Twelfth Sunday after Trinity – September 7, 2025

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

Jesus performed a wonderful miracle.

A man who was deaf and mute can now hear and speak.

Jesus opened the man's ears and he loosed the man's tongue.

The man's ears are no longer stopped and his mouth is no longer mute.

He can now hear and he can speak. This is a wonderful miracle.

But when did this miracle occur? It did not happen when Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears.

It did not happen when Jesus spat and touched the man's tongue.

It did not happen when Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed.

The miracle happened when Jesus spoke the word.

He opened. And immediately the man's ears were opened and his tongue was released.

Jesus' word accomplished exactly what he commanded it to do.

Now, of course, Jesus could have healed him, this man, from a distance and simply

spoken the words, Be opened.

Jesus has healed from a distance in other times.

Lazarus, for example, Jesus cried out, Lazarus, come forth. He cried out from

a distance, and Lazarus, who was dead, came alive again.

At other times, Jesus used physical means, physical things.

So in John chapter 9, we see that Jesus spit and made mud, then put this mud

John 9 · chapter mention

on the blind man's eyes and told him to wash.

And so the blind man obeyed Jesus, and a miracle happened. He was able to see.

So when Jesus put blood on the man's eyes, it was as if Jesus were saying,

I am going to do something to your eyes. And he did. He gave the man sight.

And so also for today, when Jesus put his finger into the man's ear and spat

and touched the man's tongue, This is kind of sign language saying,

I am going to do something to your ear and your mouth.

Jesus gave the man the ability to hear and to speak.

Yet again, I ask, when did this miracle happen?

It happened when Jesus spoke the word be opened.

God's word is powerful. It creates life.

At creation, God said, let there be light. And there was light.

It did what God commanded.

God spoke and everything came into existence.

God brought everything into existence by the power of his word.

God's word accomplished exactly what God commanded it to do.

Yet, when God created Adam and Eve, he used means.

For Adam, he used the dust of the ground to fashion Adam. For Eve,

he used Adam's rib, but yet it was done by the power of God's word.

In the beginning, there was a perfect relationship between God and Adam and Eve.

And they showed their love toward God by eating from the fruit of the tree of

life and by not eating from the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil.

This was, you might say, their place of worship where they showed their love

toward God. They were righteous in every way.

But Satan comes along and attacks God's word.

He said to Eve, did God really say, did God really say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Notice that Satan attacked God's word.

He attacked what God had spoken. Unfortunately,

Eve listened to Satan, and her

ear received his lies, and then her mouth received the forbidden fruit.

And Adam also listened to Eve, and he also ate.

And with that act, they lost their righteousness, and out of their mouths now come evil words.

Adam blamed his wife and also God, and their perfect union was now marred with marital conflict.

Because of Adam's fall into sin, all humanity suffers under the curse of sin and death.

The fall has even corrupted our own ears and our own mouths.

What we hear and what we believe and what we speak.

So if we hear bad words, then it's going to come out of our mouth as well.

What are you listening to? Gossip?

Corrupt music?

False teaching? What are you speaking?

Evil words? Gossip? Bad words? Sinful words?

Whatever that comes into the ear will come out of the mouth.

From the very beginning, Satan has attacked God's word.

In the Garden of Eden, he twisted God's command, and he does the same thing today.

Satan will say, did God really limit marriage to one man and one woman?

Satan will say, did God truly appoint men to be the spiritual leaders in the home and in the church?

Satan will say, did Jesus actually rise from the dead?

Satan will say, isn't the Bible just written by man? And Satan will say, isn't truth relative?

Satan's strategy has not changed a bit. He still attacks God's word today,

and we have to be vigilant against his attacks and his temptation.

And God pray that we remain faithful.

We sin with our ears when we despise preaching and God's word,

when we skip worship, when we fail to gladly hear and learn it.

We sin with our mouths when we misuse God's name, when we curse,

swear you satanic arts, lie or deceive by his name.

No wonder Jesus looked up into heaven and sighed.

He sighed not only because this man in front of him cannot hear and speak,

but he also sighed because of a deeper brokenness.

In other words, the result of Adam and Eve's fall. Jesus grieved over creation's corruption.

He mourned over what Satan has brought into our world and even into our own lives.

We pray, O Lord, open thou my lips.

For by nature, our lips are imprisoned. But when God opens our lips,

our mouth then declares his praise and thanksgiving and proclaims the mighty

works that God has done in Christ Jesus.

Our intro from today from Psalm 70 says, In it we pray, Make haste, O God, to deliver me.

Make haste to help me. And this is our prayer as well.

For we are in bondage to Satan and we cannot free ourselves.

We have no power to open our stopped ears or to loosen our captive tongue.

We cannot free ourselves from sin, nor can we erase ourselves from death on our own.

