Mark: He does all things well [Mark 7:31-37]

Brian Larkin

The gospel of mark • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Mark: He does all things well []

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

This past week the president gave the state of the union address, while I did not get to watch it because we were at a basketball game, I couldn’t help but notice how social media blew up afterwards. If you are like me and have friends and family on both sides of the political landscape, comments and opinions were all over the place. After noticing all the different people commenting and reacting to the presidents speech, I couldn’t help but think about our text for this morning. Throughout the week my mind is always on the text for Sunday, not only do I study the text but I’m usually reflecting upon it throughout the week, and often things happen that make me reflect on it.

You might be wondering how did the state of the union address bring my mind to the healing of the deaf mute and the answer is it didn’t…it was peoples response to the speech on social media that made me think about it. I thought, If Jesus’ ministry was during the time of social media, this would probably be a common thing to see people responding in different ways. Some may say, amazing! others might respond, it’s a hoax, but what ever the response, it would vary and be all over the place…similarly to the response of the people in today’s text…verse 37 they were astonished beyond measure…and they spread what happened all over. Though our ways of communication have changed, one thing that has not changed is, if there is something worth talking about…people are going to talk about it…all thought it seems like even if it’s not worth talking about people gonna talk about it anyway…at any rate…perhaps we need to be talking more about what Jesus has done as opposed to what some politician has said…and I’m going to leave that there for now.

Our text for today is an interesting story of another miracle Jesus performs. Last time Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon where he helped out the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter, this gentile woman experienced the loving mercy of Jesus. Today, Jesus departs from that region and heads to the Decapolis area. This is still predominately Gentile land…so in this 120 mile journey more dogs are to receive the crumbs from our Lord’s table. We won’t spend much time on the location of Jesus but it is important to note these Gentile areas because of Jesus bringing the kingdom of God to all people.

If we recall Mark’s intent of his gospel is the telling of the good news of Jesus, that in Jesus the kingdom of God has come near and to repent and believe that good news. Now when we say the kingdom has come near, it’s not referring to a location but a reign or rule of God personally in the lives of His people and in Jesus that rule has come to earth…and has come to all people not just the Jews. This is a common theme throughout the bible…the coming rule and reign of God among his people. In the OT the Jew anticipated a day when God personally would come and rule and reign among His people…let me give you an example of that in the OT.

(ESV) Then, in that day, [the day of the Lord] the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

God’s reign is a common theme throughout the pages of scripture and some signs that the reign has come is blind eyes seeing, deaf ears hearing, lame legs leaping, and mute tongues singing…you see the significance in Jesus’ ministry? All of these signs have come to fruition in Jesus! And not only that but in that text from Isaiah it refers to the region of Lebanon where this takes place…guess where Decapolis is??? That’s right the wilderness of Lebanon…very specific…this is not the only neat thing we’ll see happening in Mark from …we’ll get to that in a few minutes.

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

refer to outline

then shall the lame man leap like a deer,

The problem presented to Jesus []

and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

Look at verse 32 again, read it again. Who presented the problem with this man to Jesus? They did, NIV says, “some people”…it doesn’t say who…this may be a little thing but I don’t believe it is, don’t just skip over little things in scripture take note of details…they brought their friend to Jesus. It remind me of another instance when some men brought their paralytic friend to Jesus [] another anonymous group bringing their friend to Jesus. If we think about it this is rather an important thing here, the fact that the majority of the work of the gospel being spread is undertake by an anonymous group of individuals. If we’re more concerned about recognition and people knowing what we’ve done and for who we’ve done it for we’ve missed it.

For waters break forth in the wilderness,

In a day of social media where everyone is striving for the most likes, the most followers, the most hits on their page it’s easy to forget that the majority of the work of the gospel goes unnoticed. Anonymous people doing whatever they can to get their friends to Jesus…that is an important work my friends! Don’t be so concerned about getting recognized for your work and be content to go unnoticed for Christ. I’d rather be anonymous on earth and known in heaven wouldn’t you? If you’re a child of God you’re not anonymous to God.

Anonymous preacher: Charles Spurgeon’s conversion story is one of my favorites. When Spurgeon was a teenager his mother was urging him to go to church, so he did, on his way to the church that he had intended on going to a terrible snow storm came through, so to escape the storm, Spurgeon ducked into a small Methodist chapel that was on his way. It wasn’t where he had intended on going but he wasn’t going to travel in that storm. In that chapel the preacher who was supposed to preach was unable to make it because of the storm so they called on some local man to preach. The man apparently didn’t have a sermon prepared so he read the text from , “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” And the man read it over and over again focusing his attention of the dozen or so people gathered there, then he shortened it to a phrase… “look to Christ” he focused is attention on the young Spurgeon and said… “have you looked to Christ young man? Look to Christ” and this went on and on…and guess what…that young man looked to Christ and was saved and went on to become the prince of preachers. Who was that funny man who urged Spurgeon to look to Christ? No one knows…it doesn’t matter either. Be content with being anonymous for Christ!

and streams in the desert;

