Looking Forward to Sunday at St. Thomas—Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
Start Here: Looking Forward with Issues, Etc.
Each week, the Lutheran radio program Issues, Etc. features an hour long conversation that walks through the propers for the upcoming Sunday in the Church Year. This is a helpful way to prepare your heart and mind to hear God’s Word and receive His gifts.
Listen Now—”Looking Forward to Sunday Morning: Twelfth Sunday after Trinity”
The Bach Cantata for This Sunday
Johann Sebastian Bach composed sacred cantatas for nearly every Sunday and feast day in the Church Year. These cantatas proclaim Christ through the same Scripture readings and themes appointed for each Sunday.
This Week’s Cantata:
BWV 35—“Geist und Seele wird verwirret”
Watch the Performance:
Read the English Translation:
From BachCantataTexts.org—Texts and Historically-Informed Translations for the Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Sacred Art: The Gospel in Image
Healing of a Deaf-Mute
Ottheinrich-Bibel, 1530-31
Brief Commentary
This illumination shows Jesus healing the deaf man with a speech impediment, His fingers touching the man's ears and tongue in a striking display of the miracle’s physicality. Some onlookers join Jesus in gazing upward toward heaven, while others turn away, uncertain or amazed. The scene emphasizes both divine intervention and human touch—God’s grace delivered through the body. The gold background evokes the heavenly realm breaking into earthly life.
The Propers for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity
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Psalm 70:1–2a, 2b
Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul.
Let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
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Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may run without stumbling to Thy heavenly promises.
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Isaiah 29:17–24
Thus says the LORD God: Is it not yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nothing, the scornful one is consumed, and all who watch for iniquity are cut off—who make a man an offender by a word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just by empty words. Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale; but when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will hallow My name, and hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine,” says the LORD Almighty.
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Psalm 34:1, 2
I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
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2 Corinthians 3:4–11
Brethren: We have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
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Psalm 90:1
Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
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Mark 7:31–37
At that time: Departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
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My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker, LSB 820
1 My soul, now praise your Maker!
Let all within me bless His name
Who makes you full partaker
Of mercies more than you dare claim.
Forget Him not whose meekness
Still bears with all your sin,
Who heals your ev’ry weakness,
Renews your life within;
Whose grace and care are endless
And saved you through the past;
Who leaves no suff’rer friendless
But rights the wronged at last.2 He offers all His treasure
Of justice, truth, and righteousness,
His love beyond all measure,
His yearning pity o’er distress;
Nor treats us as we merit
But sets His anger by.
The poor and contrite spirit
Finds His compassion nigh;
And high as heav’n above us,
As dawn from close of day,
So far, since He has loved us,
He puts our sins away.3 For as a tender father
Has pity on his children here,
God in His arms will gather
All who are His in childlike fear.
He knows how frail our powers,
Who but from dust are made.
We flourish like the flowers,
And even so we fade;
The wind but through them passes,
And all their bloom is o’er.
We wither like the grasses;
Our place knows us no more.4 His grace remains forever,
And children’s children yet shall prove
That God forsakes them never
Who in true fear shall seek His love.
In heav’n is fixed His dwelling,
His rule is over all;
O hosts with might excelling,
With praise before Him fall.
Praise Him forever reigning,
All you who hear His Word—
Our life and all sustaining.
My soul, O praise the Lord!Text: Public domain
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Exodus 32:11a, 12b, 13a, 14
Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people? Turn from Thy fierce wrath. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom Thou swarest to give a land flowing with milk and honey. And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.
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Psalm 104:13b, 14c–15
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy works, O Lord. Thou bringest forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
Lectionary Theme Summary
This Sunday’s readings center on:
Faith Comes from Hearing
A man who was deaf and therefore also had an impediment in his speech was brought to Jesus (Mark 7:31–37). In the same way, all are by nature deaf toward God and therefore also unable to confess the faith rightly. For “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:9–17). Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears, and He spat and touched His tongue. Even so in Holy Baptism, water sanctified by the words of Jesus’ mouth is applied to us; and the finger of God, that is, the life–giving Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:4–11) is put into our ears in the hearing of the baptismal Gospel. Jesus’ sighing “Ephphatha” opened the man’s ears, and his tongue was loosed to speak plainly as Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah, “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book” (Is. 29:18–24) So also, He who sighed and breathed His last on the cross for us has given us to hear and believe in Him and has opened our lips that our mouths may declare His praise.
Veit Dietrich’s Summary Prayer:
Almighty and eternal God, you have graciously created all things. We thank you for giving us sound bodies, and for preserving us from the power of the evil foe. Help us to rightly use our ears and tongues, to hear your Word diligently and devoutly and to praise you for your grace so that no one will be offended by our words, but that all may be strengthened in faith; through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
Voices of the Church: Fathers and Confessions
Each Sunday, the Church gathers to hear Christ in the Scriptures, and she has always confessed that Word with one voice. This section features brief excerpts from the Church Fathers, the Lutheran Confessions, usually the Large Catechism and the Formula of Concord. These selections highlight how the Church in every age has confessed the same faith drawn from God’s Word. Use them for meditation and instruction as we prepare to receive Christ’s gifts anew.
