The Lutheran Hour
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"You Can’t Muzzle True Joy"
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Text: Mark 1:40-45
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God’s grace to you in Jesus’ Name. Amen!
Can you just picture the scene? Here is a man kneeling before Jesus with a disease that not only makes him socially unacceptable, it makes him socially invisible and contemptible. In this world, there are not too many diseases as dehumanizing as “leprosy.” It not only destroys your body, but it destroys you as a person as well. People run from you; people are scared by you, frightened at your very presence. Why? Because you have a disease that not only kills, but that spreads at the most casual of touches.
So, again, can you imagine the scene? What healthy person would even dare to enter into the presence of lepers? Yet, there is Jesus, right in their midst. And His presence, coupled with His reputation, moved this particular man at this particular moment, to literally lay his very life at the feet of this Jesus. So he dares not only to approach, but to say, “Lord, if you really want to, you can heal me!” Wow! What an incredible scene, what an amazing statement, but that’s not even the best part.
The best part is Jesus answering, “I am willing….indeed, I want to.” Jesus assures the man that not only does he have His attention, he indeed has His blessing, His healing. And with, what can only be described as “mercy in action,” Jesus “touches the man,” as He heals him.
Now, I’m not sure that you and I can even fathom what that man must have felt next. The way the text reads, the leprosy was driven out….the disfigurement seems to have gone with it as well. I can’t even imagine the emotion, but, I believe that it must have been something like “unquenchable joy.” It’s the kind of joy that people feel when, in the midst of certain death, suddenly, they are given back their life. It’s the kind of joy or elation that people feel when all appears lost, when everything seems hopeless, and suddenly, relief, salvation, rescue.
I remember reading about the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, when, by faith he set out to find new lands and new discoveries, but after days and days and months at sea, with no land in sight, all seemed lost. With death all around him, with mutiness feelings among the crew, when all seemed lost….do you remember the cry? “Land, Land.” Suddenly, everything seemed new again.
When Jesus said to that man with leprosy, “I am willing;” when Jesus reached out and touched Him with that healing touch; it was not the cry of “land, land.” It was the cry of “Life, life, now and forever.”
You can’t muzzle joy when your joy is connected to Jesus.
You can’t muzzle joy. But, Pastor, what about the fact that people lose joy all the time?
Now that’s a good question. And it’s right. People do seem to lose even things like “joy,” don’t they? But, I think that people often confuse “joy with happiness.” Happiness is something that is contingent upon a person’s circumstances. Happiness ebbs and flows. Feelings of great elation can suddenly be gone for a variety of reasons. No one is “happy” being sick, being without a job, or losing a loved one.
But, joy is different. It is something rooted deeper, rooted not in our circumstances, but in one’s relationship with God. It is rooted in God’s presence in our lives, God gracious actions on our behalf.
The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah in Chapter 12:6 says, “Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
Isaiah also says in Chapter 49:13 – “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.”
St. Paul even reminds us in Romans 14:17 – “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” with God’s desire to “fill us with Joy as we ‘trust in Him.’ Romans 15:13
When you look for “joy, and forgiveness, and peace,” anywhere else but in your relationship with God, you will be disillusioned, you will be disappointed. People have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. But for so many it remains constantly out of reach. But that’s because joy is to be a by-product of our relationship with God, not something of our efforts, not something of our wits or circumstances.
Joy cannot be found in unbelief. Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”
It cannot be found in pleasure. Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone.”
It cannot be found in money. Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that and when dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”
It cannot be found in position or fame. Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.”
It cannot be found even in military glory. Alexander the Great conquered the known world of his day and having done so, he wept in his tent, before he said, “There are no more worlds to conquer.”
As our “overjoyed” man of the text shows us, real joy is to be found in one’s connection to Jesus.
But, some might protest that this leper found joy, because he found healing. Isn’t everyone “joyful about things like that?” Well, yes, that’s true….but the source of this one’s joy ran deeper than that. He knew that Jesus was more to him than a mere healer. He knew that Jesus could do whatever was best for Him….He even said so…even before the healing. I think that he knew that Jesus was the Savior and that that was even greater than Jesus as Healer.
