Trinity XII - 08.24.2026

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Isaiah the prophet looked forward to the coming of God’s Messiah.  He is the one who recorded the great chapter that gives such a wonderfully vivid image to us of the suffering servant: the One who bears our griefs and carries our sorrows; who was stricken for us; smitten and afflicted for us.

It is Isaiah who prophesies of the virgin conceiving and giving birth. It is Isaiah who records the prophecy of the One to come who will have the government upon His shoulder and Who will be called; Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. In a word, Isaiah contains some of the greatest Gospel proclamation in of all Scripture, Old and New Testament.

Our text today is no different. While I’ve entitled this message, “Deaf hear, blind see,” I also subtitled it, “Same Ole, Same Ole.” Maybe we could even celebrated Christmas in August.

We begin by reading, “In that day…” What day is that? The day that Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest.

What day is that? That day is the day of the Lord, the day the Kingdom of God comes. It is the “GREAT” day of the Lord. It has a threefold sort of a meaning.

First, that day is the day of the coming of God’s Christ in human flesh.  

Secondly, that day is when Christ comes to His people to begin, to build, and to nourish faith.

And finally, that day is the last day – the day Christ will return to raise from the dead and gather all His own to Himself for eternity.

The first day has been fulfilled. God took on human flesh. He made the deaf hear and the blind see. We may even add that the lame were made to walk, dead were raised, and demons were cast out. If only God would do such things today. If only God would heal my shoulder. If only God would get me up out of this wheelchair. If only God would wipe out the cancer in my body.

If our text were only about physical ailments, things that afflict our body, then indeed we could possibly ask such questions. Our text mentions the deaf and the blind, and if those were the only physical ailments, it would mean the blessings of God’s Christ were only for a very small minority.

In that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a book. Out of the gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord. The poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

The deaf are all those who neither hear nor heed the cries of help of their neighbor. They live their lives with the means to grant assistance where needed, but turn on selective hearing and tune out the cries for mercy. We have all done it, sometimes to friends and family members.

No, they did not come out and ask, “Can you help me with this?” Or, “I need assistance.” It was much more subtle, they spoke about their sickness or injury and how it has limited them. We may have listened, but we did not hear, for we did not even pray for them. We did not visit them to aid them in even simple tasks that might be difficult or even impossible for them to do.

Deaf? We hear Christ’s church call out for our help – the need for church officers, Sunday School teachers, meal prep, and other needs for volunteers. We hear it ask us for monetary gifts to pay bills, and to be used as aid to spread the Gospel of Jesus around the globe through the Synod. We might give enough to be able to say we did something, but does the need go on, even as we end our aid?

Or maybe we add our complaints, it is only a few of us who end up doing all the work. Where is everybody else? Don’t know if we should do that project if we are the only ones doing it.

Maybe we ought to consider what a blessing it is to serve our God by serving together. What a joy it is when brothers and sisters work together in Christ. It is an opportunity to serve with one another.

And we never consider how such grumblings sound to those who might be looking for a church home.

We are often blind. All we need t do is open our eyes and it is plain to can see where we could give aid and assistance to others. Do you walk past them in life, Maybe rubber-necking a bit? We slow down to stare at them in their need, but then we continue on without lending any aid at all?.

Are we so blind that that we do not notice how many of those who claim to be our brothers and sisters in Christ are absent today?  Why aren’t they here? Is there a problem in their life that needs our help?  Might they need encouragement to join us again? Are they embarrassed because they have been gone so long they are ashamed to come back? A kind word, “We miss you and would love to see you in our midst again,” might go a long way. Or, do we see, and blithely go on our way without saying a thing?

Do we see the needs of the unchurched? That they could use a word of encouragement, a word of invite, or a word of comfort? Do we see the spiritual needs of others all around us and choose to do nothing? We don’t talk about religion because we this it is too volatile a topic to bring up in polite company?

Volatile? Maybe! It also has consequences. Those whose lives end and without confessing Christ WILL find themselves apart from us on the last day. I can already hear the complaints about my next sentence. Silence in regard to faith conversation is like literally telling them what we would like to have happen to them for eternity, “Go to hell.” Is that really what we want to say, and where we want them to go?

Each and every one of us is deaf and blind, and often it is an ailment we choose to make a part of our life. We have closed our ears and shut our eyes. Sometimes, they are sins of omission as we fail to live in loving service to others. Sometimes we invoke selective hearing and sight by our choice.

That is where Isaiah’s words in our text come to comfort us. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

When we come before God meekly and humbly, when we come in repentance, confessing in our sinfulness we have made ourselves deaf and blind, we obtain fresh joy in the Lord.

Jesus came to grant us joy, for He is the Holy One of Israel. He who took our sins to the cross and nailed them there. His ears were open – hearing the cries for mercy and willingly gave His life to redeem those entrapped in sin.

His eyes were open – He saw our sinful condition and paid the price necessary to purchase forgiveness.

Christ is the Word of God, His Spirit moved His prophets to write about what He would purchase for the deaf and blind – for sinners – and that when they humbled themselves, understanding their poverty, they would be granted joy and exulted.

Remember the tax collector last week who would not lift up his eyes to heaven but asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner? He went home justified rather than the Pharisee who bragged about supposed his goodness before God, even as he belittled the tax collector. The tax collector was raised up by God, and exalted.

Those who do not understand their sin, who neither humble themselves, nor admit their poverty, will find themselves in trouble on that day – the last day. Those who continue in their sin and treat others with scorn – the ruthless – shall come to nothing.

On that day, those who belittle and make fun of those who follow the Word of the Lord, the scoffers, shall cease.  All who watch to do evil shall be cut off. 

But, in that day, the deaf shall heard the words of a book. Out of the gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord. The poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

That is why I like to say this is nothing more than “Same Ole, Same Ole.” Today it is the same gift of gift of God’s Christ you have received before, which comes to bring us marvelous things. We, the deaf, hear the words of the book of life proclaimed to us and sins are forgiven. We, the blind, see the marvelous deeds of God as that which bring us life and salvation.

When we are meek in humble repentance, we are given fresh joy – forgiveness and life are spoken into our ears, placed on our tongues, and poured into our mouths.

Together, we poor sinners are given to exult and rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, in God’s Christ, for He comes to us again and does great and miraculous things.

I cannot speak for you, but I need the same ole, same ole, week after week. I need to be forgiven, so that my eyes might be opened and my ears unstopped. I need to be refreshed in the joy of the Lord. I need the gifts which Christ comes to give to me.

Our text from Isaiah is such pure Gospel for it points you to Christ. You might even say it is like Christmas, as our Savior comes to us hidden as it were, wrapped in the Words of this wonderful book. We unwrap the gifts and we are made to hear, see, rejoice, and exult in the Holy One of Israel.

We are those who are made different by God Himself, for He comes to us. It is He who has made us who we are – in everything we do – as the work of His hands. Everything we do gives glory to God.

Thanks be to God that He comes to us again this day to grant us healing, making us hear and see His incredible works for us unto salvation.  In the name of Jesus. Amen.