From the Church Fathers
BEDE THE VENERABLE (HOMILY FOR HOLY SATURDAY)
Man became deaf, unable to hear the word of life after, puffed up against God, he listened to the serpent’s deadly words he was made mute and unable to declare the praises of his Maker from the time when he presumed to have a conversation with his seducer. Rightly did God close man’s ears from hearing the praises of his Creator along with the angels—those ears which the unsuspected enemy by his speech had opened to hearing denunciation of this same Creator; rightly did God close man’s mouth from proclaiming the praises of his Creator along with the angels—that mouth which the proud deceiver had filled with his lies about the forbidden food, in order, as the devil said, to improve upon the work of this same Creator. And alas, the unfortunate rebellion of the human race, which sprouted in a corrupt manner at the root, began to spread in a much more corrupt way in shoots from the branches, so that when our Lord came in the flesh, with the exception of a few of the faithful from among the Jews, almost the entire world, now deaf and mute, was wandering away from recognition and confession of the truth.
But where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. Our Lord came to the Sea of Galilee, where He knew that there was a disabled person whom He would heal… Jesus took the disabled man at once aside from the crowd, put His fingers in his ears, and spitting, touched his tongue. He puts His fingers into the ears of the deaf person to make him hear when, through the gifts of spiritual grace, He converts to the hearing of HIs Word those who for a long while have not believed. Spitting He touches the tongue of a person who is mute to enable him to speak when, through the ministry of preaching, He endows him with the grasp of the faith he must confess… The spittle from our Lord’s head and mouth is the Word of His Gospel, which He deigned to take from the hidden mystery of His divinity and administer visibly to the world, so that it could be healed.
From the Large Catechism
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT (I.285-291)
Now we have the sum and general understanding of this commandment: Let no one do any harm to his neighbor with the tongue, whether friend or foe. Do not speak evil of him, no matter whether it is true or false, unless it is done by commandment or for his reformation. Let everyone use his tongue and make it serve for the best of everyone else, to cover up his neighbor’s sins and infirmities [1 Peter 4:8], excuse them, conceal and garnish them with his own reputation. The chief reason for this should be the one that Christ declares in the Gospel, where He includes all commandments about our neighbor, “whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” [Matthew 7:12].
Even nature teaches the same thing in our own bodies, as St. Paul says, “On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty” (1 Corinthians 12:22–23). No one covers his face, eyes, nose, and mouth, for they, being in themselves the most honorable parts that we have, do not require it. But the most weak parts, of which we are ashamed, we cover with all diligence. Hands, eyes, and the whole body must help to cover and conceal them. So also among ourselves should we clothe whatever blemishes and infirmities we find in our neighbor and serve and help him to promote his honor to the best of our ability. On the other hand, we should prevent whatever may be disgraceful to him. It is especially an excellent and noble virtue for someone always to explain things for his neighbor’s advantage and to put the best construction on all he may hear about his neighbor (if it is not notoriously evil). Or, at any rate, forgive the matter over and against the poisonous tongues that are busy wherever they can to pry out and discover something to blame in a neighbor [Psalm 140:3]. They explain and pervert the matter in the worst way, as is done now especially with God’s precious Word and its preachers.
There are included, therefore, in this commandment quite a multitude of good works. These please God most highly and bring abundant good and blessing, if only the blind world and the false saints would recognize them. For there is nothing on or in a person that can do both greater and more extensive good or harm in spiritual and in temporal matters than the tongue. This is true even though it is the least and weakest part of a person [James 3:5].
From the Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration
FREE WILL, OR HUMAN POWERS (II.5)
Against both these parties the pure teachers of the Augsburg Confession have taught and argued the following: by the fall of our first parents mankind was so corrupted that in divine things having to do with our conversion and the salvation of our souls we are by nature blind [Ephesians 4:18]. When God’s Word is preached, a person does not and cannot understand God’s Word, but regards it as foolishness [1 Corinthians 2:14]. Also, he does not draw near to God on his own. He is and remains God’s enemy until he is converted, becomes a believer, ‹is endowed with faith› and is regenerated and renewed [Romans 5:10]. This happens by the Holy Spirit’s power through the Word when it is preached and heard, out of pure grace, without any cooperation of his own [Titus 3:4–7].
Devotional Suggestions for the Week
Pray the Collect.
Read aloud at least the Gospel text one evening as a family and discuss the sacred art.
Sing a stanza of the Hymn of the Day before dinner or bedtime.
Listen to the Cantata on Saturday night or Sunday morning before church.
Review the Voices of the Church section connected to this Sunday.
Stay Connected
Join us for the Chief Divine Service on Sunday at 9:00 AM and Family Catechesis at 10:30 AM at Klein Funeral Home in Magnolia (14711 FM 1488). All are welcome to hear Christ’s Word and receive His gifts.
To learn more about St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church and our mission in Magnolia, visit our homepage.