People miss out on joy today, because they fail to realize the ultimate healing that is already theirs in Jesus Christ. People need to realize that Jesus came to rescue them from something even more devastating than leprosy itself. His rescue, His healing is from the disease of sin, eternal guilt, and damnation. This is the “healing of the greater disease” for all people. As demoralizing and as dehumanizing as leprosy was, it still just leads to the final enemy of every person on the planet, death. Leprosy, cancer, or any terminal disease merely ushers in the final enemy.
Well, Jesus doesn’t come to merely extend this life’s journey or to make it as “painless as possible.” He comes to defeat death, He comes to overcome sin; He comes to call rebels back to their God and to give them all eternal life as His gift.
People tend to forget that this is the greater enemy and that Jesus’ work on the cross and the resurrection; this is the greater healing and restoration.. The Bible never speaks about this sinful world as a place of lasting peace or unending joy. It speaks plainly that this world is full of trouble, full of evil, that it is a world “passing away.” And yet, in the midst of all of that you and I, each of us, can know “real joy, real peace that passes all understanding, real forgiveness; and yes we can have real, eternal life in the midst of it all. How, by trusting in the One who lived, died, and rose again so that we might live in Him, with Him, forever.
Now, I think that’s what our “fellow believer” in the text understood about Jesus. Whatever He knew about Christ, he was aware of the fact that knowing Him and being loved by Him was the key to every good thing.
He approaches Jesus…..He surely ran from everyone else. He speaks boldly to Jesus….He probably would have sheepishly yelled, “unclean, unclean,’ to any other human being. He doesn’t “ask” a question, but he states a fact. Jesus, if you want to, you can do whatever I need. No one would even dare say that to the most talented of all the physicians and scientists today, for there are things beyond their control or their concern.
There are things beyond our control, beyond our technology. There are things that can only be healed at the touch of our Savior’s hands. Even the greatest discoveries of our modern world are only mere “cold substitutes” for the loving touch and the warming embrace of our Savior Jesus.
During the 19th century more than half of the infants died in their first year of life from a disease called marasmus, a Greek word meaning “wasting away.” Dr. Henry Chapin’s detective work on this alarming phenomenon is a fascinating tale. A distinguished New York pediatrician, Dr. Chapin noted that the infants were kept in sterile, neat, tidy wards, but were rarely picked up. So Chapin brought in women to hold the babies, to coo to them, to stroke them, and the mortality rate dropped drastically. Now, who was responsible for all these babies dying unnecessarily? Well, it wasn’t the directors of the hospitals; they were just operating on the information given to them. The real villain was one Emmett Holt Sr., a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University. He had authored a booklet called, “The Care and Feeding of Children”; the kind of scientific way to take care of the babies. And listen to what he said. He said, “We need to abolish the cradle and refuse to pick up the baby when it cried, for fear of spoiling it with too much handling.” Tender loving care, you see, would have been considered “unscientific.” Well, children need the healing touch of their parents to grow up healthy.
Well, the man that day….he didn’t feel the forensic touch of a momentary scientific healer. He received the caring touch of the One who said to him “I am willing.” Mere temporal healings can begin to even leave us cold as well. This was the touch of no mere healer, this was the touch of the One who was even “angry at the diseases that sin had wrought on His creation,” and yet had compassion on those who were so affected. Oh the joy, the unquenchable joy of it all.
As a leper came to him, imploring Him, and kneeling, he said to Him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out His hand and Jesus touched him and said, “I will….Be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him….And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone…..” But he went out and began to talk freely about Jesus and to spread the good news.”
I love what comes next, don’t you? Jesus gives him a few things to do. Some things that will re-orient him back to society. Then he tells him….please keep quiet about it. Don’t make a big deal about it. Just live in the glorious fact that God loves you and cares for you, forever! But, keep it quiet for now.
I can imagine the healed man’s thoughts here, too. “Are you kidding Jesus? I will do everything else you ask. I will go without, I will serve others, I will discipline my life, but not tell others about you, impossible!”
You see, when you have the joy that comes from knowing Jesus as your Lord, your Savior, your healer, your friend… if I read this text correctly, even Jesus couldn’t put a muzzle on that! Wow! The joy of knowing that God ultimately cares about your situation; the joy that you can know for sure that whatever is happening now, your ultimate healing, and forgiveness, and eternal life are one hundred percent, absolutely sure in Jesus; that is a joy that cannot be taken away from you.
