All Things Well

 Jesu Juva

St. Mark 7:31-37                                            

August 27, 2024

Robert W. Funeral

        They brought to [Jesus] a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. . . . And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Dear saints of our Savior~

Family and friends of Bob W~

        He has done all things well!  Bravo!  Attaboy!  Way to go!  Hurrah and hooray!  Well done!  Praise for Jesus was pouring in after His most recent miracle—the healing of a deaf mute.  Jesus was on a roll.  A multitude of miracles accompanied Him:  He was able to dispatch demons, still the storms, walk on water, feed thousands, heal the sick and raise the dead.  Jesus was solving problems that no one else could solve.  Just five loaves and two fish?  No problem.  Fevers, leprosy, demons?  No problem.  Paralysis, deafness, and death?  Piece of cake. 

        This Messiah was a problem-solver par excellence!  He was a “fixer” who could seemingly fix all that had gone wrong with this broken world of sin and death.  It led the crowds to stand up and applaud:  He has done all things well!  With just a word, a touch, (and maybe a little saliva) Jesus could engineer sensational solutions to this world’s worst problems.

        Bob knew how to tackle tough problems.  He was a civil engineer, after all.  And engineers are essentially problem solvers.  They take big problems, break them down into smaller, more manageable problems, and then solve the big problem.  They fix what’s broken.  They literally engineer sensational solutions for everyone else to enjoy.  Those big piles of boulders that form the breakwater over at Klode Park?  Bob did that.  He engineered that and hundreds of other projects in his official capacity as a civil engineer.

        But engineering was more than a job or a career for Bob.  Solving problems and crafting solutions is just how he was wired.  That was his approach to life.  What he could do with boulders, bricks, and steel, he could also do with people.  He could engineer and organize and motivate and lead people—all do it all with friendly efficiency.

        It started in June 1944 when a seventeen-year-old Bob W enlisted in the army.  He would go on to serve in Korea as a Company Commander of combat engineers. He received the bronze star for meritorious achievement in Ground Operations.  In 1953 Bob came home from Korea and set out to become better acquainted with the woman he had married right before his second deployment.  He and Dolores together engineered a wonderful family of three children.  And right about the same time Bob returned from Korea, Mr. and Mrs. W joined this congregation where their faith in Jesus Christ was fed and nourished and strengthened until they each departed this life in peace and joy to be with Jesus.

        There’s so much more that could be said.  Bob was in many ways the caboose on that train some have described as “the greatest generation.”  His was a life well-lived.  A life of devotion to God and family and country.  He made 97 trips around the sun and each one was packed with adventures and travels and problems solved and solutions implemented.  Bravo.  Attaboy. Way to go.  Well done.

        It surely must have bothered Bob that there were problems even he couldn’t fix—sad situations that defied solutions.  When his daughter Jan became sick and died, Bob like everyone else was helpless.  When his daughter Mary became sick and died, Bob like everyone else was powerless to prevent it.  And when his dear Dolores entered hospice care in 2018, Bob was again confronted with that same big, insurmountable, irreducible problem.   The Scriptures remind us:  The wages of sin is death.  And that’s a terrible payday that none of us can avoid for long.  Sin and death were the problems Bob could not solve.  Sin and its wages defied any solution Bob could offer. 

        Bob knew his own limits.  He knew what he could not do.  He regularly confessed his own sinful shortcomings right here with the words:  I, a poor, miserable sinner.  That’s why Bob looked in faith to the Problem-Solver par excellence.  Bob trusted the one Man who could solve the world’s biggest problem.  Jesus Christ has destroyed death by dying.  Jesus Christ gives life to the dying by His own resurrection from the dead.  Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of sin by becoming sin for us.  Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel—the good news that our salvation has been engineered and orchestrated by the very Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.  Jesus alone has engineered a path to Paradise for all the broken descendants of Adam and Eve.

        Notice the tender compassion Jesus had for the deaf mute in today’s text.  It sounds strange to us, but Jesus took the man aside, put his fingers in his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.  Jesus was communicating in a way that even this deaf mute could not miss:  I know your problem, brother—ears that don’t work and a tongue that can’t speak—and I’m going to do something about it.  I am going to solve and fix those problems.  Jesus then looked up to heaven—whence cometh our help—and He spoke this word:  Ephphatha.  Be opened.  And the man’s ears were opened.  And his tongue was released; and he spoke plainly. 

        For 97 years the Lord Jesus Christ showed the same tender compassion to his servant, Robert W.  The Savior first touched Bob not with saliva, but washed him with the waters of Holy Baptism, claiming him as His own dear child.  He placed the promises of His Word into Bob’s ears as Bob listened to the preaching and proclamation of God’s promises within these four walls for 71 years.  And on Bob’s tongue the Lord Jesus gave His body to eat, and poured out His blood for the forgiveness of sins.  Through these precious means the Lord Jesus communicated with Bob in a way that could not be missed: I know your suffering.  I know your pain.  I know the problems you cannot fix.  And I alone can do something about it. Peace I leave with you.  Let not your heart be troubled.

        Jesus Christ was crucified, died, and was buried.  He Himself traveled the dark road of death and the grave.  He made that pilgrimage bearing our sin, paying with His own blood the terrible cost of our salvation, solving the problem of death by His own mighty resurrection from the dead.

        The Jesus who healed the deaf-mute with only a word—He has also opened the ears and the mouths of all the faithful, including Bob.  Bob was given ears to hear and believe the promise that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  And Bob was given a mouth to confess the saving truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.  And with a believing heart and a confessing mouth, Bob could let his light shine in this world, so that others could see his good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.

        Bob served so many, so well.  Who can recount all the good he did for this congregation?  Sunday school superintendent, trustee, multiple building committees, president, elder, head elder.  Under Bob’s leadership the board of elders began sending care packages to all of our college students scattered across the country—some years nearly twenty young people.  Bob always took special delight in this project—perhaps because he knew what it was like to leave home at the tender age of seventeen.  A big part of those care packages was food—snacks, treats, candy—lots of sugar.  You have to wonder what the cashier at Woodmans thought when a 90-year-old man showed up with a cart piled high with candy and treats.  For Bob that simple task was a job well done, a problem solved, a duty discharged.  He delighted to do it.

        For me, and for all the pastors of Our Savior going back to 1953, Bob was a trusted advisor—a “right hand man,” a steady source of support, who kept his word, who followed through, who always got the job done.  In any congregation, it’s so easy to see the problems.  It’s so easy to complain.  It’s so easy to say, “That’s not my job.”  But Bob would say, “How can I help?  What needs fixing?  What problem can I tackle today?”  Bob wanted to be part of the solution.  When Pastor Schwertfeger made a visit to some prospective new members named Bob and Dolores back in 1953, I’m sure he had no idea—no idea of the gift God was about to give to this congregation.

        The word of the day today is Ephphatha—be opened. Jesus spoke that word to display His divine power—to open the ears of a deaf man—and to show that He is the very Son of God, our Savior.  But that word, Ephphatha, is also a word about the future—a resurrection word.  For one day the Lord Jesus—who has destroyed death—will raise us up with new and glorified bodies.  The grave, it turns out, is only temporary, for there Jesus will say, “Be opened.”  Ephphatha.  The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  Problem solved.  A resurrection solution. 

        Our works don’t save us, every Lutheran knows that.  But our works do follow us.  And on that last day, filled with the joy of Jesus and covered in His righteousness, it shall be said of Bob, of you, of me, of all the faithful:  He has done all things well.  She has done all things well.  Well done, good and faithful servant.

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