A sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, by Fr. Daniel Suelzle.
As sinful human beings, we are by nature spiritually deaf and mute—utterly incapable of hearing God’s promises or confessing His truth by our own strength and reason. When Jesus heals the deaf man with a speech impediment in the Decapolis (Mark 7:31-37), He does not work through vague, ethereal abstractions; instead, He uses means; things and actions. By drawing the man apart from the crowd, placing His fingers in his ears, spitting, touching his tongue, and commanding “Ephphatha,” Christ demonstrates how His living and active Word enters our physical reality to create life where there was only spiritual deadness.
This miracle reveals how Christ continues to deliver His grace today through concrete, physical means—in the preaching of pastors and teachers, at the waters of the baptismal font, and through His true presence, body and blood, at the altar. Rather than expecting us to pull ourselves up into heaven, God meets us right where we are, using ordinary people and visible Sacraments to bestow forgiveness and faith. As a set-apart community whose ears have been opened and tongues set free, the Church knows exactly where Christ promises to be found, giving believers the joy of bringing others to hear the Word that does all things well.
Listen to the full sermon below.
