Sermon on Sunday, 8 September 2024 (Mk 7:31-37)
For the blessing service for couples
Dear congregation, but above all dear couples.
How are you doing in your relationship?
Whether you are married or not, you have more or less experience of going through life together.
There is a lot, a lot of everyday life. You work or study, you have the household.
And one of the sometimes more difficult aspects of this everyday life is getting to know each other. That’s actually a beautiful thing, and that’s what everyone who has fallen in love with someone wants – to get to know each other through and through.
Those of us who have been together for a very long time – Christine and I have been together for 37 years now – know that knowing each other so well doesn’t just have its advantages. The better you know each other, the more you know each other’s faults, big and small – and who likes to admit to having faults?
However, it is part of an intense romantic relationship that you get to know many of your partner’s idiosyncrasies. And as a result, you sometimes experience a breakdown in communication.
You can no longer talk about certain aspects. The relationship is disturbed.
And that makes me think about the basic question: What is a relationship? A relationship is a connection between two people in which communication plays a major role. Of course, it is also about emotions and interactions.
And the Bible also helps us here.
We can understand the healing of the deaf-mute man in Mark 7:31-37 as a story about a relationship that is made possible. It is about a physical healing that makes it possible to regain a foothold in social relationships. The man was very limited by his deafness and the resulting speech impairment. He was very isolated as a result. Jesus intervenes in this isolation by healing him. He uses gestures and rituals (he takes him aside, he touches his ears and tongue, he looks up to heaven, he sighs deeply) that express a deep connection and compassion. We understand that this healing has not only a physical but also a spiritual dimension.
After the healing, the man can not only hear again, but also speak clearly. He can actively participate in social life again. He can express his thoughts, feelings and needs and communicate with other people. This enables him to build new and deeper relationships that were previously not possible due to his disability.
Jesus, i.e. God, intervenes in life, breaks through barriers and leads people back into the community.
And that brings me back to the question of how you are doing in your relationship.
We like to look at where things are going well and are very reluctant to look at where the relationship is problematic.
And even if we know exactly what we are doing wrong ourselves, we always find reasons to blame the other person. This is apparently much easier than facing up to our own problems. In reality, however, this is exactly what puts a strain on the relationship.
We can only get along well in the long term if we are radically honest – firstly with ourselves. Our partner senses that we are struggling to change and appreciates it.
When we do this, we free ourselves from the barriers, break down the walls between us and find each other again. I can’t change the other person – I only can change myself. And I always need the help of Jesus to do this. We can simply ask him for his support, for his intervention and for him to heal us.
When this happens, there is always a blessing involved. Blessing means: speaking a good word. Or, in our context: letting God speak his good word into our lives.
Amen.