This deaf mute needed the help of others. He couldn’t make his request known to Jesus, he needed the help of others. Others need our help, those who don’t know Christ as Lord and Savior need our help…we must do whatever we can to get them to Christ, because those who are not in Christ cannot make their request known to Him because they are spiritually deaf and mute. You can hardly miss the fact that the man’s hearing is consistently mentioned before his speech. His deafness was the root of his problem. As Cranfield notes, “we see the order here is significant, first the ears, then the tongue, a reminder that it is only as the church hears the Word of God that it has anything worthwhile to say.” This is consistent with , “faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God”

In spite of the seriousness of the man’s condition, he comes to the right person, Jesus. The seriousness of the man’s condition he is deaf and mute [mogilalos]. The word used for mute is [mogilalos] and the interesting thing about his word is this is the only time in the NT where it is used…so when you come to a word that is only used once in the NT, you ask is it used anywhere in the OT. So you go to the Septuigant, the Greek translation of the OT, and guess how many times it’s used there??? Once and guess where? Come on I gave an indication earlier…

, Then, in that day, [the day of the Lord] the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute [mogilalos] sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

It’s not by chance that Mark uses this unique word here, no it reinforces the fact that in spite of the state of this man…deaf, mute…he is in the right place and with the right person…the God of the OT who makes blind to see, deaf hear, and mute speak.

Jesus addressed the problem []

The way in which Jesus deals with this man’s problem is unique. First he took him aside, The compassion of Jesus was not going to make this man a spectacle, but took him away privately. Jesus goes one on one with this man and adapts His method according to the man’s needs. i.e. Jesus is entering into this man’s world. There’s a principle here for us, be willing to meet people where they are, talk with people privately, don’t make a spectacle out of people’s problems, be discreet about people’s needs. If someone shares a private thing with you, don’t go around sharing it with everyone you, be discreet.

After Jesus takes the man aside, he then puts his fingers in his ears, spat and touched his tongue…what in the world is that about? Let me give you a bible study tip, sometimes don’t read into things where there is not much to read into. I’ve heard people make a big deal about Jesus’ saliva and what have you…na I don’t by it, you want to make a big deal out of Jesus’ spit you go right ahead, but I think it’s much simpler than that. Jesus is entering into this man’s silent world…i.e. that actions he does serves as a form of sign language and Jesus gets the man’s attention and draws his attention to the areas affected.

Jesus is challenging the man to focus on him in faith and communicates with the man that he is going to take care of these areas affected. Now the man aside with Jesus, communicating with Jesus by way of sign language, is looking at Jesus in faith. Notice what Jesus does next…verse 34.

Then looking up to heaven…here is Jesus and this man eye to eye, in close proximity with each other, there touching each other…Jesus draws his attention to heaven…this would draw the attention of the man to heaven as well…Jesus once again signing to the man, help is coming from God. I can picture this moment, close to Jesus, Jesus hands on his ears, touches his tongue, then holding the man tenderly drawing his attention to heaven…I think of , where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

And Jesus sighed…he sighed??? this is a strange detail isn’t it he sighed? Very seldom are we given an emotional indication of what Jesus was going through in the gospels. The tomb of Lazarus Jesus wept, at the Garden of Gethsemene Jesus groaned, and here Jesus sighed. All of those moments Jesus is distressed about the affect of sin upon humanity… Jesus is distressed for this man and implores the Father’s help. It’s almost as though with his body language he is saying Father look at this man’s condition. And as this man’s eyes are fixed upon Jesus, Jesus utters the word “Ephphatha” that is be opened. Ephphatha is Aramaic word, though the NT was written in Greek every once in a while the Aramaic word is used, I believe here to point out the idea of the sign language used.

In speech pathology, one of the ways to help those with speech problems is by the careful articulation of words, I think that’s what’s going on here, with the clear articulation of this funny word, “Ephphatha” he not only lip reads what Jesus said…but immediately hears…and as soon as his ears are opened his tongue is loosed as well and he speaks clearly.

The recognition of Jesus []

Jesus commanded them not to tell what happened but he more he told them, the more they made it known…now we cant’ condone the people’s disobedience but we can understand why they had such a difficult time keeping their mouths shut…for most of us it takes less than that to spread it around right. But they spread the news of what Jesus had done because they were “astonished beyond measure.” The people’s saying in verse 37, He does all things well…has serious theological significance. It draws our attention to and 2. where it says and God made all things and it was very good…i.e. God does all things well. Creation echos God does all things well…He even makes deaf people hear and mute people speak…it certainly draws our attention to what the bible says throughout it’s pages…God is good!

Conclusion/Application:

Let me conclude with a couple points of application for us...

1. Blindness and deafness are descriptions of our lives without Christ. The bible refers to the lost being blind and deaf to the things of God…when someone is converted by the grace of God it is a miracle! Friends, every conversion is a miracle…every person whether they were raised in the church since birth or they come from the most hardened background…every conversion is a miracle because before Christ we were blind and deaf and mute spiritually.

2. The correlation between ears and mouth are important…we must first hear the word before we speak the word. In a day where many are quick to speak and slow to listen…Christians should be the opposite…we should listen to the Word of God first and then speak.

3. Jesus communicated to the deaf mute in a way he could understand. We to must speak to people in a way they can understand. Remember if a person is a none believer they are blind, deaf, and mute to the things of God so don’t expect they’ll understand they things of God. Expect lost people to act like lost people.

4. Don’t worry about getting credit or recognition....remember if you’ve placed your faith in Jesus Christ you are not an extra in God’s plan…but be content with being anonymous here on earth.

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