"Dumb" Men Called into the Office of the Holy Word

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

January 25, 2015

Mark 1:16-20

"Dumb" Men Called into the Office of the Holy Word

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Being deaf and dumb means that your ears and mouth don't work. And the men that Jesus called to be His first preachers—Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John—were spiritually deaf and dumb. Their ears and mouths worked just fine, but because they were sinners their ears and mouths were naturally against Jesus. So what happened next was a miracle.

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

"Come, follow Me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed Him.

When He had gone a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.

Immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him. (Mark 1:16-20)

That Jesus would call these sinners to Himself was a miracle. However, it wasn't the only strange thing that happened that day. Along with Jesus' mercy in calling them, the other miracle is that these men followed silently.

If a man who's more or less a strange calls over to you and says, "Follow me," you'd ask questions: "Who are you? Where are we going? Why did you pick me?"

But instead of asking some fairly reasonable questions, they immediately and without question left their nets and followed Him. Why? That's the important question: Why? What allowed them to follow Him like they did?

It's tempting to think that it was because they were saints. That they were special men who were waiting around for Jesus to show up. But this wasn't Danny Ocean rounding up the Eleven to pull a heist or Professor Xavier putting together the X-Men to fight bad guys. No, before Jesus' call, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the other eight were terribly dumb sinners, unable to mouth words that our heavenly Father would find acceptable. Later on in Jesus' ministry we hear their doubt and dumbness right out of their own mouths. In Mark 4 these men cry out during a bad storm on the Sea of Galilee, while Jesus was sleeping,

"Teacher, don't You care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38)

In Mark 6 Jesus tells His men to feed the 5,000 and they can't believe what He saying.

"That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" (Mark 6:37)

In Matthew 14 they see Jesus walking on the water and yelled,

"It's a ghost," and cried out in fear. (Matthew 14:26)

When Jesus tells His disciples that He wants to give the crowd of 4,000 something to eat, their answer is foolish since they have already seen Jesus feed larger crowds:

"But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" (Mark 8:4)

Dearly beloved, we would have asked the same "dumb" questions in our own way. But it shows us that what creates trust in Christ is only His holy Word, and nothing else. What overcomes our unbelief and doubts is His holy Word. His Word made the difference. Because of Jesus' holy Word that created good ears and mouths, they followed Him immediately.

Dearly beloved, remember how your ears and your mouth were made good by the Word of God. Remember that your mouth used to be dumb, unable to speak anything good to God. Remember that your ears before Jesus were unable to hear good things.

In the same way your pastors are dumb men whom Christ has called to speak His Words to you. Like those first preachers most of pastor today enter into training for the Office of the Holy Ministry without any questions. My journey into the Office is typical. I spent four years at Luther Prep School, then four years at Martin Luther College, and then three years at our seminary in Wisconsin. And as I got closer to the end of my training to be a pastor, then I started to realize what a demanding vocation this would be. But what keeps me in this Office of the Holy Word is the same thing that keeps you into your Baptisms: the living Word of God, Jesus Christ.

So support your pastors with your good mouths by praying for us. Support your pastors with your good ears by listening to Christ as His preachers preach our sins away for His sake.

Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Alleluia! Amen.