Trinity 12

Mark 7:31-37 - Trinity Twelve - August 14, 2016
 Personal Faith & Christian Love

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Consider those kind people in our Gospel lesson this morning.  There was a man who could not hear and who could not speak – at least he did so with difficulty and unintelligibly.  He was deaf and mute, or as they used to say, dumb.  It’s not like he couldn’t speak at all.  He could make sounds, but his tongue couldn’t move right and his noises made no sense.  That’s why the word dumb eventually came to be synonymous with stupid.  Deaf and mute people, as much as they might groan for what they want, don’t sound very clever.  This man had no way to communicate his need.  He relied on the kindness of others to express his desires and to request the help he hoped for. 

Trinity 12

Mark 7:31-37 - Trinity Twelve - September 7, 2014
Ears to Hear and Tongues to Confess

“Sing aloud to God our strength; make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. Alleluia.” 

We call him the God of Jacob.  This means that he is the God who wants us to rely solely upon his word.  That is always how he has revealed himself – through his word.  He does not reveal himself through our personal experiences.  In fact, our personal experiences deceive us.  They distract us.  They make us expect one thing when we should expect another.         Often we feel strong.  We feel close to God.  But we need to be brought low.  We need to be made weak.  God is our strength.  And we find his strength when we recognize how weak we are and cling to his word alone.  There true joy is found.            Often we feel forsaken.  We feel like God is too displeased or fed-up with us to continue to strive within us.  When this is how we feel, we need to repent, as David did, and as we sing: “Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.”  We are weak, but he is strong.  His strength is found in his mercy – where he is faithful to forgive us our sin and to increase our faith in him. 

Trinity 12

Mark 7:31-37 - Trinity XII - August 18, 2013 

Sharing Our Faith

Jesus was walking through a region of Judea where the population consisted mostly of Gentiles.  This means that they didn’t have the word of God.  That’s what made them Gentiles.  They had notions of God, of course.  But their notions were false, because the gods they invented were crafted in their own hearts.  They learned what they thought they knew about God by consulting their feelings and experiences rather than by listening to what God actually said.  Needless to say, their source of information was flawed.  And since they had a flawed understanding of who God was, naturally they also had a flawed understanding of what to expect God to do. 

Of course, they knew God was powerful.  This much they knew – what he could do.  But who doesn’t know this much?  You don’t need Scripture to tell you this.  Look at the earth and sky.  Notice the intricate design of the plant and animal world around us.  Look at how fearfully and wonderfully made everything is.  Seeing God’s handiwork certainly tells you a lot about God.  But it won’t tell you his will for your life.  The most important thing you need to learn about God can only be learned by listening to what he says to you.