Today in the Spirit: Proper 18B
Coming to Proper 18B in the lectionary, we find Jesus and his disciples (in Mark’s Gospel) at the beginning of an eventful trek away from Galilee in the region of Decapolis, east of the Jordan River. There, according to the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:31-37, Jesus heals a deaf and mute man. In response, the people make a claim about Jesus using words similar to OT language about the coming Messiah: “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (37).
One clear OT reference to that messianic language is found in the assigned reading this week (and at Advent 3A) from Isaiah 35:4-7a, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy (5-6). There, the reading continues, is the Way of Holiness. We worship Jesus as that Way, and the path he lays for us is the way of the cross. The appointed Psalm 146 (also assigned at Advent 3A and Proper 27B) contains more language about the God of Jacob similar to that of the people’s response in Decapolis to Jesus’ healing ministry: [The LORD] Who does right to those who suffer wrong; and who feeds the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free; the LORD gives sight to the blind (7-8, BCP New Coverdale).
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Beginning this week in Year B, the church schedules a series of four consecutive NT readings from the Epistle of James. The first one assigned this week from James 1:17-27 picks up on the elder’s teaching that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (17) and leads to short statements of wisdom (typical in James’ writing) related to ridding oneself of rampant wickedness, sins of the tongue, and exercising compassion on the needy which he describes as true religion (27, NIV). Apropos, especially to the James reading, is an assigned Collect pleading to God for “grace to withstand the temptation of the world, the flesh, and the devil,” and for “pure hearts and minds” to follow in the ways of God in society.
The Collect
O Lord God, grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Behold, Your God Will Come with Vengeance (Isaiah 35:4-7a)
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
Isaiah 35:47a
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
This section of a song of deliverance is part of a larger block of the book of Isaiah (28:1-39:8) concerning the threat of Assyria over Jerusalem and the coming deliverance from that threat during King Hezekiah’s reign. In our worship, as we connect these words with the person of Jesus who unstops the ears of the deaf and loosens the tongue of the mute, our attention may be drawn to the unsettling lines: Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God (4).
In the Gospel reading, Jesus does not appear to be coming up against any enemy as he compassionately takes the man apart from the crowd and heals his infirmities. The scene is serene, and the healing is trouble-free. Yet the picture of the messianic figure in Isaiah will remind us that Jesus’ ministry is, with every act of compassion he performs, a frontal attack on his Father’s enemies in the world.
We who continue the ministry of Jesus in the present age also face God’s enemies. It is no longer their territory, but they still live in it, and oppose us. Our Lord has done the lion’s share of the work by defeating sin and Satan on the cross (Col. 2:13ff); but everyday, whether we experience it as such or not, we are confronting head on the remnant of evil that desperately seeks to delay demise on the day of final judgment. We must not be surprised by any form of opposition set against our acts of service to the Lord. Jesus reminds his disciples as they go out on mission, A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master (Mt. 10:24).
Today, in the Spirit, absorbing in the Isaiah passage the impact of our Lord’s ministry of vengeance against his enemies, we stand firm (remembering Paul’s teaching last week) against the opposition set against us in ministry.
Whose Help is the God of Jacob (Psalm 146)
1 Praise the Lord!
Psalm 146
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!
What is the psalmist’s perspective here as he praises God himself (1) and encourages the congregation to join him? Is he looking with appreciation at the care God shows others, or is there that greater awe that comes with personal thanksgiving, too? A hint that this worship leader counts himself among the hungry who have been fed and the prisoners who have been freed comes in the opening line of the third movement of the psalm (vv. 5-9), Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God (5). The psalmist would hardly include such a statement (maybe a well-known liturgical acclamation in temple worship, see Ps. 33:18, Jer. 17:7) if he did not understand himself, too, to be one who has found hope in and help from the God of Jacob.
I bring this up because I have, at times, noticed in myself, and perhaps in many others in the church, a kind of unholy detachment from the gospel message of salvation on this point. I may rejoice over God’s deliverance for others and fail to appreciate that I, too, have been delivered. It’s possible for me to be in attendance at worship, perform my religious duties, pray for others, and hear testimonies of healing coming from every side–but as I do, the question is: do I stand in the company of the needy as one needy before the Lord? Am I a fellow beggar sharing in the bread of life or just an usher showing others the way to the table?
There can be a real lack of humility here, causing us to hold onto what C. S. Lewis describes as “sad” unbelief: “Humility, after the first shock, is a cheerful virtue: it is the high-minded unbeliever desperately trying in the teeth of repeated disillusions to retain his ‘faith in human nature’ who is really sad.”
Today, in the Spirit who inhabits the praises of his people in this psalm, I repent of any pride leading to detachment from the plight of the needy and count myself a blessed one who has received God’s help. Praise the Lord!
The Implanted Word (James 1:17-27)
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (17-27).
We may best describe the Book of James as a series of sermon vignettes divided roughly by the frequent address to my beloved brothers or my brothers (meaning, of course, “brothers and sisters”). To make the lectionary reading two complete sections, it might be wise to add v. 16 to the front end. The phrase the implanted word is worthy of a pause for reflection. The Greek word emphytos (“implanted”) is only used this one time in the NT. The root verb phyteuo is used to describe a farmer planting seeds (as in Jesus’ parables).
So James is assuming every believer to whom he writes has received from God his word sown spiritually in the heart, both the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ and wisdom for moral living in Christ. The presence of this word does not depend on the availability of Scriptures or direct access to apostolic teaching but on the action of God to plant this word in the hearts of believers. It is a saving word (a word to save your souls) in that it points to Christ for conversion and to the way of Christ for preservation.
Devotionally, we learn that not putting away rampant wickedness is a rebellion against not just words on a page but also an instruction to the conscience. When we persist in sin, we strive against the inner compulsion of the word of God actively speaking to us. Witness from this verse the mercy of God reaching to the deepest part of us to preserve us in Jesus. That implanted word is there, even when we distance ourselves from other external means of grace. The Lord helps us (remember the word from the psalm) toward the meekness that yields obedience.
Today, Holy Spirit, I understand from this passage in James that you are in me with the word of the Father and the Son, making known to me in the places I can hardly resist you. Thank you, Lord.
He Has Done All Things Well (Mark 7:31-37)
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 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. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (31-37).
As a result of seeing this man’s healing, the people say, “He has done all things well.” We who read the narrative of what goes on behind the scenes will conclude it is for more than just the result that Jesus deserves such approval. First, following his Father’s leading, Jesus travels a distance from Tyre to the Decapolis to just the place where this encounter will take place. Second, out of compassion, he responds to the people pleading on the man’s behalf. Third, he shows extraordinary skill in praying for the man: he takes the man apart from the crowd for privacy and discretion; sighing, he engages in the spiritual battle to secure the man’s release from the evil one; and, knowing words would mean nothing to a deaf man, Jesus provokes touch and taste to aid in the building up the man’s faith.
Devotionally, we can count on the Lord’s favor not simply to bring good results but to fulfill his purposes all around, performing well behind the scenes for everyone’s sake and on the Father’s behalf, a feat only possible for the Son of God to accomplish. Even when we do not see the answer we desire in our personal prayers, even with the occasional breaking of our own hearts, we can discern—perhaps only intuitively at first and often concretely at a later point—greater good, all things well. See the connection between all things (Gk. panta) in this passage and the same phrase appearing in that extraordinary statement of Paul’s in Romans: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (8:28).
Today, good Spirit of Jesus, let us see, as in this narrative of Mark, the bigger picture of your greater good, your way of doing all things well.
Today in the Spirit
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