O Lord, you alone can deliver us from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil.

Therefore we cry, make haste, O Lord, to deliver me.

Help me, O Lord. I need help.

Those who brought the deaf and the mute man to Jesus knew a little bit about

Jesus, and they knew that Jesus could help their friend from the bondage of his ear and mouth.

They also believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Isaiah chapter 29, our Old Testament reading for today, said that in that day,

Isaiah 29 · chapter mention

in the day of the coming Messiah, the deaf shall hear.

And they believed that the people who brought their friend to Jesus believed

that Isaiah 29 is being fulfilled in Jesus.

Jesus then took the man aside from the crowd. He didn't want to make it a spectacle.

Jesus didn't want someone to record this and put it on social media.

Jesus never sought the attention, nor did he really exploit the suffering of

other people. He completely, he was present for this man.

Jesus wanted to help this man.

And so using a kind of sign language, Jesus dealt with him in a way that this man could understand.

And so Jesus put his finger into the man's ears and he spat and touched the man's tongue.

And the very one who took part in creation, Jesus, the second person of Trinity

who participated in creation, has now touched sin and what is broken.

Jesus, the great physician, has now come to heal.

And Jesus was hands-on, never distant or detached.

At another time, he touched a leper, and Jesus healed the leper.

Again, Jesus is hands-on, wanting and walking with us.

Then Jesus looked up to heaven, and he sighed.

Jesus grieved over the fallen The fallen to sin and the ruin That sin has brought

into our world And then Jesus said Epitha That is,

be opened And the man's ears were opened And he was able to speak.

But more than just physical healing took place. This man was made whole,

not only in body, but also in spirit and soul.

And exorcism, you might say, took place. Jesus set this man free from the bondage of Satan.

And the man can now hear God's word, can hear the word of Jesus.

And the man can now confess that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

He is our one and only Savior.

But this freedom did not come without a price. You see, in order for Jesus to

release us from the captivity of Satan, Jesus must put himself under that captivity.

And so all of the sins of the ear, listening to gossip and lies, were put on Jesus.

All the sins of the mouth, cursing, swearing, lying, and gossiping, were put on Jesus.

Adam and Eve's sin, the Israelites' sin, the sin of the deaf and mute man.

Your sin and mine were all put on Jesus.

Jesus is a hands-on God, taking our flesh.

He is the Word made flesh.

He takes our sins upon himself, and he goes to the cross to die in our place.

Jesus' hands, which once were put into this man's fingers, A nail had gone through

them and Jesus was nailed to the cross.

Jesus' mouth and spittle, which once touched the man, Jesus' mouth is now dry.

He asks for something to drink. Jesus is covered with blood and he's crucified

upon the cross for you and for your salvation.

And out of love for you, his death on the cross is an atoning sacrifice,

a payment for your sin and the sin of the whole world.

Three days later, Jesus is risen from the dead.

So he is risen is like the words, be opened.

Christ's victory on the cross and over the grave means that Satan has been defeated,

sin is paid for, and heaven is now opened.

The words, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are

like the words, be opened.

Do you agonize over the old Adam within you? Do you struggle against the devil's temptations to sin?

Then remember that you are baptized.

Christ's epithet was spoken upon you in your baptism, and you are now redeemed

with the blood of Christ.

You are washed clean in the waters of holy baptism.

The words, I forgive you all your sins, are kind of like the words, be opened.

When you heard the words of forgiveness and holy absolution,

that your sins were removed as far as the east is from the west.

And you also hear the words of forgiveness preached now here in the sermon.

Then in holy communion, our Lord touches your mouth with his body and blood

for the forgiveness of all your sin.

Again, Jesus is still a hands-on God.

Jesus' words are always life-creating and powerful. They always accomplish what

they say. They remove sin.

They cleanse the heart. They refresh and restore us. They bring to life.

And his words then guide us in how to love God, in how to love one another.

His words create faith in the hearts. Though his words enter the ear, faith is created.

And then from the mouth, we confess Christ as our one and only Savior.

Our text says that, quote, they brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.

We don't know how many people brought their friend to Jesus.

We don't even know their names, but they did a good thing.

Bring your children to the baptismal font.

Bring them God's word at home and at Sunday school.

Bring your family to church where you and your family can hear the word of God.

Bring a friend to the divine service so that they too may hear the word of God,

repent and believe in the gospel, and confess that Christ is their one and only Savior.

Jesus does all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.

He does all things well. He died upon the cross for your sins and he rose from the dead.

He does all things well. His gospel is preached and our ears are open and we

hear it and our mouths confess Christ as our Savior.

Jesus still does all things well. He puts his word into your ear and your mouth

shows forth praise and thanksgiving.

Your mouth confesses.

That Jesus is your one and only Savior.

Thanks be to God. Amen.