in Christ in you and is keeping you in the faith. That’s what our text today from St. Paul is all about—the glory of the Gospel—in word and sacrament—by which the Holy Spirit comes to us and offers and gives the gifts and blessings Jesus won for us by His holy life and suffering and death on the cross.
Our text: God…has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The preaching of the NT Church offers and gives something that nothing else in the world can/ does—the forgiveness of sins. That’s the very forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us on the cross, that peace and reconciliation with God. Notice the divine work here: Jesus brought it about and now by the work of the Holy Spirit, people—you and me—receive these gifts and are brought into Christ’s kingdom, the Church: the Spirit gives life. This is the glory of the Church—she is a divine creation.
But also notice a tremendous grace here: although the Church is a divine work/ creation, God allows us humans to have a role, to share in His work—and that’s by us telling others the Good News about Jesus. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. Although St. Paul speaks as an apostle in his apostolic office here, what he says applies to each of us as we share Christ. We have the confidence through Christ toward God that the word we share about Christ to our neighbor is mighty for their conversion. As we share our faith with others, we rely on the work of the Holy Spirit to create faith, to work when and where He pleases. And why? Because the glory of the NT Church is that she is a divine creation, the work of God who in Christ established it and by the Holy Spirit’s work brings people into it—and in grace uses us as His instruments!
Again, it is vital we remember that we cannot come into Christ’s Kingdom/ the Church on our own, by our own reason or strength. That’s why the Holy Spirit’s work—He who is the Lord and Giver of life! And so the Church is a glorious creation—of the Holy Triune God.
The account in today’s Gospel of Jesus healing the deaf man with the speech impediment is a wonderful example of not only of Jesus’ care for us personally and that He deals with each of us personally, but it is clear picture of us spiritually. Since that man was deaf, he hadn’t heard of Jesus, wouldn’t know a thing about Him. But his friends bring him to Jesus and Jesus heals him. Left to himself and his own devices, that man would have stayed deaf and unable to speak. But these friends brought this man to Jesus and begged Him to place His hand on him to heal him. That’s the same thing as when we tell others about Jesus. They don’t know Him rightly, if at all and we, by the Gospel word, bring them to Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit’s work they are brought into the Kingdom of the Church. That’s what happened to us! For most of us, it was our parents bringing us, who were conceived and born in sin, to Christ in the waters of Holy Baptism; and from the moment of baptism on, we were in Christ’s kingdom and receiving and enjoying all of His graces, gifts and blessings.
What else does the fact that the Church is glorious because she is a divine creation teach us? Simply this—that we who are in Christ’s kingdom are only there because of God’s grace. Again, looking back at today’s Gospel: what did the deaf man do to merit/ earn healing? Nothing! It was all Christ’s mercy and work that brought him healing; he wouldn’t have even come to Christ because he didn’t know a thing about Him. Left to ourselves, we would know only the Law of God, which only condemns. Our text: For the letter [of the Law of God] kills. The Law of God demands our perfect obedience and when we don’t do it, we feel it condemning us; and then we hear it confirmed: thou shall and thou shall not… Left to ourselves we would have no righteousness that God demands of us if we are to enter heaven. The holy Law of God only charges, imputes sin to us—as St. Paul in our text calls it: the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone. Why is Christ’s kingdom so glorious? Because in pure grace and mercy—He seeing our need and our inability to save ourselves; He seeing our sin, wretchedness and damnation—He came to us and healed/saved/ rescued us. It’s all God’s work that we are Christians—we add nothing to taint it.
2. Because the NT Church is glorious since she is solely a creation of God—established by Christ and spread/ expanded by the Holy Spirit whom Christ sends—that means that we who are members of the Church, citizens of Christ’s kingdom receive divine blessings. That’s what St. Paul calls in our text: the ministry of righteousness. In the NT Church Christ continues to shower upon us all of His graces and blessings of righteousness—in His holy word and sacraments. In our text St. Paul talks about the glory of the Ten Commandments. Because the Law of God, the 10 Commandments, are God’s word—of course they should be marked/ come with great glory, but they cannot save us; they only point out to us our sin; they can only lead us to desire a Savior from sin. Now 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, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? But how much more glorious is the Gospel, the ministry of the Spirit! It is the ministry of righteousness; that is, the Gospel gives us the holy, perfect righteousness of Christ; it gives us the forgiveness of sin; it gives us eternal life. That’s what we have, enjoy, receive in Christ’s Kingdom. That’s why the NT Church is so glorious! That’s why we come here Sunday after Sunday around the pulpit to hear and receive this righteousness; around this altar to hear and receive this forgiveness pronounced in the absolution and to receive it in our very mouths in the Blessed Sacrament.
Don’t be deceived, dear Christian, by the humble outward forms of the word, water, bread and wine by which Christ comes and gives us these His blessings. Remember, what happened to Moses when he received and gave the people the Law, which was only temporary, which was the ministry of death? He shone with such great glory that he had to wear a veil. How much more must the holiness and righteousness of Christ coming to us and being given to us must be veiled under word, water, bread and wine? But the Gospel of Christ He gives in His Church remains until the last day and the blessings He given us in the Gospel endure into eternal life.
What an enduring glory the NT Church has: she is a divine creation and she receives divine blessings! INJ Amen