And this doesn’t speak to Christ’s inability to keep things under wraps. It speaks to the overwhelming joy that comes to those who by faith, trust in Him, those whose joy is rooted in His real restoration, rescue, and relief.
I find this really delightful, don’t you? Earlier in the chapter it says that the “demons did know who Jesus was,” and He compelled them to silence too. Guess what? They weren’t able to speak about Him. But faith in Jesus, joy in Jesus, that’s something that not even Jesus can ultimately silence. (Nor would He ultimately wish to either.)
He couldn’t stop this healed leper from proclaiming freely, the One to whom his new life belonged.
Now people make a big deal about Jesus telling people to “keep quiet” about their healing or their blessing from Him. But, it’s no big secret. Jesus didn’t want unnecessary fame and followers to grow out of His temporal healings of people. Healings come and go, healers come and go, but there is only One Savior of the world. Jesus would not be “boxed in” as a mere “healer, political leader, military leader, or societal guru.” He was the Savior of the world. He was God the Father’s certified agent to overcome, sin, death, the devil, and the grave, so that all who trust in Him might live forever.
When you know Him, you are connected to joy itself. You don’t merely experience joy, you know joy!
You can’t muzzle His joy, especially when you learn that God Himself really cares about you.
Jesus says, “I will.” Can there be any greater words in the Bible than Jesus looking at you and me and saying, “I will”? My will is for your forgiveness; My will is for your life and your salvation….I will!
And this joy is no momentary thing. This joy comes from the concrete assurance that God’s love for you and me is real, it is eternal, it is lasting, and it is ours by grace through faith in Him alone.
You can’t muzzle this joy because it is as certain as Jesus Himself. Because He lives, you will live also; because He died and rose again, you too will rise again to live with Him forever; because His love is a seeking and blessing love, you can be sure that He will never leave you or never forsake you no matter what the momentary struggles bring.
His joy is the very grip of His grace in the midst of the ups and downs of this world. Period.
A family was out vacationing at the lake one summer. Dad had been puttering out by the boat house. Two of his sons, a 12-year old and a 3-year old were down playing by the dock. The 12-year old was supposed to be watching his little brother, but he got distracted. The 3-year old, little Billy, thought it would be a good time, at that time, to check out the shiny aluminum fishing boat tied up at the end of the dock. So he went to the end of the dock, put one foot out on the boat and one foot on the dock. He lost his balance and fell into the water, which was about 5 or 6 feet deep.
The splash alerted the 12-year old who let out a piercing scream. Dad came running from the boat house, jumped into the water, swam down, but was unable to see anything and he came up for air. Sick with panic, he went right back down into the murky water and he began to feel everywhere around the bottom. He couldn’t feel anything. But, finally, on his way up, he felt little Billy’s arms locked in a death grip on one of those posts of the dock, about 4 feet under water. His son, who couldn’t swim, had somehow crawled to the post and he held on. Prying the little boy’s fingers loose, they burst up together thru the surface to fill their lungs with life-giving air.
Finally when the adrenaline had stopped surging and their nerves had calmed down a little bit, the father asked his son, “What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto that post so far under the water? And little Billy’s answer was classic, laced with the wisdom only a toddler could give. He said, “I was just waiting for you dad. Just waiting for you to come and get me.”
Wow! It’s hard to imagine a father who wouldn’t swim until he finally had hold of his drowning son. It’s impossible to fathom a loving father who wouldn’t stay submerged until his last breath, seeking to save the one who is so precious to him. And, this leper teaches us today that as great as that love might be, it’s nothing compared to knowing the One who touched him, healed him, and saved him, the One who came for him with healing in His wings and salvation in His outstretched hands, the same Savior who comes for you this day!
So like that boy who under water, let go of his fear and fell into the hands of his loving father; like that man with leprosy, who laid his whole life before Jesus, the One he knew was able to do all things well for him; like these and many others who have seen Jesus, not merely as the Lord, not merely as the almighty Creator of the universe, but as the One who desires to touch us with His eternal love and grace. Hear the testimony of that healed man that day and let the joy that comes from knowing Jesus, be yours today and always. In His Name. Amen!
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 12, 2012
Topic: Valentine’s Day a Christian Holiday?ANNOUNCER: And we are back once again with Pastor Gregory Seltz. I’m Mark Eischer. A listener has been told that Valentine’s Day is actually a Christian holiday and he doesn’t know how celebrating “cupid’s arrows” and sending candy to people is supposed to teach us anything about Jesus. What’s he missing and how could God’s Word, perhaps, help our listener out with this one?
