Sermon: Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Mark 8:27-38

September 15, 2024 

Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” True or false? What do you think? Absolutely false! Broken bones can heal pretty quickly. But the pain of hurtful words can last a lifetime. Once in my adolescence during a time of stress, I called my father a “stupid old man” in his presence. That happened probably 45 years ago. But the memory of my words to my dad pierces me with pain and regret to this very day. You no doubt have your own stories of things you wish you hadn’t said….

The author of the letter of James gets it right as we heard in today’s second reading about the tongue and the power of our words. “So… the tongue is a small part of the body,” we heard, “yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire…. No one can tame the tongue – a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My dear family, this ought not to be so.” (James 3:5-10) How true this is!

In short, the tongue, and the words and speech it makes possible, can build people up; but the tongue and its words can also tear people down. 

We see and experience this each and every day when we hear the hateful and hurtful words uttered by politicians running for office. It’s as if the guardrails are gone and leaders can say anything they want with no one to hold them accountable for the damage their words can do. And when our leaders use their tongues to tear others apart, then rank and file people tend to do the same. We follow our leaders, even their bad examples.

And we’ve also seen how hateful words lead to violence, bloodshed and even mass murder. Words are truly powerful, for they can wreak havoc and lead to destruction. Such is the tragedy of our sinful, rebellious human condition. 

But then the good news is that the tongue and its words can also build people up. The prophet Isaiah makes this clear as we heard today: “The Lord God has given me a trained tongue, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” (Isaiah 50:4a) How true this is as well! Think of the power of the words of love and affirmation and encouragement you’ve heard from various benevolent people in your lives. Those words can make a huge difference for our quality of life and how we feel about ourselves. We even feel tingly, warm fuzzies when we hear words of love. Words are indeed also powerful for the good, not just for evil.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh whose fully human tongue uttered all manner of words full of grace and truth. In short, Christ is the tongue of God that offers via words the gifts of love and mercy and forgiveness – words that build us up, words that convey blessings. Jesus Christ who proclaims the divine Word of life is the antidote to the hateful vitriol of the tongue as “restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

The words we heard from Jesus in today’s gospel reading from Mark are ultimately words of love when he taught his disciples that “the son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31) These are words of promise that build us up because Christ’s suffering, rejection, death and being raised to new life saves us when we’re otherwise lost. His Passion gives us life. It’s a tough love.

And so it came to pass that Jesus found himself on the cross where his dying tongue uttered memorable, piercing words of love: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) And “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) And “Woman, here is your son… Here is your mother.” (John 19:26-27) Even as his death was imminent, the last words from Jesus’ tongue offered life. 

The strange thing is that sometimes in our human sin, we don’t want to hear words of tough love such as Jesus’ prediction of his Passion. So it was that Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke him only to receive Jesus’ rebuke which ultimately was its own act of love in saving Peter from himself: “Get behind me, Satan [adversary]! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Mark 8:33b) The paradoxical divine plan was to win victory over suffering, rejection and death through Jesus’ suffering, rejection, and death. That’s a tough love indeed, that was vindicated by God raising Jesus from the dead.

But given what we see and hear and read in the news every day, it’s as though suffering, rejection and death seem to be winning. But in Christ, we trust that the bad news will not have the last word.

Here’s where Martin Luther’s hymn writing speaks to our reality, but also points to our victory in Christ. This is one of the stanzas from Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”: “Though hordes of devils fill the land all threatening to devour us, we tremble not, unmoved we stand; they cannot overpower us. This world’s prince may rage, in fierce war engage. He is doomed to fail; God’s judgment must prevail! One little word subdues him.” (Luther, “A Mighty Fortress,” stanza 3, ELW 503)

That little word is Christ Jesus. And one of the life-giving effects of the little word that is Christ is the genesis of our faith, our trust in the divine word – that the word who is Christ will indeed have the last word!

And then we, like Peter, confess our faith with the freedom of our unleashed tongues: Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one who suffered and died and rose again for our sake.

And rather than being ashamed of Christ and the good news, we become shameless in our proclamation of Christ in our words and deeds.

And we find the gumption by the prodding of the Holy Spirit to take up the cross to follow Jesus, giving ourselves away for Jesus’ sake and the sake of the gospel. Our cross-bearing takes us in the way of loving service to and with our neighbors as we also seek God’s justice. 

That’s what happens when the tongue of Jesus utters words that lead to deeds that result in building us up and giving us life. Indeed, the tongue can wreak havoc. But in Christ, the tongue also boasts of great exploits in saving the whole world.

Here’s my prayer: God in Christ, unleash our tongues to bless you, our Lord and Father. May we in the Spirit’s power bless and not curse people made in your likeness, oh God. In this season of tongues that incite violence and destruction, may our tongues give praise to you, bearing the fruit of loving counter cultural witness that builds people up, restores them, and gives them life and peace. 

Now, dear people of God, come soon to this table of grace where in the power of the Spirit words of life convey Christ as the sacred word we eat. And in the gifts of bread and fruit of the vine, put the word who is Christ on your very tongues that you may be fed and encouraged and emboldened to go out and unleash your tongues in love for our world otherwise crazed by tongues that cause restless evil and deadly poison. For Christ has the last word. Christ is the last word. Good, not evil. Life, not death.

And let the tongues of the faithful say, Amen. Amen.