Christianity: It's Not Primarily About 'Being Hands & Feet' But 'Listening'
Text: Mark 7:31-37
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
In the 1960s, the Roman Catholic
Church gathered together for what is called the Second Vatican Council. At the council, the Catholic Church addressed
the relations of the church with the modern world.
For the sake of simplicity, one
of the major things that came out of the Second Vatican Council was the central
idea that the laity ought to participate in the liturgy of the church. In other words, there was a desire that the
laity ought to be more heavily involved on Sunday mornings in the ministry of the
church. Now, the unspoken reason for
this was that an involved laity in the church would be more inspired to
transform the world outside the walls of the church. The thought was quite simple. If the laity were excited about reading
scripture and being involved in leading a church service, then they would be
excited about doing ‘ministry’ to the world the other six days of the
week.
And so, since the 1960s, we have
seen more and more laity being involved in Sunday morning church services. In fact, it is not uncommon in many
non-Catholic Churches to have the majority of the church services led by the
laity doing announcements, reading scripture, and leading music. In fact, it is not uncommon to see in
American Christianity whole church services led by youth – even youth taking a
shot at preaching the Word.
Now, we need to be perfectly
clear. It is good to see the laity
expressing interest in their local churches. It is good to see the laity
wanting to be involved in the local church.
However, there is a fundamental flaw in this kind of thinking. That flaw is that it is better to speak and
do than it is to listen.
Dear friends, whether intended or
not, since Vatican II, what is often communicated in the modern church is that
leading a church service is somehow better than following in a church
service. It is often believed that
sitting in a pew is secondary to standing in a pulpit. That is to say, sitting
in the pew is often considered like being a Junior High Varsity football player
sitting on the bench during a game while being upfront in a church service is
where the real action is (i.e., Put me in coach! I want to play!) In fact, it is often communicated that those
who are upfront are somehow better and more spiritual than those sitting in the
pew.
And so, sitting in the pew is
often viewed as being secondary, lazy, inactive, or boring. Again, listening with ears in the pew is
supposedly not important, whereas speaking and doing things upfront is so much
better.
But if this is the case, though,
why did Jesus heal the deaf man in our reading from the Gospel of Mark? He certainly did not need to, for the man
could already see, walk, and most likely work with his hands. If hearing is not important, why did the old
Lutheran Pastors from five hundred years ago lick their fingers and shove spit
into the ears of babies before baptizing them, saying, “Ephphatha, be opened”?[1] If listening is subpar,
secondary, and unimportant, why did Jesus tell his followers to listen over 120
times in the Gospels?
Perhaps this might all seem a bit
confusing, though. After all, so many
churches in American are frustrated and dissatisfied with people not wanting to
get upfront to lead a church service. I
kid you not. Pastors and church leaders will grumble behind the scenes that
many laity just sit in the pews and are reluctant to get upfront to read
scripture, lead music, or publicly perform some other spiritual activity. They will have staff meetings with the
question, “How can we get them out of the
pew to be active in our church services,” as if sitting in the pew is a bad
thing.
So, what is going on here? Our reading from the Epistle of Romans clues
us in a bit. We hear from the Apostle
Paul that the church can neither call on Jesus nor trust in Jesus unless they
have first heard. And so what this means
is that a strong church is not characterized by all that it is doing but by how
intently the church is listening to Jesus’ Word.
You and I cannot have strong
faith unless we first listen. We cannot even
begin to consider how to love our neighbor until we have first heard how the
Lord loves us. Christian maturity is not
found in how fast your lips and feet are moving for the Lord but whether you
are listening to God’s Word.
And so, to be very honest with
you, I do not trust individuals who are bored with sitting in the pew and want
to be a pastor upfront. Sure, being a
pastor is a noble thing. It is good to
desire to be a pastor for the sake of blessing the flock. However, wanting to be a pastor because you
are tired of listening in the pew; wanting to be upfront in a church service
because sitting in a pew listening to God’s Word is somehow beneath you; seeing
the pew as Junior Varsity and the pulpit as Varsity High? Aw, that is not a sign of spiritual maturity
but a sign of a spiritual fool – a fraud.
A pastor should always covet his parishioners’ pews, knowing that His
parishioners have the best seats in the house.
And the parishioner? They should
look at the pastor and know that the most coveted places in the church are not
the lectern or pulpit but the pew.
Baptized Saints, the fundamental
flaw in our day and age is that we have reversed the order of so many things
with respect to Christianity. We would rather be the shepherd than the sheep. We would rather be the potter than the
clay. We would rather be the master than
the servant. We would rather be the vine
than the branches. We would rather be a
teacher than a disciple. We would rather lead than follow. We would rather do than listen. And we would rather be upfront than in the
pew.
Hear this loud and clear!
Christianity is not primarily about being the hands and feet of Jesus but about
listening to Jesus.
But does this mean that the
church should not be concerned about its mouth, hands, and feet? Should we not confess, serve, and go?
By no means; that is not the
point.
The point is that faith comes
from hearing. And without faith, we
cannot confess, and we certainly do not do good works. Never forget, good works flow from faith. And so, a church that does not listen cannot
confess and does not do true good works.
In other words, a busy church with busy hands and loudmouths that does
not listen, is nothing more than an empty bottle. A church may be active,
vibrant, loud, busy, and full of people, but if there are no ears to hear God’s
Word, they are nothing more than an old crusty donut with no cream filling.
This is why it is so important
for God to put ears on sinners. God puts
ears on sinners so that they would listen to His Word. This means that Christianity is best
represented by the human ear, not the human hand or mouth. And so, as an ear, you are not meant to
primarily give and do things for Christ but primarily to receive all good
things from Christ. Ears are meant to
receive! Yes, you are given ears to hear the most powerful Words in the world –
and to hear them often! “Ephphatha, be opened! In Christ, you are forgiven!”
And there is more. With ears to hear, you are not meant to hear
this Word of forgiveness one time and then to venture off into this world with
your hands and feet. Heaven’s no! In the Christian faith, you don’t use your
ears one time and then they fall off your head!
Ears are not meant for a one-time event.
They are meant to hear and hear often from Christ’s Word in His blessed
church.
And so, the point being, you can
never hear about forgiveness too much.
You can never hear too much of God’s Word. As a Christian, your ears are meant to hear, “I forgive you” every single day. This
is why Christ opened them in the first place. He wants you not to hear and
believe the blabbering devil, the jabbering world, or the prattling sinful old
nature. But instead, He wants you to hear
through His Word how He has done all things well – for you. He wants you to hear truth, life, and
salvation, as you muddle through this vale of tears. He wants you to hear from His church that as
good or bad as it gets that He is with you, that He has redeemed you, that you
are His, and that He will resurrect you on the last day.
The greatest participation in the
Divine Service is not in the giving end of the gifts but on the receiving end
of Christ’s gifts!
You, who have ears, gladly hear
and receive this day!
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
[1] If hearing is less important than doing, why did Jesus say to
busy Martha, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much [with your busy
doing] and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary [who is
sitting at my feet listening] has chosen it – it is the main thing….”?
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