SELTZ: Well, Mark, I think in this case we actually need to go to the history books.
ANNOUNCER: The Valentine of history?
SELTZ: Yes, there are actually two early “saints” of the church named “Valentine.”
ANNOUNCER: Did they have anything to do with this “romantic notion” that so many have for Valentine’s Day nowadays?
SELTZ: Well, most likely not. But that doesn’t mean that their lives don’t have anything to say to us about Valentine’s Day and love.
ANNOUNCER: Okay. How so?
SELTZ: Well first of all, their lives were examples of “Christian love in action.” Each one was martyred, that is executed, for their faith and one was actually trying to convert the emperor to the Christian faith out of “love for him.”
ANNOUNCER: Really? Even at the cost of his own life? What a demonstration of love that is!
SELTZ: Yes, a very deep and committed love, a love where someone is willing to give their life for another, hoping that they will see Jesus “love for them.” And so there are elements of the celebration of that kind of love in all the various traditions. So, it should, in fact, be seen as the basis for any important relationship, especially that of a couple “in love.”
ANNOUNCER: So, the whole idea of sacrificial love, then, could be seen in the lives of those first Christian martyrs and that, then, became a way to express deep, committed love for another person as well.
SELTZ: That’s right, and it’s important to note that this kind of “sacrificial” love was directly linked to faith in Jesus Christ in the life of Saint Valentine. So those early celebrations of Valentine’s Day were really commemorations of faith as well as sacrifice!
ANNOUNCER: All right. But then how did we get to this point nowadays where we have the “celebration of romantic” love that’s emphasized?
SELTZ: Well, I’m not sure that we have enough time to trace the complete history of that. In some later accounts already of Valetine’s martyrdom, St. Valentine is said to have secretly married soldiers who were supposed to be “celibate” in service to the emperor. Another story has him “healing the jailer’s daughter.” But really none of those early historical accounts is “romantic” in nature.
ANNOUNCER: Right, but that seems to be the only thing that’s important today.
SELTZ: I think you’re right. We first see “romance and Valentine’s Day” linked to a poet name Geoffrey Chaucer and the English court. Later, the “Parisian love courts,” which dealt with issues of marriage and family, they were established on “Valentine’s Day.” But, here some argue that all of this was merely the “Christianization” of a pagan holiday of “finding one’s mate.”… And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
ANNOUNCER: All right. So then what’s a Christian to do?
SELTZ: Well, as you celebrate things like love and romance, there is no reason why a person can’t celebrate those things differently. It should be a time to reflect on the kind of love that was willing to truly sacrifice oneself, as Saint Valentine did, in the Name of Jesus Christ, for another.
ANNOUNCER: And that could cause someone then to resist the “commercialization” of Valentine’s Day.
SELTZ: Yeah. It sure would cause Christians to focus on an even deeper love than merely the love of cupid’s arrow, it would cause them to look even more deeply at the love of God for them on the cross and that’s a love that makes our relationships with each other more meaningful as well.
ANNOUNCER: It’s so easy to get swept up in all the superficialities of romance today, so much so that you could actually miss out on real love.
SELTZ: That’s right, and I think that’s why it’s important to not just avoid the commercialization of February 14th, we’ve got to avoid the sexualization of it as well. This day is supposed to be about love so let’s really celebrate love.
ANNOUNCER: Right, because with so many broken families, so many broken homes, that’s the kind of love that needs a resurgence.
SELTZ: I think that’s the “heart,” if you will, that Saint Valentine would want us all to give away this February.
ANNOUNCER: Very good. And celebrating the love of Christ with those whom we love certainly a celebration worth observing, a celebration worth having. Thank you Pastor Seltz. And with that we come to the end of our broadcast for another week. We thank you, the listener, for making this program part of your day. We hope you’ll join us again next time. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” arr. Henry Gerike. From Jubilee by the Concordia Seminary Chorus. Used by permission.
“Sing Praise to God, the Highest Good” arr. Walter Pelz. From Heirs of the Reformation (© 2008 Concordia Publishing House)
“Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” by Paul Manz. From Hymn Improvisations, vol. 1 by Paul Manz (© 1992 Paul Manz)