Evangelism is a word that causes most of us to get a little squeamish. We are intimidated at the prospect of what others might think of us if we are too bold in confessing our faith publicly. After all, our pluralistic culture tells us that faith is a very intimate and private matter, something that you don't dare bring into the marketplace of classroom, much less talk about with strangers. Or maybe we're worried that we will be unable to answer the tough questions that some skeptic might raise regarding the truth claims of Christianity. We equate evangelism with knocking on doors or passing out tracts--things that we would rather not do.

Then, there are many who have turned evangelism into a program. They create three-ring binders with techniques designed to cover a multitude of situations. Evangelism, then, becomes something akin to selling a product. And the evangelist/salesman is sent forth to convince the unbeliever how much he really needs Jesus and to close the sell with all the finesse of one those telemarketers who interrupts your dinner nearly every evening.

We end up making evangelism very difficult. Today's Holy Gospel we see pure evangelism and it is actually very simple. Mark tells us that ". . .they brought to Him (that is, Jesus) one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him." Evangelism is bringing people to Jesus.

Presumably, these folks brought their deaf friend to Jesus because they had heard what Jesus had done. Jesus had been actively engaged in teaching and in healing. At the end of chapter 5, Mark reports that "wherever He (Jesus) came, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well." The report of His teaching and miracles was circulated throughout the region. No wonder that these people bring this deaf man to Jesus and implore Him to lay His healing hand on him.

But the man who is brought to Jesus cannot hear; he is deaf. Locked in his silent world, he is robbed of the ability to hear a joke or appreciate music. His ears are clogged. They are plugged, unable to receive the voice of another. Isolated in his deafness from the good news that the Savior of the world has come, he has not heard of Jesus. And because we learn to speak by listening to words that are shaped by the mouths of others, this deaf man is also isolated in another way. His speech is impaired. His tongue is chained, if not by utter silence, by a clumsy heaviness that prevents articulate speech. So when he opens his mouth to speak, the words come out misshapen and odd. "I can't understand you" is a common response. But how can he correct it? How can he make himself to be understood? How can he avoid people making fun of his slurred and cumbersome speech, treating him as though he were retarded or weird? If this deaf man were like most of the deaf in the ancient world (and many in our world as well) he probably felt that life would be easier if he just kept to himself and endured the silence.

But this deaf man is brought to the Son of God. His friends do not leave him captive in his silent prison. Trusting in the Lord's power to heal, they bring the deaf man to Jesus. And Jesus does not leave him alone. In fact, Jesus does something that seems rather strange. Jesus puts Himself into the places of this man's need. Jesus takes this deaf man aside from the multitude. The Lord deals with him personally as an individual. He will not allow this procedure to be the occasion for a sideshow. Jesus puts Himself into the places of this man's need. He pokes His fingers into his ears and with spit. He touches his tongue. One of the ancient church fathers put it like this "At that moment with fingers that may be touched, he touched the Godhead that may not be touched." Here God touches man. Here the fingers of God reach into deaf ears and open them. Here the spit of God unseals a tongue so that it can speak plainly!

Mark tells us that Jesus as He looked up to heaven, "sighed" and cried out "Ephphatha, be opened." That heavenward sigh of the Lord Jesus Christ embraces all the sin that had corrupted God's creation. Jesus sighs over what our sin has done to the creation that God created "very good." Looking to heaven, He cries out a word that does what it says. The Lord's "Ephphata pierces the silence of this man's dead ears making them alive with the gift of hearing. And ears were opened and the impediment was lifted from his tongue. Now this man could hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and his tongue was set free to declare the wonderful works of God.

It happened back there nearly 2000 years ago in the region of Decapolis and it still happens today as this same Lord Jesus Christ works with His Word and touch. He was crucified for the sins of a world that was deaf to the voice of God. He died for those who had closed their ears to God's Word and lived at enmity with God. He died for those, who, deaf to God would not and could not praise Him as their Creator and Lord. Raised from the tomb on the third day, He lives to unclog ears deafened by sin and to unlock lips to confess Him as the source of all mercy and grace, all life and salvation.

That is why we, like the people in today's Gospel, bring the spiritually deaf and dumb to Jesus. That is authentic evangelism! Simply bring them to where Jesus has promised to be present for them. Bring them to where His Word is being taught and proclaimed. Bring them to the Divine Service, where Jesus is still reaching into deaf ears to open them to His Word that bestows forgiveness of sins and peace with God and where He is opening silent lips to give glory to His Father.

Parents, you do this as you bring your children to Holy Baptism that Jesus might lay His hand on your children and bless them in that washing of regeneration.

All of you, this is why you invite your classmates, colleagues, neighbors, and friends to the Divine Service. Here Jesus Himself is opening ears with the power of His Word. Here He is untying tongues to declare the wonderful work of God who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Only Jesus can do that! We are powerless to cause the spiritually deaf to hear and those who are deaf to the Gospel cannot open their mouths to praise God. There is no gimmick that can restore hearing to those who are spiritually deaf. Only God's Word can create faith in the heart and cause the lips to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We can't do it, but the Lord can and He does all things well.

So we will give ourselves to the work of those unnamed people in today's Holy Gospel. It was a work prompted by faith in Christ and full of love for their needy neighbor. It was a work of evangelism pure and simple. They brought their friend to Jesus imploring Him to put His hand on Him. Think of those people in your life who need the touch of that nail-scarred hand. Bring them here to this place that Jesus might touch their ears and tongue with His Gospel. He does all things well, even dying on a cross to redeem us and restore us to life with His Father. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.