How great it would be to have friends such as these? Friends who have heard of the marvelous deeds of our Lord Christ, and they bring their friend so that he, too, may hear the word of the Lord and profess his holy name with his mouth. The dear Jesus comes across the Sea of Galilee, and a deaf and mute man is brought to him that he might receive life anew. For such a man, how could he have known where his friends were taking him? Or what would he receive from the Lord? These friends bring him to Jesus so that he may believe also.
This act of faith and compassion on the part of the friends stirs up our Lord’s compassion for the fellow in his helpless state. The friends know Christ to be no shaman, or they would have brought bags of money to make a remedy. For how could you coerce the Lord of Heaven and Earth with gold or silver? They also know that he is of the lineage of David and not Levi, or else they would have presented him with pigeons or lambs that by their offering they would grant healing. As it would be of no avail to them, as Christ himself is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So, therefore, they only offer prayer and supplication that Christ would heal their friend.
The friends serve as a model of Christian faith. For by their faith, they knew that Christ would hear them and would not neglect their prayers for grace. Just as the Lord did not neglect the man, their faith taught them that they should not neglect him either. Believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior changes the heart from stone into a heart of flesh. Just as Christ’s heart bled out of compassion for sinners, so too is the Christian transformed by compassion. For he has acted as a friend towards this man. As Christians, we are to do the same.
To be certain, it is faith in Christ that saves us, yet it is our neighbor, helpless or in need, who requires our friendship. In other words, we show our faith by helping our neighbors because we are Christians who have been transformed by the love and compassion of Christ, the one true friend of every needy and aching soul. Through the spirit, faith bears fruit. And so we are friends to those in need because Jesus Christ has first befriended us.
As our dear Lord shows mercy upon the man by loosening his tongue and opening his ears, this miracle is not only for this man, for Christ bears the sins of all men. And along with sin, Christ bears the consequences of sin, such as the devil, death, and hell. The mercy he shows to the deaf and mute man is no different than the mercy he shows to all mankind. For Christ, after touching his ears and tongue, he sighs, knowing the pain and suffering he will bear upon the cross. He takes sincere pity on the part of the whole human race. Christ’s suffering is not only for the ears and tongues of mankind but over every heart, body, soul, and all people from Adam to the last human being yet to be born.
In this miraculous act, Christ demonstrates his pity for our souls as he takes away the suffering of this man, so that he may suffer for sin upon the cross. For the Lord to have compassion, he must suffer the cost of his mercy. Through this miracle and many others, Jesus exchanges their sins and sorrows for grace and healing. The Lord does this to bring this man’s sin upon himself. Not for the mute and deaf man only, but for all mankind.
Christ Jesus is our second Adam, the man of righteousness. That through the first Adam, all mankind fell. Yet, in the second, Christ takes away the punishment of all the children of Adam into his own body and dies for sin. Our Lord carried our sicknesses and has burdened himself with our sorrows. So when Christ died, the sins of all mankind died with him. As he was raised from the dead by the glory of God, the Father, the sins of the world remained dead in the tomb.
As we have been set free from the condemnation of sin by the blood of Christ, we still suffer under the torment of sin. Even as we still suffer illnesses, infirmities, and diseases of body and soul, Christ does not abandon us. For the cross is God’s promise to mankind that God himself knows our suffering. When the body becomes frail, the memory begins to fail, or the mind is occupied by fear, Christ endures these things with you. The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross that He may suffer with us here and now, until He calls us to Himself in His heavenly kingdom. For there is no greater love than this, than he who lays down his life for his friends.
This is why God calls us to befriend those in need, just like the miracle. For God’s love for us is so deep that it is more than enough for us. This love extends beyond our necessity to help the needs of our neighbors. Scripture says even if we give someone a morsel of water, it is out of faith in Jesus Christ that we do such a good thing. We have been loved by Christ and served by his friendship upon the cross; now, we love for the sake of Christ.
It is through us that Christ suffers alongside our neighbor. Christ does not abandon the suffering and brokenhearted, but he sends them mercy and relief from the burdens in many and various ways, even through the love of a friend, neighbor, or complete stranger. Let the love of Christ shape your life, your relationships, and your charity. For God has not only sent you to relieve the burden of others, but he has sent you fellow Christians to relieve your burdens also.
Dear friends of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are never alone. The Lord stays with you in all things, joy or temptation, happiness or despair. And when you have finished the race and fought the good fight, it is your friend Jesus who will call you into his home, where you will dwell eternally as he will say to you, “Come, my friend.” And on the last day, when you are raised from the dead to enter into the new heavens and new earth, you will have your friend Jesus sitting on the throne, waiting to declare you righteous on account of His own suffering and death. You are no stranger, but a friend of our Lord, a friend who will never be abandoned in this life or in the life to come.
St. John's and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Parish 